Arnel Pineda
The country's pride, Arnel Pineda, the lead singer of popular American rock band Journey, is back in the country after his debut stint abroad.
"I arrived here Wednesday morning, March 12," Pineda told abs-cbnNEWS.com in an exclusive interview inside the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City.
Pineda just arrived from his debut performances as a new band member of Journey in Viña del Mar in Chile and Las Vegas, Nevada.
"I performed with the band in Viña del Mar in Chile then in Santiago. I had two performances in America and two performances in Chile."
Pineda, who hails from Quezon City, left the country to be with his new bandmates at the end of January this year and went straight to Los Angeles, California to rehearse for two weeks, then stayed for a while in San Francisco and went to Chile for his kick-off show.
According to Pineda he will never forget his first appearance as the vocalist of Journey, especially because the show was held in Viña del Mar, known to be solidly for Steve Perry (Journey's lead vocalist until 1998).
"It was a nerve-wracking experience. It feels like it's your first night with your love one after you get married, like that. And I can't believe that they welcomed me especially in Viña del Mar. Solid Steve Perry fans are there, and they embraced me," Pineda said.
High pressure
The singer shared that the pressure for his new work is high but his new bandmates were there to support and guide him.
"Of course there's pressure but my bandmates are there to guide me. It's like I came from little league and now I joined a major league. So I'm reaching a different standard.
Pineda added that he is close to all band members: "They are all okay, I talk to all of them."
He also revealed that there were some who threw criticisms against him but for him he took it as part of his work.
"Of course there were criticisms, you cannot please everyone, it's just like that. Actually they are just telling me, reading it to me but I don't mind it since my focus is to work, I just want to work," Pineda said.
He added "so if there are criticisms, what I am doing to correct myself is to watch again my performances."
Pineda is back in the country to stay with his family for Holy Week, after which he is set to go back in the US on March 29 to do one show.
The singer joined his first band at age 15 and has been singing professionally for the past 25 years. His voice also won him the Best Vocalist award at the World Band Explosion in 1987 -- a feat that he repeated the following year.
He has been a veteran of several bands and is a regular in clubs in Makati, Olongapo and Quezon City. His latest band, The Zoo, released its first album "Zoology" under MCA Universal Records last September 2007.
It is Pineda's stint in The Zoo that got him noticed by Journey axeman Neal Schon. Schon said he was looking for a replacement singer on popular video-sharing site YouTube.com when he discovered videos of Pineda and The Zoo singing Journey songs, such as "Open Arms" and "Faithfully".
After this, the band asked Pineda to join them as their vocalist and the rest is history.
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