Gregg Rolie, a cofounder of Journey, has asked that the Guitare en Scene festival in France issue refunds to a now-canceled concert that falsely claimed he would be performing alongside former bandmate Neal Schon.
“Issues about the misappropriation of my works are being dealt with privately,” Rolie told TheWrap through his rep. “But, the red line for me is when fans are impacted.”
He added: “In my opinion, it’s been clear to everyone involved that I had never confirmed my participation and that I wasn’t going to go along with something that could deceive people. And still tickets were sold to good people under my good name, and under the name of Journey. That’s not cool.”
TheWrap has also reached out to the Guitare en Scene festival and Schon for comment.
Rolie went on to say: “My lawyer’s letter to the festival asks them to make things right for any fan who purchased tickets with the expectation of seeing me there by way of a refund. It isn’t hard to do the right thing.”
The keyboardist left the classic rock band in the early ’80s. However, he retains performance and publishing rights to the songs recorded during his tenure.
The letter states that Rolie is “quite concerned over the deceptive marketing, misuse and intentional misappropriation of his name and likeness, and misleading announcement and ticketing that purported to promote an exclusive ‘Journey’ appearance, after 15 years of absence from the European market under the name ‘Journey Through Time.’”
Journey Through Time, a post-breakup iteration of the band that included Rolie, Schon, Marco Mendoza, Deen Castronovo and John Varn, first formed in 2018 for a benefit concert. In May, Frontier Records released an album and DVD of the concert, a matter that is being dealt with “privately,” as Rolie stated.
The letter also states, “[Rolie] intends to protect [the] works, the legacy and brand of ‘Journey,’ or his name and likeness from being used to harm or divide others…” and slammed “acts of individual greed” on the part of former band members.
“Journey means a lot to the fans and to me. Every version of the band has been important,” Rolie said in a separate statement shared with TheWrap.
Journey was inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. Rolie was also a founding member and lead singer of Santana and also played with Ringo Starr’s All Star Band.
Infighting between the former bandmates is nothing new: Earlier this year, Schon sued keyboardist Jonathan Cain for performing the band’s 1981 hit “Don’t Stop Believin” at a Donald Trump rally to make it clear that the rest of the former band members do not endorse the former president.
Original lead singer Steve Perry, who left the band in 1998, filed and withdrew legal papers in 2022 to prevent Schon from using Journey trademarks on merchandise, Rolling Stone reported at the time.
