Journey keyboardist asks judge to resolve impasse with band guitarist

DOVER, Del. Rock band Journey has compiled an impressive list of hits over the past 50 years, but the song that may now be resonating loudest for some band and crew members is “Separate Ways.”

The latest in a series of legal disputes with the band’s founder and lead guitarist Neal Schonlongtime keyboardist Jonathan Cain is asking a Delaware judge to resolve an impasse involving Freedom 2020, a company formed three years ago to oversee tour-related finances.

According to court documents, Schon is president of Freedom 2020, but he and Cain each own 50% of the company’s equity. In a petition filed last week, Cain said he and Schon “fundamentally disagree” about the management and operation of the company. He wants the court to appoint a custodian to act as an independent director capable of resolving impasses.

Cain’s lawyers also asked the judge to fast-track the case amid the band’s ongoing 50th anniversary Freedom Tour, which ends Nov. 17 in London. During a hearing Wednesday, Cain’s attorney, Sidney Liebesman, told Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster that the current situation is “dysfunctional.”

“It’s in crisis,” Liebesman said. “The damage is occurring during the tour.”

Liebesman has complained that Schon is wasting company assets and believes that, as president of Freedom 2020, “he can do whatever he wants.”

“It’s your self-interest that guides your decision-making,” Liebesman said.

In a court filing Monday, Schon’s attorneys said many of Cain’s allegations are baseless. They specifically rejected allegations that the tour’s production company and suppliers were not being paid on time.

“The petitioner’s allegations that the company faces imminent irreparable harm due to the company’s alleged inability to meet its financial obligations have no basis in fact,” according to Schon’s lawyers, who will file a more complete response to Cain’s petition on Monday.

“Our client denies that there was any mismanagement,” Schon’s attorney Jack Yoskowitz told Laster, adding that any dysfunction was caused by Cain acting in his own self-interest, including making allegations to the press that harm the band.

Laster has scheduled a final hearing in the case to begin Sept. 3, set for Labor Day weekend, as requested by Cain’s attorneys. Schon’s lawyers requested a hearing in late September or early October, after the North American leg of the tour ends.

Cain’s lawyers say a quick resolution is needed because the standoff has become “a very public battle” that also created a “toxic internal environment” during the tour.

“Instead of focusing on the band’s performances during a major international tour, the band’s business manager, lead singer and crew members now find themselves caught in the middle of management disputes, afraid to fulfill their professional responsibilities and under pressure to align themselves with one director or another,” they wrote.

Cain’s lawyers say the dispute also threatens the band’s reputation, could negatively affect its fan base and further damage relationships with suppliers and personnel.

“In fact, the band has lost several members of its staff to these tensions in recent months,” they wrote, adding that the company’s new business manager, its seventh, was hired two months ago.

Cain says that Schon’s desire to receive a $1.5 million advance from promoter AEG Presents LLC to cover tour expenses, and his opposition to Cain’s proposal for a more modest advance of $500,000, caused “an big break.” He also accuses Schon of “exorbitant and unnecessary expenses” on hotels and plane tickets for band and crew members. Schon, for example, ignored the company’s $1,500 per night limit on hotel accommodations and spent up to $10,000 per night on hotel rooms for himself and his wife, according to Cain.

Cain also alleges that Schon allows crew members to stay in hotel rooms during tour stops in or near their home cities, and fly business class. Schon also used the company credit card for personal expenses and incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in private jet costs for himself, his wife and several crew members, according to Cain.

The dispute also extended to creative differences, including Cain’s disagreement with Schon’s choice of a replacement drummer for a performance in Toronto last week, and whether Cain should play rhythm guitar during performances of the song “Wheel in the Sky.” , from 1978.

“Even if this decision was within the scope of Freedom 2020’s business, which seems highly dubious, musical arrangement issues are not objectively the type of disagreement that threatens the company with irreparable harm,” Schon’s lawyers wrote.

The two band members have been at loggerheads for several years. In 2022, for example, Schon sent a cease and desist letter after Cain performed the 1981 hit “Don’t Stop Believin'” at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Schon said that Cain, whose wife was a spiritualist adviser to Trump, had no right to use the Journey brand for politics. Cain responded that Schon was the one who damaged the band’s brand through his intimidation tactics and reckless spending.