Journey trades frontmen, but not trademark sound

Kirk Baird

Friday, Dec. 29, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

Replacing a lead singer is often a dicey proposition for a band.

Just ask members of rock bands Motley Crue and Van Halen.

The Crue replaced original singer Vince Neil with John Corabi in 1991. Six years later Neil rejoined the band after both his solo outing and the Crue's album with Corabi proved disappointing.

For Van Halen it was a little different. When flamboyant frontman David Lee Roth left the band in 1985, after its most commercially successful period, Van Halen turned to solo artist Sammy Hagar. The pairing worked, but Hagar left the group roughly a decade later. (Depending on who is speaking, Hagar was either fired or quit.)

Van Halen then had the musical equivalent of a "quickie," reteaming with Roth for two original songs on a greatest hits album, before opting for quasi-known singer Gary Cherone as its new voice. That union proved fruitless, however, and Cherone was fired shortly after a failed album and tour.

Van Halen is, as of this writing, singerless.

And then there's Journey which, along with REO Speedwagon, performs Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

An '80s staple, with such hits as "Wheel in the Sky," "Faithfully" "Don't Stop Believing" and "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)," Journey's lead singer, Steve Perry, with his falsetto voice, proved a perfect vehicle for the band's trademark prom-ready ballads and radio-friendly pop-rock.

After releasing "Trial by Fire" in 1996, Perry opted not to join Journey on its obligatory tour, essentially quitting the band.

And so Neal Schon, founder and guitarist of Journey, along with longtime cohort, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, had to find a new lead vocalist for the band or shelve it indefinitely.

Schon opted for the former in Steve Augeri, the new frontman who has more in common with Perry than the same first name. Both also share similar singing styles and could even pass for distant cousins.

So it's little wonder that Schon is convinced the "replacement Steve," who has been with Journey since 1998, is a good fit for the band.

"Bands go through changes," Schon said in a recent phone interview from his home in Marin County, Calif. "A lot of people were very skeptical of us when we put (the new lineup) together. But you know what? We went out and proved that it would work."

That effort consisted of a long touring schedule of venues in the 1,500-2,000-seat range -- certainly much smaller than the band was used to playing in its heyday, when it was an arena-rock headliner.

But it was all part of the plan, Schon said, to get the word out on the new-look Journey. And as positive feedback began trickling in on the band's website -- journeytheband.com -- diehard fans, who proved initially skeptical of a Perry-less Journey, began to turn out.

"Some people said, 'I'm not going,' and didn't go," he said. "And then they'd read the reviews on how great (Augeri) was, and then they come the next time we came through town."

It was much the same with the band's upcoming album, "Arrival." Due out in March, it was leaked to Napster by someone at Journey's record label, Schon said.

At first angry that fans had the band's album long before its release, Schon opted to use it to the group's advantage, soliciting fans' opinion of the work.

"I would have much rather taken a group of 20 or 25 of our diehard fans and sat them in a room and played the record for them and asked their opinion prior to having the record out than to have it all over Napster," he said. "But this is the way it happened this time, so we just went with it."

Not that he was unhappy with the results. Schon said feedback was overwhelmingly positive, garnering anywhere from 90 to 99 points on a scale of 1 to 100. There was one consistent remark, however, that caught Schon's attention: There should be more "rockers."

So Journey went back into the studio and cut three more rock tunes for the album.

The result, he said, is "ass-kicking" rock songs that have the band more in line with its earlier days in the mid-'70s, when it functioned as the premiere "house band" in San Francisco.

This new-is-old style Journey is fine with Schon. "I always liked the more musical aspects of this band than I did some of the pop songs that we had. I need the balance right now for myself just as a musician."

As for the band's future, Schon said he looks forward to an extended tour beginning in May, when the band will feature not only its new material but raid the vaults, with many songs chosen by fans in a poll on the Journey's website.

Schon said he is happy with the state of the band. And even if the new album fails to find commercial success, there is Journey's built-in fan base that will continue to support the group on the road.

But for fans hoping Perry will rejoin Journey, don't count on it.

Schon all but said the often-strained relationship between he and Perry has come to a close. "He's chosen not to go on, so we just moved on."

Are you listening, Van Halen?