Journey’s Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain fire bandmates Ross Valory and Steve Smith in $10M legal war over the band’s name
- Schon and Cain are seeking $10 million in suit filed in California
- Bassist and drummer accused of starting ‘a coup to assume control of’ name
- Smith and Valory ‘drove a dagger between band members’
- Band’s catalog includes classics like Don’t Stop Believin’ and Lights
Journey members Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain fired bandmates Ross Valory and Steve Smith in a $10 million legal dispute over the band’s name.
Bassist Valory, 71, and drummer Smith, 65, attempted ‘a coup to assume control of one of the band’s corporate entities, Nightmare Productions, Inc.,’ attorneys for guitarist Schon, 66, and keyboardist Cain, 70, said in legal docs filed in Costa County, California Tuesday, Rolling Stone reported Wednesday.
Schon and Cain said in the suit that Valory and Smith sought ‘windfall payments in the millions of dollars… after their retirement’ with the attempted takeover of Nightmare Productions in a gambit that was ‘not only malicious but also very ill-conceived.’
Battle of the band: Journey members Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain fired bandmates Ross Valory and Steve Smith in a dispute over the band’s name. (L-R) Arnel Pineda, Schon, Smith, Cain, and Valory were snapped playing in Newark, New Jersey in 2018
Schon and Cain told the court that Nightmare Productions in 1985 granted an ‘exclusive, irrevocable license’ to the band name with the company Elmo Partners.
Schon and Cain began that entity with the band’s ex-lead singer Steve Perry, who worked out a deal with them ceding use of the Journey name upon his 1998 departure.
‘The contracts are clear on their face,’ Schon and Cain’s attorney, Skip Miller, told the magazine Wednesday. ‘The Journey name is controlled by Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain.
‘And for very good cause, they don’t want to perform with Smith or Valory anymore, they don’t want to have anything to do with them, and that’s their right.
Better times: (L-R) Smith, Gregg Rolie, Steve Perry, Valory, and Cain were seen at their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in NYC in April of 2017
Hit-makers: The band’s catalog includes rock classics such as Don’t Stop Believin’ and Any Way You Want It
Miller said that Schon and Cain are ‘going to go on with Journey’ while Valory and Smith ‘are going to get replaced.’
In court docs, Schon and Cain said that Valory and Smith’s plan unfolded late last year and accelerated this past January 31, when lawyer Daniel Schacht emailed associates looking to organize consecutive meetings with Nightmare Productions’ shareholders to implement revisions that would offset the balance of power on the three-person board.
Jamming: Schon was snapped onstage in New Jersey in June of 2018
In their proposal, the board would be expanded to six members, with Smith taking the reigns from Cain as its president.
‘Cain did not approve of the notices and did not sign them,’ Schon and Cain said in court docs, adding it was their belief Schacht’s move was made at Smith and Valory’s behest.
In the attempted business move, Smith and Valory ‘drove a dagger between band members’ and ‘placed their own greed before the interests of the band, sowing discontent and discord, jeopardizing the future of Journey,’ Schon and Cain said in the suit.