Journey frontman Arnel Pineda shed light on the band's upcoming studios set mostly recorded in quarantine. The still-unnamed album will mark the band's followup to 2011's Eclipse, and will be the first to feature its latest lineup with Pineda, co-founder Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain, along with new recruits — drummer Narada Michael Walden and returning bassist Randy Jackson.
Arnel Pineda spoke with Front Row Live Entertainment and was asked if the band is trying to experiment more in the studio: “They're trying. But at the same time, they're trying to stay somewhat in the tradition, in the legacy. It's a 50-50 thing. I mean, it would be kind of boring if you keep on staying on the same path. Of course, we people, we get bored and we try to do something else, see if works. And then, if it works, then, 'Hey, let's do it more.' And then, when it's starting to get sour again, then maybe we should get back to the old style and let's just put a little twist and maybe the fans will like it again.”
Pineda, who vocally, is a dead-ringer for the band's legendary former frontman Steve Perry, was asked how he balances being himself and covering the same ground as Perry did in the studio. He explained, “You want it to be you in that album, but you have to be able to capture that soul and relay it, because the fans are expecting, it has to be Journey. They got used to that sound.”
He went on to explain, “I'm just trying to be me now — I just sing it the way I wanna sing it — because I like to assume that I've already captured the soul. I just want to be me with my voice, and then I just wanna relax and be able to share my own passion, but at the same time, still send the soul of Steve Perry out there. And so far, the (other) guys are not complaining about my sound. I'm just kind of anxious now what the fans will say as soon as they hear this new album. The anxiety is gonna kill me now.”
Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain says that the band considers itself lucky to have found Pineda: “We had to regroup and we had the year to do it and we decided that we really needed to go to task and find someone that was going to take our music into the next decade. So, we set about that and of course YouTube was helpful and Neal found Arnel, and it was a terrific find and a difficult task at best to work out all the logistics.”