Journey’s Neal Schon to Bandmate Who Played for Trump: No Political Gigs - The New York Times

When musicians kick astir governmental uses of their songs without permission, the cease-and-desist letters are usually sent to politicians. In the lawsuit of Journey, it is 1 set subordinate against different — implicit a privation for the radical to stay apolitical.

Last week, a lawyer for Neal Schon, Journey’s founding guitarist, wrote to Jonathan Cain, the group’s keyboardist, demanding that helium halt appearing astatine events for erstwhile President Donald J. Trump “as Journey,” and performing Journey songs astatine those functions, saying that Mr. Cain’s appearances person caused “irreparable harm to the Journey brand.”

“Although Mr. Cain is escaped to explicit his idiosyncratic beliefs and associations, erstwhile helium does that connected behalf of Journey oregon arsenic a typical of the band, specified behaviour is highly deleterious to the Journey marque arsenic it polarizes the band’s fans and outreach,” says the letter, a transcript of which was provided to The New York Times by representatives of Mr. Schon.

“Journey is not, and should not be, political,” the missive adds, and notes the hazard of a reduced earning imaginable to its adjacent tour, acceptable to statesman successful January.

Mr. Cain has agelong been connected to Mr. Trump’s interior circle. His wife, Paula White, was Mr. Trump’s spiritual advisor during his administration, and she delivered the invocation astatine Mr. Trump’s inauguration successful 2017.

The beingness of the missive was archetypal reported by Variety.

In a statement, Mr. Cain said: “Neal Schon should look successful the reflector erstwhile helium accuses maine of causing harm to the Journey brand. I person watched him harm our marque for years and americium a unfortunate of some his — and his wife’s — bizarre behavior.”

He pointed to a fig of disputes successful the band’s past and what helium called Mr. Schon and his wife’s “bullying, toxic, incoherent emails,” and added: “If anyone is destroying the Journey brand, it is Neal — and Neal alone.”

Mr. Schon’s wife, Michaele, is simply a onetime reality-TV star who was connected “The Real Housewives of D.C.”

“Don’t Stop Believin’,” from Journey’s 1981 medium “Escape,” was a Top 10 deed erstwhile it came out. It has besides had an enormously palmy afterlife, appearing successful the final occurrence of “The Sopranos” successful 2007, arsenic good arsenic successful the Broadway philharmonic “Rock of Ages.” Written by Mr. Cain, Mr. Schon and Steve Perry, the group’s erstwhile vocalist, the opus has racked up much than 1.4 cardinal streams connected Spotify alone.

Musicians’ complaints astir the governmental usage of their songs besides often impact accusations of copyright infringement, but fixed that Mr. Cain is simply a co-author, that whitethorn beryllium moot, and the missive from Mr. Schon makes nary notation of copyright.

Instead, its absorption is Journey’s tendency to stay apolitical. The missive links to a vigor interview with the band, successful which the radical was asked whether it would person accepted an invitation to execute astatine Mr. Trump’s inauguration. Mr. Cain answered: “We’re not political. We don’t get into politics. We effort to enactment successful our lane.” Mr. Schon added: “The champion spot to enactment is neutral, successful the center.”

Intra-band tensions person agelong been a portion of the communicative of Journey, which emerged arsenic a progressive stone radical successful the 1970s — Mr. Schon began his vocation arsenic a teen successful Santana — and recovered arena-filling occurrence with melodramatic pop-rock successful the ’80s.

Lately, Mr. Schon and Mr. Cain, who joined the radical for “Escape,” person battled implicit assorted financial issues, and different missive sent to Mr. Cain this period — by a antithetic lawyer for Mr. Schon, astatine a antithetic steadfast — complained that Ms. White was inappropriately interfering successful the band’s concern affairs.