neal schon journey

Journey's Neal Schon says he and Steve Perry are 'in a good place' before band's 50th anniversary

On the cusp of turning 50, the band that etched “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” and “Faithfully” into lighters-up lore is entering “a cleaned-up chapter of Journey.”

That’s according to Neal Schon, the band’s ace guitarist, lone original constant and de facto CEO.

Despite decades of fluctuating lineups and  snarly lawsuits among band members , Journey endures.

On July 8, the band released “Freedom,” its first new album in 11 years that also presents the return of Randy Jackson (as in "American Idol") on bass. The 15-song collection is steeped with vintage-sounding ballads (“Still Believe in Love,” “Live to Love Again”) and soaring melodic rockers (“United We Stand,” “You Got the Best of Me”).

Journey – including longtime keyboardist Jonathan Cain,  peppy singer Arnel Pineda , drummer Deen Castronovo and keyboardist Jason Derlatka, adding bassist Todd Jensen for live shows – will hit Resorts World Las Vegas  this month for shows backed by a symphony orchestra before rolling through more arena dates this summer and in early 2023, the band’s official 50th year.

Journey in pop culture: Quarantined family perfectly re-creates 'Separate Ways' music video at home

Regular road warriors who consistently pack arenas and stadiums – their 27 shows this year grossed $28 million, according to Billboard Boxscore – Journey relies on a solid catalog of mega-hits and a devoted fan base that appreciates the familiarity.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers also received a boost from Netflix’s ’80s-centered “Stranger Things” when the show used “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” in the trailer for the just-ended season, launching the song onto Billboard’s Rock Digital Songs chart. The affable Schon, 68, talked with USA TODAY about the band’s complicated legacy, his relationship with former frontman Steve Perry and plans for Journey's golden anniversary.

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Question: Are you amazed at how the Journey train keeps rolling after almost 50 years?

Neal Schon: It’s quite an accomplishment and I’m very proud of what we’ve done and how we’ve gotten through emotional and personnel changes and survived. It’s pretty mind-boggling but also a lot of hard work.

Q: Does the title “Freedom” refer to anything specifically?

Schon: Our ex-manager Herbie Herbert  wanted to call the (1986) “Raised on Radio” album “Freedom” because he always came up with these one-word titles. Steve (Perry) fought him on that and got his way, so we sat on it for many years. When we got through the lawsuit with the ex-bandmates, we made the new LLC Freedom (JN) and when we were tossing around album titles said, why not just call the whole thing “Freedom?" It's for the times right now.

Q: There’s been a bit of a revolving door in the rhythm section. Deen Castronovo is back for the live shows, but Narada Michael Walden played drums on the album, and Randy Jackson is back in the band, at least on record?

Schon: Deen is singing and playing his butt off. He’s such a musical sponge, this guy. He’s been like my little brother for close to three decades and is such a joy to work with. Randy, he’d been working with me diligently this whole time. He’s so many things beyond being an amazing musician and bass player.

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Q: Will Randy play at any of the upcoming live shows or is Todd Jensen handling those duties?

Schon: Randy is still recovering from some surgery and he stays very busy and Todd fits like a glove. Having said that, I think with our 50th anniversary next year, there’s room for everybody to jump in if they want to participate. We did go through an ugly divorce with (Steve Smith and Ross Valory) with the court proceedings (in 2021, Schon and Cain settled a $10 million trademark lawsuit with the band’s former drummer and bassist). But definitely, if Steve Perry wanted to come on and sing a song, yes. If (original Journey singer) Gregg Rolie wanted to come sing a couple of songs, yes. Randy Jackson (can) come sit in on some of the material – he played on a lot of hits on “Raised on Radio.”

Q: Do you talk much with Steve Perry?

Schon: We are in contact. It’s not about him coming out with us, but we’re speaking on different levels. That’s a start, even if it’s all business. And I’m not having to go through his attorney! We’ve been texting and emailing. He’s a real private guy and he wants to keep it that way. We’re in a good place.

Q: Do you think, after 15 years, that people have accepted Arnel?

Schon: I was diligent in that I wanted to show the massive size of our audience, so I hired photogs to come out every show and shoot the audience and show the size of the crowd to make everybody see, what am I missing? From putting up the different photos every night and the reviews from the fans online, I saw very little of “This is not Journey, man.” I think we just shut everybody up.

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The Most Joyous and Romantic of Journey, According to Neal Schon

The shadow of “ Don’t Stop Believin ’” looms large, quite literally, over the “funky little office” in Neal Schon’s home. We’re just starting our video call in the lead-up to Freedom, Journey ’s newest album in more than a decade , but there are two pieces of wall paraphernalia that require further explanation (for this writer’s fuzzy eyes, anyway): There’s a framed Escape record to commemorate its diamond status and … is that a floating green orb? Spotify’s logo? Ah, yes, it’s a poster for the billion streams “Don’t Stop Believin’” has commanded over the years, and it looks mighty fantastic floating over Schon’s head. “I usually don’t put anything up on my walls in the house that represent my accomplishments because I look at my career like you’re only as good as your last day, so that way you can keep moving forward and not rest on your laurels,” he explains. “But this is my office, and I realized it was kind of bland, so I put those behind me.”

Freedom, out July 8, encapsulates the scorching spirit that listeners have always loved about Journey, whose wheels keep churning out stadium-ready anthems and ballads after nearly five decades together. Sure, there might be a sonic Ship of Theseus comparison to make — Schon, on lead guitar, is the sole member who has remained since the band’s formation in 1973 — but we got the likes of “Any Way You Want It,” “Faithfully,” “Separate Ways,” and the song about streetlights, peopleeeEEEeeeeEEEE, over that time period, so let’s call it even. Steve Perry’s vocal range should probably be studied for scientific reasons; so should Jonathan Cain’s fingers, for how nimbly they go between keyboards and rhythm guitar. (To give you a sense of the ship’s size, that trio, as well as bassist Ross Valery, drummer Aynsley Dunbar, vocalist Gregg Rolie, and drummer Steve Smith were all inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame for their Journey tenures. Yeah, two drummers!)

Despite Schon’s forward-looking mentality, he was happy to be our latest Superlatives subject; we talked for well over an hour about Journey’s evolution, melodies, and the cringeworthy spectacle of one music video.

That’s a tough question. I’d probably go with a song that has more of a sentimental feel to me because I wrote it with my father. “Mother, Father” is very orchestral and very musical compared to our more pop-oriented rock songs. With “Mother, Father,” I had these classical chord changes that I came up with, and I wrote the whole song musically. And then my father, while he was living, wrote really interesting notes for it on the piano. I showed him the chord changes, and he came up with the interlude that the guitar and piano play. It pulled the whole song together. I like the sentiment of what Steve and Jonathan wrote lyrically about the song. I usually don’t come from that area. There’s a few songs that I’ve written choruses on, but I don’t really consider myself a lyricist. So I felt that, where they came from — about family in general, disjointed families, and how they fight to stay together — it’s something real that everybody deals with. I thought it fit perfectly for the music. I also like our deeper musical cuts that are a bit more involved musically. I tend to like the more orchestral songs like “Still They Ride,” “Mother, Father,” or “Winds of March.”

Heaviest song

“You’re on Your Own.” That’s heavy. Or songs like “Of a Lifetime” and “Kohoutek.” That early material was very much more progressive and heavier, in a sense. I feel people are misled by our albums a lot — like, they haven’t seen us live. Our band tends to be heavier live than the albums are. So “Separate Ways” is heavy in another way. It sounds like Motown or like it could be a Four Tops song, for Christ’s sake. But then you put the electricity of the guitar and the blues mixed with the melody, and it becomes a lot heavier. I don’t think we have anything that’s heavy, heavy, like metal. We’ve never tapped into that type of music.

When Jonathan came into the band, there was immediately a push to go bigger in an organic way. This goes back to my point of people maybe not being familiar with us live or the heavier side of the band: If you only listen to AM radio, you’re going to consider us soft rock. I don’t consider us soft rock. We have a broad spectrum. We show our dexterity and diversity on all of our albums. We’ve traveled the spectrum musically from A to Z . There’s still a lot of territory we can go in, but I think we made a very good album with Freedom, which helps keep us relevant and up to speed, yet also influencing the younger audience to come with us.

There are kids that come to see us who look like 16 or 17 at most. They know all the songs and are completely open-minded to the most outside things we’re going to lay on them. It reminds me of when I would go see my favorite bands as a kid. I would go and see Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Who, or Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart. They were all up the wall compared to what was on the radio. The entire audience loved all that music, but they would sit down at concerts in that era! So I would sit on the floor and observe and listen. Then at the end of the night, we would all get up and go nuts. I believe that the musical statement you make, people don’t have to go nuts after every song per se. It’s an overall experience and how you take people on it. I think the more you lay on them, the better.

Song you experience the most joy performing live

It wasn’t something that was a huge single: “Lights.” A simple, bluesy stroll song. The second song I ever wrote with Steve Perry was “Lights.” It’s become a freakin’ anthem. More people in the audience light up and sing that song louder than anything else. It used to be lighters, but now it’s cell phones. It wasn’t pushed out there by the label; it just happened in an organic way. It had a different feel to it when Steve first showed it to me. It was more old-school blues, but when I put that rolling rhythm around it — a Curtis Mayfield– or Jimi Hendrix–type thing — it took on a whole different perspective than what Steve started with. He had the melody; he had the bass. I was like, “What if we did this?” Then I wrote the bridge. A lot of nights, I can’t even hear the band onstage because of the audience.

Song that’s always evolving, even in 2022

A song that we continually jam on, open up, and switch up a bit is “Wheel in the Sky.” It’s an early song that I wrote with Robert Fleischman. The lyrical content came from a poem that Ross Valory’s ex-wife wrote and handed me on a napkin years ago. She had written down, “Wheels are turning on my mind.” In one of our long station-wagon hikes we did when we were traveling as a band — like nine guys in a station wagon in those days — at one point, everybody had to take a restroom break, and the driver needed a candy bar to wake up. I pulled out the acoustic guitar, sat on the hood of the car, and I banged out that song. I came up with the chorus. Her napkin poem sat in my mind and I came up with “Wheel in the sky keeps on turning, I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow.” I’ve since ripped that song apart and put it back together. I keep reinventing “Wheels,” and it ends up being a big and powerful highlight in our shows. That’s another song that wasn’t a huge hit single but has since become an organic hit within our Journey audience.

Most romantic ballad

It depends on what era you want to go in. There’s a lot of romance. It depends on what type of romance you’re talking about. I think the ones that are obvious picks are “Faithfully” and “Open Arms.” They probably get played more at weddings than any song ever. “Send Her My Love” is very romantic in a different way. I love that song. It has such a great melody and I love that it’s not too radio-friendly. It’s coming from a deeper place. “Faithfully,” though, is a beautiful song. Jonathan hit it out of the park with that one. We were in the studio and Mike Stone, our producer at the time, said, “I think you guys are missing a really big power ballad.” We were doing a lot of experimenting for that album — trying to get a bit heavier and do some things that we hadn’t done before.

With “Faithfully,” it started off more off the wall. It was like a Police song twisted up sideways. It had an interesting drum beat. Jonathan came in the next day and he played this song for us and it didn’t sound anything like what we made it sound like. It sounded like a beautiful country ballad. I couldn’t quite imagine what it would sound like with us playing it. I couldn’t imagine “Open Arms,” either. I fought hard on “Open Arms.” At the time I was not getting it and didn’t want to get it. Now I enjoy it. [ Laughs .] But when he showed us “Faithfully,” I wrote out a little chart because I don’t really read music. We ran through the song once, and I just free-formed my way through it. Steve was not singing. At the time, there was no singing and we were just trying to get the basic track done. In those days, I pretty much would play off the cuff — the first thing I’m hearing in my head, this is what I’m hearing, whether it’s wrong or right. I played one guitar through the whole song, that’s it. What you hear on that track is the second take we did.

I came up with a line that sounds like a French horn. It’s like me singing the Who with John Entwistle playing the French horn. I like the sound of that instrument. I had attuned my ear to symphonic music and classical music when I was younger. I played oboe in school. It was a great way to pass the time because I was not into school at all. I liked music and I liked art. I was always in the art room or playing something. So that kind of came out and I improvised my “Faithfully” parts through the end, not knowing what the vocals were going to do. I couldn’t decipher how someone like Steve would interpret it. So it was interesting how it came about when we cut the song. We all did it together. No fixing. What I do recall is that Steve wanted everybody to leave the studio — he wanted to have his time with the song to experiment with it and put himself in it. Jonathan wanted to be in the studio and Steve refused. He said, “No, you got to leave.” So coming back into the studio and hearing what Steve did, I was like, “Oh my God! Amazing.”

Guitar work that’s your melodic masterpiece

I try to make most of my solos, especially with the more radio-oriented songs. They’re extensions of the vocals. If there’s a guitar solo, it needs to convey a strong melody. You learned to love melody. I mean, the Beatles taught us all about that a long time ago. I still hear the sound that Roy Thomas Baker got when he mic’d up my old Marshall with a Fender Stratocaster on “Lights.” He had me set up in a closet and the amp was cranked to ten, and the mic was sitting in the back of the very echoey room. So “Lights” would be a masterpiece. “Who’s Crying Now,” probably another.

Funny enough, I absolutely hated my “Who’s Crying Now” guitar work when I did it at first. It was true frustration with that song because it didn’t come out immediately. It was another new type of song that Jonathan had brought in and I didn’t know what to do with it. I was trying to be more demanding with myself. We’d get off to a good start, and then I’d have nowhere to go. It was just kind of plotting along and doing this pop thing. So the producers and the whole band were getting frustrated with me because I wasn’t giving up. I probably did about, I don’t know, 15 takes, and it was going nowhere slow. Usually the best stuff comes out of me on the first or second take and then it goes downhill. When I’m not thinking, it comes out. When I start thinking, it never comes out. So out of pure frustration, I played the simplest thing, just kind of being like a smart-ass. I was in the studio and I thought, Oh, this will shut them up . And I played it, and I went, “There you go. That’s what you want.” And they go, “It’s fucking perfect.” [ Laughs .] Now, the audience loves singing it.

“Don’t Stop Believin’” is also important to me. The chorus is such a crazy arrangement when you think about it. The fact that it’s become this massive hit, this many years later, nobody in the band ever pictured that happening. It didn’t soar that high on the radio when we released it. I remember when I heard it during the final mixes, I told the guys, “I think this song is going to be massive.” The way it’s structured is unusual — it’s not your usual verse, chorus, verse, chorus. It really is so cliché, what they considered a format for radio. The song never got to the fucking chorus until the end! I came up with the “strangers waiting” lyrics and how the arrangement went back to another verse, except the verse doesn’t happen. It does a little symphonic instead. It sounded to me like something that would happen in an orchestra. I sped up the arpeggio and started playing around and realized, Oh, that’s cool. We’re going to leave that and write lyrics around that. That’s how they came up with “She took the midnight train going anywhere.” Because it actually sounded like a train! So it came together like that, and then it came time for a little guitar solo. Nobody had heard the chorus yet, so the obvious thing to do was to play the melody in the chorus. I was going to implant it in their heads before it was even sung.

Guitar solo that doubles as the greatest endurance test

I have no signs of tendinitis. [ Laughs .] I play almost every day, even when I’m at home. I play because that’s how things don’t freeze up on you. It’s a muscle; you have to use it. I really don’t practice scales. I don’t know scales; I never wanted to. I play all by ear. What I practice at home is just following the flow of whatever vibe I’m in. There’s a lot of guitar players who watch my social-media videos and they like the fact that they have nothing to do with a song — it’s off the cuff every day. And then you have guitarists who are kind of jazz bros. I love jazz. Some jazz cats can be really snooty though. Someone will be like, “Dude, what are you doing? You’re playing the same chord in every song. Every day you sound the same.” And I go, “B.B. King did the same, ever heard of him?

I fell into that a long time ago. My former manager said to me, “Why are you worried about sounding different on every song and pressing yourself so hard to sound like somebody different? You’re just going to confuse people. People know what you sound like, don’t be afraid of sounding the same every time.” Now I have this style that’s stuck with me, and he was correct. That’s a hard thing to do and I don’t see a lot of younger guitarists doing it. I don’t see a lot of personality. I had B.B., Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Albert King, and Michael Bloomfield to look up to. Then I had all of the electric guitars from overseas, like Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton. I listened. You don’t see that kind of voice coming out of people anymore.

That’s where I come from — it’s a natural place and more of an organic blues background. While we were down in this pandemic, I spent time experimenting a lot as a guitarist. I consider myself a real musician. I’m always going to strive to get better and learn more because you never learn everything about any instrument. You never reach the peak, and when you reach the peak, it’s over, man, you’re done. You might as well just go and never try to create any new stuff. I know I can emulate myself. I can play exactly what I did back in 1973. I won in that regard. It’s just embedded in me. So I strive to move to new places all the time because that’s what motivates me with music.

Most endearing Steve Perry memory

We were very, very tight. We’re talking and getting to know each other again — though not trying to get together musically again, but he’s learning who I am now, through a portion of our business that I’m kind of controlling now. I’m talking about a Journey trademark that I’ve obtained, as we’ve never owned our own trademark. All these years, many people lied to us. My wife and I finally got to the bottom of it after investigating for years. We were fought hard by everybody, but we managed to obtain the trademark. So we’re talking about that and figuring out the future of that, but we’re talking.

I have great memories of when Steve and I first met. We hung out all the time, man. We were like brothers. We were crazy. We spent a lot of nights out way too late doing things we shouldn’t be doing. Drinking and whatnot. We overindulged in a lot of stuff. But bottom line, we had a really good time for many, many years. Lots of enduring moments onstage and offstage. He was a really funny guy. I saw a fraction of a moment of it when we got together before the Rock Hall of Fame induction . I managed to get into his room, which was locked down like Fort Knox. We had a good hang in there. I felt like I still knew this guy and we were still really great friends.

I felt good about what was going to partake on the stage. He was always invited to come and perform at the ceremony, but he declined to do anything besides a speech. I understood why. During that induction, when certain individuals went up and took a really long time with their speeches, there are a few pictures that you can find where I’m talking into Steve’s ears and he’s laughing like hell. Some people like to feel like they’re more important because they have to talk longer. Or they feel like they don’t get the attention they need so they want to talk longer. So, that’s my long way of saying that I hope that we can become even better friends in the future.

Rating the “Separate Ways” video from 1 to 10 on the cringe scale

Oh my God! You know what a lot of people don’t understand? This was the very beginning of MTV. Nobody was making $200,000 videos or $500,000 videos or $3 million videos. Some people were paying a million and a half for a music video because they had a movie producer backing them financially. What a freakin’ rip-off. I mean, that’s what it became. But back when we did this, our manager came to us and said, “Look, we need to get a music video. Who should we use?” I suggested the director Wayne Isham. He came in and put together the storyboard. It was going to be in New Orleans, on a pier. Is it terrible? The air guitar and keyboards are cheesy as hell. I give it a 10 on the cringe scale. It’s so silly, man. Journey was not a band that did well with videos that had story lines. “ After the Fall ” was terrible. “ Chain Reaction ” was a little more fun. Steve and I were pushing each other around for that one, and I’m in his face. I think the only videos that really worked for Journey were when live concert footage was used. It was like a live performance — showing the audience, showing us onstage.

How The Sopranos ’ use of “Don’t Stop Believin’” changed the meaning of the song for you

Well, I don’t think it changed the meaning of what the song is about, which is just to have faith in yourself. That’s the message it’s conveying — it’s an uplifter for people who may be second-guessing themselves in their lives. I absolutely watched The Sopranos during its run. I loved it. I remember getting an email about using the song about six or so months before it aired. They were thinking about using it but didn’t give any context. I honestly didn’t think anything of it. I went, “Oh, that’s nice, whatever. If they use it, great.” I could have never imagined it was going to be the blackout scene in the last episode. It just rocketed the tune to a whole different spectrum. I mean, how could you ever even imagine that? I thought the final scene was amazing. I received a lot of phone calls that week, that’s for sure.

You know what? I kind of interpreted the ending … weirdly, it goes back a long way to a memory I have of Steve and I sitting in a pizza parlor. We were on tour and hadn’t had a song on the radio yet. I remember Steve went back and looked through the jukebox and I’m sitting at the table waiting for a Coke and pizza. He went back and dropped a couple quarters in there and played a couple tunes, and on came “Wheel in the Sky.” We looked at each other and laughed like hell. I remember saying, “I can’t believe this.” We were both jumping up and down. So I looked at that Sopranos scene with that memory in mind because they were sitting at a diner table and had the little diner jukebox there, and Tony Soprano presses it, and the song comes on. I don’t know if Steve had talked to the show’s team about that experience we shared together, but it was very similar to what actually happened with him and me. How beautiful is that?

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Neal Schon on Journey’s ‘New Strut,’ Possible Arnel Pineda Biopic, and His New Solo LP

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

Three years ago, Journey guitarist Neal Schon finished a solo album of instrumental tracks that mixed classic-rock covers like “Hey Jude” and “Voodoo Child” with originals he created with producer-drummer Narada Michael Walden. Since that time, Journey fired drummer Steve Smith and bassist Ross Valory after a bitter business dispute, brought in Walden and Raised on Radio –era bassist Randy Jackson to take their places, and canceled a 2020 summer tour with the Pretenders due to the pandemic.

During his forced downtime, Schon decided it was finally time to share his instrumental album, The Universe , with the world. “This has been a hellacious year,” he says. “There’s some healing music on here. I feel like it’s going to ease a lot of people’s pain and give them something new to listen to and some hope.”

Schon called up Rolling Stone to talk about The Universe (which is streaming right now), the legal battle that split Journey apart, parting ways with manager Irving Azoff, repairing his relationship with keyboardist Jonathan Cain, cutting Journey’s new album while on lockdown, his continued hopes of making peace with Steve Perry, the possibility of an Arnel Pineda biopic, and why he thinks this new lineup of Journey will lead to a whole new era for the band.

Tell me the backstory of The Universe. About three years ago, I ran into Narada Michael Walden. I said, “Narada, why don’t you write me a record?” We’d known each other forever and had jammed and played live together, but we’d never really worked together with him as a producer and me as a guitar player.

I said, “I really want to veer away from anything that sounds like Jeff Beck.” That’s because there’s only one Jeff Beck and only one Jimi [Hendrix]. But I said, “You’ve known me for a long time and you know what I like to play. What I’m hearing is a very majestic, symphonic-type blues-R&B-fusion rock album.”

He goes, “That’s the whole spectrum.” I go, “Let’s just diversify it.” And so he said, “Let me have a few days and I’ll call you when I have some tracks.” Three days later, he calls me and says, “Why don’t you come by the studio? I have some stuff to play for you.”

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Where did it go from there? I went by the studio and he had like six tracks that he had written with drums on them, keyboard bass, and voice singing the main melody of a guitar. He said, “Take this home and get comfortable with it and let me know when you’ve got it down.”

This was something new for me because I usually write my own material. I took it home, listened to it, and worked my way around it. I felt like I was going to improv my way through the melodies and add my own shtick to it.

I went into the first session with him and I started playing something from the heart where I veered away from the melody. He said, “What are you doing?” I said, “I’m just playing what it is.” He said, “No, you have to play that melody exactly like I’m singing it.” I went, “Oh. OK.” He goes, “I’m treating you like you’re a vocalist and your guitar is the vocal.”

After conforming to that, I managed to get things down very quickly on the record. We worked on it in different time periods. We got as much done as I could when I was home and then I’d go tour and come back and work with him when he was available. We finished it over the duration of about a year with three, four weeks in the studio altogether.

Let’s talk about some of the specific songs. Tell me about your version of Prince’s “Purple Rain.” There’s a clip of me on the internet playing it in the Twin Cities right after he passed [in 2016]. I get a few sections in the [Journey] set to do my own thing. And I’ve been looping for years. And so a lot of times I’ll loop some chord changes to a song and improv my way through it.

That night, I didn’t really know what I was going to do. But I felt his presence and I played the chord changes. I overdubbed one of the melodies he did on the end. I put that in there and just blew through it and the audience really came unglued. It was his hometown, but he just passed and I captured the moment.

That stuck with me and I said to my friend Gary Cirimelli, who I did the [2001]  Voice record with, “Please do me an orchestration of ‘Purple Rain.'” He did an amazing job and I actually recorded that before I started the record with Narada.

You also tackle “Voodoo Child.” Clearly you weren’t shy about taking on some of the greatest guitarists of all time. You know what? They are in my blood. I grew up with these people and I’ve been playing a long time. I’d actually been jamming with Narada before at Golden Gate Park in front of about 100,000 people. He said, “We’re going to play ‘Voodoo Child.'” I said, “Great, I know it.” I jumped onstage and we jammed for a while and the audience loved it. It actually goes back in time where I played the Crossroads Festival for Eric Clapton. It was Narada, myself, Randy Jackson, and Jonathan Cain. It’s ironic that’s what Journey has become with Arnel.

We did play “Voodoo Child” that day, too. It was a no-brainer for me. I was like, “Why don’t we jam it out and have a live jam in the studio?” That is what we did. We played live, one take. You can tell that it falls apart a little when it goes into “Third Stone From the Sun” at the end. I was lost and playing and I had to find a place to put my arm up and then everyone jumps in a few seconds later. You can tell it was a little loose and we were just finding our way through it. I felt there was some magic there and being real since it wasn’t overdubbed to death. It was just what it was.

Why did you decide to revisit the Journey song “Lights?” That was Narada’s idea. I was not sure about it. I had done, with Gary Cirimelli the year before, a little EP [ Ave Maria ] around Christmas where I had done an instrumental version of “Faithfully,” “Open Arms,” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley. I had done it before with guitar instead of voice, but “Lights” I had never considered doing as a lead vocal on guitar. He talked me into it. I didn’t know what to think of it, but it sounded good for a guitar version. I tried to capture as many Steve Perry melodies as I could and implement them into the guitar in a soulful way. I think it came out well and people are loving it.

I like hearing vocal melodies on the guitar. Jeff Beck does it a lot, but it’s hard to pull off exactly right. Yeah. There’s something very difficult about it. I see a lot of young guitar players today that have dexterity beyond. I can comprehend what they’re doing technically, but I’m not that interested in trying to do it myself because I’ve never been a scale guy. I was listening more to horn players and vocalists.

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Watch miley cyrus cover journey's hit '80s anthem 'faithfully'.

To convey a melody and play it very simply is not an easy task, especially when it’s a slow melody. There’s plenty of room for mistakes and loss of feel. You can lose the feel of it in two seconds flat because there’s no lyrics you’re playing along with. That actually helps you dictate the melody when you hear a singer sing. It’s all about placement, phrasing, and how the vibrato goes, where you put it. It’s complicated and it comes much easier to me as a musician than it does to other guys because I’ve always been a melody guy.

Tell me about your version of “Hey Jude” that ends the record. I had played “Hey Jude” back east in New Jersey, I believe, in some theater we were playing. I looped that one night. I played the chords first, just the ending, and then I looped the melody and had the whole audience singing the song. I went, “Wow, this could be a possible way just to end the record.” As a Beatles fan, I loved it.

What’s the status of the new Journey record? We’re deep in it. It’s coming along, man. It’s really shaping up. Narada and I have been working nonstop. Jonathan [Cain] is also working from his houses in Florida and Nashville. Arnel is working from Manila. Randy Jackson is working mostly from L.A. And it’s one of those Zoom sessions and it sounds phenomenal. It sounds like we’re all playing in the room at the same time. I actually can’t wait until we do get together and start putting the show together. The new single should be coming out mid-February.

Working remotely must have been a big adjustment at first. Yeah. It was at first. What I was really grateful for is that I’m willing to get together with Narada and work with just drums and guitar, which is something I’ve always done with drummers working on records. We’re able to map out and get things feeling right. Narada is very accomplished. He can play keyboards and bass keyboards, and we kind of fill out the tracks. And then everyone does their parts. The end result is sounding amazing.

How is Arnel doing? Arnel sounds very, very strong. I think this break has been good for him. He’s back in there, I feel, like when we first got him. His vocals sound very, very good. We’re planning on a full album release in 2021 before we get back to touring. We did book our first show of 2021. We’re going to be headlining Lollapalooza in Chicago on July 31st unless they move it. My fingers are crossed that everyone is going to get the vaccine and feel good and get back to it. I’m just so looking forward to playing with the new band. Post Malone is headlining at the same time as us about a mile away on another stage. It’ll be interesting.

How have the new members changed the band’s sound? Do you have a different groove now? You have to hear it for yourself. It still sounds very much like Journey thanks to the songwriting, my guitar playing, and the vocals. But the rhythm section is definitely a powerhouse. Narada has been known for years, and Randy Jackson is a completely monstrous bass player. Some people may not be aware of his work, but they have credentials that go way, way back. Randy and I have always been pretty in tune, and Narada and I are in tune. And now it’s coming together. It’s got a new strut to it.

There’s nothing we really can’t play. I’ve got a track I laid down with Narada the other day. I sent it to Arnel and he was freaking out. He said, “This sounds like brand-new Hendrix or Prince. Please write more of that.” And I was just messing around. It was just a jam we did and it turned out to be monstrous. We’re creating. We aren’t afraid to go to new places. It’s easy to stay safe and write where we have always been. We have a bit of that so we don’t lose everyone, but at the same token, this is a new chapter of Journey. I want to go where we have not gone before.

Why did you leave Azoff management and sign with Q Prime? It was a long time coming from myself. I had a falling out with old management and just didn’t agree with a lot of things the way they were coming down or the way that things were being treated that I was bringing up. I felt like they made it seem like I was an outcast even though this was a band that I started. Azoff actually said to me, “Why don’t you quit?” at one point. I said, “I’m not quitting. I’ve been here all my life. Why don’t you quit?”

We kind of went at it. Finally, I made the move. I said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen from here, but I feel like it’s time.” I remember that I talked to Peter Mensch over at Q Prime about a year before that, telling him that I really wanted to make a change. He said that contractually we had to get to this point before we could do anything. When we finally got to that point, I called Peter back up. He said, “This is a no-brainer. We’d love to manage you.”

I’m really happy. They understand the guitar. Cliff [Burnstein] is awesome. I’ve only talked to him a few times, but I can tell we’re on the same wavelength. I send him stuff, unfinished and finished, and I’ll crank up the guitar and he goes, “Oh, yeah. That’s it.” Then we’ll get on the phone with Jonathan [Cain], myself and him, and Jonathan will go, “Do you want the softer version?” They’ll go, “No, we don’t want the softer version. We want the heavier version.” I love the guys.

You and Jonathan Cain are clearly in a much better place than you were a few years ago. How did you patch things up? We found out that there was a lot of miscommunication that I felt was coming from management. The divide-and-conquer situation was going on. They were saying I said things that I didn’t say. I heard it had happened with other bands from guitar techs that I had been with. It was happening in the Van Halen camp between Eddie and Sammy. I was just like, “I’m seeing the same scenario.”

Once we got past all the crap and we talked everything out, we found out that a lot of it was just b.s. and we were actually good. Him and I are still very tight as songwriters. There’s still magic there. He’s still creating amazing music, even without me, but us together, we create something that really sounds like Journey.

Some fans were surprised to see him play in the house band at the White House during the RNC a few months ago. What did you think about that? You know what? I learned to just stay in my music lane through that whole fiasco. I think everyone knows my feelings about politics and religion in music. I just decided that I was going to keep my friendship with him and the music with him. We’re still creating great stuff. I got to a place where I said, “It’s a free world. Everyone has the right to do whatever they want to do.”

In a way, it’s like Mick and Keith. They are two very different people, but they come together in a band and it works. Exactly. That tension leads to great music and not agreeing … Jon and I always have been like that. We’re like bookends with all the music in between. Where we start from is two completely different places. He usually starts from music, melody, and piano. I start from a rocking track. There’s a lot of melody on the new songs we’ve been laying down. We’ve gotten very comfortable with singing on it right afterwards with Narada helping me, giving me the confidence, and so I have a lot of the melodies. I recall even in the old Journey with Steve Perry when I’d hum a few things and he’d go, “Oh, I like that.” Then he’d do his own thing to it. There’s a road map there if you aren’t afraid to put it down.

How about tour-wise? The Pretenders 2020 tour was called off. Might you go out with them in the future? I don’t know what management has planned. We love playing with the Pretenders, but I don’t know if that’s where they are going or even if they are available. I definitely enjoy playing with them. They have so many great songs. Chrissie [Hynde] was very nice. The whole band was. I felt that it was complementary to our show, even with Def Leppard. I don’t know what Peter and Cliff are thinking over at Q Prime, but I’m definitely open to that. And I love the Def Leppard guys. I’m open to that, too. But this time we have to bring our PA. [ Laughs ]

I’ve heard rumblings about a biopic about Arnel. Do you think that’s going to happen? I think it’s something that will come down. The story of me finding him on YouTube is sort of unbelievable. I remember when I first told people I had found him. They were like, “Come on, man. Did you just make this up?” It was like a Cinderella story that was too good to believe. We made the documentary [ Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey ] off the fact we found him in Manila, not New York or L.A., and I heard his voice and went, “This is the guy. I know it’s the guy.” Apparently Warner Bros. thinks is a great story too. I think they are going to make it. I don’t know when. I don’t believe they’ve even started. I think they are still writing the script.

Who would play you? Uh … the only meeting we had took place when we last played in Vegas. They were they talking about Joaquin [Phoenix]. That’s what this director said. [ Laughs ] I was like, “OK!” [ Laughs ]

You could play yourself, I suppose. Have you thought about that? I have not thought about that, but it’s not ruled out. I’d probably prefer not to. It’s gotta be so time consuming. At one point, I was going to try and get into some movie stuff and I was taking some acting classes. Everyone was like, “You look like a young James Caan.” This was way back in the Eighties. There were a couple of producers that were approaching me. But I went on a set and thought about it and auditioned and I was like, “Wow. This is so time-consuming. I can do four albums in the time it takes to do one movie.” I’m too impatient. I like to move quickly, so I doubt I’d be the right choice for it.

Is your Journey spinoff band Journey Through Time something that can get back on the road in the future? Fans loved seeing you back with Gregg Rolie and playing the really old songs. I was met with a lot of resistance from some of the former band members and the trademark guy that was sort of working for Journey, I’m finding out. There were many trademark issues I’ve gotten to the bottom of. I’ve cleaned everything up 1,000 percent. There were too many handshake deals and money deals and no real contracts. I was like, “OK, it’s time for all this to stop and for everyone to get treated fairly and equally.”

They were having a real problem with me using Neal Schon’s Journey Through Time, the name of the band. I don’t see why. It has been my journey from my life and the fans loved it. But to tell you the truth, I foresee us being able to do that with the new band; I foresee us being able to play in two different places. I feel like we can play these outdoor festivals with bands like Phish or for that audience and dive into the older material and play that stuff very well and take it to a new place.

Also, we can play in the 20,000-seaters or the coliseums we were doing with Pretenders and Def Leppard. I feel like it’s two different audience we can play to. The main thing is just playing longer where you can dive deeper into the older stuff and making it all work together.

Do you think you could bring Gregg Rolie into the fold at some point, at least for the jam-focused shows? We might talk about that. I’d have to see what Jonathan thought about that. But it’s not really on my plate right now. It’s something I definitely enjoyed. We were picking up speed very quickly before it was taken down. We had a whole tour that was ready to go. And then Gregg unavailable and then [drummer-vocalist] Deen [Castronovo] wasn’t available. There was a lot of politics involved.

Are you close to resolving the legal dispute with Steve Smith and Ross Valory? Unfortunately, no. [ Laughs ] We will, eventually. I have confidence that we will. It is going to be what it is. We’ve already made that choice and we’re moving on. But we’re not about to get held up, either. We’re going to start playing and ultimately we can settle this and come to a mutual agreement.

Do you ever see a day in the future where you’d play with them again? Who knows? I’ve known these guys for a long time. I didn’t agree with the way they went about business. I had been in a situation in the band with management and some of them for a long time where I felt like they were trying to make me leave. I was catching on to a lot of things that I’m getting to the bottom of now, business-wise.

I spoke with Steve Perry a few weeks ago. He says he misses playing live. As just a fan of his, are you hoping he’ll tour? I am. I was hoping he would tour when he released his record a couple of years ago. After going through the pandemic, I imagine that most everyone that has ever toured is dying to tour. I miss it so much, that energy you get from the audience that you throw back. I’m totally missing that. I’m sure everyone that has ever been onstage is missing that. I’m hoping that he would really do it. He should. He sounds in good voice and he could do it. I hope he’ll actually do it because he talked about it last time.

Are you still hoping that at some point in the future, the two of you will be able to sit down and be friends again? I’m still trying to talk to him directly on the telephone. For some reason, I don’t know if it’s him or his attorney, they do not want us to talk, or he feels uncomfortable. I’m sitting in the same place where I’m waiting to get on the phone or get together and have some coffee, but it just isn’t happening and it’s not because of myself.

It’s crazy that one rock band can get so complicated with all these feuding factions. It’s just people playing music together that a lot of people love. You know what? There’s a lot of things that get in the way, the conquer-and-divide thing. I believe that that’s been happening with him, too. When we got inducted into the Hall of Fame, I felt really connected to him again where it was emotional to see him after not seeing him for a long time. He was moved too. I felt, “Why is all this other crap happening for so long? Why did I feel like we couldn’t get together and talk?”

But at the end, it went right back to that. I watched him do the first interviews that he did. He talked very highly about myself like I’ve always talked about him and how happy he was to see me and the rest of the guys, but he said it was mainly me he was happy to see. And then all of a sudden, in all the interviews after that, after the first two where I felt like he was speaking from the heart, it took a left-hand turn and I was never mentioned again. It’s very weird, man. I felt like politics, once again, were in the way.

I guess the one constant in the whole Journey saga is you marching forward and keeping it alive. It is the ship I’ve been in from the very get-go. I’m the only guy that’s been there for every show, every record, every date. I’m the only guy. And my heart is still in it. We’re definitely moving forward and I’m happy with what I’m hearing. I’m moving. I’m going forward. I’m not going to sit in neutral and wait for things to settle out.

We’ll soon be approaching our 50th anniversary. It’s kind of mind-boggling to me, even sitting here telling you it’s been 50 years for me. It should be a great one. What I do know is that we’ve hardly spent any time abroad, but we are going to be taking this around the world and playing in countries and cities we’ve never been to before. Anytime we’ve done this before — like our first first show with Arnel [in Chile] when the audience went wild — we’d never been there before, but they went crazy. His audition was in front of 30 million people. He was scared to death. I had to push him out onstage.

I really feel like late 2021 and certainly 2022 will be a celebration of live music. I’ve got butterflies about the vibe I’m getting or what it’s going to be like when we put our show together. We’re not just going to play the same old show. We’re going to be adding a lot of new stuff. I know Randy and Narada, because I’ve jammed with them before.

It’s going to conform into a whole new thing. They aren’t afraid to try anything right on the spur of the moment onstage, which is where I’ve always been. I play by ear. If you go there, I’m going there, man. I learned to do that playing with Carlos Santana and Rolie and all the original Santana guys. I’m from that school and I love it.

I think we’ll construct a set in a way where we’ll have time for all of it and it won’t have to stay the same every night. We don’t have to conform to that. Everyone will be able to carry it and feel strongly about improvising on the spot and going with it.

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Neal Schon, ‘Journey Through Time': Album Review

There's no question Journey fans still love the band. Just look at attendances for shows this past year as proof that they still connect a quarter century after parting ways with Steve Perry . It's the songs, not the singer, that make the music move along in this case. But there are a lot of Journey songs that have been left behind over time, especially in concert, which is the reason to be excited about guitarist Neal Schon 's Journey Through Time .

An ad-hoc quintet was put together to play a 2018 benefit in San Francisco for North Bay Fire Relief, with Schon recruiting former Santana bandmate and fellow Journey originator Gregg Rolie and then former drummer Deen Castronovo , along with bassist Marco Mendoza and second keyboardist John Varn. The group played live dates during 2019 as well, but Journey Through Time comes from that first show, which has an agreeably rough-and-tumble quality and a looseness that hasn't been part of the Journey universe since the band's earliest days. Everybody onstage here is in good shape and a player, allowing the group to extend and vamp like a jam band in the grand Bay Area tradition. That's not meant to slight the more polished act Journey has become, but it's nice to hear the music treated with a more expansive touch.

And there's a lot of it. Journey Through Time offers up the whole show - nearly two hours and 45 minutes - and digs generously into the catalog, all the way back to the ferocious "Of a Lifetime," the first song from the first album, and the instrumental "Kohutek," hard-hitters such as "I'm Gonna Leave You" and "Mystery Mountain," and a late-show triumvirate of "You're On Your Own," "Hustler" and "Nickel and Dime."

With Schon on board, and in fine form, the quintet also resurrects a healthy portion of post-Perry deep digs such as the "Feelin' That Way"/"Anytime" diptych from Infinity , "Line of Fire," "Lady Luck," "Lovin' You is Easy," "People and Places" and "Just the Same Way." "Daydream" is extended with a bass solo by Mendoza and a quick quote from the Beatles ' "Norwegian Wood," while "La Do Da" ends with Mendoza and Castronovo bouncing on each other. And "Walks Like a Lady" becomes a psychedelic blues opus with Schon tearing through a muscular intro. You can find a guitar moment just about anywhere on the album, but the real standout here is Castronovo, and not only as a drummer.

As he's demonstrated throughout his two tenures in Journey, Castronovo is a strong singer with a convincing similarity to Perry, which is deployed to good effect throughout Journey Through Time  - up to and including the big hits such as "Don't Stop Believin'," "Separate Ways," "Lights" and "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'." He's a not-so-secret weapon whose skills help Journey Through Time broaden its reach. The show and album finish going back to Santana with renditions of "Black Magic Woman" and "Oye Como Va." Journey Through Time may not be for the Escape and Frontiers crowd, but it's a pleasing blast back to a past that hasn't been overplayed and is more than appropriate to resurrect for Journey's 50th anniversary in 2023.

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Lead Guitar, Songwriting

Three time Hall of Fame and Grammy Award Winning artist  Neal Schon  is one of the most accomplished and recognized guitarists and songwriters worldwide. Admired as a trailblazer and inspiration to millions, the  Journey  founder has long established his position as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, with some of the top all time best selling singles and albums, including multiple  Gold  and  Platinum  as well as two  Diamond  certifications, over 100 million records sold, and over a billion  Spotify  streams.

Neal Schon founded Journey in 1972 and has been the only consistent member, having participated in every album and tour to date. Schon is a Grammy Award winning guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who is not only the founding member of Journey, but was a member of  Santana  at the age of 15 and has performed with a variety of other acts including  Bad English ,  Jan Hammer ,  HSAS , and has released 11 solo albums, including his latest,  Universe .

Neal Schon's guitar style has been described as soulful, melodic, and is infamously admired by such fellow legends as  Eric Clapton  and  Prince .

In 2005, Neal Schon and Journey received a  Star  on the iconic  Hollywood Walk of Fame  and were further recognized by  Billboard Magazine  with the  Legend Of Live Award  at the 2011  Billboard Touring Conference .

Neal Schon was inducted into the  Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame  as a member of Journey as well as the  Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame . Tulsa, Oklahoma  Mayor G.T. Bynum  honored Neal with the announcement of June 5th to be  Neal Schon Day  in Oklahoma. The announcement was at the  Woody Guthrie Center Museum , and Neal also made an archival contribution to the  Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture  (OKPOP) in July.

Schon has also received honors for his philanthropic work including  John Hopkins ,  Rainforest Fund ,  California Fire Relief , and numerous additional charitable foundations. He has also organized numerous fundraisers for military services and first responders.

In 2019, Neal was voted  Guitar Connoisseur Fan Favorite Guitarist  in a social media poll over the course of 15 rounds, consistently topping the list among his fellow legends.

In 2021, on the 40th anniversary of its release, Journey’s seventh studio album, Escape, was certified diamond by the  RIAA , which denotes the album has sold over 10 million equivalent units. 1981’s Escape spawned the hits "Open Arms", "Who's Crying Now", "Stone In Love", and "Don't Stop Believin'", which has over a billion streams on  Spotify alone . The band rounded out the summer with epic performances, headlining at both the iconic  Lallapalooza  and  iHeartRadio Music Festival  and Schon invited to perform “The Star Spangled Banner” at the  Las Vegas Raiders Vs. Chicago Bears  game on October 10, 2021 at the  Allegiant Stadium  in Las Vegas , NV.

JOURNEY's 1988 released, 15 time Platinum certified  Greatest Hits  was certified diamond in April of 2008, has logged 1,328 weeks on  Billboard's Catalog Albums  chart as of October 2021, and is one of the most popular 'best of' packages, at times selling close to 500,000 copies globally per year.

Journey’s worldwide sales have reached over 100 million records, making them one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time, with a wide selection of chart-topping hits like "Don’t Stop Believin­'", the most downloaded song of the last century. The band's album sales have resulted in twenty five gold and platinum albums and nineteen  Top 40  singles in the US.

Jonathan Cain

Keys, Songwriting

In 1976 Jonathan Cain released his first solo record, Windy City Breakdown. In 1979 he joined the band, The Babys, and in 1980 joined the rock band, Journey, rounding out the songwriting genius behind the defining album, Escape, which was RIAA certified Diamond this year. Cain's signature piano, synth playing and songwriting contributions with Journey, The Babys and Bad English have earned him many Billboard hits, multiple Gold, Platinum and Diamond-selling records, a Star on the Hollywood walk of fame, a GRAMMY nomination and the best-selling catalog rock song in iTunes’ history (“Don't Stop Believin'”).

Journey was named as the fifth best band in rock history in a 2005 USA Today opinion poll, was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 and continues today, selling out major venues worldwide. Cain’s solo albums that released amidst acclaim in recent years include: What God Wants To Hear (2016), Unsung Noel (2017), The Songs You Leave Behind (2018), More Like Jesus (2019) and Piano Worship (2020). Later this month (Oct. 2021), Cain will release his Oh Lord Lead Us EP featuring the title track single that became his biggest Spotify solo hit to date.

Arnel Pineda

lead vocals

After searching far and wide, watching thousands of singers on YouTube, Neal Schon was about to abandon his hunt for Journey’s next lead singer. Instead, he clicked one last link and something caught his attention. Arnel Pineda was singing with the band The Zoo, and he wasn’t even singing a Journey song. Neal continued his research on Arnel, watching all 40 videos that were posted. This unearthed Neal’s realization that Arnel is a chameleon who can sing on anything.

Neal knew Arnel was the one. He called Jonathan Cain to tell him he found the guy. After learning Arnel was located in the Philippines, Jon chuckled and said, “Jesus, can he even speak English?” Neal responded with, “Who cares! He’s singing in English, and very well.” Neal called management next, and they told him he was crazy, but they did their job and got him to the US from The Philippines in three months.

It took a few days in rehearsal, but by day three everyone clicked, and Arnel sounded amazing. Once the jet lag wore off, Neal, Jon, and Arnel hit the studio in Novato, CA to get on a couple tracks. Neal played back the audio and said, “There’s the guy.” Jon agreed.

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Neal Schon on Journey’s greatest tracks: “After Don‘t Stop was done I turned to everybody in the room and said, ‘I think this song is going to be massive’”

The AOR icon shares the stories behind eight Journey songs, including four from the band's life-affirming new album, Freedom, and four stone-cold classics from the catalog

Neal Schon has written a few hits in his time. He knows how to write a song that connects, across generational divides, across continents. With Journey ’s new album, Freedom , lighting up the airwaves with the San Francisco rock legends’ irresistible melodies, Guitar World sat down with Schon to talk about some of the greatest tracks in the catalog.

Here, he shares some of the stories – and the electric guitars – behind classic hits Wheel in the Sky and Don’t Stop Believin’ , but also those behind four of the tracks from Freedom – an album that reminds us that Schon’s ear for a hook remains undiminished after all these years. It is just something that’s in him. 

As a wise man once said, “Either you go it or you ain’t.” Neal Schon has got it. He has always had it.

The Way We Used to Be – Freedom (2022)

“This was the first song I wrote during the pandemic. I wrote it on keyboards then sent my keyboard loop to [Journey keyboardist] Jonathan [Cain]. I didn’t think it sounded like your typical Journey song, but it was something to do for myself; I had to get things rolling in some kind of way to get my brain going.”  

Guitar-wise, I kind of left this one sparse; I love hearing the air and the holes in it

“When I listened back, I thought, “I don’t know if this is a Journey track, but it sounds funky, bluesy and kind of edgy.” I thought it sounded like a modern Stones kind of vibe – or the Faces. I was really surprised when Jonathan sent me back his demo. He had written all the melodies and the lyrics, and I went, “That sounds really good.” That was the beginning of the writing for this new album. 

“Guitar-wise, I kind of left this one sparse; I love hearing the air and the holes in it. Great-sounding Strat , though! It was a relic black Strat from the Fender Custom Shop that has some type of noiseless pickups , [but] not the newer ones they’re making now. I used it on quite a bit of songs on the record.”

Don’t Give Up on Us – Freedom (2022)

“When Narada [Michael-Walden] and I started laying down tracks, it was mainly him and me in the studio because we live close together in Marin County [California]. While the lockdown was happening, I’d go to his studio and at least work with drums and guitar. Then I’d put some bass and scratch vocals on it. He’d sing a bit, I’d sing a bit – but that’s how that song came about. 

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“I just started chunking away on the guitar with what I thought sounded like some Motown chords, then I sang some melodies on it. I sent Jonathan the song after it was arranged and after we had overdubbed on it, so it sounded pretty complete. 

“He came up with the melodies; after he sent it back, we continued to do vocal demos on it and background vocals. It’s wild how this was definitely a lockdown album where everybody was in different locations – except for Narada and me.”

You Got the Best of Me – Freedom (2022)

“I was looking for more up-tempo songs for our set. Even though the shows are going great and nobody’s complaining, I’m always leaning toward having a little more adrenaline. I knocked that one out, arrangement-wise, before I came into the studio with Narada. 

“We laid it down, and then the chorus just kind of flew out of my mouth like Any Way You Want It and Wheel in the Sky where I kind of came up with the hook and the chorus, lyrically and melody- wise. 

“Then I had the melodies; I sang my melody ideas and sent it to Jonathan, who finished the song lyrically. Then we just continued to tighten up the pieces; I sent it to [bassist] Randy [Jackson], to [vocalist] Arnel [Pineda]...”

Let It Rain – Freedom (2022)

“This was a cool idea that was bouncing around in my head for years. I always loved the Chaka Khan song [ Clouds ], and I love that Hendrix-y type, Prince funk vibe. It reminded me of a lot of the early stuff before I started Journey – things I was working on with Greg Orrico and Larry Graham. 

We have about five generations of fans coming to our shows now. This is definitely for some of our younger fans who never got to see the late-Sixties, early Seventies vibe

“It brought me to that time and space where I was remembering that slow, sexy groove that was in my head and always had it on kind of a Whammy pedal. So I brought one into the studio and I started jamming with Narada – and it ended up being the song that it is now, without changing anything.

“We have about five generations of fans coming to our shows now, which is pretty amazing. I felt like this is definitely for some of our younger fans who never got to see the late-Sixties, early Seventies vibe of everything that was coming out of England – a Hendrix , Zeppelin kind of a mixture of Jimmy Page , Prince and all the influences I grew up with.”

Wheel in the Sky – Infinity (1978)

“We had completed our first three records. We hadn’t changed our lineup at that point, and we were all traveling in two station wagons – all crammed in. We had eight, nine guys in one car. 

“There were long road trips with [former Journey drummer] Aynsley Dunbar at the steering wheel with his fuzz buster. Everybody had to take a break and pull over to the roadside to take a leak. 

We pulled over at this gas station. I pulled out an acoustic and sat on the hood of the car and started banging out the chords... it came out within minutes

“Our road manager happened to be driving that day, Pat Morrow, and he was just fatigued. Our old manager, Herbie Herbert, who is resting in heaven, was yelling at him over the phone, ‘Pat, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that.’ Pat said, ‘I’ve got to pull over. I need a break. I need a candy bar.’

So we pulled over at this gas station. I pulled out an acoustic and sat on the hood of the car and started banging out the chords. I came up with all the verse and B sections, then the chorus came out within minutes. 

At that point, our then-bass player, Ross Valory, and his then-wife, Diane... she had handed me some poetry she had written; I remembered a line that said, ‘Wheels are turning on my mind.’ I don’t know where it came from, but I was banging out D minor chords in the chorus and I said, ‘ Wheel in the sky keeps on turning. Don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow .’

CBS at that time came to us and said, ‘You need a front man, otherwise we’re going to drop you.’ So I started writing with Robert Fleischman – and that was the first song we wrote together.”

Don’t Stop Believin’ – Escape (1981)

“For the first time, you’re hearing a chorus on the outro, which was completely against all rules of nature in that time period – and now – if you’re going to try to get a song on the radio. The saying was, ‘Don’t bore me. Get to the chorus.’

They released it as a single, and it wasn’t so massive – but then it ended up being massive. It just took a long time for everybody to catch up!

“In this case, the chorus didn’t happen until the end of the song. Actually, I had a short guitar solo before the chorus; so the obvious thing for me to do was to play the melody of Don’t Stop Believin’ – the melody people are going to hear right after I play it. Steve turned to me and said, ‘What? You’re going to play the melody that I’m going to sing?’ I go, ‘Why not? It’s a good one.’

“When the song was done and the mix was almost finalized, I turned to everybody in the room and said, ‘I think this song is going to be massive.’ They released it as a single, and it wasn’t so massive – but then it ended up being massive. It just took a long time for everybody to catch up! 

“Jonathan wrote the lyrics, ‘ don’t stop believin’ ’ with Steve, but it was a phrase his father had given him when he was trying to make it in the music industry and not having much luck, I guess. His dad said, ‘Don’t give up, son.’ It just kind of came out of that.”

Any Way You Want It – Departure (1980)

“That one came about during sound check; I believe we were on tour or just had toured with Thin Lizzy . I was a big fan, so it was a classic case of being inspired by some of the cool-sounding riffs they had. 

“I came up with the simple riff that goes all the way through the song – another song where there’s three chords to it and that’s it. It came together in a very short period of time – I’d say an hour. It continues to be our second most-downloaded song. Crazy.”

Patiently – Infinity (1978)

“The first song I wrote with Steve [Perry]. I believe we were on tour with Emerson, Lake & Palmer. I had an acoustic in my room, and I had these chords, the verse chords, and our manager at the time, Herbie Herbert, wanted Steve and me to get together to see if there was any chemistry before he joined the band. 

“I recall sitting in the room; I was playing him the core changes, and he just started singing to it. I guess he had some lyrics that... just kind of fit the song. I think we knocked it out in about half an hour. I was like, ‘I guess we have writing chemistry!’”

• Freedom is out now via BMG.

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Josh is a freelance journalist who has spent the past dozen or so years interviewing musicians for a variety of publications, including Guitar World , GRAMMY.com, SPIN , Chicago Sun-Times , MTV News, Rolling Stone and American Songwriter . He credits his father for getting him into music. He's been interested in discovering new bands ever since his father gave him a list of artists to look into. A favorite story his father told him is when he skipped a high school track meet to see Jimi Hendrix in concert. For his part, seeing one of his favorite guitarists – Mike Campbell – feet away from him during a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert is a special moment he’ll always cherish.

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Neal Schon on Journey Through Time: 'It's like the Dead on steroids'

Neal Schon says he's thrilled to be getting in touch with his improvisational roots on guitar at the helm of a group that also features former Journey members Gregg Rolie on keyboards and vocals and Deen Castronovo on drums and vocals.

"We're becoming a nuclear jam band," he says. "It’s like the Dead on steroids. We’re jamming a lot. And I really tested the audience the other night in Oakland. We had nearly 3,000 people there. And it looked like a very mixed audience. So we went way outside. I told the guys during soundcheck, 'Let’s trip it out.'"

He was playing "Miles Davis-type trumpet on guitar," he says, over a bass groove from Davis' "Jack Johnson" album. 

"And I stayed there," he says with a laugh. "I stayed there a long time. And the more far out there I took it, the more the audience loved it. I went, 'Wow.' Because they were either gonna be like ‘End it!’ or take a ride with you. And they were there for the ride, man. I think Gregg Rolie was falling asleep, like ‘When are we gonna get to the next song?’"

In short, Neal Schon's Journey Through Time is a bit of a different live-music experience than one would get from going to a normal Journey concert. 

"That’s exciting to me because those are my roots," he says. "I’ve learned to taper back through the years and make hit records. But my roots, in the beginning, were all about just being on the fly, being able to improvise at any given moment and let it go, don’t be afraid of it because you’re just creating on the spot."

The set list is a mix of hits and songs from their earliest days, when he and Rolie founded Journey after leaving Santana together.

Will having the freedom to stretch out and explore this other side of his vocabulary make it hard to go back to the more hit-oriented Journey concerts?

"Not at all," he says. "Because we did play some hits on the three shows that Journey Through Time has done. But this is a different audience. They want to hear the older stuff. They were like ‘Yeah, I’ve heard "Don’t Stop Believin’,” I’ve heard "Any Way You Want It."'

He's pretty sure he's onto something here, Schon says. "Because I love both audiences and I know what they both expect now. I’m learning more and more about this JTT audience, that you can basically do anything you want but they don’t want just a hit song. So this is, for me, like the best of both worlds, having both bands."

The project began with a one-off performance in February 2018 at a concert the guitarist organized to benefit the victims of the California wildfires.

"It was just devastating," he says of the fires. "It seemed like it was never gonna stop and I felt terrible about it, seeing so many people that have everything. I wanted to do something bigger, but we couldn’t bring it together that fast. Everything had already been booked. So I decided to take it into the Independent in San Francisco, which holds probably close to 600 people, pull some old friends together, have some fun and raise some money."

The concert sold out in a matter of minutes.

"So that’s where it started," he says. "We got together, started playing all this older material. We learned 33 songs in about four days and then went and played, very organically. No frills, no killer lights, no screens, no backing tracks, no nothing."

And the audience was definitely in their corner.

"People came in from all over the world to see it," he says. "So I go, 'Wow.' I didn’t have a clue that there would be so many older fans that really felt like they would never hear anything from our first three records. And it’s getting better every time we play. I’m looking forward to a full summer."

As Schon was preparing to launch the tour that brings his band to the Van Buren on Friday, he learned that he had to have emergency gall bladder surgery.

"I had a great doctor," he says. "And of course I had these shows coming up. He said ‘We’re gonna have to do surgery here.’ I said, ‘OK, well, I’ve got a few shows to play and I’ll be back after March.’ He goes, ‘No, you don’t understand.’ But luckily, I was in and out. He was able to do microscopic surgery. It didn't even leave a mark."

And best of all, he's feeling better than he has in years.

"I bounced right back," he says.

Within two weeks of having the surgery, he was on stage with Journey Through Time.

"People were dumbfounded," he says. "I was all over the stage, on top of the PA cabinets, twisting and turning and playing and really feeling good at the last show in Oakland. So I’m back. I feel good."

After playing two concerts this weekend with Journey Through Time, the guitarist is flying to Nashville to work on new music with producer Marti Frederiksen.

"We have four songs – amazing songs – right now," Schon says. "And they definitely have commercial viability. The story with him is gonna be a Chris Stapleton story because he’s written so many hits for Aerosmith, Foreigner and many, many others. And he has an amazing voice. The second I heard him sing, all the hair on my arms stood up."

They're doing a full album, Schon says, which he's hoping to record while Rolie is off touring with Ringo Starr.

He also has a solo album coming out in August. Titled "Universe," it was recorded with Narada Michael Walden.

"I’m gonna put another band together and go out with that while Gregg is busy and we have to put JTT on hold for a second," Schon says. "I’m gonna stay out there, man. I’m really having fun having my name out there. And I’m finding out that I have so many fans that want to hear so many facets of music that I’ve done throughout the years. And I’ve never really toured by myself with other great musicians."

As for what these solo projects mean for Journey, they'll be back before you know it. 

"We’ve already committed to a tour in 2020 with some dates this year," Schon says. "We’re doing a residency in Vegas in October and we have a couple corporate shows and a couple other things before that. But the rest of the year is off."

He's looking forward, in fact, to getting back to Journey when it's time to reconvene.

"I’m open to it all," he says. "There’s no reason to close down any bridges. Everybody’s put a lot of work and blood, sweat and tears into this for many, many years."

Among those open bridges is the one that leads to former Journey vocalist Steve Perry, although Schon says he's done making overtures to that effect. 

"I’m gonna not say anything more about it," he says, with a laugh. "I’ve gone way out on a limb in so many different ways and all I can tell you is that he’s not contacted me to have that coffee yet. So I’m just gonna give it a rest."

Perry hasn’t sung with Journey since they went their separate ways in 1998. Last year, he returned with his first solo record since the '90s, "Traces."

"Did I listen to his record?" Schon says. "Yeah, I listened to his record. And I hear a lot of emotion in it. I understood where the record was coming from and I thought he sounded very good. I said, 'Well, if we ever got together, I definitely know where I’d go with him, in more of a blues and R&B thing.' But I’m just gonna leave it alone because it just seems like he wants to have his own time to do things and not have a bunch of people talking to him about ‘Are you gonna get together with Neal? Are you gonna do Journey?’ And all those answers are always, ‘No. No. No. No.” But then every once in a while, he says something that gives you the feeling that he’s open to it.  But after a while, you just have to leave things alone and let them take their own course."

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.  Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

Neal Schon's Journey Through Time

When:  7:30 p.m. Friday, March 1. 

Where: The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix.

Admission: $65-$99. 

Details: 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.

Journey guitarist Neal Schon praises Oklahoma roots, calls new album a 'monster'

After half a century, Neal Schon hasn't stopped believing in Journey — and he plans to continue to do so, faithfully.  

Despite formidable obstacles like lineup changes, lawsuits and management shakeups , the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band behind iconic hits like "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)," "Faithfully" and "Don't Stop Believin'" keeps chugging along like a midnight train, with new music, a busy tour schedule and return trips up the charts.  

"I think it's that connection that we have with our audience. ... I look out there, and we have four generations of fans now. There's some very small kids, there's not-so-small kids — but they are kids — and then there's adults my own age and older. It's crazy," Schon told The Oklahoman in a spring phone interview.  

"A band like us, that's been through so many personnel changes and survived them, that means that the musical source of where it all came from, we did some stuff right. We wrote some great songs: They've become classic, they're embedded in stone now, they're not going anywhere. So, we're definitely not a fly-by-night, man, or we would have been gone a long time ago." 

Born in Oklahoma, the guitarist and songwriter, 68, co-founded Journey in the early 1970s and has been the only consistent member, having participated in every album and tour to date, including the group's new 15-track collection "Freedom" and the ongoing 2022 trek supporting it. 

"My dad was a big band arranger from Tulsa, Oklahoma, my mom was a singer, and I was just brought up in a musical family," Schon said from the road in Dallas en route to Oklahoma City. 

"One reason I feel I was put on this Earth was definitely to bring people joy with music — and that's my thing. I think I was born to do that ... and I'm grateful that I was born there." 

Journey guitarist embraces Oklahoma roots 

During Journey's March concert at Paycom Center, Schon proudly announced to the cheering crowd that he was born just 15 minutes away from the downtown OKC arena.  

After both his parents decided to take their music talents into the military, Schon made his debut on the great stage of life Feb. 27, 1954, on Tinker Air Force Base.  

Although Schon didn't live in the Sooner State for long — his family soon moved to New Jersey and later California — the 2013 Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductee has firmly embraced his native state.

"And they've embraced me," he said. "I've got three hall of fames I'm in: Oklahoma was the first one, then the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then just recently the Grammy Hall of Fame . ... So, Oklahoma's a special place for me." 

Also known for his work with the Latin-rock fusion band Santana and the supergroup Bad English, the musician said he is eagerly looking forward to donating guitars from his impressive collection to Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture .

"He's one of those musicians where you hear his guitar and you know exactly who it is. There's a lot of great musicians in the world, but he has a signature style and a signature sound that everyone knows it's Neal Schon," said Executive Director Jeffrey Moore . "We've met with him several times, we have an oral history interview with him in our archive ... and we're excited to be working with him." 

Better known as the OKPOP Museum, the Oklahoma Historical Society landmark is under construction in the Tulsa Arts District, where it is tentatively slated to open in 2023. The museum will be dedicated to the creative spirit of Oklahoma's people and the influence of Sooner State artists on global popular culture. 

"Journey's music and a lot of their songs are identified with by an entire generation of Americans. So, it is a large fan base, and it'll be fun to incorporate that," Moore said.  

"There's not a part of pop culture where there weren't Oklahomans (that were) significantly influential. Whether it's music, film, television, the stage, comic books, all of it, there are Oklahomans that are right there in the middle." 

Journey returns to charts with 'Stranger Things,' new album 'Freedom' 

Fifteen years after Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" was famously featured in the series finale of "The Sopranos, " Schon and Company got another prime TV moment this year when an eerie remix of "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" was featured in the Season 4 trailer of Netflix's popular series "Stranger Things."  

The preview put the 1983 Journey hit back on the Billboard charts, landing it on the Rock Digital Song Sales list in April, months before the remix actually appeared on the fourth season's eighth episode. It also foreshadowed similar revivals for other '80s songs featured this year on the smash streaming show, including Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" and Metallica's "Master of Puppets." 

It's not the only chart success the venerable band has scored this year. "Freedom," Journey's first album of new material in more than a decade, debuted earlier this month at No. 1 on the Current Rock Chart.  

"It's a monster of a record. ... I think that it's the closest thing we've ever done to an album like our Diamond Award 'Escape' album that has that many different flavors in it. We go into some some new places, too," Schon said of the new collection, which he co-produced and arranged with drummer/producer Narada Michael Walden.  

"I feel it's as exciting or as good as our older stuff that has become classic." 

Journey forges 'Freedom' through pandemic musical experiments

Journey's follow-up to their 2011 album "Eclipse" also features longtime keyboard player and primary lyricist Jonathan Cain, "Thrilla from Manilla" vocalist Arnel Pineda and bassist and former "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson, who previously played on the band's 1986 album "Raised on Radio." Some of the songs started out as musical experiments Schon posted on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic .  

"I felt alienated from my fans, most of all, because I love performing on stage. ... So, I would get (into) these little funky jam sessions in my little studio downstairs in-house, just playing guitar and experimenting with all types of different loops. I would post them every day, and it became a big thing on on Facebook," said Schon, who also released a solo album called "Universe" in December 2020 .  

"One of them turned out to be our first single that we released, 'The Way We Used to Be,' which was kind of a lockdown song. I sent it to Jonathan Cain, and he wrote the lyrics and sang the rough melody on it. We got Arnel on it, and we stuck it out there — and I think it did quite well. It wasn't your typical Journey song when I wrote it; I felt like it was more of a Faces, Rolling Stones-type vibe, a little roughed up." 

Even a half-century into this Journey, Schon said he's holding on to the feeling that the band's future is getting more exciting and successful every day. 

"The band right now is firing on all 12 cylinders. ... I'm now managing with the band, and it's a totally different thing. We're doing quite well, with a lot of the politics out of the way," he said.  

"Next year is my 50th anniversary for Journey, and as the only original member, I'm proud of steering the ship right." 

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The odd couple: the brotherly battles at the heart of Journey's Freedom

Given the years of mud slinging, threats, power grabs, lawsuits and general animosity, it looked like Journey’s 2011 album Eclipse might have been their last. But then Freedom arrived

It was Bruce Springsteen who finally got Journey into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The hard-rock giants had been eligible for inclusion since the year 2000, and had the record sales (gold, platinum and diamond discs up the wazoo) and the all-pervading cultural influence (you’ve heard of Don’t Stop Believin’ , right?) to back it up. But year after year the HOF gatekeepers said no. Enter The Boss. 

“The rumour has it that Springsteen, who’s a big deal for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, sang Don’t Stop Believin’ at a benefit with Elton John and Lady Gaga one night,” says Journey keyboard player Jonathan Cain. “He said: ‘That’s a killer tune, yeah. Journey, we should give them a shot.’ So he started championing us with the Hall Of Fame. They put us in the ballot, and the fans who voted us number one did the rest.” 

And so it was that several current and past members of Journey gathered on stage at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on April 7, 2017 for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. Co-founding guitarist Neal Schon was there, along with second-longest tenured member Cain. So too were original keyboard player Gregg Rolie and drummer Aynsley Dunbar, bassist Ross Valory, drummer Steve Smith and, most surprisingly of all, vocalist Steve Perry, who had seemingly turned his back on both Journey and the music industry in the late 90s. 

It was, as they say, emotional. It was also Journey, a band whose graceful power and perfectly poised music is in inverse proportion to their capacity for squabbling, in-fighting and shit-talking. The HOF induction marked the beginning of an almost comically turbulent period in which Schon and Cain had a very public falling out in 2017 over a trip to the White House. They patched things up, only to fire two long-standing band members over an ill-fated ‘coup’, instigating a potentially ruinous lawsuit. 

Oh, and somewhere in between they ditched their longtime managers for good measure. That Journey are still here after 40-odd years of that kind of behaviour is remarkable. But not as remarkable as the fact that they’ve just delivered their first new album in 11 years, Freedom . It’s a record that draws on the Journey of the past and updates it for today. It’s no Escape or Frontiers , but it certainly doesn’t disgrace itself in their company. 

“I’m always in creative mode,” says Neal Schon. “My work is never done. But I never lost hope that we’d do another Journey album. Not at all."

Even speaking separately, it’s clear that Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain have little in common other than being members of Journey. The guitarist is fast-talking and passionate, wearing his zero-tolerance approach to music industry bullshit proudly. “I said: ‘How about I wrap the fucking guitar around your neck?’” is the conclusion to one anecdote about once working with a producer who rubbed him up the wrong way. You’d imagine being in a band with him would be eventful. 

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By contrast, Cain is measured and calm, answering questions about the band’s turbulent recent history and his relationship with Schon thoughtfully. “There’s always going to be bumps in the road,” he says of the dynamic between them. “No forty-year relationship is ever not going to have them.”  

Even before those bumps in the road appeared, Schon was putting the responsibility for the lack of a follow-up to Journey’s last album, 2011’s Eclipse , squarely at Cain’s door. He claimed Cain had no interest in recording a new album. Cain doesn’t dispute that, although he says he always intended to make another Journey record – it just had to be at the right time. 

“The amount of money it takes for us to make an album in the studio is extraordinary,” says Cain. “You’re talking six or seven hundred grand. The Eclipse album had been extraordinarily expensive and I didn’t think anybody had any fun making it. It was the worst seller of everything we’ve ever done. It left a bad taste in my mouth.” 

He says it was the pandemic that shifted his attitude to new Journey music. “Covid made this album happen, a hundred per cent. I wrote a thing about a guy and girl not sure why they broke up and missing each other. It had parallels with the separation so many couples had to endure.” 

Those lyrics, hitched to “a bluesy, pissed-off loop” that Schon had come up with became the starting point for the new album and its first single, the soaring The Way We Used To Be .

Cain puts his resurgence of interest in a new Journey album down to something much higher: call it divine intervention. In the mid-2010s he became a devout born-again Christian after meeting his current wife, the conservative pastor Paula White. 

“Singing music for the Lord seems to have helped my creativity,” he says. “I gave my gift to God and it spilled over into the Journey thing. The lyrics kept flowing out of me.” 

It was Cain’s faith that indirectly caused the rift between him and Schon. Cain’s wife has been a friend of Donald Trump for two decades, and when the mogul was elected president he appointed White the chair of his evangelical advisory board – effectively his spiritual advisor. Cain says he likes Trump, a fellow golfer. “This guy is not who they say. They paint him as a villain, but it’s far from it.” 

When the then President Trump invited Cain and the rest of Journey – with the pointed exception of Schon – for a tour of the White House, he jumped at the chance. 

“I’ve never put any politics into Journey’s music,” says Cain. “I’m not going to run on stage in a ‘MAGA’ hat. It was just a tour of the White House, that was supposed to go down pretty unnoticed. Unfortunately it got noticed.” 

It certainly did, not least by Schon. What followed was a one-man Twitterstorm in which the guitarist took a flamethrower to Cain , his wife and the entity that was Journey at the time. The gist of it – and we’re paraphrasing here – was: ‘Journey isn’t and has never been a political or religious band, and by the way, Journey is my band.’

An unfortunate series of events went down,” Cain says evenly. “They chose to come against me and my wife and take it public, and it was a mistake. I stayed clear of it.” 

Cain thinks that part of the problem, and also the solution, was his memoir, Don’t Stop Believin’ , published in 2018. “I think he thought I was going to throw him under the bus in the book. But I was respectful and grateful for everything that he had been part of. It came out, he read it, go figure. Everybody has bumps in the road.”

Except that wasn’t the last bump in the road that Journey would face. By the end of the 2010s, the line-up included original bassist Ross Valory and former drummer Steve Smith, both of whom had previously done time in the band in the 70s and 80s. In March 2020, Schon and Cain fired the pair , alleging they had launched a “coup d’état” to seize control of Journey. 

Lawsuits flew both ways, sparking a full year of tiresome and costly litigation that would eventually result in an “amicable settlement”, a phrase that conjures images of gritted teeth and fingers crossed behind backs. 

“It came out of the blue,” Cain says now. “They tried to drum me and Neal out. It was unbelievable what they did. Really, really disappointing. Many, many millions were spent battling it.” 

Cain has seen his former bandmates once since the lawsuit was settled. Amusingly, he ended up in one of their Zoom meetings by mistake. “I just said: ‘Hey guys, hope you have a good life, we’ll see you down the road.’ What else can you say to someone who tried to come after you? ‘What a pain in the ass you guys were’?” 

Despite their differences, the argy-bargy with their former bandmates seems to have brought Schon and Cain closer, at least professionally. 

“In the end, he needs me as much as I need him,” says Cain. “You don’t like me or you don’t like my religion or my politics, fine. But in the end we come together to play music. That’s what it’s about.”

One of the few things that Schon and Cain seem to agree on is the nature of their relationship. “I have to look at the positive aspects of it,”says Schon. “Our relationship is more of a musical one. Jon and I have a great chemistry musically. When we get together we always come up with something that’s happening.” 

Schon is at home in Marin County, north of San Francisco. A few awards for record sales are on the wall behind him. It’s not vanity, he says of the discs, more to make his computer room look a little more lively on Zoom calls. 

“This is the only room with that stuff, all the rest is in my attic,” he says. “I don’t need to look at that every day to feel good about myself and what I’ve accomplished. I know what I’ve accomplished.” 

Like Cain, Schon hasn’t stopped making music since Journey released their last album, Eclipse , in 2011. In that time he’s released four solo albums, reunited with his old mentor Carlos Santana for 2015’s Santana IV album, and guested with the likes of Jimmy Barnes, Jason Becker and Sammy Hagar , his old bandmate in one-and-done supergroup HSAS. Schon is as open as Cain about the tensions of a few years ago, although blunter. 

“I was very vocal about it publicly,” he says. “Everybody hated that. But, you know, I’m like, I’m gonna put it out there, because I want the fans to either back me or say: ‘Man, you should shut up and go behind the doors with this.’ And there was an overabundance of people that came forward and said we support you a thousand per cent.” 

He sighs. “Bands… you get married to these guys. And like in a marriage, people can go in different directions. Bands can be difficult and challenging, but removing certain individuals…”

Ah, ‘certain individuals’. The legal entanglement with Ross Valory and Steve Smith was, he says, “an ugly thing to go through”, but indirectly it gave Schon the impetus to make a new Journey album. When he and Cain were fishing around for a new drummer to replace Smith, the guitarist suggested Narada Michael Walden. 

A respected journeyman who has played with and/or produced a list of artists that includes Santana, Jeff Beck and Diana Ross, Walden produced Schon’s last solo album, 2020’s Universe, and the two had hit it off in the studio. Schon liked the idea of making a new Journey album with him.

“Nobody was really into having new music, except for myself and, I think, Arnel [Pineda, Jouney’s vocalist since 2007],” says Schon. “Having that support [from Walden] where it wasn’t there before, there was none of this, ‘Well, I don’t know if I want to make a record.’ It was, like, ‘Let’s go, man, let’s go now!’” 

As the title suggests, Freedom covers a lot of ground musically, from the solid-gold hard rock of Together We Run to the un-Journey-like etherealness of After Glow (sung by recently returned drummer Deen Castronovo). But there’s another, deeper significance to the title. In 2020, Journey parted company with their longtime manager, industry powerhouse Irving Azoff, who took over from original handler Herbie Herbert when the band reunited in 1995. 

As Schon puts it: “I managed to get out of the clenches of the old management we were with.” He’s cautious about going into too much depth – “I’m trying to think of an easy way of putting it that you’re not going to twist” – then proceeds to go into quite a lot of depth anyway. 

It’s complicated and business heavy, but the gist of it is that Schon feels he wasn’t being given the full picture when it came to tickets and merchandise. Such was his suspicion, he started consulting car park attendants at Journey shows to get a sense of just how many people had come to that night’s gigs, and whether it tallied with what he was being told. There was a fight to be had and, Schon being Schon, he was up for it. “

I fought so hard with everybody: management and accountants and lawyers,” he says. “I was being threatened by every attorney – even my own at some times. I was gonna be sued by everybody, just to back off. They really tried scare tactics. I went: ‘Fucking bring it, man. I’ve got the goods. Just try to fuck with me.’”

The upshot was that Journey parted company with Irving Azoff in 2020. Talking about the whole episode, Schon sounds exasperated but defiant. “I love music, I love playing guitar, I’m a real musician,” he says. “But at the same time, this is going to be my fiftieth year in this band next year. The only founding member still here. I felt it was my duty to start paying attention and watch what was going on, to watch over the mothership. If someone’s gonna make billions of dollars off us, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be us.” 

The past few years haven’t just been a series of soul-sapping arguments and lawsuits. There was Journey’s induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2017 – a long-overdue night of reunions, rapprochements and general celebration. At least that was what it was supposed to be. In reality there were a lot of what Schon calls “dynamics” going on in the build-up. 

“I refused to go without Gregg [Rolie, original Journey keyboard player], because he was there in the beginning with me, and they didn’t want him,” he says. “Two days before we were actually due to go to the event, I said I’m not showing unless Gregg comes. I stood my ground and they fucking hated me for it.” 

There was weirdness on the night too, although talking to Schon it’s not entirely clear how or what. “If you notice, certain people were in maroon suits,” he says conspiratorially. “Our manager had a maroon tie, Ross [Valory] had a maroon suit, Jon had a maroon jacket…” 

Colour-coded strangeness aside, the event provided one genuinely emotional moment for Schon, and for Journey fans too, when they were joined for their acceptance speech by Steve Perry – the first time Schon had spoken to Journey’s former singer since 2005. 

“The best part of the evening was speaking with Steve Perry in his room before we went on stage,” says Schon. “We hadn’t seen each other for many years. That was the most moving part of the evening to me. We really had a connection, and a love for one another. It was emotional, I think for both of us."

Perry‘s appearance inevitably sparked rumours ahead of the night that he might rejoin Journey for their performance at the ceremony. But it never happened, and Schon still sounds disappointed. 

“I was ready if he wanted to do it at the last second, to do Lights or something like that. I thought he would do it on the night. And he declined. You know, it is what it is.” 

And the Hall Of Fame themselves? Schon says he gave them “a bunch of guitars” to put on the walls, but they never did it. “You know what?” he says triumphantly. “I don’t really care.”

And so here Journey are, in 2022, armed with one of the best albums they’ve made since their 80s' heyday, yet still finely balanced between tiptoeing around each other and wanting to shout: “To hell with it” and stamp on each other’s feet. 

Schon says he’s ready to do another album as soon as he can. He came up with 2,500 ideas for Freedom, all of which are stored on his iPhone. 

“Are we going to wait another eleven years to do another album? I don’t think so. Do I want to do another one? Absolutely. And I’m sure we’re going to do another one after that. As long as I’m here, we’re gonna keep creating.” 

Cain is more pragmatic about another Journey album after Freedom. 

“Yeah,” he says cautiously. “I could do it if I had to. If it was put on me. It would have to warrant it. If this album is not a success, why do another one?” 

Of course, no one knows what the future holds for Journey, not even the odd couple at the centre of it all. Spats? Maybe. Bust-ups? Possibly. But smooth sailing? That would be too easy – which wouldn’t be very Journey at all. 

Freedom is out now via Frontiers .

Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! and Classic Rock , Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw , not necessarily in that order. He has written for Metal Hammer, Louder, Prog, the Observer, Select, Mojo , the Evening Standard and the totally legendary Ultrakill . He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago.

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  Neal Schon, founding member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted band Journey, is proud to present ‘Neal Schon’s Journey Through Time’ along with two time Rock and Roll hall of fame inductee and former Journey and Santana band-mate, Gregg Rolie. Schon and Rolie debuted Journey Through Time in February 2018 at The Independent in San Francisco to a sold out crowd, performing songs spanning Journey’s entire catalog – including the first three albums Journey, Look Into The Future, and Next.

Journey Through Time will hit the road in February 2019 for the first time, celebrating the band’s legendary catalog and rich history. Returning to their roots, the band will showcase songs from the very beginning – plus pay tribute to your favorite classic hits. Joining Schon and Rolie will be former Journey member Deen Castronovo on vocals and drums, Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake) on bass and vocals, super-producer Marti Frederiksen (multi-instrumentalist, vocals) and Chris Collins on guitar and keys.

“We’re really going to play anything that’s in our repertoire – anything that Journey has recorded,” says Schon. “I plan on mixing it up a lot and not playing the same set. Stuff from our first three records – we’re going to update that a little bit – and have some fun jamming!”

Multi Grammy-nominated Schon founded Journey in 1972 and remains the sole consistent member, having participated in every album and tour to date. Schon was also a member of Santana and has performed with a variety of other acts including Bad English, Jan Hammer and HSAS. He has released 10 solo albums including his latest, Vortex. His guitar style has been described as soulful and melodic, admired by such fellow legends as Eric Clapton and Prince; the latter reportedly asked for Schon’s blessing to release “Purple Rain” which echoed a similar sound to Journey’s “Faithfully.”

Journey’s worldwide sales have reached over 100 million records, making them one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time. Chart-topping hits such as “Don’t Stop Believin­’, “Lights,” and “When You Love a Woman” are regarded as some of the defining notes of the rock & rock musical canon. With a very broad selection of great material spanning from 1973 to now Schon has promised to dig deep into it All. 

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Review: Neal Schon ‘Journey Through Time’

By Mike O’Cull

Founding member of Journey and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Neal Schon takes us back to one incredible night of live music in 2018 on his new live album Journey Through Time .

Set to drop May 19th, 2023 on the Frontiers Music s.r.l. imprint, the new record documents a live show that happened February 9, 2018 at The Independent in San Francisco, California. It was a benefit concert for fire victims in the Bay Area and was also the debut of Schon and fellow Journey founder Greg Rolie’s Journey Through Time project. JTT is a heavily-muscled band that includes Schon on guitar, Rolie on keyboards and vocals, current Journey member Deen Castronovo on drums and vocals, Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake) on bass, and John Varn on keyboards and vocals that focuses on Journey’s 1970s material, including its often overlooked pre-Steve Perry albums.

The 2018 benefit gig did exactly that. Schon and company put on a blasting two-and-a-half-hour show largely focused on Journey’s ’70s body of work, including the band’s first three albums Journey, Look Into The Future, and Next . Journey’s Steve Perry days were well-represented that night, as well, and the long setlist was balanced, rocking, and fun.

Journey began in 1973 in San Francisco and went on to become one of the defining and most-successful rock bands of the 70s and 80s. The group started life as a Prog/jam outfit but shifted gears with the addition of lead singer Steve Perry, a move that made Journey one of the most colossal rock radio bands of their era. Journey has earned 25 gold and platinum albums, in addition to their 15-time platinum, RIAA Diamond Certified Greatest Hits set. They’ve sold better than 48 million albums in the USA, alone, and over 100 million around the world.

The three-CD set of Journey Through Time kicks off with three early Journey gems in succession. The opening track “I’m Gonna Leave You” is a raging, early 70s-style blues/Prog gem that might surprise fans only used to the band’s later material. Schon and Rollie both turn in cool riffs, intense solos, and the wide-open sense of freedom that was part of the social climate of Journey’s launching-pad days. “Look Into The Future” and “Kohoutek” follow and demonstrate the vision and range that set Journey into motion. Hearing Greg Rolie’s smooth, baritone vocals again is also a long-overdue pleasure.

Drummer and present-day Journey-man Deen Castronovo absolutely owns the high-range, Steve Perry lead vocal parts and does so while putting down world-class beats on the drum kit. Drumming and singing like this at the same time shouldn’t be humanly possible but Deen makes it look like a snap. He captures both the notes and high-flying spirit of Steve Perry’s legendary vocal parts and truly ices the cake of these familiar tunes. Castronovo grabs hold of Journey classics like “La Do Da,” “Walks Like A Lady,” “Feelin’ That Way,” “Lights,” and “Wheel In The Sky” and honors Perry and the band’s legacy with his exceptional talents. Hearing him and Rolie sharing vocals on “Just The Same Way” and “Feelin’ That Way” will make you believe all over again.

Neal Schon’s instantly-identifiable guitar work saturates these songs from front to back and his playing and presence is beyond reproach. He still wails with melody and authority and also displays his underrated rhythm guitar skills in the live environment. Every note he plays is tasty and he never seems to run out of gas.

Since Schon and Rolie are former members of Santana, another of the Bay Area’s musical giants, it only makes sense that they close the night with a couple of their songs. “Black Magic Woman” is deep and meditative, its pulse ebbing and flowing from section to section. Schon rips on it in all sections and the band follows close behind. He even quotes Jimi’s “Third Stone From The Sun” in his solo, which adds more 60s cool to his jamming.

Santana’s “Oye Como Va” closes the show with a joyful feeling that will linger with you for days. This eternal Tito Puente tune always makes people happy and the version on Journey Through Time does nothing to interfere with its magic. The whole record is filled with peak experiences and comes off like a summation of Neal Schon’s musical life. No matter which part of his career is your favorite, you’ll find it here. Go listen to the record!

Pre-order link Here

“Lights” (Journey Through Time Performance)

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NEAL SCHON Announces Long-Awaited Official Release Of 'Journey Through Time'

Frontiers Music Srl will release Neal Schon 's "Journey Through Time" , a live concert recorded on February 9, 2018 at The Independent In San Francisco, California, on May 19, 2023. This is the show where Schon , founding member of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame -inducted band JOURNEY , first debuted "Journey Through Time" along with two-time Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee and former JOURNEY and SANTANA bandmate Gregg Rolie . Joining Schon and Rolie were current JOURNEY member Deen Castronovo on vocals and drums, Marco Mendoza ( THIN LIZZY , WHITESNAKE ) on bass, and John Varn on keyboards and vocals.

Performing to a sold-out crowd for a benefit show to raise money for victims of the fires that had ravaged the North Bay area of the San Francisco region in October 2017, the band played songs spanning JOURNEY 's entire catalog, largely focusing on the band's '70s repertoire, including the band's first three albums, "Journey" , "Look Into The Future" and "Next" .

Multi- Grammy -nominated Schon founded JOURNEY in 1972 and remains the sole consistent member, having participated in every album and tour to date. Before founding JOURNEY , Schon was also a member of SANTANA and has performed with a variety of other acts, including BAD ENGLISH , HARDLINE and HSAS , and with Jan Hammer and Paul Rodgers ( BAD COMPANY , FREE ). He has released 10 solo albums over the course of his career as well, with his guitar style being described as soulful and melodic and admired by such fellow legends as Eric Clapton and Prince . JOURNEY 's worldwide sales have reached over 100 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling bands of all time. Chart-topping hits such as "Don't Stop Believin'" , "Open Arms" , "Lights" , "Faithfully" and "When You Love A Woman" are regarded as some of the defining songs of the rock n' roll musical canon.

"Journey Through Time" track listing:

01. I'm Gonna Leave You 02. Look Into The Future 03. Kohoutek 04. Daydream 05. La Do La 06. Line Of Fire 07. Walk's Like A Lady 08. Feelin' That Way 09. Anytime 10. Lights 11. Still They Ride 12. Separate Ways 13. Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' 14. Wheel In The Sky 15. Patiently (Medley) 16. Trial By Fire (Medley) 17. Stay Awhile (Medley) 18. Mystery Mountain 19. Of A Lifetime 20. Just The Same Way 21. Lovin' You Is Easy

Recording lineup:

Neal Schon - Guitar Gregg Rolie - Keyboards, Vocals Marco Mendoza - Bass Deen Castronovo - Drums, Vocals John Varn - Keyboards, Vocals

JOURNEY played its first concert of 2023 on January 27 in Durant, Oklahoma. The two-hour performance at the 3,000-capacity Grand Theater at the Choctaw Casino & Resort marked the band's first appearance since Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain publicly feuded over several issues, including Neal allegedly causing over $1 million in personal expenses to be charged to the band's shared American Express card and Schon demanding that Cain stop playing events for former U.S. president Donald Trump .

Last fall, former JOURNEY singer Steve Perry took legal action against both Schon and Cain , asking them to stop registering federal trademarks on the names of many of the band's hits.

Presented by AEG Presents , JOURNEY 's tour with TOTO will wrap April 25 at the brand-new Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, California.

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Neal Schon Hints Journey Could Be Planning a Las Vegas Residency at Sphere

J ourney’s Neal Schon is hinting that his famous band may be one of the next artists to schedule play a residency at the new Sphere venue in Las Vegas.

Schon posted a message on his social media sites that reads, “How many [of] you would like [to see] a Journey Through Time Type concept concert playing our music spanning from beginning to now at Sphere?” His post also links to an article about jam band Phish’s recent Sphere residency, which features photos of the impressive multimedia presentation that accompanied those shows.

[Buy Journey Concert Tickets]

In a separate note, Schon wrote, “I called this a long [time] ago after evaluating Sphere. The whole thing is built for a jam band. I see … Journey doing it as I did with Journey [Through Time.] all that early material would be explosive with the hits.”

When one fan asked Schon on Facebook, “[I]s this a hint?” the guitarist responded, “[Y]es to Sphere.”

[RELATED: Don’t Stop Believin’: Journey Greatest Hits Album Reaches Rare Milestone]

About Journey Through Time

Schon’s mention of Journey Through Time is a reference to the short-lived group he put together a few years ago that focused on material from Journey’s early albums. The band, which also included founding Journey singer/keyboardist Gregg Rolie, current Journey drummer Deen Castronovo, and veteran rock bassist Marco Mendoza, that played a handful of shows in 2018 and 2019.

Fans Respond to Schon’s Sphere Residency Tease

Schon’s post garnered positive responses from plenty of fans, who posted their reactions in the comments section of his Facebook message .

“Me!!!!!!!!” one fan enthused. “We saw U2 there & after their short residency, I said, ‘We need an epic band to come play here, like JOURNEY!!’ Boy, I hope this is true!!!”

Another wrote, “I would absolutely love that idea!!!!! I wasn’t able to see [Journey Through Time] and I have never heard some of the songs that were sung there live before.”

A third fan commented, “Wish you would bring back the Journey Thru Time lineup w Rolie and make it a full blown tour!”

New Journey Photo Shoot

In other Journey news, Schon revealed that the group was in New York City on April 21 shooting new band photos with Prince’s main photographer, Brian Ach.

“We did 8 locations in 6 hours!” Schon reported. He added, “We are excited to play our last 4 shows with [Toto] before our [co-headlining] tour with [Def Leppard].”

Journey’s Upcoming Tour Plans

The current North American leg of Journey’s 50th anniversary tour, which features Toto as the opening, is mapped out through an April 29 show in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

In early June, the band will head to Scandinavia for a series of shows.

After that, Journey will team up with Def Leppard for The Summer Stadium Tour. The expansive North American trek runs from a July 6 concert in St. Louis through a September 8 performance in Denver. Cheap Trick, the Steve Miller Band, and Heart also will perform on select dates.

Journey will finish the year with a series of October shows in Japan, followed by a fall tour of Ireland and the U.K.

Tickets to Journey’s 2024 concerts are available now via various outlets, including StubHub .

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The post Neal Schon Hints Journey Could Be Planning a Las Vegas Residency at Sphere appeared first on American Songwriter .

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Journey at the Sphere? ‘We would absolutely destroy that place’

Neal Schon of Journey says the Sphere was made for jam bands, but his band would crush it, too.

Neal Schon says, “We would absolutely destroy that place.”

“We” would be Journey , and the place is the Sphere.

Schon has studied the Sphere from afar, online clips as he’s been on tour. He said in a text, “I’m not sure there’s even a possibility, but what I do know from evaluating all the bands that have played there and seen what it’s about. We would absolutely destroy that place if we played everything from our first album on.”

The 70-year-old guitar legend jumped on a fan post on the Live For Live Music Facebook page. He commented of Journey’s potential “all that early material would be explosive, with the hits.”

In March, Journey recently wiped out Michelob Ultra Arena, with Toto opening. The band also played the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix opening party and has headlined the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel, the Colosseum at Caesars Palace and Resorts World Theatre in the past several years.

Journey is continuing its “Freedom Tour” with co-headliners Def Leppard and an alternating lineup of Cheap Trick, Heart and Steve Miller Band.

Schon rose to fame during his appearance with Santana at Woodstock some 55 years ago. Grateful Dead played the festival, of course, the original jam band.

Phish, following the Dead’s tradition as a venerable jam band with a fervent following, followed U2 into the Sphere. Schon had anticipated Phish would blow minds at the Sphere, and they did .

“I predicted that it would become a jam-band place, as I feel that’s what it’s set up best for visually,” Schon said. “U2 is cool, but I thought it was over the top for them … I also predicted Phish would be playing there, and funny enough, one of their jams sounded like ‘Wheel In the Sky.’”

“Lights” would crush, too. “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” and “Faithfully” would soar with the Sphere’s audio-visual technology.

There has been no formal talk of Journey playing the Sphere. But Dead and Company — featuring Woodstock alumni Bob Weir and Mickey Hart — is headlining the venue beginning May 16. At the Sphere, one can always dream.

Westgate es en fuego

Westgate has picked up some ancillary pub from its superstar headliners at International Theater.

Barry Manilow has now performed more concerts at Radio City Music Hall than anyone. He sold out the room five times April 17 through Sunday. He’s back at Westgate from May 1-3 and May 9-11.

And Kool & The Gang was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the band’s first year of eligibility. The R&B pioneers are back May 24-25. Robert “Kool” Bell told Rolling Stone he was having a party at his house when Ryan Seacrest announced the inductees on Sunday’s “American Idol” telecast.

“When they said “Kool and the Gang,” we all sang ‘Celebration,’” Bell said. “It was like, ‘Celebrate good times, come on!’” This spirit is shared by Kool & The Gang’s fans, who enter International Theater in full groove.

Tease this …

Artwork related to upcoming headliners at the Sphere will be displayed at a prominent gallery on the Las Vegas Strip.

What Works in Vegas

Mentalist Frederic Da Silva’s “Paranormal” is usually sold out, or on its way there, at Imagine Showroom at Horseshoe Las Vegas. Da Silva’s mind-reading/hypnosis presentation plays at 4 p.m., tickets often starting at $28 (without fees).

Da Silva has been running for 11 years in the second-floor theater, originally Windows and later The Magic Attic. A decade in one place in VegasVille is its own brand of magic.

Cue the crew

The Cue Club at Historic Commercial Center is celebrating its 60th anniversary from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. with the Celebrity Pro/Am Scotch Doubles Tournament. The event is co-hosted by Damian Costa’s Pompey Entertainment, which manages The Composers Room across the parking lot, and also Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club.

The event is a benefit for Autism Coalition of Nevada (ACON). the $60 admission fee online ($70 at the door) includes entry; a wine bar, soda and water; chicken skewers with Thai sauce; beef wellington bites; shrimp cocktail; and charcuterie cups. This is very nearly a buffet.

Local celebs or (in my case) those often near celebs are paired with professional players. The Venue at Orleans magicians Doug “Lefty” Leferovich, John Shaw, Hollie England and Bizzaro of “Late Night Magic”; and Matthew Pomeroy and Natasha Lamb of “The Conjurors” are set to appear. Magician tandem Farrell Dillon and his wife, Amanda, represent Kimmel’s Club.

The format is 8-ball scotch doubles, and we understand a few competitors (starting with Shaw) are out for blood. Go to eventbrite.com too book.

Cool Hang Alert

Sax star Justin Young plays the just-launched jazz and bubbles brunch on the terrace of Ocean Prime from 11 am.-3 p.m. Sunday. It’s smoking riffs along with smoked salmon with Young, who recently played for Usher at Aria (the superstar was just walking by the lounge and hung for a bit).

Valet is included during brunch at Ocean Prime, which sits on the upper level of the 63 hospitality fortress on the corner of Harmon Avenue and the Strip.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts . Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.

One just got an extension at the Strip venue that will soon become Hard Rock Las Vegas. The other is moving to a new venue this summer.

The Golden Knights’ dragon has no name, but it has already made an impact. The 15-foot-tall, 34-foot-wide dragon has replaced Elvis the Helmet at the VGK castle.

Bruno Mars told a packed house Saturday, “At the end of the night, The Pinky Ring turns into a strip club!” He was speaking euphemistically.

Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and Patrick and Brittany Mahomes were in town for the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation Vegas Golf Classic.

The Golden Knights crank up the siren before the first, second and third periods. The folks who crank the siren might seem randomly selected, but there is a strategy.

Vegas musician Nina Di Gregorio spent years learning Eddie Van Halen’s epic guitar solo on a customized violin.

At 84, Smokey Robinson is still fit and a master of his performances.

The closing of “Love,” enforced by construction as Mirage turns into Hard Rock Las Vegas, has initiated rumors “Ka” will be the next Cirque production to shut down.

Kyle Mitrione fractured his C6 vertebrae while performing in “O” on June 28. A new segment had been added to the show two weeks prior, according to the lawsuit.

Terry Fator is using new architecture at The Strat Showroom to his advantage. That venue is part of the resort’s $125 million overhaul under owner Golden Gaming.

UNIVERSE DIGITAL DOWN LOAD

UNIVERSE PHYSICAL CD

Autograph version available

NEAL SCHON UNIVERSE

NEAL SCHON UNIVERSE is a mixture of symphonic classical blues, R&B, soul and rock-fusion. It’s the latest release from the iconic virtuoso guitarist and composer who’s soaring melodic and soulful playing will guide you through a journey of your senses and emotions in only the way his mastery of the instrument can, where each listen feels different and fresh every time. Experience the energy, beauty, and the musical healing nature of one of the most important artists of our generation with NEAL SCHON UNIVERSE produced by Narada Michael Walden. Neal Schon joined Santana in 1971 and founded Journey in 1973, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

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Music and Concerts | Journey’s 50th anniversary tour makes its way…

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Music and concerts, music and concerts | journey’s 50th anniversary tour makes its way to norfolk with a ‘dirty dozen’ in store.

Journey is back with its 50th-anniversary tour, headlining arenas this spring before spending a chunk of the summer on a stadium tour with Def Leppard.

Guitarist and founding member Neal Schon and keyboardist/guitarist Jonathan Cain say that today’s band has never played better.

“Finally, it sounds like the Journey everybody knows,” Cain said of the group, which formed in 1973 in San Francisco. “It’s back to the ’80s, that’s what it sounds like.”

Journey with special guest star Toto is coming to Scope Friday.

Schon and Cain are 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” and “Open Arms.” The two reflected on the band during a recent video interview, including on recent lawsuits, disputes and personnel changes, and regaining a level of popularity that has Journey back on the road.

But there were more issues to come – this time between Schon and Cain. Schon sent a cease-and-desist letter to Cain after Cain joined a sing-along of “Don’t Stop Believing” at a November 2022 event for former president Donald Trump. Cain’s wife, Paula, had worked as a spiritual advisor to Trump. Schon took offense to Cain’s performance, noting that Journey never was and never would be a political band.

Then last year, Schon and Cain traded lawsuits over a financial account for the group. The bandmates hashed out their differences without the courts, they said.

“All we really did was get fed up with the legal and having legals talk instead of us,” Schon said. “We talked for a couple of hours and we talked through it all. I think that’s what fixed everything.”

Now Schon and Cain are leading Journey (with Pineda, Castronovo and Jensen) on one of the band’s biggest touring years. Fans can expect to hear Journey’s biggest hits — the “Dirty Dozen” as the band has nicknamed them — with a handful of new or deeper cuts. This makes crafting set lists a challenge but it’s a problem many bands would welcome.

“We just have a massive catalog,” Cain said, “with so many great songs that we don’t get to.”

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Where: Scope, 201 E. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk

Tickets: Start at $49.50

Details:  sevenvenues.com

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