This Journey Drama is Getting Very Ugly
The past few months have seen Journey’s guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain at odds on social media over a number of differences, but some recent have events could really affect the future of the band.
At the center of the latest Journey drama is a visit to the White House by Cain (whose wife, televangelist Paula White-Cain, is President Donald Trump’s spiritual advisor), bassist Ross Valory and singer Arnel Pineda. The visit, which included a photo op in the Oval Office with President Trump, was reported in the press by some outlets to sound as if all of Journey was in attendance during the visit.
Enter Neal Schon…
Schon was not aware of this visit and learned about it in the press, and as a result, posted a status to Facebook that stated, “I will remain strong and consistent with the belief we’ve always shared and agreed upon – Journey should never be used and exploited by anyone, especially band members for politics or any one religion. I’ve been here since 1972, and this has always been our belief. This was with intent to exploit the brand and use the name. Journey was not there; three individual members were…tours are done all the time but it could have been privately. The members who attended know my position and the way we’ve always been until now. Steve Perry, myself, and the rest have always agreed the music we created is for everyone…I had no prior knowledge of this from anyone. Not band members or management. This clearly shows no respect or unity, just divide.
The past few days has seen flurry of activity by Schon on social media, especially Twitter, where he posted pointed comments about Valory and Pineda.
Amen 🙏🏾 to that. I don't deserve this bs I will cut it all out like cancer. Too f ing toxic to live in https://t.co/t8gIJXTX22
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) August 3, 2017
He's living the American Dream ... how quickly everyone forgets where they came from. I think the RRHOF has gone to everyone's head. Not me https://t.co/KkhbWrX2JV
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) July 29, 2017
Schon also shared a recent segment from NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers that heavily criticized White-Cain and her work with the New Destiny Christian Center.
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) August 2, 2017
And then the latest tweets from Schon elude to his Journey bandmates wanting to tour without him.
How would you feel if u found out that the rest of the band wanted to tour without me? I've always been 100%JRNY and made the right choices
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) August 3, 2017
They will not tour with Journey name. Trust me. I've spent way too long building to give up the brand https://t.co/XrhqLwqBAn
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) August 3, 2017
As for Cain, Valory and Pineda, Pineda was the only Journey member to address the White House visit with the following tweet:
reminder..i dont belong to any political group nor inclined to any religious sect.not a single piece of my bone ambition such quest. https://t.co/dU78TQQbRX
— Arnel Pineda (@arnelpineda) August 2, 2017
Like with this entire Journey drama, we doubt this is the last we’ve heard from anyone. As always, stay tuned for any future updates.
Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock blogger. The first man she ever loved was Jack Daniel. (True story.)
