My Feelings On Journey's Newest Lineup Change

Yesterday, I got online all ready to go through my normal online routine...read the email, go to Journey's Back Talk Forums to get the results of the previous day's H2H and post the new one, then on to my MySpace account, then back to my regular offline duties...but was immediately stunned by the topic of conversation on both Jeff Scott Soto's and my Journey fan Yahoo Group.
When opening the email from each group, they were discussing the dismissal of JSS as Journey's newest lead singer. I was absolutely stunned. After all, hadn't we all just endured all of the drama surrounding Steve Augeri's untimely release from the group and been feeling the momentum and excitement that was building with Jeff's introduction as Journey's new lead singer?

Then, I go to Back Talk to hopefully catch up on what I was missing and to update the H2Hs, I see that it's been offline since Tuesday June 12 at 10:30AM PT, only an hour or so after I had been there that morning. How the heck did I miss all of that. Must have literally been moments.
Anyway, still reeling from the news and wondering how this all happened so fast, I went to Melodicrock.com. The best site for news on everyone's favorite Melodicrock bands of yesterday and today. Andrew would most certainly know what was going on. Beloe is the article I found there.

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.comComment from me? Where does one start? Right now I am too disappointed to comment, but I guess Neal and Jon have a different vision for Journey than that of Jeff Scott Soto.And no...Steve Perry is not returning to the band.

It was obvious from Andrew's comments, he was as stunned as I was, so my next step was to go see what the buzz was from the fans at Melodicrock.com's Journey Message Board.
From past experience, I knew that the response from this particular group of fans was going to be raw and brutal, as this is the m/o of these Forums, so I wasn't surprised to see all of the hateful commentary and personal attacks being aimed at Neal and Jonathan, in particular. There are even calls for a boycott against Journey's MySpace, with Melodicrock.com's owner chiming in with his support.

It was a similar experience during last year's tour, when a certain member of this group decided he's had enough of Steve Augeri ruining his favorite band, so he decided to engage in a hatchet and smear campaign against Steve. Not only did he smear Steve professionally, but personally as well. It became not enough to simply make what I feel were blatant slanderous charges against the man, but it turned into an all out personal attack against Steve as a human being, as well as shots against Steve's family, as well.

So basically, it's a case of sour grapes, where this group of individuals spent an entire Summer and Fall smearing Steve and the band to everyone that would listen and attacking anyone that didn't follow the rule of thought they'd created, then generally feeling full of themselves and rubbing it in everyone's faces when their predictions of Steve's being permanently replaced with JSS turned out to be what actually happened...and now, all of their puffed chests and feelings of self importance have come down to more sour grapes with their man being let go.

Although I am surprised at the decision to replace JSS, just as I was last year with Steve Augeri, I do realize that Journey is a business first and foremost. It is how 5 musicians, their management and crew make their livings and support their families. It is up to them how they feel is the best way for them to continue, not a fan's.

I continue to support this band and to love it's music. For me, the basic philosophy of this band has always been to create and perform music that touches the hearts and souls of it's listeners. I don't believe they have lost that philosophy and I'm positive that's what they're striving for in their future.