New Steve Smith Interviews

[Art Vandelay]

Steve recently did a couple of interviews in just the past few weeks. He really opens up and dives deep on his time with Journey. I've heard and read many of his interviews, none have had as much open discussion about his time in Journey as these two have. I learned a helluva lot that I never knew.

Go with Elmo Lovano (great, in-depth interview)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAPrngPZ3ms&t=3307s

Live From My Drum Room (fun, laid-back conversation about Steve's favorite Journey tracks...some cool history here!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpysB7irDQE

[kmjrr]

Great interviews.
I'd sure love to hear what really happened on his and Ross' exit from the band in 2020. What did they really do, if anything. Was Perry involved or not. Are there hard feelings.

[jrnyman28]

Well, I thought I heard that Perry and HH voted with Ross and Smitty

[Monker]

Well, I thought I heard that Perry and HH voted with Ross and Smitty

This is so long ago that I am forgetting the details.

But, Nightmare added a new stock holder which was one of Nightmare's attorney's, I believe. This gave enough votes to remove Schon and Cain from leadership positions in Nightmare and they were replaced by Valory and Smith. Around this same time Nightmare filed the Trademark complaint against "Journey Through Time". Then Neal fired Valory and Smith from the band and sued; Nightmare, Valory, and Smith.

There was some type of batch of documents that was threatened to be unsealed and revealed to the court and public. The case was then settled out of court and those documents destroyed. So, nobody really knows the full story.

IMO, and I have said this before, Neal had a knee jerk reaction to the Nightmare reorganization and trademark complaint and sued everybody involved. I think Nightmare saw JTT as a threat to the Journey trademark because Neal was turning it into this second version of Journey, which Neal had no right to do....NIGHTMARE owns the Journey trademark and licenses it to the LLC that controls "the band"...whether that be Elmo Brothers (Perry/Cain/Schon), NoMoTa (Schon/Cain), or Freedom (Schon/Cain). Neal does NOT own the Journey name - NIGHTMARE does. This is important to understand because Neal talks and acts like he owns Journey - HE DOESN'T.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Well, I thought I heard that Perry and HH voted with Ross and Smitty

True. Both lawsuits were posted on here for all to read, analyze, and discuss. Neal's is probably still available. Since settling, Ross's cross-complaint has been scrubbed from the internet (understandably).

Either way, I don't think Smith is allowed to talk about any of that.

The link below is a press release about Ross's cross-complaint.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... oss-Valory

In addition to Perry and Herbie siding with the rhythm section, there were other interesting tidbits in each lawsuit. Ross's revealed that Arnel threatened not to tour at one point because Nea/Jon tried to cancel his biopic (which at the time was in development by the Crazy Rich Asians director). It was a tit-for-tat move in the ongoing legal maneuvering. I forget where Arnel fell into all of this.

[Monker]

Actually, it is public information...you just have to learn how to search the California courts to find the particular case. Since the Ross/Smith is a counter suit, you can track it back to Neal's. That is what I did way back then. Not only can you read the original filing of the suit, but also the entire history of the motions and such. For example Herbie's testimony was delayed due to his health. Around that same time is when the sealed box of evidence was presented and the lawsuits were settled shortly after. I'm not sure if Herbie ever did testify.

But, all of this is public information...you just need to know how to search for it. It was a pain to figure out.

The Trademark complaint was completely different but it is also public information and you have to search for it in a different way.

You can also find the history of Nightmare and the LLC filings, who is currently in leadership, and a history of all of the trademark filings they have made. I remember they even complained about the retail store, "Journey's"...and it was obviously settled.

The various LLC's (Elmo, NoMoTa, Freedom, etc) can also be looked up to see who is in leadership and who is listed as an "employee". I never did look up Freedom.

But, anyway....all of this is available for public viewing...maybe the internet can be scrubbed, but the court system can not.

Well, I thought I heard that Perry and HH voted with Ross and Smitty

True. Both lawsuits were posted on here for all to read, analyze, and discuss. Neal's is probably still available. Since settling, Ross's cross-complaint has been scrubbed from the internet (understandably).

Either way, I don't think Smith is allowed to talk about any of that.

The link below is a press release about Ross's cross-complaint.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... oss-Valory

In addition to Perry and Herbie siding with the rhythm section, there were other interesting tidbits in each lawsuit. Ross's revealed that Arnel threatened not to tour at one point because Nea/Jon tried to cancel his biopic (which at the time was in development by the Crazy Rich Asians director). It was a tit-for-tat move in the ongoing legal maneuvering. I forget where Arnel fell into all of this.

[Eric]

Fantastic! Love the song choice they dissected together. The Charlie Watts / Getting booed when opening for Stones was a great story!

Didn’t love how he clarified he hadn’t been back IN Journey only that he toured with them.

[Art Vandelay]

Fantastic! Love the song choice they dissected together. The Charlie Watts / Getting booed when opening for Stones was a great story!

Didn’t love how he clarified he hadn’t been back IN Journey only that he toured with them.

Glad you liked it. He really opened up about the Departure album. I'm glad he addressed the drums sounding a bit too much in the background, because I always thought the same. Was funny how he described joining Journey as becoming 1/5th of a band that was already a million dollars in debt. Too bad John DeChristopher stepped on the Sam Cooke lyric that Steve was building up for him to hear.

Yeah, he was very specific about his most recent role with the band. But he's always said that. Even his website announcement when he got back into the fold said that he would be their touring drummer, and would be concentrating on his jazz work otherwise. In his mind, he was a hired gun.

[Monker]

The only "members" of Journey are Neal and Jonathan. Everybody else are employees of the LLC. Well, I guess I never looked up Freedom LLC...but I doubt Neal let Arnel in, it seems to me Neal would be too greedy to split the $'s and power.

[ebake02]

The only "members" of Journey are Neal and Jonathan. Everybody else are employees of the LLC. Well, I guess I never looked up Freedom LLC...but I doubt Neal let Arnel in, it seems to me Neal would be too greedy to split the $'s and power.

I’m very curious to see what involvement their wives have in that LLC too.