Journey implosion!

Journey's modern-era lineup imploded this week when guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain fired their rhythm section.
The pair alleged that co-founding bassist Ross Valory and longtime drummer Steve Smith "launched a coup to assume control of one of the band's corporate entities, Nightmare Productions Inc." in an attempt "to oust Cain and Schon – the key remaining members of Journey."

If, in fact, this was an attempt to take over, Valory and Smith didn't act alone.

The vote to install Smith as president and Valory as secretary of the Nightmare Productions board took place during a meeting held on Feb. 13 in San Rafael, Calif., according to court filings. Steve Perry and the manager who initially assembled Journey, were also there – and both sided with Valory and Smith.

Schon wasn't at the meeting, but Cain was; he abstained from the votes. The two later decided to fire Smith and Valory and then filed a $10 million lawsuit. The action seeks to overturn the board proceedings and block their former rhythm section from using the Journey name.

"Our clients have lost all confidence in you and are not willing to perform with you," attorney Louis Miller of Miller Barondess said in a March 3 letter to Smith and Valory. "You have absolutely no rights to the Journey mark and are not authorized to use the Journey mark in any way. Effective immediately, you are no longer members of the band Journey and cannot perform under the name Journey."

Nightmare Productions originally had a three-member board, with positions filled by Cain, Schon and Valory; Cain was president and Schon was secretary. They contend that Valory and Smith wanted to expand the board to six members, packing it with allies to their cause, while also replacing Cain and Schon. Elsewhere, they say attorney Daniel Schacht sent out falsified notices announcing the meeting on Jan. 31 at the direction of Smith and Valory.

Valory, original Journey manager Walter "Herbie" Herbert and three others including Schacht attended this special meeting of Nightmare Productions shareholders in person. Cain, Smith, Perry and three others – including Schon's lawyer, Mark Barondess – took part via phone.

Barondess and Cain attorney Darrell Miller, who also conference-called in, disputed the validity of a Jan. 31 special-meeting notice before votes were even held. The motion to expand the board to six members was then passed by Herbert, Perry, Smith and Valory. Cain abstained.

The same voters affirmed Smith as president and Valory as secretary of the board, with Cain again abstaining. Attorney Tom Jorstad was on hand as an in-person proxy for Smith – and also for Perry. Jorstad was later elected chief financial officer for Nightmare Productions, which was founded by Herbert and still owns the Journey mark.

Cain and Schon claim Valory and Smith wanted to take on these leadership roles so they could rewrite the licensing agreement for the band's name, giving themselves a cut of future proceeds prior to retiring from the road.

It apparently wouldn't have worked anyway. Court filings assert that Nightmare Productions doesn't directly control the Journey mark. Instead, Cain and Schon have furnished original documents showing that they do, following an earlier agreement with Perry.

Nightmare Productions provides an "exclusive, irrevocable license" of the Journey name to a corporate entity formed by Cain, Perry and Schon called Elmo Partners, according to the court filing. Those rights are reserved "until the date upon which none of Stephen Perry, Neal Joseph Schon or Jonathan Cain is actively engaged in a professional career utilizing the name Journey."

Perry signed a separate document when he split with Journey in the late '90s, providing Cain and Schon permission to move forward in his absence with certain monetary considerations.

Valory had been the longest-tenured member of Journey after Schon. He appeared on all but one of the band's albums, dating back to their debut. Smith took over for original Journey drummer Aynsley Dunbar in 1978 and continued with the group until 1985, when he and Valory were fired by Perry. Both returned in 1995, ahead of Journey's Trial by Fire reunion album. Smith left in 1998, then rejoined Journey in 2016 after solo work with Schon.

Cain, Dunbar, Perry, Schon, Smith and Valory were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, along with fellow co-founder Gregg Rolie.



Read More: Steve Perry Sided With Ousted Rhythm Section in Journey Dispute | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/steve-perry-journey-dispute/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

What's even more interesting are the legal documents included which state that Steve Perry can stay at home and rake in the cash. For the first 2 albums without him he receives 50% royalties and 50% of the tour in 1998! He still gets 12.5% of all royalties from any album sales and tours.

Wow! 50% is a bit high!!! These types agreements are not unusual when an original band member leaves the band and despite over the name occur. It was not 50% but whenever Pink Floyd toured and recorded without Roger Waters, Waters was still payed a percentage of their gross, thou he lost the lawsuit to stop Gilmour and Mason from using the Pink Floyd name, he was still owed money since he co-owns the name.

Bon Scott's estate in the late 80's began receiving monies from the tours, t shirt sales etc, thou not on albums he did not appear or write for, this deal has which netted his estate millions of dollars over the past almost 40 years.

Steve Perry is an American singer, songwriter, and musician
who has a net worth of $45 million dollars.
Born in Hanford, California in 1949 - he developed an interest in music
at an early age that was encouraged by his parents.

Touring as the support act for openers Montrose and headliners Journey in 1978,
Van Halen had ample time to get the party started after their set.
Yet one time when Monk went back, he says he found the backstage area
and its inhabitants dead silent.
He then noticed what looked like a long splash
of green paint on a full-length mirror in the dressing room.
Upon further inspection, the “paint” turned out to be guacamole --
a bowl of which was thrown at David Lee Roth by Eddie Van Halen
in retaliation for the singer hurling a bowl of peanuts at the guitarist.

But he missed and nailed Steve Perry instead.
Monk found the Journey singer in the bathroom softly crying to himself
and helped him get cleaned up for the show,
likening the incident to "heartless mean children"
picking on a kid in the middle-school cafeteria.

Read More: 10 Crazy Tales From the New Van Halen Book 'Runnin' With the Devil'

Couldn't happen to a better band!

Good grief I HATE Journey!

tohostudios wrote:

Couldn't happen to a better band!

Good grief I HATE Journey!

I was just waiting for you to say that!

Thrasher73 wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Couldn't happen to a better band!

Good grief I HATE Journey!

I was just waiting for you to say that!

   Glad I didn't disappoint!

I’m a casual fan of Journey at best but I do think it’s a shame how bands are infighting over money these days. The music industry ain’t what it used to be and you’ll see this happening more often to established bands fighting over scraps.

Aerosmith recently had a similar situation with drummer Joey Kramer but they’ve since managed to patch things up at lest in the public eye.

tohostudios wrote:

Couldn't happen to a better band!

Good grief I HATE Journey!

I'm not a front row fan either, but I always found Frontiers to be a great record. I don't own it on CD, but I've heard it many times and have thought of picking it up.

There's an update to this but I didn't bother posting. Ross Vallory has counter sued. Basically he said the original meeting was to stop Neal from using the name "Journey Through Time" because it hurt the Journey brand. It was not to take over the band.

In other news, Warner Brothers wanted to do a Journey movie. Arnel said if the movie deal fell thru he was out. Schon & Cain blocked the Warner Brothers movie deal and Arnel said no movie, no your.

You can't make this crap up.... All the while Steve Perry is smiling at home taking in the cash.

Just give me the greatest hits and I’m good.

When Steve Perry left the first time, it was over! They made a shit ton of money and secured their place in music history.

Troublezone wrote:

Just give me the greatest hits and I’m good.

I agree. A best of cd is more than enough for me.