Journey has benefited from television like few other rock bands have in recent years. The group was dormant when The Sopranos finale boosted the popularity of “Don’t Stop Believin’” and drove the group to search for a new lead singer so they could tour. Their discovery of Philippines native Arnel Pineda is the focus of a new PBS documentary that airs next month.
Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey is part of PBS’ Independent Lens series and shows viewers how guitarist Neal Schon found Pineda, 45, on YouTube and brought him in to replace lead singer Steve Perry, notes The Associated Press. The group hopes that the documentary will raise Pineda’s profile, since Perry’s vocals played such a key part in Journey’s hits.
“We still have fans of our music showing up in the last year that don't know Steve Perry isn't in the band," keyboardist Jonathan Cain said during the Television Critics Association Press Tour panel.
Cain recalled a 2007 concert in which fans were quiet for the first 30 minutes before they started applauding Pineda’s vocals. “It took them 30 minutes to finally wrap their heads around the fact that this guy could sing his butt off. At the end of the show, they were all applauding Arnel's efforts,” he said.
As The Hollywood Reporter notes, before Pineda, the group had taken a touring hiatus. Then, Sopranoscreator David Chase used “Don’t Stop Believin’” in the show’s finale and suddenly there was renewed interest in their work. Cain said that Glee also helped raise their profile.
“David had called us, and we knew a year in advance that [the song] was going to close the show,” Cain said. “That period of time before was a dark one for Neal, the guys and I. … We didn't have a singer, and these coincidences just started to appear.”
“Journey's popularity had been based on a generational fan base, passed down from parents to kids,” Ross Valory added. “What we discovered with the Glee phenomenon and The Sopranos is that we're finding young school kids singing these songs, and they weren't raised with them.”
The PBS documentary airs on Sept. 30.
image: Phey Palma/Wikimedia Commons
