Singer Jeff Scott Soto, a veteran of the YNGWIE MALMSTEEN band,

TALISMAN, AXEL RUDI PELL, TAKARA and HUMAN CLAY, is to front up a brand new Californian “supergroup”. Joining Soto is the JOURNEY pairing of guitarist Neal Schon and drummer Deen Castronovo, with Marco Mendoza on bass. Mendoza's credits include THIN LIZZY, WHITESNAKE and TED NUGENT. The as-yet-unnamed band has already cut six demo songs in San Francisco at Jonathan Cain's studios.

Still very much members of JOURNEY, Schon and Castronovo's last side endeavor was the hotly tipped but now defunct PLANET U.S. project with Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani and Michael Anthony. Soto has recently been making a name for himself at international QUEEN conventions.

Jeff had this to say to Melodic Rock about the project: “Things are going beyond well here. The talent is ridiculous in this line-up. I'm working my ass off!” Neal added: “We are working on some of my songs and it is sounding very cool to say the least. I've got some great new stuff coming.”

Jeff and Neal met for the 1st time at the Winter NAMM Convention in L.A. After jamming together with Jeff's band, immediate plans were set to write and record together which has now flourished into the new band. Potential live dates may follow soon.

February 23. 2004