If you say there’s no Journey without lead singer Steve Perry, you haven’t heard new front man Arnel Pineda perform "Faithfully" yet. He channels golden-era Perry from the 1970s—and the differences are so slight, it’s spooky. Seriously: YouTube it. Better yet, I’ll YouTube it for you.

I’ve been interested in Pineda’s story—of his Bieber-esque rise to fame—since we interviewed him for Time Out Singapore back in 2008. As the lead singer of rock band The Zoo in the Philippines, his pitch-perfect covers of "Don’t Stop Believin’" and "Faithfully" ended up—where else—on YouTube, where he was discovered by Journey guitarist Neal Schon. "The hair stood up on my arms," Schon told GQ. "I got up off the computer and told my girlfriend, ‘No way—this guy sounds too good.’"

Pineda joined the band in support of their 2008 release, Revelation, and has been making new music with them ever since. Starting this summer, they’ll tour behind a brand new album, Eclipse (out May 24), and will stop by KeyArena on October 21, with rock bands Foreigner and Night Ranger. Tickets ($30–$125) go on sale Saturday, April 9, at 10am on ticketmaster.com.

If you’re still not convinced Pineda’s a worthy successor, I’ll just leave you with the alternative.