JEFF SCOTT SOTO Talks About The Vocal Challenges Of JOURNEY's Songs
March 1, 2007, 17 years ago
JOURNEY vocalist JEFF SCOTT SOTO (ex-SOUL SIRKUS, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, TALISMAN) frequently stops by the Journey and JSS message boards to post and on the eve of the band's UK tour he made the following comment on how he has adapted to singing the Journey catalog since he first came on board in mid-2006:
"When I first went out to join the tour, I was using too much of my normal technique which was 'belt it for all it's worth,' forgetting the range and even emotion of Perry's style didn't match that. He was a powerful singer himself but in a different way, his voice was smooth and silky but it projected. I was pushing it the way I would normally hit the notes on my stuff but it sounded too hard or aggressive, at times making it difficult to hit the range on some things. I simply pulled it back a bit to get the natural highs as well as texture my voice helping keep true to the original sound as much as possible without cloning it. I was so hugely influenced by Perry growing up but knew that would be a dead end in having my own identity, as well, it didn't fit the format of albums I'd done through my formative years, so I strayed from that silky, smoothness & opted for a more power tenor as I started my professional career. Now it's all about revisiting it all so my voice works for me AND the audience."(Thanks Melodicrock.com)
