JEFF SCOTT SOTO Discusses His Dismissal From JOURNEY; Audio Available

Legendary hard rock vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (ex-YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN, JOURNEY, TALISMAN) recently spoke to "The Classic Metal Show" about his dismissal from JOURNEY. An excerpt from the chat follows:

The Classic Metal Show: We read in the press release that you were let go from JOURNEY because the band wants to go back to the "old sound." I'm curious what you were told when you were let go from the band.

Jeff Scott Soto: Actually, I can't go into too many specifics here because there are some pending things going back and forth, but what I can say is that I wasn't really told anything. I can't get into any kind of trouble by stating the true fact that I haven't spoken to any one of those guys since the last show that we did together, which was back in Virginia on May 12th. I left for Europe three days after that to start the TALISMAN farewell tour. Like I said, I haven't spoken to one guy in the band since that day. Nobody has bothered to call me, and it was all done through the management and through all their top people because they just didn't want to address it. Maybe they felt that I'd want to discuss it with them, and there just wasn't any grounds for discussion. It is what it is, and I was just kind of given the walking papers. The only thing I have to go on is exactly what you said. The press release states exactly that. They felt they needed someone that can live their legacy and do their catalog the way the fans have come to expect it. I honestly didn't see that when I was playing with them. As you said, we were kicking ass out there. Every show was just knocking them dead. It even got to the point where DEF LEPPARD had to raise their game. They went out there and went, "Guys, they are playing before us. We can't slack tonight." Every night they were on top of their game, because they realized that if they slacked off for two seconds, everyone was going to go, "JOURNEY beat them again tonight." It was a very good and healthy competition between the two bands, and God bless them for it. We're all getting up there in our years, but we all kind of felt like we were kids again going out there and doing those shows.

The Classic Metal Show: You don't have to answer this, but what I heard was that you heard that you were no longer part of JOURNEY before you were actually told.

Jeff Scott Soto: Uh…yeah. I'd rather not go into… Basically by me not commenting, that's basically saying "yes," but for the most part, I'd rather not say anything to that. I'm not about berating anybody. As far as I'm concerned, yeah… I was hurt being let go the way I was. I had a nice feeling about the band. I had a great respect for them, and I was so happy to be there. I looked forward to a nice, fruitful career with the band. That's why it hurt in being let go, but I'm not going to sit here and berate anybody and put anybody down. It's time for me to move on and it's time for them to move on. That's how I see it.

To download the interview, subscribe to "The Best Of The CMS" podcast at this location.

Watch fan-filmed video footage of JOURNEY (featuring Jeff Scott Soto) performing "Faithfully" and "Don't Stop Believing" live in Bournemouth, England on March 10, 2007: