If you believe three of the members of Journey, then their Final Frontier tour really looks like it will be their last.
Rolling Stone conducted interviews with guitarist and co-founder Neal Schon, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, and singer Arnel Pineda the day before the tour started on February 28th in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and you have to wonder how they’re managing to get through it.
Here’s the laundry list of drama:
Both Jonathan Cain and Arnel Pineda sat out rehearsals — Cain due to knee replacement surgery, and Pineda was still home in the Philippines.
Pineda questioned doing the tour due. “I was really not happy with how they scheduled this tour. My body has changed. I can’t take the cold weather anymore.” He went onto say that he “wanted to retire because of my personal problems (he’s going through a “nasty” divorce)… Obviously, they don’t want to find another singer…”
Pineda also agrees with fans who say his voice is not what it once was.
“Steve Perry’s voice is really far superior to mine. But I’m almost 60 now. What can I do? And the band wants to move on with me, and they like the voice that I produce out there with them … They can fire me any time they want, but they’re not.”
Neal Schon is still not on good terms with Jonathan Cain, saying, “I feel like I get one [lawsuit] served every week from his camp… I just want some peace… I’m just really tired of all the legal [battles]. It’s meaningless to me. I don’t have any time for it… I’m 72. I’m no youngster. I still have a lot of fire in my soul and energy to do things, but I also want to feel comfortable. Jon made a statement a while ago that this was his farewell. And so, I’m treating it as such.”
As for Pineda’s issues, Schon says, “He sent a lot of messages that he was overwhelmed with his personal life and didn’t know if he could do it. But we all signed contracts, OK? So, honestly, I’m signed up for the next two years… I’m ready to plow through it, survive, and float to the top. I hope that he feels better about things…”
Asked if he would consider replacing Pineda, Schon says, “I’ve thought about it. I mean, it’s natural to think about it. It’s not something I want to think about. I love Arnel. He’s been a total martyr, like a warrior. This is his 17th year. But still, at the same token, if he said that, I have to respect it. Do I feel that we could continue? I would say that we could.”
And then there’s Jonathan Cain, a Christian singer married to a high-profile minister (Paula White-Cain) who wants to devote more time to his ministry after the two-year tour ends. He admits that he lied in an interview earlier this year about Steve Perry considering possibly making appearances on the tour.
“I just kind of planted a little seed… I was trying to fish a little bit, and say, ‘Well, he’s thinking about it.’ He came immediately out and said, ‘No, I’m not.’ I kind of did that on purpose, because there’s just so much fake AI stuff going on. You just look at it and go, ‘Wait a minute, no, that’s not true. None of this is true.’”
What is true is that they’ve managed to get through the first 18 shows with the next one scheduled for Friday in Oklahoma City followed by Wichita, Kansas on Saturday.
