Pencilstorm Interview: Columbus' Armada

Columbus' Armada will play one of its final shows this Saturday, Sept. 30 at King Avenue 5 rock and sports bar at 9:00pm. The Buckeyes will be on the TVs with a killer soundtrack provided by Armada. Pencilstorm sat down with Armada's lead singer, Wal Ozello, to find out more about the show and the band.

Tell me about how Armada met and your first gig?
Steve and Ted met in high school at Worthington and played in a band called Signals, inspired by their love of Rush.  Steve and I met at a bar called Jousters on North Campus where BW3s is now and hit it off when he found out I was a singer. Ted and Dave knew each other from church of all places, but Ted knew Dave played a killer guitar.  We all had a love of complex and rocking music like Rush, Journey, Triumph and Tesla.  We clicked from day one. Our first gig was opening up for Zaza at the Alrosa Villa on a Sunday night.  Sundays were commonly known as employee nights since that’s really all who were in the audience.  But it was our first show and a ton of people came out to see us.  We had this eclectic group of fans. Dave was well known at the Alrosa so many of the regulars came out to see him.  Ted and Steve had their followers from the Signal days and were in a Fraternity on campus. I knew a bunch of people from OSU that drove out for the show, plus a few friends came down from Cleveland.  We asked all of our fans to leave the stage after the show and head up to the bar area so Rick would know how many of our fans showed up.  Needless to say, after we played our set the floor was empty but the bar was packed.  Rick seemed to love us so it was off to the races after that.
 
Eventually you guys were headlining weekends at the Alrosa Villa which is no small feat. How did you get to that point? What did those fans dig about you guys?
After the first opening gig with Zaza we played a Friday/Saturday opening with a band called Sgt. Roxx from Chicago.  After two opening gigs, Rick started us as headliners.  Rumor has it that Armada was the quickest band to go from openers to headliners in the history of the Alrosa.  I think it was because we were doing stuff no one else was. People came out to see us play Rush, note for note, followed by Journey and Tesla along with originals that were a mix of all three styles. We brought in such different fans that it was crazy.  I’d look out in the audience to see some long-hair leather jacket wearing Alrosa regular rocking out next to a campus sorority girl in an ΑΧΩ shirt dancing to Any Way You Want It. It was insane.  We really fed off the crowd and it became about making sure they were having a good time and forgetting about the bullshit of life for two hours.  That’s what a real rock show should be about – forgetting about your troubles and enjoying life.  That’s what I think people dug the most.
 
Unlike many bands from that scene, you guys also played originals and cut some records. Did Armada ever have any labels sniffing around considering signing the band?
We released our first album, Don’t Give Up The Ship, in 1992.  It was a mix of our best originals.  Some leaned more towards Progressive Rock, some leaned more towards Mtv Hard Rock.  The guys from Dream Theater loved our sound when we opened for them during their Images and Words tour. We were able to get Don’t Give Up The Ship in front of a few A&R guys but never got any traction.  The reality was that a year earlier Nirvana had released Nevermind and Smells Like Teen Spirit was huge. In shuffled the Seattle sound and everything remotely connected with Hard Rock went in the trash. It was the only era in rock history where no one was looking for that high tenor voice like Geddy Lee, Rik Emmett or Steve Perry. Five years earlier or later, we might have had our chance but in 1992 is was not meant to be.
 
Did you ever imagine standing onstage at the Alrosa Villa in 1992 you would be taking the stage with the same band in 2017?
Yes. I did. I knew we had magic going on.  It was more than the music. We were four guys that wanted to make the best music while making sure our fans had a blast during our shows.  Plus, we had each other’s backs. Always.  It’s great we can make some awesome music that fans love and come out to see us over and over again. Eventually, Armada became very much like a family.  We’re all brothers. One of the songs on Don’t Give Up The Ship is called Blood Brothers which we wrote about us.  The chorus ends, “Blood Brothers… and friends to the end.” There will always be an Armada to me. I can’t imagine life without it.

Armada will be playing a mix of their originals and covers by Rush, Journey, Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne and more this Saturday, September 30 at 9:00pm at King Avenue 5 in Grandview Hts.  Check out the details here.

Journey Was The Bridge Between 70's and 80's Rock - by Wal Ozello

By Contributing Pencilstorm Writer, Wal Ozello

This coming Friday night, April 7, Journey will finally earn their rightful seat in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Unfortunately, the controversy around whether or not former front man Steve Perry will be in attendance has overshadowed the importance of this band in Rock history. (Also... how about no word of all the other players including founding member Gregg Rolie?)

Much like their hometown Golden Gate Bridge spans across the bay and connects San Francisco to Sausalito, Journey effectively connected 70's Classic Rock to 80's Power Rock.  Rooted in the San Francisco sounds of bands like Santana with a thick mix of blues, rock and jazz, Journey evolved over the years with different members much like their fellow 2017 inductee: Yes.

You can still hear their classic rock roots on their earlier albums like Infinity, Evolution and even Departure. Listen to the 70's feel in the chord structure, guitar and rhythm sections in both these songs, while the 80's feel of power rock can be felt emerging from the melody and keyboards. 

Where the band begins to push the synthesizer and arena rock envelope is in their much more successful albums, Escape and Frontiers. Here in Separate Ways is a prime example of where Neal's angry hard guitar meets power synth, topped with driving drums and bass, layered with Steve's bluesy and emotional vocals. 

For all intents and purposes, Journey invented the Power Ballad with songs like Send Her My Love, Opens Arms and probably the best 80's ballad ever, Faithfully. While the piano and vocals dominate this song, it's really the pounding, massive drum fills and wailing guitar solos that really make this song stand out.

Journey never transitioned into the MTV generation well, and due to Steve Perry's personal issues (his mother passing away during the recording of Raised on Radio and a degenerative bone condition discovered after the release of Trial By Fire), the band never had the success they had in the late 70's and early 80's.  Steve had a shortlived solo career while Neal and Jonathan teamed up with John Waite from The Babies to form Bad English, then Neal went on to play in Hardline.  Journey has tried to rekindle that magic over the years and now are basically a touring band with their new singer, Arnel Pineda.

There are many reasons why Journey belongs in the Rock Hall. Don't Stop Believin' is the most downloaded song in history. All the members of the Escape/Frontier line-up are virtuosos in their own right. Steve Perry has one of the most awesome voices in rock, Neal Schon plays a killer guitar, Jonathan Cain's talent as keyboardist is only superseded by his songwriting skills, Ross Valory plays a funky rock bass and Steve Smith is a god on drums.

But the most important thing is the impact Journey has had in rock history. We'd never have 80's rock music without Journey.  Van Halen's 1984 wouldn't have been the success it was if Journey hadn't lead the way with the powerful synth-guitar formula. Bands like Aerosmith and Van Hagar could have never made their triumphant return to rock n roll without Journey opening the door to Arena Rock.  There would be no Bon Jovi, no Huey Lewis & The News, Duran Duran, David Lee Roth, and any other Hard Rock band. We would have missed out on every hard rock power ballad that was ever written. Even Prince was influenced by their work. Concerned that Purple Rain sounded too much like Faithfully, The Purple One played the song for Jonathan Cain before its release to ask for his blessing.

I'm sure there are those that would argue a world without Bon Jovi and Huey Lewis & The News would be just fine, if not better. Those are probably the people that believe Classic Rock should have never died and their dislike of Journey runs deep.

Journey nailed the classic rock coffin shut with their release of Escape and Frontiers, ushering in a new era of rock 'n' roll. I, for one, am thankful they did. Classic Rock was going to evolve and it was better for Journey to take it into the direction they did. Congrats on your induction into the Rock Hall of Fame.

A child of the 80's, Wal Ozello is the lead singer of the Columbus hairband Armada. He's the author of the science fiction time travel books Assignment 1989, Revolution 1990 and Sacrifice 2086 and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.

I'd Rather Clean All The Bathrooms In the Schottenstein Center Than See Journey Play There - by Wal Ozello

Journey's coming to Columbus, Ohio on September 9 to play the Schottenstein Center. Tower of Power is opening for them.

You couldn't pay me enough money to be there.

Even if you're not a fan of Journey, even if you hate Journey and everything it ever stood for, let me put this in clear perspective for you.

Seeing Journey without Steve Perry is like seeing the Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger. Led Zepplin without Robert Plant. The Who without Roger Daltrey.

Heck... it's like seeing the Jackson 5 without Michael Jackson.

What makes it even more pathetic of a show, is their new lead singer is a sound-a-like.  As if you're tricking me into thinking it's really him. Who are you, Obi-wan Kenobi? You think you can do a Jedi mind trick on me?

Thank you Eddie Van Halen for finding a David Lee Roth replacement that was totally different. While Van Hagar wasn't anything like Van Halen, at least it was new, refreshing, and exciting to listen to.

But I digress... here's the whopper.  Journey thinks they are going to fill a huge arena (the OSU Basketball team plays there) and have people pay upwards to $90 to see them. Folks, the nose bleed seats are $72!

There's a lot of better ways you can spend that $72.  Go see a movie, buy a couple of CDs, visit Colin's Coffee (shameless plug for Colin's shop), come to my book signing at Colin's Coffee on Aug 16 from 10 am to Noon (shameless plug for my new book Revolution 1990), or even donate it to a homeless shelter.

But for the love of God, please don't feed Neal Schon's ego with it.

Wal Ozello is  a science fiction techno-thriller novelist and the author of Assignment 1989: The Time Travel Wars  and Revolution 1990. He's a resident of Upper Arlington, Ohio, a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee, and a long-time Steve Perry fan.

Learn more about Wal Ozello and other Pencilstorm contributors by clicking here

Journey Reunion: Very Bad Idea

While I've taken June off from blogging to finish my second novel, Revolution 1990, I've got to take a few minutes and share my thoughts on this whole Journey Reunion buzz that's going on.

For those of you who may have been under a rock for the past several weeks, Steve Perry (former lead singer of Journey) has made several surprise stage appearances. He's come on during the encore of a few EELS shows.  This immediately raises two questions: first, "Who are the EELS?" and second, "When's the Journey reunion?"

While I'd love to time travel back to 1985 and see Journey live on stage during their Frontiers heydays, the last thing I want is a Journey reunion and subsequent tour.

Let me be clear: a Journey Reunion is an extremely terrible idea.

Here's the thing: I want to remember them how they were.  If they perform today as Journey, they are going to sound like 60 year old guys trying to play Journey. To me, it's kind of depressing. Did you see the Ringo/McCartney reunion at the Grammys? It was pathetic. Do you want that to happen to your Journey memories?

It's been what, almost twenty years since Trial By Fire and even that was a far cry from their previous album Raised On Radio which wasn't even close to Frontiers.  Trial By Fire is proof that as a band, Journey had tapped out their hit writing abilities.

Steve Perry has certainly moved on musically since then and that's what I want to hear.  That guy has probably twenty-five years of melodies brewing in his head and I want to hear the best of them.  Most likely it's gonna be more rhythm and blues than corporate rock. Steve even said it himself, 'Well, I hadn't sung in 20 years -- I sounded more like Otis Redding than I did in Journey." That's a hint, folks. He's ready to record and sing stuff that sounds more like "Hard To Handle" than "Open Arms."

Can you imagine the album that can come from Steve Perry's mind and voice today? After decades of the music critics trashing him for being corporate rock, he could comes back and nail it with a deep soul album. That would be huge.

And a concert that follows?  Not one where he plays stadium crowds singing "The Girl Can't Help It," "Any Way You Want It," and "Don't Stop Believin'". No I'm talking one of those smaller venues as a singer in a smoky room, belting out Detroit Motown blues from Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and Smokey Robinson.

Can you imagine Steve Perry's version of "Who's Lovin' You?" That would be awesome. That would be an evolution of Steve Perry and a departure from his Journey years. (Pun intended there, folks.)

That's what I want to hear.

Come back Steve. But don't regress, be the Steve Perry of 2014 and not the Steve Perry of 1984.

Wal Ozello is the author of Assignment 1989: The Time Travel Wars . He's a resident of Upper Arlington, Ohio and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.

Learn more about Wal Ozello and other Pencilstorm contributors by clicking here

Hall & Oates Before Journey In The Rock Hall? Really? By Wal Ozello

Okay… it’s time for me to come up for air while editing my second book and address something that’s been bothering me for the past several months.

How the heck are Hall and Oates getting inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame before Journey?

Seriously.

Now I’m sure if Colin was here he’d be arguing that Cheap Trick should be getting in and I’m sure Ricki C. threw up in his mouth a little bit when I mentioned Journey.

But here’s the thing:

Journey falls into the category of “Aren’t they in the Hall of Fame already?” and Hall and Oates falls into the category of “Have they run out of A-list artists so they’re inducting them now?”

We all thought the Rock Hall was coming to their senses last year when they inducted Rush. But inducting Hall & Oates before Journey is evidence that still have their heads up their own ass.

Let me build my case:

Don’t Stop Believin’ is the most downloaded song on iTunes ever. Not last week. Not last month. Not last year.We’re talking the most downloaded song in the history of iTunes.Think about that for a moment.It’s been downloaded more than Stairway To Heaven, I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, Imagine, Hey Jude, Shook Me All Night Long, Beat It, You Really Got Me, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Where The Streets Have No Name, and every other song written – including She’s Gone (which a Hall & Oates’ song).

Anyway You Want It is a turn up the radio song.You know those songs: Tom Sawyer, Born To Run, American Idiot, Push It, Whipping Post, Fight For Your Right To Party, Jack & Diane, and that one song by C&C Music Factory that no one knows the name to but if you heard it you'd recognize it.  These are songs that when they come on your car radio you instantly crank up the volume and start banging on your dashboard to the beat.  Rich Girl  and Kiss Is On My List  are change the channel tunes (those are Hall & Oates songs).

By now you may be preparing the argument that Hall & Oates have talent and that’s what got them into the Rock Hall. Journey has them beat on talent tenfold.

Name one person in modern music that has a better voice than Steve Perry. Okay… for those of you that had the brilliance to respond with Freddie Mercury here’s what Queen guitarist Brian May said, "Perry is a truly luminous singer, in my opinion—a voice in a million." Steve Perry’s nickname is “The Voice.” And if you’re arguing that Daryl Hall has a more bluesy voice than Perry, listen to this video comparison of Steve and Sam Cooke:

But here’s the thing… Steve’s not the only talent in the band. Check out this guitar solo from Neal Schon.

And Jonathan Cain is an amazing keyboardist. Folks, that’s the guy that wrote Faithfully, Don’t Stop Believin’, Who’s Cryin’ Now, and Separate Ways. For a better keyboard player you’d have to probably chose Gregg Rolie – the original Journey keyboard player. Both these guys have more talent in their pinky knuckle than Daryl Hall does in his whole hand when it comes to playing keyboards. Listen to this whole solo – it’s got rock, classical, and blues all mixed in:

Journey has had many extremely talented members weave in and out of their ranks over the years – a total of 13 people. Heck, they were founded by the members of Santana!

Now here’s the thing that I think is the capper: Journey’s music is a soundtrack to our lives. Don’t Stop Believin’ is the most amazing pick me up song. Several national baseball teams have used it as their anthem! Could you imagine Maneater as a baseball song (that’s a Hall & Oates song). More people have danced to Faithfully at their wedding than Sarah Smile (that’s a Hall & Oates song). More people have used Who’s Cryin’ Now or Send Her My Love to get over a bad breakup than any of those Hall & Oates songs. And think about all those people who got laid because of Any Way You Want It or Stone in Love.

Just look at Journey’s discography and you’ll see dozens of songs that last a lifetime. I bet the average person can’t even name five Hall & Oates songs that bring back a vivid memory of their high school years.

One last point. Some people may make the argument that Journey is corporate rock and doesn’t belong in the Rock Hall because they are too commercial. If that’s the case, what are they doing letting in KISS?

To all the members of Journey who got snubbed again this year and their fans, take listen to this song and hope for next year:

Wal Ozello is the author of Assignment 1989: The Time Travel Wars and is the lead singer of the Columbus hairband Armada. He's a resident of Upper Arlington, Ohio and a frequent customer at Colin's Coffee.