Arnel Pineda: Rebirth with Journey at 40
DAISY C.L. MANDAP, GMANews.TV
HONG KONG - Hearing Arnel Pineda sing for the first time is always a riveting experience. Just ask any of those who might have chanced hearing his rousing rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody" at the Cavern in Lan Kwai Fong some two years ago.
His voice was so pure, so electrifying, that he would almost always get a standing ovation at the end of his performance.
It was almost a shame then that he was relegated to doing cover versions of songs by Freddie Mercury, Sting by The Police, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, and many others.
But as luck would have it, it was this special talent of sounding very much like “the original" that gave Pineda the ticket to attaining a feat he never even dared dream of---that of joining one of his favorite bands, Journey. And as its lead singer, no less.
It was Journey’s guitarist, Neal Schon, who was responsible for roping in Pineda, after seeing him on YouTube performing “Faithfully" with his Manila band, The Zoo.
“I was frustrated about not having a singer," Schon says in a blog on Journey’s website, “so I went on YouTube for a couple of days and just sat on it for hours. I was starting to think I was never going to find anybody. But then I found The Zoo and I watched a bunch of different video clips that they had posted. After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, ‘he can’t be that good.’ But he is that good, he’s the real deal and so tremendously talented."
Schon was of course, speaking about Pineda, who was himself so shocked when he first heard from Journey that he immediately dismissed it as a hoax. It was only after some prodding from a friend that he decided to reply to Schon’s email.
“Until now, I still can’t believe it. Hindi pa rin nag- si –sink in," says the diminutive singer during a recent phone interview with The Sun. “But I am so proud that it happened." It almost never did, however.
After a few talks, Schon invited Pineda to fly to San Francisco for a two-day audition in December last year. Pineda thought he blew it on the first day.
“Maraming palpak, (maybe because) I just had two hours of sleep during the 15-hour flight," he relates. “It was so nerve-wracking, the pressure was too much."
But during a recording session the next day with Schon and the other band members Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Ross Valery (bass) and Deen Castronovo (drums), Pineda managed to relax a bit. “That was the defining moment, I think."
After singing along with the group, Pineda was able to convince even Cain, their most skeptical member, that he was the man for them.
On Feb. 1, Pineda is set to leave for the U.S. again, this time to join the band in recording a new album that could be out as early as July. “After that, siguro pwede na kaming mag-tour," he said.
At the age of 40, when most musicians are bound to think fame has already slipped past, Pineda is experiencing a rebirth in his career.
It’s a big jump from his early days as a member of various bands that traveled across the Philippines and later, Hong Kong, for gigs. It was an even bigger leap from the days he was forced to sleep rough on the streets of Manila after poverty forced his family apart.
It was not always the case, though. Pineda still remembers the time when his parents, both tailors, would suit him up for amateur singing contests starting at age 5. “They knew even then that I could sing, but I was so shy," he reminisces.
At age 12, his mother died after a long illness that left his family heavily in debt. Eventually, he and his three siblings had to find ways to fend for themselves. “Naghiwa-hiwalay kami."
He became homeless, and spent much of his time sleeping at friends’ houses, and sometimes in Luneta Park.
The first opportunity to mend his shattered life came when a friend invited him to join a band. That was how, at age 15, Pineda became a professional musician.
He became a lead singer of Ijos (later renamed Hijos) band in 1982 and just five years later, first won international acclaim when he won the Best Vocalist award at the World Band Explosion in Tokyo.
He then joined a pop/rock band called Amo which played in clubs in Quezon City, Makati and Olangapo. In late 1990 Amo disbanded, and Pineda teamed up with four former bandmates to form “New Age." It was with this band that he first came to HK to sing at the now-defunct Igor’s and Grammy’s.
Nine years later, he was lured to return to the Philippines on his days off so he could record a solo album for Warner Bros. One of the songs in his self-titled album, “Iiyak Ka Rin" became a very popular karaoke tune while another, “Sayang," became a radio favorite.
Still, Pineda remained on the periphery of success, and largely made his mark singing covers of his favorite bands.
This became his trade mark even as he and three members of New Age split and joined forces with a female singer to form “Most W@nted." The band played for six days each week at The Cavern, and on Sundays, their only rest day in the week, they obliged requests to sing at Filipino community events. It was also during this time that Pineda recorded the theme song of the short-lived Filipino radio show, “Dayo."
In 2006, Pineda again decided to move back to Manila along with longtime friend and bandmate Monet Cajipe, and formed The Zoo.
That, as his newfound fame now shows, proved to be the most serendipitous move in his musical career.
Though he is soon to be a citizen of the world, Pineda says he intends to come back to HK every so often so he could retain his permanent residency, and ensure the same thing for his three sons, aged 18, 12 and 2.
That could also be his way of keeping grounded, even as he embarks on a journey that up until last month, he never thought was possible.
Listen and judge for yourself:
