Jonathan Cain has discussed how he and Journey founding guitarist Neal Schon resolved their long-running conflict and became friends again, telling Ultimate Classic Rock.
Cain and Schon had clashed for years, sometimes exchanging words on social media and through legal action. The keyboardist explained what changed to bring them back together.
“My wife (Paula Jones) and Neal’s wife (Michaele) had this idea of possibly getting us started talking to each other again…and now we’re friends, and talking,” Cain said.
He stressed that the two men share common ground on most matters. “We 90 percent agree on most things. There are certain things we don’t, and we just decided to be transparent about what we want. It’s a 45-year relationship. That’s a lot; I’ve known Neal longer than any wife of mine.”
Cain added that spending time looking back has helped the relationship. “We have a lot of fond memories of great stuff we did together, so we’ve been sort of reminiscing a lot — ‘Remember when we did this…?, being MTV VJs and playing racquetball and stuff like that.”
He also noted the importance of protecting what they built together. “There’s a real legacy that we both built, and I didn’t want the thing to end on a sour note.”
Cain made these comments as part of a wider conversation about his place in Journey’s future.
The peace between Cain and Schon followed years of tension. In November 2022, Schon sued Cain over control of Journey’s American Express card, claiming the keyboardist had set up an account without his knowledge. Cain responded with his own accusations, stating that Schon was running up large personal charges on the band’s credit card. The disputes went beyond money. In December 2022, Schon sent Cain a cease-and-desist letter after the keyboardist performed “Don’t Stop Believin'” at Mar-a-Lago, citing disagreements over Cain’s political views and support for right-wing causes and Evangelical Christianity.
The conflict grew worse in July 2024, when Cain filed a lawsuit accusing Schon of overspending during Journey’s stadium tour with Def Leppard and Steve Miller, claiming the guitarist was wasting up to $10,000 a night and maxing out the band’s credit card. On August 28, 2024, Schon agreed to Cain’s demand that a third director be assigned to their joint touring company, Freedom 2020.
The role of the wives proved crucial to the turnaround. Drummer Deen Castronovo said that Paula Jones and Michaele Schon helped bring the men together by arranging for them to sit down and talk things out. All four of them are now co-managing the band together.
The reconciliation has shifted Cain’s thinking about his future with Journey. When the fall North American tour began, Cain had planned to leave the band after a couple more years. Now, with about a month left in the tour after completing 110 shows in 2026, he said he was reconsidering his plans. “When I started the tour I was definitely gonna hang it up, and I still don’t know what I want to do moving forward,” Cain told Ultimate Classic Rock. The improved relationship with Schon has left the door open for him to stay with the band longer than he originally intended.
