Guitarist Neal Schon served the band’s keyboardist, Jonathan Cain, with yet another cease-and-desist after Cain performed “Don’t Stop Believin’” for the twice-impeached president with Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Kari Lake serving as his touring “chorus” at Mar-a-Lago last month. Schon, 68, Cain, 72, and the band’s singer Steve Perry are the writers of the 1981 hit, and the group has been at odds for some time now, with Perry, 73, admitting over a decade ago that the members “don’t like each other very much” because they spend so much time together. The new drama, however, has nothing to do with the lack of distance between members but politics. Cain has been a longtime fan of the 45th president, and his wife Paula White’s claim to fame as a televangelist and the spiritual advisor to the former president sparked new tensions as Cain has allowed the band’s music to be played at Trump rallies. “Although Mr. Cain is free to express his personal beliefs and associations, when he does that on behalf of Journey or for the band, such conduct is extremely deleterious to the Journey brand as it polarizes the band’s fans and outreach. Journey is not, and should not be, political," the letter, obtained by Variety, explained. “Mr. Cain has no right to use Journey for politics,” the statement continued. “His politics should be his own personal business. He should not be capitalizing on Journey’s brand to promote his personal political or religious agenda to the detriment of the band,” calling it a “harmful use of the brand.” This isn’t the first time band members condemned the use of its music at political events. In 2020, Perry and Schon both disapproved of Trump’s use of the song during his early election campaign rallies. At the time, a spokesperson for Cain told reporters, “Schon is just frustrated that he keeps losing in court and is now falsely claiming the song has been used at political rallies." This new cease-and-desist maintains the sentiment that it was not released as a means to “further add to the animosity that is currently plaguing the band and the relationship between Mr. Schon and Mr. Cain." More recently, the two entered a legal battle this past fall after Schon accused Cain of cutting off his access to the band’s American Express card. However, Cain’s lawyer contested that Schon’s access was revoked after he allegedly charged more than $1 million in “improper personal expenses” to the card, per the outlet.
