Journey Uses YouTube to Find New Singer

In news that sounds like something out of the movie "Rockstar", classic rock band, Journey finds their new singer on YouTube!

The new Journey frontman is Arnel Pineda (“pin-eh-da”). He replaces Jeff Scott Soto, who parted ways with the band earlier this year after stepping in for Steve Augeri, who had to leave the band in 2006 for medical reasons.

Arnel is from Quezon City in the Philippines and has been singing Journey songs--in addition to original material--with his band, The Zoo, for the past couple of years in clubs all over his homeland.

When it was time for Journey to look for a new lead singer, they turned to the internet. Guitarist Neal Schon wanted someone new to the music business, so he went to YouTube.

“I was frustrated about not having a singer,” explains guitarist Schon, “so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours. I was starting to think I was never going to find anybody. But then I found The Zoo and I watched a bunch of different video clips that they had posted. After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, ‘He can’t be that good.’ But he is that good, he’s the real deal and so tremendously talented. Arnel doesn’t sound synthetic and he’s not emulating anyone. I tried to get a hold of him through YouTube and I finally heard from him that night, but it took some convincing to get him to believe that it really was me and not an imposter.”

“It’s so exciting to sing with one of the best bands in the world," says Pineda. "It’ll be a lot of hard work on my part and I’m actually looking forward to the scrutiny I’ll get from the hardcore Journey fans. I know they’ll expect me to sound exactly like ‘the voice’ (Steve Perry), but that will never happen. I know there's only one Steve Perry in this world.”

Journey is currently working on a new album with legendary producer Kevin Shirley, with a drop date for spring/summer 2008. Details will be announced early next year.