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DEEN CASTRONOVO: JOURNEY Fired Me 'Because They Love Me'

November 4, 2015

Former JOURNEY drummer Deen Castronovo spoke to the Statestman Journal about his arrest for domestic violence charges in June and his recently completed court-ordered drug rehabilitation. You can watch the chat below.

After being released on $20,000 bail on June 15, Castronovo called the victim 35 times and sent her 122 text messages, despite being under a court order to have no contact with her. He was arrested again on June 29 on a grand jury indictment which charged him with five counts of fourth-degree assault, one count of first-degree rape, two counts of menacing, one count of unlawful use of a weapon, one count of second-degree assault, one count of second-degree sex abuse, one count of coercion, one count of second-degree criminal mischief, and three counts of contempt of court.

At a July 1 bail hearing, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gardiner said that Castronovo threw the woman into a wall 14 times, pulled her hair and forced her to have sex with him.

The 51-year-old musician, who replaced Steve Smith as JOURNEY's drummer in 1998, told the Statestman Journal: "I was a verbally abusive man. I was a physically abusive man."

"This is not about clearing my name," he added. "The only way I'm going to get my family's trust back is to walk the walk. I've let everybody in the community down, everyone who ever put any faith and trust in me."

He went on to say: "Domestic violence is really a choice, and it is calculated. The drugs and the alcohol exacerbated it immensely, but there's no excuse for what I did. I deal with it every day, and it's deeper than regret or remorse."

Castronovo also defended his former bandmatres for firing him. He said: "They had to. They have an impeccable legacy, and I tarnished that. They didn't fire me to punish me. They fired me because they love me and they wanted me to get help. They knew I couldn't do it and be on the road."

JOURNEY hired drummer Omar Hakim to sit behind the kit for the band's summer tour of North America. He made his live debut with the group at their June 20 concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

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