Honestly…|by Cindy Ronzoni

I am not known to be a passionate follower of bands or for my music acumen…but there’s one band that I have loved through the ages and that band is Journey. Imagine my surprise yesterday when one of the most searched terms on Google Trends was the band Journey. As I clicked deeper into the news stories…I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes! My ears could believe. But not my eyes. Journey has a new lead singer that ah…sounds exactly like the original Steve Perry and sort of uh looks like him in hair and build comparison….but their nationalities couldn’t be more opposite.

I guess yesterday was Journey’s coming out party for the new singer. They appeared on ELLEN and proudly introduced their new front man. Roll tape.

He’s Filipino singer Arnel Pineda of the cover band The Zoo. He was discovered by Neal Schon when he saw him on YouTube singing covers of Journey songs. Can you imagine? How cool is that. Man, Arnel must still be pinching himself…his dream came true. He’s the singer for the band he has always loved. And his voice…he’s a dead ringer for Perry. If you close your eyes while listening to the above clip, you’d think it was him. At first I was bothered by his maneuvers on stage. This is guy is all over the place swinging his microphone stand and jumping and strutting. It first bothered me…but then I thought again. This guy isn’t Steve Perry….so l’m going to let Arnel find his own way and bring his own brand to my favorite band. Will I go see them in concert? Heck ya. Will I still sing along. You betcha.

As the song so aptly says I need to break those chains that bind me - but you know that I still love you. Journey continues to rock and we have the new social networks to thank for it. Go Arnel!

-CR