Announcement from Neal

[danielb]

I think it’s safe to say Journey will continue in some shape or form post Jon’s departure:

https://blabbermouth.net/news/journeys- ... ples-lives

[The_Noble_Cause]

I think it’s safe to say Journey will continue in some shape or form post Jon’s departure:

https://blabbermouth.net/news/journeys- ... ples-lives

It's funny to me how NS refers to the Perry years as "one of the most defining chapters" and "a cornerstone of our legacy."
Dude, it's literally ALL you play at every concert. Every major recent band decision (ex. hiring Arnel, hiring Jason) has been based on how well they emulate Perry.

Overall, I don't know what good this statement does. It sounds like he is (again) trying to sow confusion and contradict the previously announced Final Frontiers tour. He most likely got outvoted by Cain (and others) about finally shutting this circus down and it's driving him crazy. He can continue on the road, but I doubt it will be called Journey. He is worried shitless. You can tell. Instead of being focused on this tour, he keeps trying to secure his next bag.

The whole statement is a bunch of self-aggrandizing revisionist BS.

"...longtime manager Herbie Herbert played a pivotal role in encouraging us to expand that sound. It was Herbie who inspired the idea of bringing in a new voice — someone who could take the songs to another level."

What a bunch of bullshit. Herbie installed Perry over the objections of people like Neal who didn't want a crooner. Who believes this crap?

"JOURNEY's story continued to move forward through the talents of all of us — myself, Jon, Ross Valory, Aynsley Dunbar, Robert Fleischman, Steve Smith, Randy Jackson and Deen — with Steve Augeri singing, helping the band move into a new and successful chapter in 1998 during an important period of transition."

I don't know if this was written by AI or what. It just sound dumb. The Augeri years didn't involve Dunbar, Fleischman, Smith, Randy etc.

[Gideon]

Neal's statement is also shit because it mostly glosses over the entrance, contributions, and impact of his longest-serving Journey partner and the man whose retirement is causing the band to end: Jon Cain.

I loathe Jon's politics, I loathe his grifter wife, and I'm fucking annoyed he's been MIA from his Journey obligations this year to focus instead on Charlie Kirk and gospel music... but Jon has been infinitely more important to Journey's success than Gregg Rolie, as or more important as Neal himself, and perhaps second only to Perry.

These two fucks need to get their shit together for the final tour and go out with a bang.

[The_Noble_Cause]

These two fucks need to get their shit together for the final tour and go out with a bang.

Don't hold your breath.

[youkeepmewaiting]

You've got to imagine that Schon is worried about his financial situation once the Journey brand has to stop touring (unless he negotiates something with Cain to continue to use the name - which wouldn't be a bad deal for JC)

[Loneman1]

You've got to imagine that Schon is worried about his financial situation once the Journey brand has to stop touring (unless he negotiates something with Cain to continue to use the name - which wouldn't be a bad deal for JC)

Reminds me of a quote by Cain while they were waiting on the will he/won't he with Perry during the TBF era saying "I look at Neal and I see a guy that wants his band back"......kind of a similar situation. Neal wants to continue with the name Journey, and Cain should absolutely let him with a decent buyout by Neal and go do his Christian music. Lets be honest, Cain hasn't really wanted to be in the band for quite awhile now other than a few months here and there. The dude looked like he was putting together a grocery list in his head at times on stage over the past several years. Let Neal get back to basics and see what happens. As long as Cain is properly financially covered why the hell not?

[Journey/Survivor]

You've got to imagine that Schon is worried about his financial situation once the Journey brand has to stop touring (unless he negotiates something with Cain to continue to use the name - which wouldn't be a bad deal for JC)

Reminds me of a quote by Cain while they were waiting on the will he/won't he with Perry during the TBF era saying "I look at Neal and I see a guy that wants his band back"......kind of a similar situation. Neal wants to continue with the name Journey, and Cain should absolutely let him with a decent buyout by Neal and go do his Christian music. Lets be honest, Cain hasn't really wanted to be in the band for quite awhile now other than a few months here and there. The dude looked like he was putting together a grocery list in his head at times on stage over the past several years. Let Neal get back to basics and see what happens. As long as Cain is properly financially covered why the hell not?

I totally agree with you across the board.

I think that it's kind of ridiculous for Cain to even want to stop Schon from using the Journey name. It makes Cain the exact same kind of hypocrite that Perry was with his don't crack the stone line!

Schon had Journey before either Perry or Cain were in the band.

[The_Noble_Cause]

I totally agree with you across the board.

I think that it's kind of ridiculous for Cain to even want to stop Schon from using the Journey name. It makes Cain the exact same kind of hypocrite that Perry was with his don't crack the stone line!

Schon had Journey before either Perry or Cain were in the band.

You're jumping to conclusions. All we know is Jon and Neal own it 50/50. We don't know what will happen after this tour. Legally, the current formation of Journey includes Jon and Arnel being present. I can understand why the promotion of The Voice was changed from "Neal Schon and Journey" to "Members of Journey." Under the terms of the current agreement, "Journey" was not there.

[jestor92]

You've got to imagine that Schon is worried about his financial situation once the Journey brand has to stop touring (unless he negotiates something with Cain to continue to use the name - which wouldn't be a bad deal for JC)

Reminds me of a quote by Cain while they were waiting on the will he/won't he with Perry during the TBF era saying "I look at Neal and I see a guy that wants his band back"......kind of a similar situation. Neal wants to continue with the name Journey, and Cain should absolutely let him with a decent buyout by Neal and go do his Christian music. Lets be honest, Cain hasn't really wanted to be in the band for quite awhile now other than a few months here and there. The dude looked like he was putting together a grocery list in his head at times on stage over the past several years. Let Neal get back to basics and see what happens. As long as Cain is properly financially covered why the hell not?

I totally agree with you across the board.

I think that it's kind of ridiculous for Cain to even want to stop Schon from using the Journey name. It makes Cain the exact same kind of hypocrite that Perry was with his don't crack the stone line!

Schon had Journey before either Perry or Cain were in the band.

On the flip side are we still discussing Journey at this point without Perry and to a lesser extent Cain? Don’t get me wrong Schon is an amazing guitarist, but his band wasn’t exactly selling records before Perry and they didn’t jump into super star status until Cain arrived.

You also have to take into consideration how difficult it is for Cain to have to deal with Neal because of the excessive spending, being a bit of a headache. It takes two to make the band relationship work and if Jon isn’t keeping an eye on things they’re going to be in trouble.

[Monker]

What is going on here? Do people just forget history? Neal Schon having Journey is a recent thing. It is something NEAL SCHON invented.

It was HERBIE who had the idea for creating a band around Neal Schon. It was Herbie who picked all the players in the band. It was Herbie who hired and then fired Robert Fleischman. It was Herbie who hired Steve Perry at the objection of the band. Back then, from the beginning up to ROR, it was Herbie who tried to treat the band like family where everybody shared the pie, the profits, of "Journey". Everyone was equal up to the point where Perry fired Smith and Valory and hired hands were hired and the Perry/Schon/Cain LLC was created. Even at that point, it was Herbie who insisted that Smith and Valory exited Journey respectfully, in the same way Gregg Rolie did. Herbie tried his best to keep "Journey" united as a band where everybody shared equally and no one or three people were more important.

Neal Schon owns the sinking mothership of Journey of recent years, after the exit of Augeri, where HE tried to claim ownership of everything. Neal is the one who started advertising himself as this Journey icon who had control of the band. That was NOT the case from 1975 through 2007 or so. And, up to 1985, Journey controlled "Journey", not a LLC with hired hands. In fact, during ROR, it was Steve Perry who really controlled Journey, which pissed Neal off...but he and Jonathan went along with it.

As for today, nobody really knows how all the legal stuff goes because the settlement for Neal's lawsuits of Nightmare/Smith/Valory were kept sealed. Last I looked, Nightmare still existed and Smith and Valory were still leading it...after the settlement. So, either Nightmare controls the Journey trademark and licenses it to Freedom LLC. Or, part of the settlement is that Freedom LLC controls the trademark. If Nightmare owns the trademark, then they control how Neal can use the name...which I think it would be stupid to allow him to call his band "Journey". Maybe "Neal Schon's Journey", or something similar, would be more likely. If Freedom LLC owns the trademark, then, yes, either Neal has to buy out Jonathan's half, or Jonathan has to approve of any use of the name...which, again, I think it would be stupid to allow Neal to use "Journey" as his band name. And, if I were Jonathan, I would not sell his portion of the ownership.

Anyway I look at it, Neal is cornered and should just take what he can get in these last years of his life and try to be happy about it. Every other former member of Journey seems to be doing this.

[jestor92]

What is going on here? Do people just forget history? Neal Schon having Journey is a recent thing. It is something NEAL SCHON invented.

It was HERBIE who had the idea for creating a band around Neal Schon. It was Herbie who picked all the players in the band. It was Herbie who hired and then fired Robert Fleischman. It was Herbie who hired Steve Perry at the objection of the band. Back then, from the beginning up to ROR, it was Herbie who tried to treat the band like family where everybody shared the pie, the profits, of "Journey". Everyone was equal up to the point where Perry fired Smith and Valory and hired hands were hired and the Perry/Schon/Cain LLC was created. Even at that point, it was Herbie who insisted that Smith and Valory exited Journey respectfully, in the same way Gregg Rolie did. Herbie tried his best to keep "Journey" united as a band where everybody shared equally and no one or three people were more important.

Neal Schon owns the sinking mothership of Journey of recent years, after the exit of Augeri, where HE tried to claim ownership of everything. Neal is the one who started advertising himself as this Journey icon who had control of the band. That was NOT the case from 1975 through 2007 or so. And, up to 1985, Journey controlled "Journey", not a LLC with hired hands. In fact, during ROR, it was Steve Perry who really controlled Journey, which pissed Neal off...but he and Jonathan went along with it.

As for today, nobody really knows how all the legal stuff goes because the settlement for Neal's lawsuits of Nightmare/Smith/Valory were kept sealed. Last I looked, Nightmare still existed and Smith and Valory were still leading it...after the settlement. So, either Nightmare controls the Journey trademark and licenses it to Freedom LLC. Or, part of the settlement is that Freedom LLC controls the trademark. If Nightmare owns the trademark, then they control how Neal can use the name...which I think it would be stupid to allow him to call his band "Journey". Maybe "Neal Schon's Journey", or something similar, would be more likely. If Freedom LLC owns the trademark, then, yes, either Neal has to buy out Jonathan's half, or Jonathan has to approve of any use of the name...which, again, I think it would be stupid to allow Neal to use "Journey" as his band name. And, if I were Jonathan, I would not sell his portion of the ownership.

Anyway I look at it, Neal is cornered and should just take what he can get in these last years of his life and try to be happy about it. Every other former member of Journey seems to be doing this.

Is Perry still getting paid from the split?

[Monker]

Is Perry still getting paid from the split?

That is a good point, too. Unless something happened in the settlement (which is sealed and not public), yes, his exit during TBF gave him a percent of revenue. It went down each year until it reached 12% of all revenue. To avoid that, Neal would not be able to use "Journey"....unless Perry gave it up in the settlement.

Neal continuing as "Journey" makes less and less sense, and cents.