Q&A: Journey's Arnel Pineda

After a while I felt his sincerity, so I gave in and then we exchanged numbers and I told him that we just released an album in the Philippines and we have a manager so it may be a bit of a problem. So [he spoke to my manager] and then we had an agreement that they're gonna help me find a way to process my application for a visa to get to San Francisco, and the rest was history.

Tell me about first meeting the band and your first audition.
Well I was in awe. I was star-struck, because, you know, my God, in the flesh. Real life, real time, I get to see them, I get to shake their hands ... And I was very nervous. It was nerve-wracking because, for the first time, I'm gonna sing with one of the most popular, the best bands in the world. It was lots of tremendous mixed emotion.

How did they tell you that you had the job?
Mr. Neal Schon broke it to me, the good news. I was in a hotel, he picked me up, and then he told me. I was on my way downstairs and he told me, "You got the job, boy."

Can you explain to me the sensation of walking onstage in front of all those people for the first time?
It's very scary. I was so terrified. I was just very, very afraid. Two minutes before we hit the stage, I told them that I just want to back out. But Neal Schon told me, "No. It's too late now. You can't back out anymore." So there I go. He pushed me a little, like, kiddingly, "Go. Go. Sing for us."

And how's the tour been so far? Are you more comfortable onstage now?
I am quite comfortable with the stage now, but, for me, it's still a very grueling tour. I haven't done this before. I may have done an every-night gig in Hong Kong because I was there for almost 16 years, and in Manila, Philippines, I did gigs there. After the gig, you get to go home to the same place and same house, but here, it's like ... you know? You get to experience disrupted sleep ... You get to sleep a couple of hours in the bus and then they wake you up and then you need to try to sleep back in the hotel, and then they wake you up ... two o'clock in the afternoon to do sound check, and then you have to wait there until nine o'clock.

So it's very hectic. It's very stressful. It's a very, very challenging job. It's a fantastic job, but at the same time it's a curse. Trying to fill up very, very big shoes.