Journey: How Neal Schon & Jonathan Cain Put Their Differences Behind Them
Journey has been an unexpected source of band drama in recent years. For the most part, there were issues between guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain. Fortunately, Schon and Cain’s issues apparently have been resolved, according to drummer Deen Castronovo.
The Journey drummer touched on this in a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock. Castronovo said Schon and Cain’s wives were the ones to confront their husbands to work out their differences. He also shared that Journey is now being managed by Schon, Cain and their wives. Castronovo said this new arrangement is working very well.
“There was a lot of turmoil in both camps and nobody was talking … Now, they’re all talking and communicating and it’s working great, ” said Castronovo.
The drummer also noted that with Schon, Cain and their wives running the business affairs of Journey, it allows the rest of the band to focus more on performing.
A Brief History of Journey’s Drama Between Schon & Cain
The last few years in the Journey world have certainly not been dull, to say the least. There was the “attempted corporate coup d'état” by former drummer Steve Smith and bassist Ross Valory. There was even a lawsuit involving former singer Steve Perry.
The issues that seem to grab the most headlines involved issues between Schon and Cain. Things really started to get media attention in 2017 shortly after Journey was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Back then, Schon and Cain were having it out on social media with creative differences being the reason for the drama. Thing were so intense that even singer Arnel Pineda took to social media and wrote, “Praying LOVE will prevail in the end.. #BrothersThen #BrothersWillBeAgain #inGodsGuidance.”
Praying LOVE will prevail in the end..#BrothersThen#BrothersWillBeAgain#inGodsGuidance
— Arnel Pineda (@arnelpineda) June 5, 2017
Journey and Politics
Another notable point of contention appeared to be Cain’s wife, televangelist Paula White-Cain, who served as the spiritual advisor for President Donald Trump. Notably, three Journey members — including Cain, Valory and Pineda — visited the White House during the Trump administration in 2017. Their visit included a photo op with then-President Trump.
This made Schon furious. He took to Facebook shortly after this White House visit and wrote, in part, “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.”
Since 2017, much of the drama and tension between Schon and Cain seemingly stemmed from this incident. Things got even worse in December 2022. Back then, Schon’s legal reps sent a cease-and-desist letter to Cain’s legal reps taking issue with the keyboardist performing “Don’t Stop Believin'” at a November 2022 gala event hosted at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. This event took place over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. It featured Cain performing the Journey hit and being backed up on vocals by a number of people. Among those people were Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Kari Lake.