Journey is still believin' — and on its way to San Antonio this Friday

click to enlarge

Courtesy Photo / Journey

The current lineup of Journey includes Jonathan Cain (left), Neil Schon (middle) and Arnel Pineda (right).

Having headlined arenas this past spring, the band is spending much of the summer co-headlining a stadium tour with Def Leppard with the Steve Miller Band opening. The package tour heads to San Antonio’s Alamodome on Friday, Aug. 16.

Guitarist and founding member Neal Schon and keyboardist-guitarist Jonathan Cain agree that today’s edition of the band has never played or sounded better.

Speaking during a recent interview, the Schon and Cain — the two remaining members going back to the early 1980s when Journey was churning out hits like “Don’t Stop Believing,” “Any Way You Want It,” “Open Arms” and “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” — shared thoughts on the band’s past, the 2022 album Freedom, recent lawsuits, disputes and personnel changes. They also talked about regaining a level of popularity that has Journey headlining arenas and stadiums.

“Neal would tell you it’s probably the most solid band we’ve had in a while. We finally found a great sound guy in England who really gets it,” Cain said. “The band has never sounded better. So I’m really happy with the way it gets presented. Finally, it sounds like the Journey everybody knows. It’s back to the ‘80s, that’s what it sounds like.”

Despite that, there was plenty of not-so-long-ago speculation about whether Journey, having regained its status as an arena headliner, might see it all come apart — just as the band reached the 50^-year mark.

In 2020, long-time bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith, a member during Journey’s 1980s peak, were fired after they sued to gain rights to the Journey name — a move Schon and Cain termed an attempted coup. The suit was eventually settled amicably, according to the band. Terms of the settlement haven't been made public.

Soon a revamped lineup was in place, with drummer Narada Michael Walden and bassist Randy Jackson stepping in to join Schon, Cain, keyboardist Jason Derlatka and singer Arnel Pineda, who joined in 2007. This version of Journey made the studio album Freedom during the pandemic with Walden producing. The band then returned to touring in spring 2021 with drummer Deen Castronovo — a member of Journey from 1998 to 2015 — replacing Walden and Todd Jensen joining on bass.

But there were more issues to come. This time between Schon and Cain.

In early 2023, the pair traded lawsuits over access to an American Express account used to handle Journey’s finances. Cain had blocked Schon from having access because he felt the guitarist was recklessly spending the band’s money, an assertion Schon denied.

Schon also sent a cease and desist letter to Cain after the keyboardist joined a sing-along of “Don’t Stop Believing” at a November 2022 event for former president Donald Trump. Cain’s wife, Paula, had served as a spiritual advisor to Trump, and the couple became friends with and supporters of the former president.

Schon took offense to Cain’s performance, noting that Journey never was and never would be a political band.

Now all seems well again within Journey after Schon and Cain had a heart-to-heart talk last fall and resolved the credit card lawsuits.

“Basically, all we really did was get fed up with the legal [stuff] and having [lawyers] talk instead of us,” Schon said. “I went down and met Jon and we talked for a couple of hours, and we talked through it all. I think that’s what fixed everything.”

Cain agreed, saying outside entities were contributing to the friction.

“Over the last four years there were a lot of people that were out to divide us so they could control us,” Cain said. “That just gained a lot of mistrust, and people told stuff that wasn’t true, and it was second-hand stuff going back and forth, like Neal said, [between] lawyers and stuff. In the end, it should just be the brothers that made the music. He and I created this thing.”

Cain continued: “We gambled on the fact that there could be a Journey without Steve Perry. We believed that in our hearts and we backed it up with a lot of hard work and touring, and here we are. I’m awfully happy that Neal knocked on my door that day and said, ‘I want my band back.’”

[Editor's note: Since this interview was conducted reports have surfaced that the legal dispute between Cain and Schon hasn't been fully resolved. The band has given no indication that it won't carry through the remainder of its U.S. dates, however.]

Indeed, Schon and Cain have gone hands-on in managing the band and overseeing its business functions, including expenses and merchandise sales.

And, of course, they’re leading Journey as the band returns to touring. Fans can expect to hear the platinum-selling act’s biggest hits — the dirty dozen as the band has nicknamed them —along with a handful of either new or deeper cuts. The approach makes crafting setlists a bit of a challenge, but it’s a problem many bands would welcome.

“We just have a massive catalog with so many great songs that we don’t get to,” Cain said. “That’s the problem. When you play the dirty dozen, all we have is a slot for six songs we can play maybe. Then you have to rotate. So we always do substitutions with some new things here and there.”