JOURNEY Keyboardist Says His Visit To White House 'Wasn't Political'

JOURNEY keyboardist Jonathan Cain has commented on his war of words with Neal Schon over a White House visit by several members of the band.

Cain and the guitarist feuded publicly on social media last summer after Jonathan, singer Arnel Pineda and bassist Ross Valory were photographed with President Donald Trump. Cain is married to Trump's spiritual advisor, Pastor Paula White, one of the religious leaders who participated in Trump's January 2017 inauguration.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Cain said that his visit to the White House "was a historical chance to go and it wasn't political. I'm a history buff and was dying to see where all this history took place," he insisted. "I know Arnel wanted to meet the Filipino lady [Cristeta Comerford] that has worked as a chef there for 20-something years. And Neal and I weren't on speaking terms during that time. He was bashing me about my faith, so I didn't think he would want to come. That's all."

Cain added that the White House visit "wasn't really a band sort of thing. We're friends with Sarah Huckabee from before the presidential thing," he said. "It was just an offer to take a tour. It wasn't an endorsement. Not at all. And Ross [Valory, bass] decided to come and see the building that Eisenhower bowled in. I was like, 'A bowling alley? How cool!' We got to see the loft where they make the cookies. The kitchen was so tiny. We saw all the little nooks and crannies and were like, 'Oh, my gosh, this is amazing.'"

Cain went on to say: "Historically, it felt good to visit. But come to me. Don't go to the fans about it. If you had a problem with it, talk to me. I never heard from him."

In a recent interview with SiriusXM's Eddie Trunk, Schon, who appeared at points during his tweetstorm last summer to suggest that he might be reforming a new version of the band, defended his decision to talk so openly via social media about internal disagreements within the JOURNEY camp. "I have a lot of faith in the fans," he explained. "And I wasn't getting a lot of help anywhere else. That's all I can tell you. I was trying to get our management at a point to step in and bring some things about, and I was trying to talk to different members, and they all went this way and I was kind of there by myself. So I went, 'Man, I'm gonna open this up. I got frustrated with it. I'm gonna open it up and I'm gonna talk to the fans themselves and I'm gonna get their opinion.' And so now they've spoken, and I feel really good about what I'm doing. I feel like I got, you know… 99.9 percent [of the] fans are understanding where I'm at, so it's a good thing."

Neal is the only remaining original member of JOURNEY who has appeared on all the band's albums.

JOURNEY's 58-city tour with DEF LEPPARD will kick off on May 21 in Hartford, Connecticut.