Over the past five decades, Journey have been through an astounding number of lineup changes, but the band has found its way back from oblivion time and and time again. The only constant member throughout the entire tumultuous saga is guitarist Neal Schon. It was his idea to form the group back in 1973 shortly after parting ways with Santana, and he’s remained at the helm throughout the departure of original singer Gregg Rolie, their glory days in the Eighties with Steve Perry, the difficult years in the early 2000s when they had to find a way forward without the iconic singer, and the unexpected comeback about two decades ago thanks to The Sopranos, Glee, the San Francisco Giants, Rock of Ages, and current vocalist Arnel Pineda.
But the Journey has to come to an end. The capstone is the Final Frontier farewell tour, which kicks off in February in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and wraps up at some point the following year. While keyboardist Jonathan Cain says he plans on retiring when the tour is done, Schon has made it very clear that he has no such plans. “I carry the Journey torch wherever I go and that sentiment and spirit will always remain,” he said in a press release announcing the tour. “While this marks a farewell to one powerful chapter of the Journey we’ve shared, I want everyone to know – I’m not done.”
Shortly before the farwell tour was announced, we hopped on a Zoom with Schon to learn what exactly he means by that, what fans can expect on the tour, why he initially hinted that Cain wouldn’t take part, the state of their strained relationship, his hopes for a reconciliation of some sort with Steve Perry, and why he’s been teasing fans with a future project called “Journey Beyond.”
Journey’s been inactive these past few months. What’s kept you busy?
I’ve been writing, recording a bit, working on some things on the side. I’m always playing. I play every day. I got into the habit when the pandemic happened. I don’t really go on there and play a lot of songs, but it’s my way of just rehearsing, practicing, keeping the fingers moving. I’m feeling good, man. I’m ready to go.
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How did the idea of a farewell tour come about?
Well, Jonathan had mentioned that he was wanting to say goodbye at the end of this tour. At the time, we had a manager, which we don’t anymore…the old story of that. It always manages to come back to the beginning, which is with me here and sort of running stuff… The legacy and the heart of the band I have within myself…I’ve been here since day one, and wherever I go, the heart and soul of the band is going to go with me. Journey goes on.
So the band is ending because Jonathan wants to retire?
Jonathan is the one that made the statement that he wants to say farewell. It doesn’t mean the rest of us are going to stop.
Will it be called Journey in the future though?
Well, you know what? It could have a different lean on it, and I’m fine with that, too. I’m kind of ready for a change.
How long is the tour going to go?
It’s ’26 and ’27. All together, it’s about 120 shows.
Is it going to go overseas or just stay in the States?
I love playing overseas, and hopefully we will. It’s too early to even speculate on that right now. But we’re doing “An Evening with Journey,” two full sets with an intermission. There’ll be no opener. It’s all Journey. So we’re going to be digging into songs we haven’t done in decades, plus the anthems that everybody loves.
We’ve got completely new production, bigger, cleaner, a lot more powerful sound, and we have real musicianship. This lineup can play. We’re going to be leaving space for jams and stretching out and improvising as we always have. A lot of people call it a farewell. I call it a celebration while I’m here giving it all with everybody else.
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Are there certain songs you want to resurrect that the band hasn’t done in a long time?
I believe so. I don’t know if we’re going to dig all the way back into the first three records because that kind of doesn’t make sense at this point, but I would say from [1978’s] Infinity forward. There’s a lot of stuff we haven’t played in years. Given that we don’t have a time restriction…it’s so frustrating to me because I like to play. I like to put on the longer show, and I like to stretch out. Usually, we have an opening act and that ties you down in the arenas to a 90-minute set. It doesn’t give you much time to do anything more than the hits that people pay to come and see and hear. But this is truly going to be like…This is what I’ve been wanting to do for a while with this band.
This means you can play every hit and still have time for a lot of other songs you’re saying.
Yeah, probably. I’m working on segues right now that have bits and pieces that people may recognize, may not recognize, but I’m constructing it in a different way in my mind. I’ve been working just endlessly right now getting all the ideas in my head, so when we get together it can all come together.
A longer show and a long tour will put a lot of strain on Arnel’s voice. Are you going to throw some leads to keyboardist Jason Derlatka and drummer Deen Castronovo?
Deen is like a monster. He’s the monster vocalist that a lot of people know about, and Jason is in his own right. Yeah, I see us giving Arnel some breather time. Definitely, he’s going to be singing a lot at the show. He sounds very strong right now. I’ve been in touch with him, and he’s doing very well. We definitely have a lot of singers in this band, and so I’m not really worried about it. We can move things around from night to night. Somebody gets ill and they’re not feeling well, we have other choices of songs that we can do. That’s the idea.
There were moments on recent tours where Arnel was struggling a bit. But he’s had a lot of time to rest and recover this year.
A lot of times he just needs a minute or two to breathe in between songs and not have to jump back in. They’re big shoes to fill, and he’s done a tremendous job 17 years in now. This stuff is no easy task. We’re not tuned down. We’re not in E Flat, we’re not in D, which a lot of people do. We’re in the original keys.
Yeah. That really tested Steve Perry over the years. It tested Steve Augeri too. These are hard, hard songs on any singer.
Steve Perry set the bar so high. Some of the notes are in the stratosphere. But Arnel does very well, Deen is amazing, and so is Jason. So we’re going to be fine.
Do you think at some point in the tour, it might move into stadiums and other acts will be added to the bill?
I think we just want to get through ’26 and see what happens and what the vibe is, and then look at ’27 at that point after we’re pretty deep in it. So nothing is set in stone at this point, but I’m certainly open-minded to whatever AEG and [AEG Chairman] Jay Marciano feels that we should be doing with his team.
You mentioned the possibility of playing shows with Bryan Adams when you spoke recently to Eddie Trunk.
I love Bryan. Bryan and I have been speaking quite a lot. I actually tried to make it happen. When we were still thinking of having an opening act on these shows, Bryan was my first choice. So I was talking to him, and it just didn’t quite come together. He was already touring in a lot of the markets that we’re going to be going. But we’re continuing to talk, and we’ll see what happens. Given that we’ve done it in the past, in the ’80s when his first album came out, our audience loved him. He sounds very, very good. The band is always amazing. So maybe down the road that’s something we’ll talk about.
You Tweeted on October 10 that Jonathan Cain had announced his farewell from Journey. It confused a lot of people since it seemed like you meant he was leaving right there and then.
I think the confusion actually came from the video that he posted. I knew he was doing the tour. I never meant to make people think that he was leaving before the tour. But he says in his video, and I posted this video all over the place, that “I’m here for the tour, and then that’s it for me, and it’ll be farewell to Journey.” He came back and said, “I’m still thinking about it.” So I think his initial post confused a lot of people, including myself.
Are the two of you getting along better now?
We’ll see when we get together in a room. I’m past all that BS. All the courtroom drama, all that shit, I’m really past all that. I don’t have time for it anymore. Nothing became of any of it, like that I owed millions, and I was stealing millions from the band and this and that. Nothing became of it. There was no proof, no evidence, nothing. So rather than to rehash it and keep thinking about it, I’ve moved on. It’s cost me way too much in legal fees, and I’m just ready to let it all go and move on. You know what I’m saying? It is just stupid at this point.
It’s amazing that in the midst of these crazy legal battles and public statements bashing each other, you guys kept walking onstage together every night and playing shows. It was a pretty unusual situation.
It is the music. It is not our personal life together. I’m sure if you were on tour with the Stones and you saw everything that goes on there, you’d see a whole lot behind the scenes, or any band that’s been together for this many years. This is my 53rd year. People go through changes. A band go through changes. It’s just life. Life moves on whether you like it or not.
But you’re hoping that things will be smoother on this tour between you two?
Well, you know what? It’s always smooth onstage. That’s all I care about at this point. I want to put on a good show. I really want to celebrate the music because who knows what I’ll be doing after this. I’m always going to carry the torch. I’m always going to play Journey stuff, but who knows what Journey stuff I’m going to play and who knows where I’m going. I really want to cut some new ground and go into some new areas that we haven’t done and a bit more jammy and uptempo and uplifting.
Just to be clear, the name “Journey” is being retired once this tour is done?
I can’t really speculate at this point. I’m kind of ready to move on. For one, there’s so many tribute bands out there right now playing whatever show we do. That’s why I’m really glad that we’re going to change things up here and throw in a lot of loops that people don’t expect because there’s so many tribute bands out there doing exactly the same show we’re doing. Every time I see something that everybody jumps on, I want to do exactly the opposite. I don’t want to do a nostalgia show after this is over. I want to be creative. I want to bring something completely fresh that is a new version of what Journey was.
What is “Journey Beyond?” It’s your Twitter banner and you’ve posted it a bunch of times.
Well, it means beyond Journey. It’s Journey plus Beyond. That’s the way I look at it. I think it could be very cool.
Is that the name of a new project you plan on doing after Journey is done?
Well, who knows? Nothing is set in stone right now until I actually get there. There’s quite a few names that I’ve gotten trademarks on so I can sort of levitate to what I’m thinking and what I’m feeling at that time.
The hardcore fans really loved the Journey Through Time tour you did back in 2019 with Gregg Rolie and Deen. Might you do something like that with them again?
You never know. That was actually a very, very cool project, and time will tell when we get there.
A lot of bands do farewell tours, and then a year or two later they just tour again. It happens most every time. Are you willing to say in no uncertain terms that this is the last Journey tour?
I really do believe it is because I need to musically move on. I have too many creative juices, and I don’t like sitting in the same spot forever. I can always play our songs. I know every single one of our songs like the back of my hand, and I can play any of them at any time. That’s just a blessing to have all the great, creative work that we did together, but I also need to move forward with new music.
Lots of acts do residences at places like Sphere in Las Vegas after a farewell tour. Are you open to that possibility?
I love the idea of Sphere, but I also love the idea of doing the show somewhere else in the world with a zillion drones just like “Sphere in the Sky.”
There’s a segment of fans that continue to obsess over Steve Perry. They dream of him coming back for at least one song at one show. Do you want to just say to fans, “Look, it’s never happening, not even for one song. Get over it?”
No, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to say that because the door is always open. I would welcome him, and I’m sure everybody else would, too. If he wanted to just walk on and say hi, this would be the tour to do it, or if he wanted to come on and sing anything or if he just wanted to be a part of it, period.
You told Eddie Trunk that you e-mailed him and invited him to a baseball game with you, but he didn’t respond. Are you done asking him to be friends again?
Well, we were friends after the Hall of Fame. It was the first time we had spoken in years. It was quite moving when we saw each other and started talking to each other. There was obvious great chemistry between Perry and I, and nobody can deny that. Somebody put up an old interview of him the other day talking about the first time we got together and wrote “Patiently.” He was moved while he was talking about it. I got moved listening to him. So there’s a lot of heart still there, a lot of love there. I think that lawsuits and shit like that get in the way. That unfortunately did happen, but it’s all gone now. Sometimes time is the healer for everyone for the bright light to come back through.
So you’re hopeful the two of you can find a way to be friends again some day?
Yeah, absolutely, friends. That’s all I wanted to do was be his friend as I was. Obviously, we were writing partners as well, but friendship would be where it would be at.
How about Ross and Steve? Will they be welcomed back onto the stage at maybe the last show of the tour?
Nobody’s discussed that. We left on pretty sour notes. It was pretty ugly for myself as they were trying to kick me out of my own band. I’m still not quite over that, and so I’m not so open-minded to that.
What’s the status of the Arnel biopic? It was announced a few years ago, and then it just didn’t happen.
I really don’t know. I know that there’s a lot of talk with our agent right now, about doing a bio movie on Journey, which I think is the bigger picture of what’s going on right now. If we’re going to wind this thing down, I think that we should allow each other to shine in the light of all our accomplishments and celebrate it.
There could certainly be a biopic about Journey. It could start at the end of Santana and just go through the whole thing.
I’m going to be doing that eventually myself whether I get clearance or not. There’s still legal issues like that. There’s plenty of people interested. I heard that Blackstone recently is interested in doing a movie, and people are blocking it. So I have to wait to see what happens and wait to see what type of direction I’m going to take with dealing with it.
Do you ever think about writing a memoir?
Yes, and there’s plenty to write about, and I have a lot of it down already. It’s all upstairs. It comes back like it was just yesterday from the very beginning when Jackie Villanueva took me up into the city and introduced me to Elvin Bishop. I started playing at the Keystone Korner on the Tuesdays and Thursday nights in the Blues Jam-off. I won the Blues Jam-offs with people that would fly in from all over the place.
Elvin took me to the Fillmore West for my first bigger show to meet B.B King and play with him onstage. So there’s great, great stories that are just like yesterday for me, things that I’ll never forget, as well as a lot of crazy shit that happened to us. And Santana, man, there was a lot of crazy stuff that went on.
It would indeed be a great book. Do you have any plans to finish it and get it out?
I’m not in a big hurry to put it out because I feel like I’m not even quite done. I feel like I have a lot of life in me and a lot more to come musically. I’d rather do one book that’s my life’s work. I’d love to have it come out when I feel like I’m done, if I’m ever done, or have it come out when I’m gone. I just don’t feel like putting out a book for the sake of putting out a book because there’s a lot more to come.
I think it’s all very interesting. So many things have happened that if I wanted to do a Netflix series, bro, it could go on for years because I have so much material. I have talked to many producers and directors, and they’re all interested. It would take you behind the scenes of legal entanglements, all that stuff. It’s quite interesting how everything panned out.
I saw you play at the Santana reunion show at the Las Vegas House of Blues in 2016. It would be great to see you back onstage with them again.
Yeah, it’s too bad that that just didn’t get the chance to do what we wanted it to do. It wasn’t because the album was not great that we did, Santana IV. At the time, we were with old management. I was trying to do a co-headline with Santana and Journey and play in both bands. Management did not want it, and some members did not want it, and it just didn’t happen.
It’s a shame because, on one end, I was being told by the old managers that nobody wants to see Santana and Journey. I’m like, “This is such a bunch of fuckin’ crap.” People were lined up outside for miles when we played our first show in San Francisco. It sold out within a couple hours. The whole concept was that we would be co-mingling in both bands.
I want to wrap up with Journey here since I’m still a little confused. In your mind, is this maybe just the last Journey tour with Jonathan and the band will continue in some form?
I think it’s Journey’s last tour for me and everyone else. We will continue, and I will continue, but I’m just not putting a tag on it right now. But it will have a new flair to it.
Are you going to move “Don’t Stop Believin’” back to the end of the show? You were playing it as the third song on the last tour.
I never wanted to put it at the very end because it’s a rocker, but it’s a ballad. It’s a ballad rocker, and it’s slow. So you never want to end a concert, no matter how big the song is, to me anyway, I don’t want to end with something that’s really, really slow. You want something that’s a bit more energetic. But the fact that we’re going to be playing a long show, who knows how long it would be… It leaves itself to where you can put it anywhere you want. I tend to think that with a show like this, you have to mix it up. You can’t play all deep hidden cuts all together or in chronological order because I think that it’s just not the right thing to do. You have to do a bit of both, give them a taste of everything, but spread it out and keep everybody’s interest.
I’m sure you’re hoping that articles don’t start popping up about you and Jonathan fighting after this tour starts.
All I know is I’m done with lawsuits. I’m not going to do them. I’m not accepting them. [Laughs]. That’s it.
Some fans were turned off when Jonathan played at the RNC. It’s no secret he’s a Trump supporter. That alienates a lot of people.
Yeah, I’ve never been into that. It’s something that [our original manger] Herbie Herbert and we all vowed when we first started Journey. Herbie was our mascot. He was our leader. He vowed and made us all vow, too, that we would not get involved in any one religion because it’s for the whole world. Neither would we get involved in politics because you’re going to lose half your fans. That’s something we still struggle with a bit, and I’m looking forward to not having to struggle with that any longer.
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How do you think you’ll feel when you walk offstage at the end of the last show on this tour?
Going to feel great, man, because I know where I’m going. I’m actually excited about it. I’m excited about the new place where I want to go, which is going to encompass most everything I’ve been involved in.
And that might be called Journey Beyond?
Possibly, I don’t know. I might come up with a better name.
