Jeff Scott Soto: Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force

Jeff Scott Soto says he would have been better accepted by JOURNEY fans during his time with the band if former JOURNEY vocalist Steve Perry "was no longer with us."

Soto, who previously sang with Yngwie Malmsteen, joined JOURNEY about a week and half into a six-week summer 2006 tour with DEF LEPPARD, after Steve Augeri began having vocal issues. Soto had earlier worked with JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon and drummer Deen Castronovo in the short-lived side project SOUL SIRKUS. JOURNEY named Soto its permanent lead singer in December 2016 before firing him just five months later.



Jeff discussed his time with JOURNEY during an appearance on a recent episode of the "Breaking Absolutes With Peter Orullian" podcast. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "One of the hardest parts about singing for JOURNEY… Okay, first of all, replacing Steve Perry, Steve Augeri already had that task. But now I had the task of replacing the guy who replaced the guy. Now, if it were QUEEN, if it were a situation like QUEEN or AC/DC where the singer is deceased, there's no way that singer's ever gonna sing those songs again, so for the bands to forge on, they have to get a new singer. Stop whining, stop bitching, stop moaning — the band's moving forward with a new singer because their original singer is no longer with us. Steve Perry was alive and well. Nobody knew his whereabouts, nobody knew if he was recording; all he ever said was, 'I'm retired from singing, retired from performing.' But the fans, especially the fairweather fans who are not watching all the Blabbermouths and all the talk and all the gossip, the fairweather fans will just come to a JOURNEY [show] and all they'll say is, 'That ain't Steve Perry.' Because they don't even know he hasn't been in the band for 20 years. All they know is, 'Who's that guy? This ain't JOURNEY. What's going on here?' They feel duped. So that was probably the hardest part about singing for JOURNEY for me, was going on stage every night when a good portion of the audience was going, 'Wait, Steve Perry's alive. He can still sing, I bet. Why isn't he doing this? Why do they have this guy?' If Steve Perry was no longer with us, I think it would have been a little easier transition."

Perry sang on many of JOURNEY's best-known hits, including "Open Arms", "Any Way You Want It", "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Who's Cryin' Now".

Two years ago, Soto told "The Robbcast Podcast" that performing JOURNEY's classic songs originally sung by Perry was no easy task. "It was difficult — it was really, really difficult to adapt," he admitted. "First of all, my voice was already kind of going through its changes. If I had gotten that JOURNEY gig even five years earlier, I would have destroyed, I would have just killed the range, the intensity of what Perry left behind."

Asked if JOURNEY ever made him an official member of the band, Jeff told "The Robbcast Podcast": "In December of 2006, when the entire DEF LEPPARD run was done for the year, there was an official press release that they inducted me as their permanent singer at that point. And this is the part that kind of pisses me off still to this day, because there's zero mention, there's zero attention brought to the fact that I was even in the band and I did those tours. You look at the JOURNEY web site, I don't exist — my name is not there. It goes from Perry to Augeri to Arnel [Pineda]. It's like it didn't exist. It's kind of strange. How can that not exist when I have… I have photo clippings. I even still have URL sites that show you when I was officially made a member of the band. And then for them to act like it didn't exist or to say that they wanted a signature sound and I was only supposed to be a hired gun and just to get them through the tour, that kind of bums me out, man. 'Cause have at least enough respect to tell the truth or to even sugarcoat it and say, 'Yeah, Jeff was a permanent member of the band, but we realized, as we were going into that, that it was a decision we had to change and that's why we moved on or eventually got Arnel,' or whatever. Because I was in the background listening to Neal doing interviews when we were doing the European tour, saying I was their new singer and that we could finally get past the ghost of Steve Perry and blah blah blah. I was there, and I heard all of that. And to not have that acknowledgement now, it just hurts."

Acclaimed rock vocalist Jeff Scott Soto will release his next solo project, "The Duets Collection, Vol. 1", on October 8. For this album, Soto wanted to do a career retrospective and re-record some of his favorite songs from his storied career, but with the twist that he invited friends to join him on duets of said songs. Today, fans can get another taste of the album with the release of "Coming Home" (originally performed by Soto with SOUL SIRKUS) where he is joined by Deen Castronovo (JOURNEY).

Using the downtime from his normally relentless touring activity due to the worldwide pandemic, Soto decided to create a very special album which pays tribute to some of the classic songs he has recorded over the course of his storied career. But rather than simple re-records, he wanted to make the album something special, unique. So, not only did he re-record these songs with his musical friends Jorge Salan, Howie Simon (guitars), Leo Mancini (guitars), Tony Dickinson (bass) and Edu Cominato (drums), but he called in some of his fellow rock friends/vocalists to create a unique duets album. With the likes of Erik Mårtensson (ECLIPSE, W.E.T.), Eric Martin (MR. BIG), Johnny Gioeli (HARDLINE), Deen Castronovo (REVOLUTION SAINTS, JOURNEY), Nathan James (INGLORIOUS), Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X), Renan Zonta (ELECTRIC MOB), Dino Jelusick (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA), Mats Levén (CANDLEMASS, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA), BJ (SPEKTRA, SOTO), and Aliro Netto (SHAMAN, QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA), this is an amazing international affair.

The track listing alone will surely make any JSS fan excited, much less hearing the final product. Where can you get such an amazing list of singers and songs all in the same place?

Jeff says: "It was a dream to cast these voices and I am so amped for you to hear the results…”

Soto is a man that needs virtually no introduction to any discerning melodic rock fan. Jeff launched his career at the young age of 18 years old in tremendous fashion as the lead vocalist for Yngwie Malmsteen's debut album, "Rising Force", and the sophomore effort, "Marching Out". That first step into the spotlight has led to a career that has seen Jeff play and work with an outstanding number of artists and genres from the AOR of EYES and TAKARA, to the hard rock and metal of TALISMAN, AXEL RUDI PELL, SOUL SIRKUS, and, of course, his time with the legendary JOURNEY. Jeff has also maintained a solo career over the past decades, while also recently joining up with the progressive metal supergroup SONS OF APOLLO.

Track listing:

01. Livin' The Life (ROCK STAR) with Erik Mårtensson (ECLIPSE/W.E.T.)
02. Don't Let It End (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) - with Dino Jelusick (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA)
03. Mysterious (TALISMAN) - with Eric Martin (MR. BIG)
04. Believe In Me (JSS) - with Nathan James (INGLORIOUS)
05. Coming Home (SOUL SIRKUS) - with Deen Castronovo (REVOLUTION SAINTS, ex-JOURNEY)
06. I'll Be Waiting (TALISMAN) - with Alirio Netto (SHAMAN, QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA)
07. Callin' All Girls (EYES) - with Russell Allen (SYMPHONY X, ALLEN/LANDE)
08. Colour My XTC (TALISMAN) - with Renan Zonta (ELECTRIC MOB)
09. Warrior (AXEL RUDI PELL) - with Johnny Gioeli (HARDLINE, AXEL RUDI PELL)
10. Holding On (JSS) - with BJ (SOTO, SPEKTRA)
11. Again 2 B Found (HUMANIMAL) - with Mats Levén (CANDLEMASS, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA)

Lineup:

Jeff Scott Soto - Vocals, Bass and Keys
Edu Cominato - Drums
Tony Dickinson - Bass
Jorge Salan - Guitars
Howie Simon - Guitars and Bass
Leo Mancini - Guitars