Classic Rock 93.9

Journey guitarist Neal Schon has posted a lengthy statement responding to ex-Journey singer Steve Perry‘s recent legal action alleging that Schon and bandmate Jonathan Cain falsely claimed full ownership of the trademarks on 20 of the group’s songs.

In the message, which was posted on Facebook, Schon calls Perry’s lawsuit “a bunch of total crap” while explaining that the conflict ties in with the dispute over control of the band’s name that led to the 2020 dismissal of longtime Journey bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith.

Schon write that, at that time, Perry, Valory, Smith and band manager Herbie Herbert, who were part of Journey’s board of directors along with him and Cain, voted Schon and Cain off the board.

“They all knew at this time I’d been investigating our [trademarks] for years trying to get to the bottom of all corruption as we (my wife and I) found that nothing had ever been [trademarked] besides our music,” Schon maintains, adding, “They all went for a take over and it didn’t work.”

Schon notes that his wife then “found a legitimate [trademark] attorney” who helped him attain the trademarks.

Schon says he questions why Perry’s attorney, who also was Journey’s lawyer at that time, didn’t help the band secure those trademarks.

“It was a giant corrupted ring of people that either [management] or accountants hired to work for us cashing in on all our merchandise till now,” Schon alleges, “all along knowing there was No [trademark] on our merch.”

Neal concludes, “You haven’t heard the last of this friends. We are going to peel back the onion.”

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As she’s been making her way through the festival circuit this month, Stevie Nicks has added a cover of a classic tune to her set list, and now she’s releasing it as a single.

The song is Stevie’s version of Buffalo Springfield‘s “For What It’s Worth (Stop, Hey What’s That Sound).” The 1966 track was written by the band’s Stephen Stills in response to the demonstrations against Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip curfew laws, which turned violent as protestors clashed with police.

Now, Stevie writes on her socials, her version of the tune will be out on Friday. “It meant something to me then, and it means something to be now,” she notes of the song. “I always wanted to interpret it thru the eyes of a woman and it seems like today, in the times that we live in — that it has a lot to say. I can’t wait for you to hear it.”

Among the song’s lyrics which might resonate today: “There’s battle lines being drawn/Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong,” and “A thousand people in the street/Singing songs and they carrying signs/Mostly say, ‘Hooray for our side.'”

This will be Stevie’s first release of music since her 2020 single “Show Them the Way.”

“For What It’s Worth” isn’t the only cover Stevie’s been doing this month in concert: She’s also been performing her dear friend Tom Petty‘s “Free Fallin'” as well as her take on Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll.”

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An archival Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album and box set featuring highlights from the 20-show residency the band played at San Francisco’s famed Fillmore venue in 1997 will be released on November 25.

Put together by Tom Petty‘s estate in collaboration with Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, Live at the Fillmore (1997) will be available in multiple formats and configurations, including a four-CD package, a six-LP vinyl collection, a two-CD set and a three-LP release.

The four-CD and six-LP versions will feature 58 tracks, including 35 cover tunes. Both packages will come with a booklet featuring rare photos, three custom guitar picks, a replica laminate pass and an embroidered patch.

Live at the Fillmore (1997) features performances recorded during the final six shows of the residency. The band changed the set list every night; in addition to playing plenty of classic Petty & the Heartbreakers originals, they performed renditions of songs by The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Kinks, The Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry and more.

Petty and company also welcomed some special guests during the residency, including Roger McGuinn, of The Byrds, and blues legend John Lee Hooker.

“Playing the Fillmore in 1997 for a month was one of my favorite experiences as a musician in my whole life,” Campbell says. “The band was on fire and we changed the set list every night. The room and the crowd was spiritual … AND … we got to play with some amazing guests. I will always remember those nights with joy and inspiration.”

A version of “Listen to Her Heart” has been released as an advance digital track from Live at the Fillmore and a companion music video has been posted on Petty’s official YouTube channel.

You can preorder Live at the Fillmore now.

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Ex-Journey frontman Steve Perry has launched legal action against his former bandmates Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain seeking to block their claimed ownership of trademarks involving 20 of the band’s popular songs.

Billboard reports that Perry filed a petition at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on September 11, asking that 20 trademark registrations secured by the Freedom JN LLC company, which the singer says is controlled by Cain and Schon, be invalidated.

The trademarks, which include the rights to the names of such tunes as “Open Arms,” “Anyway You Want It,” “Wheel in the Sky” and others, cover the use of those titles on T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts and other merch items.

Perry claims that Cain and Schon didn’t have the right to register trademarks for the song titles without his approval because the three musicians had signed a partnership agreement requiring all of them to consent unanimously to the use of the tunes for products or other purposes.

Perry charges that Cain and Schon committed “fraud on the trademark office” by applying to register the song names without informing the agency of the true status of the ownership of the songs.

The petition also maintains that using the song titles in products would falsely suggest that he endorsed or had a connection to those items.

In addition, the petition notes that Perry, who split with Journey in 1998, was lead singer on all 20 songs in question when they were originally released and became popular, adding, “Their respective titles have become uniquely and unmistakably associated with and point to petitioner Perry.”

Billboard reports that, as of Tuesday, a lawyer for the Freedom JN company had not returned the magazine’s request for a comment about the matter.

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A dozen new episodes of AXS TV’s popular music-themed countdown series Top Ten Revealed will premiere on the channel this fall, starting with a show dubbed “Bands on the Map” that will debut on Tuesday, October 4 at 8 p.m. ET.

The episode will profile 10 bands who named themselves after a geographical location, among them Chicago, Boston, Asia, Berlin, Miami Sound Machine, Nazareth, Europe and LA Guns.

The show will feature a variety of celebrities offering up humorous commentary about the groups, including Carnie Wilson, longtime John Fogerty drummer Kenny Aronoff, current Warrant singer Robert Mason, former Tina Turner sax player Tim Cappello and ex-MTV host Matt Pinfield.

ABC Audio is debuting an exclusive preview segment of the show focusing on Asia, which is #7 on the list.

In the clip, Pinfield declares, “Asia had a huge debut album, one of the biggest,” referring to the prog-rock supergroup’s 1982 self-titled record, which spent nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200.

Cappello, meanwhile, explains that the prog-rock supergroup featured members of Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and adds, “They had a bunch of hits. You gotta give props to ‘Only Time Will Tell.'”

The segment also quips that the band’s name didn’t necessarily make sense since the four members were all from the U.K.

The 12 new episodes of Top Ten Revealed will all be part of the second half of the series’ fifth season.

Here’s a partial list of the show’s other upcoming episodes along with their premiere dates:

10/18 — “’80s Hair Bands”
10/25 — “Songs of the Occult”
11/15 — “Fallin’ Jams”
11/22 — “Songs with Fire”
12/6 — “Christmas Crooners”
12/13 — “Hip Hop Trios”

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If These Walls Could Sing, the new documentary about London’s Abbey Road Studios that was directed by Paul McCartney‘s daughter Mary, which got its world premiere at Colorado’ Telluride Film Festival in September 3, will soon make its TV debut on Disney+.

The news was revealed at Abbey Road’s official website and a preview clip from the doc was posted along with the announcement featuring Paul sharing recollections about working at the studio.

In the clip, McCartney recalls a time during the late 1970s when his late wife and Mary’s mom, Linda, walked a black pony they owned named Jet into Abbey Road from their nearby London residence. Paul’s memories are accompanied by photos of Linda walking with the pony across the famous zebra crossing outside of the studio.

The preview also features Paul explaining why he continued to work at Abbey Road with his solo band Wings after the breakup of The Beatles, who did most of their recording at the studio.

In London, we had used other studios, but we always liked this [Abbey Road] the best,” he notes. “So that when I was looking to record with Wings, I thought, ‘Well, this is the best studio. I know it. I know a lot of the people here … It’s just a great studio. You know, all of the microphones work … So it was great. It was great to come back home.”

As previously reported, the documentary looks at highlights of Abbey Road’s 91-year history. To make the movie, film crews were allowed to have intimate access to the studio’s premises for the first time ever.

The doc also features interviews with Elton John, Jimmy Page, members of Pink Floyd, Kate Bush, Oasis‘ Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher, conductor John Williams, producer Giles Martin and more.

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An acoustic guitar played by the late Chris Cornell is being auctioned off in support of Ukraine amid its ongoing fight against Russia’s invasion.

The guitar, made by the Washburn USA custom shop, belongs to musician Pete Thorn, who took the instrument on tour with him in 2009 when he played in Soundgarden frontman’s solo live band. According to Thorn, Cornell liked the guitar so much that he would borrow it to play a few songs each night on the tour.

Proceeds from the auction will be donated to the organization Save Our Allies, which is providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine. A press release states that the guitar is being auctioned with the blessing of Cornell’s widow, Vicky.

For more info, visit SOA.RallyUp.com/UKR.

Thorn also performed with Cornell’s daughter, Toni, during her rendition of the Prince-written, Sinéad O’Connor-sung song “Nothing Compares 2 U” on The Tonight Show last December.

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A variety of artists, including Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and members of the Grateful Dead spin-off group Dead & Company, are encouraging fans to check their registration status on Tuesday in conjunction with National Voter Registration Day.

As part of a campaign launched by the nonpartisan voter-registration organization HeadCount, the musicians took to social media to encourage their supporters to participate in the November 8 midterm elections.

Byrne shared a photo of himself holding up a sign that reads “Register to Vote,” while Dead & Company posted a pic of bandmates Bob Weir and Mickey Hart holding signs with the message “Vote” incorporated into the Grateful Dead’s famous skull logo.

Among the many other music artists encouraging voter registration on their social media sites were Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, Death Cab for Cutie and The Lumineers.

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KISS member Gene Simmons may have millions of fans who adore his music, but in a new interview with Goldmine, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer admits that, besides one exception, he has no friends.

“Even today as I sit here, other than Paul [Stanley], and we only get together when we do stuff for the band … How do I say this without sounding inhuman? I don’t have friends,” Simmons tells the magazine.

He adds, “Yeah, if friends means, ‘Gee, I don’t know what I’m going to do this afternoon. Hey, you want to come over and hang out?’ I’m more interested in what I want to do, and I don’t want to pretend that I’m interested in what you want to do because I am not.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the 73-year-old rocker muses on what he might experience after he dies.

“I’m OK if there’s a heaven and a God. I’m OK with it. I’m also OK if there’s nothing,” Simmons maintains. “I lean towards nothing. My question is, if we get an afterlife, do mosquitoes? Maybe my mother’s sort of wise statement about every day above ground is a good day, and that’s it.”

In addition, Simmons reflects on something he wished he knew when he was younger that would have made his life easier.

“That it didn’t matter what I thought I knew, and it didn’t matter what I knew,” he notes. “You still have to wade through the jungle by yourself. All the knowledge in the world, or no knowledge at all, doesn’t prepare you for life because there’s no one journey, there’s no one road.”

The full interview is available in the latest issue of Goldmine.

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It seems safe to call Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard‘s Stadium Tour a success.

The outing, which also featured Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts on the bill, took in a total of $173.5 million from 1.3 million tickets sold, according to Billboard.

Since Billboard began tracking tour data in the late ’80s, neither Mötley Crüe nor Def Leppard had grossed as much money or had sold as many tickets on any other previous tour.

Both bands’ previous peaks as solo headliners averaged between 10,000-11,000 tickets sold and never more than $1 million earned per show. The Stadium Tour, meanwhile, averaged 37,520 tickets sold and $4.96 million earned each night.

For Mötley Crüe, the tour marked their return to the live stage after playing their “final” show on New Year’s Eve 2015. The concert was preceded by a “cessation of touring” contract, which was meant to legally prevent the “Dr. Feelgood” rockers from touring together again. Upon announcing their return, the Crüe declared that they’d voided the contract.

Adding to the buildup was the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed the Stadium Tour from its initially scheduled 2020 launch to 2022.

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