S Poddar
Guitarist Neal Schon of Journey is locked in yet another heated battle with bandmate Jonathan Cain. Last week, Cain filed a lawsuit against Schon, saying that he had acted outrageously by using the band’s money to finance his profligate spending. This isn’t the first time the two have clashed over finances; a similar legal dispute was settled earlier this year.
Cain says Schon and his wife, Michaele, have been submitting the band’s credit card for private jet travel and luxury hotel stays. Schon has categorically denied this, saying that he and his wife always paid their own way. He says, while most of the band, including Cain’s wife, opted to use a bus for some of the tour, he and his family, with other band members and crew, used a private jet, an expense already incurred in the budget.
He also explained that, once in a while, when he gets an upgrade to a better room in hotels, in the course of years he had developed good relations with the hotel managers that result in special deals. He said he does pay for these upgrades from his own pocket.
Tired with the relentless litigation, Schon explains a lawsuit regarding the same issue was dismissed earlier this year, where both parties agreed to move forward. He then offers a solution: remove the band’s credit card and pay the members directly from concert promoters.
As the legal drama involving Journey progresses, the band will go on tour with Def Leppard and Steve Miller Band.
