Time to hang it up?

[executioner]

How do you know there is dirt? Nothing wrong with wanting to know.

No, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with wanting to know, and there doesn't necessarily have to be dirt. Wrong becomes an issue when people seem to think they are due an explanation and then start bad mouthing them if they don't happen to get the information they are demanding. There's nothing written saying they have to kill themselves trying to please everyone, and there will always be someone who isn't pleased no matter what they do anyway.

I like!

[brent]

From time to time I announce a break. Eventually I begin interacting again.

Well, I learned something about myself today, and took one between the eyes at church this morning. How timely. As a result, I am not going to be frequenting these types of forums as much. This whole topic has stirred me in a bad way, and I don't like that about myself.

So, time to lay low.

Some of you are friends on Facebook and/or chat on the old archaic telephone, hit me up over there.

[thunderecho]

How do you know there is dirt? Nothing wrong with wanting to know.

I wasn't referring to anything specifically with this band. I have no clue what went on behind the scenes with CP. Nor do I have desire to know.

[Mountain Man]

Look at Arnel of Journey. Poor guy is my age and has shot his pipes in his 40s. He can't do a complete show without having vocal issues and was in for surgery.

That's because he destroyed his pipes trying to sing like a 20-year old Steve Perry, who was phenomenal in his prime.

[Mountain Man]

OOOOOOH maaaaaAAAAAAAANNNNN. Bon Jovi! John has lost it. He sings using some weird techniques now. It is a nasal/head voice. Richie Sambora is a better singer.

From what I've read, Jon Bon Jovi blew out his voice on the Slippery When Wet world tour that seemed to last forever. After recovering, he visited a voice coach who taught him to sing the way he does now...it's supposed to reduce strain on the vocal cords. But yeah, I agree...he sounds really weird now.

Paul Stanley of KISS, Don Dokken, Stephen Pearcy of Ratt, Vince Neil of Motley Crue, Stephen Stills of CSN&Y...these are just a few well known singers that have "lost it". You want horrendous? Look at any Youtube videos of Meatloaf in concert within the last few years...yeeesh! A friend of mine saw Dokken in concert last year, and he said "Don sounded more like Tom Waits than Don Dokken". Even recent performances by Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney have people talking that maybe they should "call it a day".

So John Schlitt has lost a bit on his high range? Give the guy a break...like many have already mentioned, he's in his 60s and a grandfather! I could count on one hand the number of hard rock singers that sounded good in their 60s. Besides John, Ian Gillan of Deep Purple and Ronnie James Dio (R.I.P.) come to mind.

So I guess my two cents is that John should not "hang it up". I'll be buying his Christmas album, and hopefully Petra has an Iowa concert date in the future.

A lot of rock vocalists have killed their voices through lack of training and improper techniques. I have huge respect for Ken Tamplin who has done some serious study into vocal techniques and conditioning and as a result has maintained one of the most "in shape" voices in the industry. He can still sing like he could 20-years ago. Search YouTube for "ken tamplin vocal academy".

[rexreed]

or you can visit the other topics where there is a post about Tamplin. Sadly, no one ever commented on it:( At least mm likes KT. I think a lot of keeping your voive depends on your range in the first place, along with how often you abuse the vocal chords.

[GS.]

I saw Petra at Kingsfest yesterday and I thought they had it. I also found you never realize how good John's voice is until you hear it in person.

[petrafied]

I can honestly say that I have not read the entire 7 pages of comments on this topic, however I read the first page and the last page for sure. Which, it has strayed a little, but that's okay . Now let me begin, I am a huge fan of Petra and John Schlitt, and yes you guys are going to kill me on this! But I have always felt of the 1990s Petra with John, as my favorite, and as the true Petra. I thought classic Petra was a good idea and everything, but that was not something that blew me away. I like their stuff from back in the day, but I felt like they were always on the outside(Festivals, shows, albums, charting) with that lineup. I am 18 and just graduated from high school, and when I talked to people about music festivals that they were attending, spirit song was almost always on the list, and people would look Petra up by their latest album and for the first time I saw that people were excited to see Petra! Now, I have never seen Petra (Farewell or whatever its being called anymore) in concert but the fact that these 4 were touring together made me excited to see them. I personally feel like this is a great group that I would love to see an album from. And yes I know that these guys together have never done a full album, but I still consider them to be a true form of Petra. Side note though, I was a roadie at friendfest and every big band had a keyboardist even peter furler! so they may need to bring the keyboard back!!!! . The point is, this lineup is finally in a situation to have people listen and have a newer sound (And yes that is something I love about Petra and why I don't like hearing "well that's not Petra" on albums like No Doubt or God Fixation, because they always alter a little bit in order to influence the followers and new listeners, that's what makes them so great!!! They aren't the old people that switch to the southern gospel scene!) and the summer festival circuit is the best way to gain fans and this Petra can do just that, gain excitement and fans! I watched them on youtube at kings fest and they sounded great, so I say let them rock!!!!

[GS.]

I agree with what you said bout people being excited to see petra. When I was at Kingsfest I saw many younger fans who never heard about petra rocking away saying you know what these guys rock. These festivals are helping petra and I think if they keep it up they can be back up there again.

[Mountain Man]

They would need lots of dollars, the band working full-time, and a serious marketing push to mount a comeback at this point. Fan loyalty and word of mouth won't get the job done, as Classic Petra proved.

[executioner]

They would need lots of dollars, the band working full-time, and a serious marketing push to mount a comeback at this point. Fan loyalty and word of mouth won't get the job done, as Classic Petra proved.

I'm not sure of all the details but I will tell you that Capitol Records is really interested in doing something with this formation of Petra; there is at the very least interest in a full length all new material album, plus some market backing for a tour. This is something that Classic Petra never had and probably did contribute to where they are now. BTW Capitol is the one moving this thing along, out of no where they approached Bob about all this sometime last year.

[gman]

When their set at Creation was unfortunately cut to four songs due to the rain, my friend was looking up where else they were playing to see if we could catch a show somewhere else. I don't know where or exactly what he read, but he got the indication that Petra has played some shows with Skillet, or would be playing shows with them. Maybe it was that they were doing festivals the same day as Skillet. I don't know, but something like that would help them.
I was a little concerned after watching some videos where John was bailing on the vocals left and right, but he sounded awesome at Creation. The whole band did. Dance rocks more now than the original. My first thought was these guys got hosed on the time slot, they should be a closing act. Or at least the second to last act. They can't really close a major festival at this point because they don't have the stage show that the big bands have.
I hope this grows and we get new material, and they can do a lot of shows and get hooked up with a major tour.

[executioner]

When their set at Creation was unfortunately cut to four songs due to the rain, my friend was looking up where else they were playing to see if we could catch a show somewhere else. I don't know where or exactly what he read, but he got the indication that Petra has played some shows with Skillet, or would be playing shows with them. Maybe it was that they were doing festivals the same day as Skillet. I don't know, but something like that would help them.
I was a little concerned after watching some videos where John was bailing on the vocals left and right, but he sounded awesome at Creation. The whole band did. Dance rocks more now than the original. My first thought was these guys got hosed on the time slot, they should be a closing act. Or at least the second to last act. They can't really close a major festival at this point because they don't have the stage show that the big bands have.
I hope this grows and we get new material, and they can do a lot of shows and get hooked up with a major tour.

The only Skillet connections I know of is them playing the festivals together and also in Skillet's new DVD released with their new album John Cooper talks about him being in music and he said Petra, D&K, Stryper & and a few others music(spoken in that order) is what got him started in music; he is a HUGE 80's music lover.

[Mountain Man]

They would need lots of dollars, the band working full-time, and a serious marketing push to mount a comeback at this point. Fan loyalty and word of mouth won't get the job done, as Classic Petra proved.

I'm not sure of all the details but I will tell you that Capitol Records is really interested in doing something with this formation of Petra; there is at the very least interest in a full length all new material album, plus some market backing for a tour. This is something that Classic Petra never had and probably did contribute to where they are now. BTW Capitol is the one moving this thing along, out of no where they approached Bob about all this sometime last year.

Interesting. I could go for another album from Jekyll and Hyde Petra.