Journey's Newest Stunner

After the debacle of 2006, when Steve Augeri fell ill and was supposedly 'temporarilly' replaced by one Jeff Scott Soto, followed up by December 2006's announcement that JSS would be stepping in on a permanent basis, then after announcing a brief 2007 European Tour, which was to be followed by Jeff's appearing with Talisman for it's final Tour and debuting of Journey's newest single in a special unveiling in Virginia this past month, which everyone knows was to lead to some much earned time off for all involved, some writing for a highly anticipated new CD tentatively scheduled to be released in 2008 and now..

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

JOURNEY ANNOUNCES DEPARTURE OF JEFF SCOTT SOTO:
Press Release / June 12, 2007 -- Journey has parted ways with their recently named lead singer Jeff Scott Soto. Jeff s first appearance with Journey was July 7, 2006 in Bristow, VA. He had been filling in for Steve Augeri, who had to leave the tour shortly after it began on June 23 due to illness. Jeff s last performance was May 12, 2007 in Leesburg, VA.

According to guitarist Neal Schon, "We appreciate all of Jeff s hard work and we can t thank him enough for stepping in when Steve Augeri got sick last year. He did a tremendous job for us and we wish him the best. We've just decided to go our separate ways, no pun intended. We re plotting our next move now."

Keyboardist Jonathan Cain continues, We were lucky to have a friend who was already a Journey fan step in on a moment s notice during the Def Leppard tour to help us out. Jeff was always the consummate professional and we hope that he remains a friend of the band in the future. We just felt it was time to go in a different direction.

Journey--Neal Schon (guitar), Ross Valory (bass), Jonathan Cain (keyboards) and Deen Castronovo (drums) is taking the rest of 2007 off to spend time with their families, write new songs and map out plans for 2008.

WebLink: www.journeymusic.com

Now I'm scrambling to find information on just what the he double hockey sticks has happened to derail all of the above, leading to JSS' departure and who knows what is going to happen now.
All I can say is that I am truly stunned. Especially since there is no mention of this on Journeymusic.com and Back Talk is down for the count..at least for now. Got to find out some more information...after I collect my jaw off of the floor...before I comment any further.