Journey's Discovery of Arnel Pineda
Leave it to my son (Joseph), who's with his Air Force wife in Germany, to tell me about something that happened here in the Philippines. Arnel Pineda from The Zoo, a local cover band, was recently "discovered" by Journey after months of music videos appearing on YouTube. I never spotted him before or I'm sure I would've seen this coming.
Take a look at the video on YouTube titled, appropriately, "Journey's discovery of Arnel Pineda" and then do a search for "Arnel Pineda" on YouTube and listen. He sounds a lot like Steve Perry and he may be the front man they need to make a major comeback.
[Originally published on 2008-01-09]
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In 2006, encouraged by well-respected Filipino talent manager and TV director, Bert de Leon, Arnel Pineda moved back to the Philippines with Monet Cajipe, the guitarist who had been in all of Arnel's previous bands. They formed "The Zoo", a Filipino rock band in Manila. Noel Gomez, Arnel's friend, began uploading videos of The Zoo to YouTube in March of 2007 in order to gain exposure for the band.
When the final episode of a television series, The Sopranos, made pop-culture history in June of 2007, ending with Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," the members of Journey found themselves positioned for a comeback. They had no lead singer at the time and Neal Schon, Journey's guitarist, started an intensive Internet search for new talent.
Within days, Neal Schon saw the video of "Faithfully" performed by Arnel Pineda and The Zoo (provided below) and contacted Noel Gomez to ask for Arnel Pineda's contact information. Neal sent an email message to Arnel, inviting him to an audition for Journey. Arnel initially dismissed the email message as a hoax, but after being persuaded by Noel, he finally replied to Neal. Ten minutes later, Arnel received a phone call from Neal.
In August of 2007, after getting Arnel Pineda a work visa, the band flew the singer (along with his manager, Bert de Leon) to Marin County, California, just north of San Francisco, for a two-day audition. At the end of the audition, Arnel was told he was hired. Two months later, he returned to record 11 new songs with the band.
On December 5, 2007, Arnel Pineda was announced as the lead singer of Journey. CNN Headline News ran the story as part of their "News to Me" segment. Since then, Arnel Pineda and Journey have appeared in Santiago, Chile and Las Vegas, Nevada. The Las Vegas concert was filmed for release on DVD (the 2-CD and DVD set is available at Wal-Mart locations and titled "Revelation".)
[Originally published on 2008-06-12]
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Arnel Pineda really sounds like the original singer in the band journey. He is truly a one lucky man to be discovered via youtube. =)
It is amazing to see how many people can get exposure to their band or themselves on youtube. Even 5 year's ago free exposure was not available like this at all.
This is a good example of success through internet. Who could imagine that a youtube video would bring Arnel Pineda & the Journey together.