JOURNEY WELCOMES ARNEL PINEDA

Dec 05, 2007
www.journeymusic.com


JOURNEY WELCOMES ARNEL PINEDA
WITH "OPEN ARMS" TO THEIR FAMILY
AS THE BAND'S NEW LEAD SINGER

December 5, 2007 -- After much speculation…the wait is finally over.

JOURNEY--Neal Schon (guitar), Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Ross
Valory (bass), Deen Castronovo (drums)--is proud to introduce fans all
over the world to their new lead singer, 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 hails 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. Joining the legendary band is a dream come true for him.
"It's so exciting to sing with one of the best bands in the world.
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."

When it was time for JOURNEY to look for a new lead singer,
the internet came to their rescue. Guitarist Neal Schon wanted
someone new to the music business, so he turned to YouTube. After
finding Arnel singing "Faithfully, " he knew he had found the perfect
frontman.

"I was frustrated about not having a singer," explains
guitarist Neal 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."

Arnel Pineda picks up the story: "My friend Noel picked up
the message on YouTube and told me it was from Neal. I thought it was
a hoax so I ignored it. Noel said, `what if it really was Neal and he
wanted to offer you the chance of a lifetime?' So I e-mailed Neal
back and the rest is history."

"Arnel brings a soulful and passionate voice to JOURNEY,"
continues keyboardist Jonathan Cain. "His personality is very
well-suited to our music. He's a sincere, authentic person with a
great smile and a big heart. I think fans are really going to love
him. With Arnel's soaring tenor, Journey returns to our heritage sound."

Schon agrees, "We feel reborn. I think there's a lot of
chemistry between the five of us. At first we were going to go into
the studio and just write 4 songs, but now it's escalated to a lot of
great new and diverse material. The stuff sounds tremendous.
Everyone's so stoked about it. We feel very fortunate to have found
Arnel."
JOURNEY is currently working on a new album with legendary
producer Kevin Shirley, which they hope to release by spring/summer
2008. Details will be announced early next year.