Journey’s Neal Schon Dismisses Jonathan Cain’s Claims as ‘Rubbish’

Journey guitarist Neal Schon has offered his first in-depth public response to the most recent lawsuit filed against him by bandmate Jonathan Cain, calling Cain’s allegations “absolute rubbish.”

Earlier this month, Cain sued Schon, accusing him of spending the band’s money too freely and without Cain’s approval, even though Cain is an equal partner in the company managing their touring business. A similar issue arose between them in 2022, but they seemed to reach a workable compromise earlier this year.

Cain’s recent lawsuit suggests that the compromise did not hold. He alleges that Schon and his wife Michaele have been running up unauthorized expenses on the band’s credit card for private jet travel and excessively expensive hotel rooms. Schon already refuted these claims in court and addressed a fan’s concerns on social media.

“There’s a lot of rumors about the band living its final days because you and your wife can’t stop expending the band’s money,” the fan wrote. “Is this truth?”

“Absolute rubbish,” Schon responded on X. “I don’t know why people believe Media. If anything [what] she’s done is make us a lot of money by attaining the trademark her and I did by ourselves, [and it] cost quite a lot of money to attain it – both Jon Cain and [current singer] Arnel Pineda are benefiting from that equally. It’s split in thirds. We are traveling no differently than we have for many, many years, including Jon Cain. He and his wife decided to take a bus [at] the 11th hour, [that] was his own decision. The rest of the band, Arnel and his children, my wife myself, Deen Castronovo, Todd Jensen, Jason, along with crew and security travel on one jet that was all ‘approved in our budget.'”

Regarding Cain’s claim that he and his wife were spending up to $10,000 a night on hotel rooms, Schon noted he has developed “great relationships” with hotel managers and sometimes benefits from special upgrade deals, all of which are paid for out of his own pocket.

“This is the second time Jonathan Cain has sued me for the same thing,” Schon continued. “We’ve already been through [this] in court, that case was dropped by both of us. We both agreed to drop and move forward with prejudice. That means that you never open it again. Well here we are again, in the middle of a wonderful tour with our good friends, Def Leppard and Steve Miller.”

In conclusion, Schon suggests that the band stop using the disputed credit card altogether: “Let [the] Promoter take on all responsibilities and pay us all individually or equal money and we travel as we wish. Sounds like a good solution, right? Let’s see how this plays out. Then I’ll see you at our next gig. I’ll be kicking some ass.”

Journey’s next show is set for Monday night in Arlington, Texas. Their tour is scheduled to conclude Sunday, Aug. 25 in Los Angeles.