Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

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Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby jrnyman28 » Tue Jan 04, 2022 12:54 pm

It was unfortunate but Steve Augeri’s voice gave out. We were in the middle of Def Leppard tour so I was working with Jeff on side project and suggested he come in and help Finnish the tour. It went well but all were not sold on him being the lead singer after writing a tune and listening. Both Jon and I agreed it didn’t sound right- or better put what we wanted. I hope this satisfies this on going drama. It didn’t work out.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby JourneyHard » Tue Jan 04, 2022 4:25 pm

Soul Sirkus had so much energy and magic. Journey should have released one single with Jeff on lead vocals and let us be the judge of whether it was right or not. There is even a song on the Soul Sirkus album that sounds like Jeff auditioning for Journey. I think it would have worked.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby kgdjpubs » Tue Jan 04, 2022 5:12 pm

JourneyHard wrote:Soul Sirkus had so much energy and magic. Journey should have released one single with Jeff on lead vocals and let us be the judge of whether it was right or not. There is even a song on the Soul Sirkus album that sounds like Jeff auditioning for Journey. I think it would have worked.


I don't think Journey felt they could release a song and then change singers again for the second time in two years. They never got enough publicity during the very short-lived JSS era for most people to even realize he was part of the band, so it was easy to stay under the radar in between.

I don't really consider Winds of Freedom to be anything more than a one off, so here's a fair guess as to what JSS/Journey could have sounded like. He certainly has the Perryisms to spare on this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWoaB95dtx4
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby ebake02 » Wed Jan 05, 2022 3:14 am

I saw that tour and I loved what he did with Journey by I’m honestly glad that it didn’t work out. The work that Jeff has done since then, especially with W.E.T., has been 1,000x better than anything Journey would have come up with.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Monker » Wed Jan 05, 2022 7:08 am

I doubt very much that is the whole story...they could have fired him earlier if it was.

"Winds of Freedom" was OK...but it is only OK because of the songwriting, not because of the vocals. Frankly, I have to wonder if Eclipse would have been a better album with JSS. But, moving away from the 80's is not what they were doing with Arnel in the beginning...they embraced them so much they rerecorded the GH...something I doubt JSS could do as well.

Comparing WET songs or Soul Sirkus songs and what JSS could have been in Journey is not very valid...part of the deal is how well he worked with Neal and Jonathan. If he can't do that well enough to come up with a good Journey songs, than that is a huge negative. BUT, how much does Arnel contribute to the songwriting...and how much does he just do what he's told?
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby jrnyman28 » Wed Jan 05, 2022 7:10 am

More from Neal:

This is all boring and overly redundant whining of 14 years ago. PR stunt at best.
Zzzzzz Jeff tried to sue us after we let him go and playing with us live for only 1 tour. This did not sit well with myself and could easily see personality clashes way too early. Good night
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby JourneyHard » Thu Jan 06, 2022 4:40 am

jrnyman28 wrote:More from Neal:

This is all boring and overly redundant whining of 14 years ago. PR stunt at best.
Zzzzzz Jeff tried to sue us after we let him go and playing with us live for only 1 tour. This did not sit well with myself and could easily see personality clashes way too early. Good night



If this is all boring and redundant, Neal needs to stop posting about it. There must be more to the story.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Archetype » Mon Jan 10, 2022 4:09 am

Seems like Neal is getting way too defensive. Definitely more to this than he is saying. Dude’s a fucking loon.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby JourneyHard » Tue Jan 11, 2022 3:25 pm

I don't think Neal is the one posting these remarks. It must be his wife or somebody else. The reason Neal wanted Jeff Scott Soto as the lead singer is because in that version of Journey they would be rocking a lot more. I cannot believe Neal fired Jeff without being urged to do so by Jon who wanted to keep the focus on the Dirty Dozen. At some point, Neal realized the Dirty Dozen is what gets butts in the seats. So, Neal fired Jeff and as we all know he found Arnel. But Neal shouldn't be angry with Jeff one bit. So, add this to the many feuds I don't understand.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Monker » Tue Jan 11, 2022 4:47 pm

JourneyHard wrote:I don't think Neal is the one posting these remarks. It must be his wife or somebody else. The reason Neal wanted Jeff Scott Soto as the lead singer is because in that version of Journey they would be rocking a lot more. I cannot believe Neal fired Jeff without being urged to do so by Jon who wanted to keep the focus on the Dirty Dozen. At some point, Neal realized the Dirty Dozen is what gets butts in the seats. So, Neal fired Jeff and as we all know he found Arnel. But Neal shouldn't be angry with Jeff one bit. So, add this to the many feuds I don't understand.


Yeah, he has said he wanted a rockier version of Journey and to move on from the 80's legacy sound since Augeri.

The problem is that right after firing JSS, they rerecorded GH and an album of 80's sounding pop songs. i doubt they would hire JSS for that type of project...which is what Wal-Mart wanted. So, they got somebody who could rerecord the old songs and sound like Steve Perry....which TOTALLY contradicts everything Neal said prior to Revelation.

So, now when Journey is criticized for hiring a Perry sound-a-like to sing Perry era songs just like Perry - they are absolutely correct. THAT IS WHY ARNEL WAS HIRED...not to move on, not to advance the band...but to imitate the 80's.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Onestepper » Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:01 am

JourneyHard wrote:I don't think Neal is the one posting these remarks. It must be his wife or somebody else. The reason Neal wanted Jeff Scott Soto as the lead singer is because in that version of Journey they would be rocking a lot more. I cannot believe Neal fired Jeff without being urged to do so by Jon who wanted to keep the focus on the Dirty Dozen. At some point, Neal realized the Dirty Dozen is what gets butts in the seats. So, Neal fired Jeff and as we all know he found Arnel. But Neal shouldn't be angry with Jeff one bit. So, add this to the many feuds I don't understand.


I've said for awhile that I don't think Neal is doing a good majority of his social media. I think he's handed it over to the wife, and this is part of the results.

As for JSS, I'm one of the few that was fine with them moving on from him. That takes nothing away from his talent, but I just never felt it was a good long term solution. I saw them live when he filled in on that Def Leppard tour, and it was okay, not great. It felt like a completely different band in every way. Obviously things worked out just fine for them.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Loneman1 » Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:36 am

I'm just thankful there is at least one soundboard show floating around with JSS on vocals to capture that piece of the band's history. While I personally don't think he was the best fit for Journey, I did like what he brought to the table for the short stint he was there. He's showmanship was great, and he did hit the notes with his own feel, but something just seemed "off" IMO. The dude is immensely talented and it could have lead to a harder rockin' Journey that might have worked, but it does feel like Cain was definitely the reason he was kicked to the curb in favor of rolling out the hits and "legacy" sound. IIRC, Cain was also the one that nixed any jam session that Neal might have wanted to do with Carlos Santana after "Santana IV" was released and Carlos played a show or two with Journey but never even got on stage with them once. With the supposed shift, or "strut", in Journey's sound on the upcoming "Freedom" album, I hope Cain has finally gotten over himself a bit and is exploring the band's sound a bit more. Who knows, I guess we will have to wait and see......
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Hollywood » Wed Jan 12, 2022 5:18 pm

Onestepper wrote:
JourneyHard wrote:I don't think Neal is the one posting these remarks. It must be his wife or somebody else. The reason Neal wanted Jeff Scott Soto as the lead singer is because in that version of Journey they would be rocking a lot more. I cannot believe Neal fired Jeff without being urged to do so by Jon who wanted to keep the focus on the Dirty Dozen. At some point, Neal realized the Dirty Dozen is what gets butts in the seats. So, Neal fired Jeff and as we all know he found Arnel. But Neal shouldn't be angry with Jeff one bit. So, add this to the many feuds I don't understand.


I've said for awhile that I don't think Neal is doing a good majority of his social media. I think he's handed it over to the wife, and this is part of the results.

As for JSS, I'm one of the few that was fine with them moving on from him. That takes nothing away from his talent, but I just never felt it was a good long term solution. I saw them live when he filled in on that Def Leppard tour, and it was okay, not great. It felt like a completely different band in every way. Obviously things worked out just fine for them.


I think you are off on this. Like her or not, Michaele is much more refined than Neal and would be much more tactical and well written. These posts are not well put together.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby JourneyHard » Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:54 am

Monker wrote:
JourneyHard wrote:I don't think Neal is the one posting these remarks. It must be his wife or somebody else. The reason Neal wanted Jeff Scott Soto as the lead singer is because in that version of Journey they would be rocking a lot more. I cannot believe Neal fired Jeff without being urged to do so by Jon who wanted to keep the focus on the Dirty Dozen. At some point, Neal realized the Dirty Dozen is what gets butts in the seats. So, Neal fired Jeff and as we all know he found Arnel. But Neal shouldn't be angry with Jeff one bit. So, add this to the many feuds I don't understand.


Yeah, he has said he wanted a rockier version of Journey and to move on from the 80's legacy sound since Augeri.

The problem is that right after firing JSS, they rerecorded GH and an album of 80's sounding pop songs. i doubt they would hire JSS for that type of project...which is what Wal-Mart wanted. So, they got somebody who could rerecord the old songs and sound like Steve Perry....which TOTALLY contradicts everything Neal said prior to Revelation.

So, now when Journey is criticized for hiring a Perry sound-a-like to sing Perry era songs just like Perry - they are absolutely correct. THAT IS WHY ARNEL WAS HIRED...not to move on, not to advance the band...but to imitate the 80's.


I see what you are saying, but it was even stronger when they had Augeri because with his long hair the casual fans at the concert thought it was Steve Perry. Now, the casual fans see Arnel and say, "This isn't Journey. This is some other band."
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Monker » Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:26 pm

JourneyHard wrote:
Monker wrote:
JourneyHard wrote:I don't think Neal is the one posting these remarks. It must be his wife or somebody else. The reason Neal wanted Jeff Scott Soto as the lead singer is because in that version of Journey they would be rocking a lot more. I cannot believe Neal fired Jeff without being urged to do so by Jon who wanted to keep the focus on the Dirty Dozen. At some point, Neal realized the Dirty Dozen is what gets butts in the seats. So, Neal fired Jeff and as we all know he found Arnel. But Neal shouldn't be angry with Jeff one bit. So, add this to the many feuds I don't understand.


Yeah, he has said he wanted a rockier version of Journey and to move on from the 80's legacy sound since Augeri.

The problem is that right after firing JSS, they rerecorded GH and an album of 80's sounding pop songs. i doubt they would hire JSS for that type of project...which is what Wal-Mart wanted. So, they got somebody who could rerecord the old songs and sound like Steve Perry....which TOTALLY contradicts everything Neal said prior to Revelation.

So, now when Journey is criticized for hiring a Perry sound-a-like to sing Perry era songs just like Perry - they are absolutely correct. THAT IS WHY ARNEL WAS HIRED...not to move on, not to advance the band...but to imitate the 80's.


I see what you are saying, but it was even stronger when they had Augeri because with his long hair the casual fans at the concert thought it was Steve Perry. Now, the casual fans see Arnel and say, "This isn't Journey. This is some other band."


I completely disagree with this. I think when people think of Arnel, they think of him as the guy who sounds exactly like Steve Perry. If they think "this is some other band" it is because Neal and Jonathan are the only remaining members of the Escape/Frontiers/ROR lineup.

Yeah, there are still those who are like Cohen who believe that without Steve Perry, it isn't Journey...but they are no where near the numbers they were in 1998.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby ChicagoSTYX » Fri Jan 14, 2022 6:16 am

JourneyHard wrote:
Monker wrote:
JourneyHard wrote:I don't think Neal is the one posting these remarks. It must be his wife or somebody else. The reason Neal wanted Jeff Scott Soto as the lead singer is because in that version of Journey they would be rocking a lot more. I cannot believe Neal fired Jeff without being urged to do so by Jon who wanted to keep the focus on the Dirty Dozen. At some point, Neal realized the Dirty Dozen is what gets butts in the seats. So, Neal fired Jeff and as we all know he found Arnel. But Neal shouldn't be angry with Jeff one bit. So, add this to the many feuds I don't understand.


Yeah, he has said he wanted a rockier version of Journey and to move on from the 80's legacy sound since Augeri.

The problem is that right after firing JSS, they rerecorded GH and an album of 80's sounding pop songs. i doubt they would hire JSS for that type of project...which is what Wal-Mart wanted. So, they got somebody who could rerecord the old songs and sound like Steve Perry....which TOTALLY contradicts everything Neal said prior to Revelation.

So, now when Journey is criticized for hiring a Perry sound-a-like to sing Perry era songs just like Perry - they are absolutely correct. THAT IS WHY ARNEL WAS HIRED...not to move on, not to advance the band...but to imitate the 80's.


I see what you are saying, but it was even stronger when they had Augeri because with his long hair the casual fans at the concert thought it was Steve Perry. Now, the casual fans see Arnel and say, "This isn't Journey. This is some other band."


If that's the case this is who they should have hired.https://youtu.be/3SjIySEj0e0
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Monker » Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:50 pm

If that's the case this is who they should have hired.https://youtu.be/3SjIySEj0e0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFZa2NU_22I
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby JohnH » Sat Jan 15, 2022 4:20 am

I’m sure they’ve looked at Hugo but it’s too much like having a Steve Perry hologram or exact clone replica. Too weird.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Onestepper » Sat Jan 15, 2022 4:47 am

JohnH wrote:I’m sure they’ve looked at Hugo but it’s too much like having a Steve Perry hologram or exact clone replica. Too weird.


Yeah I get the tribute band look and feel stuff, but that dude is just trying way too hard with the mannerisms etc. Pretty creepy.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby JourneyHard » Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:52 am

I would think Neal is too busy playing his guitar all day because that is what he loves to do and he has to keep up the skill for the tour. Meanwhile, his wife is probably bored out of her mind. So, she tweets all day long defending Neal when there is really no need for it.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby kgdjpubs » Tue Jan 18, 2022 4:52 am

JourneyHard wrote:
Monker wrote:
JourneyHard wrote:I don't think Neal is the one posting these remarks. It must be his wife or somebody else. The reason Neal wanted Jeff Scott Soto as the lead singer is because in that version of Journey they would be rocking a lot more. I cannot believe Neal fired Jeff without being urged to do so by Jon who wanted to keep the focus on the Dirty Dozen. At some point, Neal realized the Dirty Dozen is what gets butts in the seats. So, Neal fired Jeff and as we all know he found Arnel. But Neal shouldn't be angry with Jeff one bit. So, add this to the many feuds I don't understand.


Yeah, he has said he wanted a rockier version of Journey and to move on from the 80's legacy sound since Augeri.

The problem is that right after firing JSS, they rerecorded GH and an album of 80's sounding pop songs. i doubt they would hire JSS for that type of project...which is what Wal-Mart wanted. So, they got somebody who could rerecord the old songs and sound like Steve Perry....which TOTALLY contradicts everything Neal said prior to Revelation.

So, now when Journey is criticized for hiring a Perry sound-a-like to sing Perry era songs just like Perry - they are absolutely correct. THAT IS WHY ARNEL WAS HIRED...not to move on, not to advance the band...but to imitate the 80's.


I see what you are saying, but it was even stronger when they had Augeri because with his long hair the casual fans at the concert thought it was Steve Perry. Now, the casual fans see Arnel and say, "This isn't Journey. This is some other band."


Yea, but Augeri wasn't available. So you have to change singers whether you wanted to or not. The thing is...JSS does NOT sound like Perry from a tone quality. He isn't a clean high tenor. Whether he can hit the notes or not is not relevant. The bread and butter of the concert setlist is Infinity to Frontiers. 95% of that (minus Frontiers) is high clear Perry. That isn't--and never was--JSS's vocal tone. Later-era Perry? Pretty close. But not early Perry.

I think everyone who cares one way or the other by 2006 knew that Perry was out of the band. If it mattered enough that you cared and didn't know after 8 years, you're living under a rock and blind to the world. So the visual doesn't matter. Honestly, I'm not sure it ever did. Any high tenor with long, dark hair was going to get compared visually to Perry. The heritage of the last name was just what it was. The vast majority of your concert attendees are there to have fun reliving the hits that they remember on the radio, drink some beers and generally have a nice evening. The visual aspect of the band doesn't matter, but the sound of the band does. The singer needs to be "close enough". But that's only part of it.

If your Walmart deal to re-record the hits was already on the horizon (and I suspect it was), JSS was not the way forward if you consider your ticket to success as recreating nostalgia. The tone was too far off. He was more than capable to sing the hits live and engage the audience for a good show. He was more than capable of writing and recording new material. If you want to re-record the hits and have them sound close vocally to the originals, he was not the right guy.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Monker » Tue Jan 18, 2022 6:03 am

kgdjpubs wrote:If your Walmart deal to re-record the hits was already on the horizon (and I suspect it was), JSS was not the way forward if you consider your ticket to success as recreating nostalgia. The tone was too far off. He was more than capable to sing the hits live and engage the audience for a good show. He was more than capable of writing and recording new material. If you want to re-record the hits and have them sound close vocally to the originals, he was not the right guy.


Exactly.

Also, Neal was saying all through the Augeri years and into JSS that he wanted to move on from the Perry years. He said he wanted to bring Augeri in because it would be a "rockier" sound for Journey - and it was. It was a given that JSS would move even further into that direction. But, as soon as they had Arnel and released the Revelation package, it was all about embracing the "legacy sound", kissing Perry's ass, and generally courting Perry fans. It was complete hypocrisy on the bands part - because that is what the Revelation release required, and what Wal-Mart wanted - nostalgia Journey. Then, as soon as that was over, Neal went right back to his old ways of wanting a rockier sounding Journey, saying that Arnel could sing anything - not just the legacy Journey sound....and we got Eclipse, which was also (wrongly) described by Neal as Escape II.

IMO, JSS was fired because he was not a good fit for the Wal-Mart deal, and they found Arnel - who was a perfect fit to imitate Steve Perry and the 'legacy sound'.

They have been stuck now ever since because Neal wants to move on from the legacy sound, but Eclipse shows that nobody wants to buy it. So, what the hell are they doing now? Some weird compromise that is halfway between the two? If the single was any indication, people don't care about that either.

All these release delays are becoming bullshit. This album has been talking release dates for 2 1/2 years. It doesn't take six months to sequence an album (decide the song order). I doubt this thing is released before this summer, July or so - so they can schedule a tour with Santana, or a bigger name than Billy Idol or even Toto. And, they will invent another bullshit excuse about why it was delayed, again.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby kgdjpubs » Tue Jan 18, 2022 6:46 am

Monker wrote:
kgdjpubs wrote:If your Walmart deal to re-record the hits was already on the horizon (and I suspect it was), JSS was not the way forward if you consider your ticket to success as recreating nostalgia. The tone was too far off. He was more than capable to sing the hits live and engage the audience for a good show. He was more than capable of writing and recording new material. If you want to re-record the hits and have them sound close vocally to the originals, he was not the right guy.


All these release delays are becoming bullshit. This album has been talking release dates for 2 1/2 years. It doesn't take six months to sequence an album (decide the song order). I doubt this thing is released before this summer, July or so - so they can schedule a tour with Santana, or a bigger name than Billy Idol or even Toto. And, they will invent another bullshit excuse about why it was delayed, again.


I think the Covid thing has played into this to some extent. No point in releasing an album if you can't tour. If you have restrictions on capacity on venues, might as well postpone everything until things get somewhat back to normal. That means getting places as disparate in policy as California and the deep south on the same page. In the long run, delaying isn't going to change much for sales figures, but you certainly want the album available when the tour happens...but not so far ahead that you've already killed whatever momentum you had from releasing the album. That means scheduling promo stuff and the tour simultaneously, so it gets quite complicated.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Monker » Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:52 pm

kgdjpubs wrote:I think the Covid thing has played into this to some extent. No point in releasing an album if you can't tour.


The Covid thing is way over estimated and abused. Other bands toured. Styx toured with REO and Loverboy. They could have toured if they wanted to. They didn't want to.

The CD wasn't ready to release...So, they would be touring prior to the release of the CD...not a big deal, they are going to do that in February, too.

If you have restrictions on capacity on venues, might as well postpone everything until things get somewhat back to normal. That means getting places as disparate in policy as California and the deep south on the same page. In the long run, delaying isn't going to change much for sales figures, but you certainly want the album available when the tour happens...but not so far ahead that you've already killed whatever momentum you had from releasing the album. That means scheduling promo stuff and the tour simultaneously, so it gets quite complicated.


As I said, other bands toured. So, the above is just excuses not to. The CD isn't going to be released until this summer, at the earliest so it would not have been the tour for the album. They DID lose sales because they skipped an entire national tour. They chose to not tour...and I doubt it was only Covid. The CD was no where near as ready as Neal was stating. There may have been fallout from the lawsuit causing them to be too late to schedule dates. They fired management and who knows if they even had anybody to deal with a tour. Then they moved on from Live Nation, which limits their venues - to a very small number...if Neal did not want to deal with Live Nation, that would be another reason to not tour.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby JourneyHard » Fri Jan 21, 2022 4:41 am

Monker wrote:As I said, other bands toured. So, the above is just excuses not to. The CD isn't going to be released until this summer, at the earliest so it would not have been the tour for the album. They DID lose sales because they skipped an entire national tour. They chose to not tour...and I doubt it was only Covid. The CD was no where near as ready as Neal was stating. There may have been fallout from the lawsuit causing them to be too late to schedule dates. They fired management and who knows if they even had anybody to deal with a tour. Then they moved on from Live Nation, which limits their venues - to a very small number...if Neal did not want to deal with Live Nation, that would be another reason to not tour.


Let's start a pool for when the new Journey album will be released. I pick July 4th for the Freedom Album.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby FamilyMan » Fri Jan 21, 2022 4:55 am

JourneyHard wrote:
Monker wrote:As I said, other bands toured. So, the above is just excuses not to. The CD isn't going to be released until this summer, at the earliest so it would not have been the tour for the album. They DID lose sales because they skipped an entire national tour. They chose to not tour...and I doubt it was only Covid. The CD was no where near as ready as Neal was stating. There may have been fallout from the lawsuit causing them to be too late to schedule dates. They fired management and who knows if they even had anybody to deal with a tour. Then they moved on from Live Nation, which limits their venues - to a very small number...if Neal did not want to deal with Live Nation, that would be another reason to not tour.


Let's start a pool for when the new Journey album will be released. I pick July 4th for the Freedom Album.


Of what year? :roll:
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby ebake02 » Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:11 am

FamilyMan wrote:
JourneyHard wrote:
Monker wrote:As I said, other bands toured. So, the above is just excuses not to. The CD isn't going to be released until this summer, at the earliest so it would not have been the tour for the album. They DID lose sales because they skipped an entire national tour. They chose to not tour...and I doubt it was only Covid. The CD was no where near as ready as Neal was stating. There may have been fallout from the lawsuit causing them to be too late to schedule dates. They fired management and who knows if they even had anybody to deal with a tour. Then they moved on from Live Nation, which limits their venues - to a very small number...if Neal did not want to deal with Live Nation, that would be another reason to not tour.


Let's start a pool for when the new Journey album will be released. I pick July 4th for the Freedom Album.


Of what year? :roll:


Exactly. I was excited at first about finally getting a new album but now I'm not holding my breath that this album will see the light of day at all this year, probably won't see a new single for that matter either.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby RonaldDupris » Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:59 pm

kgdjpubs wrote:
Monker wrote:
kgdjpubs wrote:If your Walmart deal to re-record the hits was already on the horizon (and I suspect it was), JSS was not the way forward if you consider your ticket to success as recreating nostalgia. The tone was too far off. He was more than capable to sing the hits live and engage the audience for a good show. He was more than capable of writing and recording new material. If you want to re-record the hits and have them sound close vocally to the originals, he was not the right guy.


All these release delays are becoming bullshit. This album has been talking release dates for 2 1/2 years. It doesn't take six months to sequence an album (decide the song order). I doubt this thing is released before this summer, July or so - so they can schedule a tour with Santana, or a bigger name than Billy Idol or even Toto. And, they will invent another bullshit excuse about why it was delayed, again.


I think the Covid thing has played into this to some extent. No point in releasing an album if you can't tour. If you have restrictions on capacity on venues, might as well postpone everything until things get somewhat back to normal. That means getting places as disparate in policy as California and the deep south on the same page. In the long run, delaying isn't going to change much for sales figures, but you certainly want the album available when the tour happens...but not so far ahead that you've already killed whatever momentum you had from releasing the album. That means scheduling promo stuff and the tour simultaneously, so it gets quite complicated.


There are no capacity restrictions anywhere in the US right now and there haven't been for some time.
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby Archetype » Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:27 am

kgdjpubs wrote:
Monker wrote:
kgdjpubs wrote:If your Walmart deal to re-record the hits was already on the horizon (and I suspect it was), JSS was not the way forward if you consider your ticket to success as recreating nostalgia. The tone was too far off. He was more than capable to sing the hits live and engage the audience for a good show. He was more than capable of writing and recording new material. If you want to re-record the hits and have them sound close vocally to the originals, he was not the right guy.


All these release delays are becoming bullshit. This album has been talking release dates for 2 1/2 years. It doesn't take six months to sequence an album (decide the song order). I doubt this thing is released before this summer, July or so - so they can schedule a tour with Santana, or a bigger name than Billy Idol or even Toto. And, they will invent another bullshit excuse about why it was delayed, again.


I think the Covid thing has played into this to some extent. No point in releasing an album if you can't tour. If you have restrictions on capacity on venues, might as well postpone everything until things get somewhat back to normal. That means getting places as disparate in policy as California and the deep south on the same page. In the long run, delaying isn't going to change much for sales figures, but you certainly want the album available when the tour happens...but not so far ahead that you've already killed whatever momentum you had from releasing the album. That means scheduling promo stuff and the tour simultaneously, so it gets quite complicated.


Genesis, Styx, Billy Joel, Megadeth, Guns n Roses, Luke Bryan, and many others have toured very successfully in the post-Covid landscape with no capacity restrictions. The Covid excuse is bullshit.
"It's really important if you're going to remain a valid band that you play your new stuff. Otherwise you become a parody of what you started out doing." - Janick Gers of Iron Maiden
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Re: Neal Addresses Jeff Scott Soto Firing

Postby danielb » Tue Jan 25, 2022 4:02 am

With the Freedom tour scheduled to kick off in less than one month, there's not much time left to get the album out before the tour starts. Hopefully a release date is imminent.
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