Rock Bands Keep Playing Singer Shuffle

For better or worse, it’s the singer in rock bands who is the focal point.

No matter how hot the guitarist may be, or whether the bassist writes the songs, it’s the singer who becomes the literal mouthpiece of the band--and usually its best-known member.

What happens when lead singers vacate their vaunted slot? Some bands fold, as Nirvana did.

In that case, it was in part to honor the memory of Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide. The Beatles and Grateful Dead are among the bands that chose not to continue without key members.

But that’s not always what has happened after lead singers have died. The Doors attempted to soldier on as a trio after the death of Jim Morrison 30 years ago last week. (It didn’t work.) More recently, the surviving members recorded an album using a revolving cast of lead singers. (That didn’t do so well either.)

After a plane crash killed lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and two other members, Lynyrd Skynyrd called it quits in 1977. After the reaction to a show by surviving members to mark the 10th anniversary of the crash in 1987--with Johnny Van Zant taking over vocals for his late big brother--the reunited Skynyrd has been touring and recording ever since.

AC/DC hardly skipped a beat after the death of lead singer Bon Scott in 1980; singer Brian Johnson took over in time for the “Back in Black” album.

When singers leave their bands for solo careers or after “creative differences,” the band often vows to go on as if to prove it wasn’t the singer who made the band.

That was the case with Bad Company, which recorded several albums with Brian Howe on vocals after Paul Rodgers went solo. That was also the case with Black Sabbath, which, after the departure of Ozzy Osbourne, forged on with Ronnie James Dio.

Most famously, Van Halen continued after the departure of David Lee Roth with different singers, some (Sammy Hagar) more successful than others (Gary Cherone). The band is currently without a permanent vocalist.

When Zach De La Rocha quit Rage Against the Machine late last year, the rest of the band vowed to go on. But they also said the band that emerges would no longer be known as Rage (a road previously followed by the band Joy Division, which became New Order after Ian Curtis committed suicide in 1980).

In one of rock’s most peculiar replacements, Judas Priest continued to tour after Rob Halford left. They replaced him with Tim “Ripper” Owens, formerly of a Midwestern Priest cover band.

The singer switcheroo is occurring this summer in a tour headlined by Journey, the platinum pop-metal group from the ‘80s, which decided not to wait for Steve Perry to return.

After touring with a surprising sound-alike singer in Steve Augeri for three years, the band--with originals Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain and Ross Valory, aided by drummer Deen Castronovo--is on its biggest tour yet, supporting its new album, “Arrival,” with concerts in 56 cities.

So far, audiences have been accepting, says Journey founding guitarist Schon (who notes that Perry wasn’t the original Journey singer anyway).

Getting a new singer was the last gasp in waiting for Perry to return. “When he said he wanted to take a break, I figured ... a year or two tops,” Schon says. “Not that he had written the whole thing off.”

After all, Perry and the band seemed to have fun making their last album together, the 1996 “Trial by Fire,” although even that album was a trial. It followed Schon and Cain’s stint in the band Bad English with John Waite, and Perry’s own solo album.

The “Trial by Fire” comeback “was met with open arms from the public, no pun intended,” Schon says. But because Perry suffered an accident in Hawaii, the band never got on the road.

“We waited two years for him to get himself better,” Schon says. “Then he needed a hip replacement, and during that time we waited, but . . . [he] would not commit to anything. I literally threw up my hands, I was so frustrated at that point.”

The remainder of the band had a meeting. “I said we can leave this alone, or we’ve got nothing to lose by trying to revamp the band. So we decided to throw something up and see if it would stick.”

Schon had been working with another famous singer, Rodgers, on a number of recording and touring projects. But he never considered asking the former Bad Company singer to join Journey.

Bringing him in would have meant a major star as front man but, Schon says, “you’d have to forget about the older material.”

And older music has been sustaining Journey for years. Each week, its “Greatest Hits” sells more than the latest recording by any number of new rock bands. It’s still regularly on Billboard’s Top 10 selling catalog albums.

They learned about Augeri from his work in Tall Stories.

“I always thought that whole band sounded like a rocked-out version of Journey,” Schon says. “And I thought Steve Augeri sounded like a young Steve Perry.

“You listen to some of that stuff, and it’s uncanny how similar these guys sound. . . . They just have same sort of timbre.”

At the same time, Schon adds, “they’re two different characters, two different singers. Steve Augeri is more in the rock and blues vein, and Steve Perry is more into that pop and balladry.”

What if they got a call from Perry asking if he could return?

“I’d have to say I’m very busy.”