Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain thinks convicted felon Donald Trump is innocent (Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
‘Where are you?’ Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain asks. ‘London,’ I reply. ‘That’s a sensible city,’ he responds. ‘Do you think?’ I ask sceptically, thinking about the sky-high rent prices, verging on £8 pints, and the generally miserable June we’re having.
‘But you’ve just got to work on your border a little bit like us,’ he adds.
It turns out Cain, 74, who is the keyboardist and rhythm guitarist for Journey, the band behind uplifting rock anthem Don’t Stop Believin’, is a staunch Trump supporter.
He explained: ‘I thought, “What happened to London, oh my god.” But you know, the culture absorbs it all. I see all the different cultures coming in and absorbing it all.
‘I think London is a big enough city to diffuse it all. But still, it’s noticeable, from the 80s.’
What he means by ‘it’ is unclear – but open to interpretation. ‘Who knows though. Maybe London needed shaking up. It’s still a great town,’ he adds diplomatically, before: ‘Go London!’
Journey started life in 1973 and are still going with a line-up tweak 50 years later (Picture: Michael Putland/Getty Images)
I was going to write about his 80s rockstar memories, Journey’s big UK tour this year, and their hit song (which is a banger) Don’t Stop Believin’, which has been named the Biggest Song of All Time by Forbes….
‘It’s been a long time for Europe,’ Cain said, explaining how they exploded in the UK in 1981 but didn’t get over here for concerts much, so their fanbase suffered as a result.
It wasn’t until just after Steve Augeri joined the band as Perry’s replacement in 1998 that Don’t Stop Believin’ suddenly exploded internationally with its inclusion in Broadway musical Rock of Ages, TV series Glee, and then The Sopranos.
Now, over 50 years after they first formed Journey are coming to the UK in October to play at Cardiff, Nottingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Mancester, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Newcastle and London.
Festival-wise, after Journey’s manager retired Cain admits he doesn’t know whether they will be in the running for a Glastonbury appearance in the coming years.
‘I think he had a connection with these promoters over and UK. So we kind of lost that,’ he said, adding that the UK fanbase is great because it grew ‘organically’ online in the 2000s.
Cain says Journey aren’t a political band – but isn’t afraid to share his own political views (Picture: Denise Truscello/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
So does rockstar Cain really think, like those red hat-wearing Americans, that Donald Trump is – as the tangerine man himself declared – ‘an innocent man’?
Surely not, after Trump became the first former US president to be a convicted felon…
‘Put it this way, there might have been some misdemeanors. Crimes, as they’re calling it. But yes, I do,’ Cain said.
A deep irony in US law means that as a convicted felon, Trump won’t be able to vote in the upcoming November election – but he will be able to stand. (Whether or not he will do from inside a jail cell, remains to be seen.)
Rather than see this as a disturbing development in the history of the world, his supporters are martyring him. And Cain is one of them.
‘I think it was unfair what happened,’ he said. ‘It was a sad day for the United States but I think he’s a fighter. He has a chance. They can’t stop him legally. He can run for president from jail.’
Cain added: ‘It will make him a legend.’
Donald Trump is a convicted felon (Picture: Olivier Douliery – Pool/Getty Images)
In 2022, Cain got in hot water with Journey founder Neal Schon when he played Don’t Stop Believin’ for Trump at one of his political functions.
In an open letter, Schon’s lawyer said Cain’s appearances caused ‘irreparable harm to the Journey brand’ for associating it with a political viewpoint.
Journey is not a political band, Cain sustains, while explaining why they never initially broke the UK.
The keyboardist said former lead singer Steve Perry was always worried ‘something would happen’ at a concert if they toured Europe back in the 80s.
‘There was some unrest in Europe, and especially over in Ireland. And I think that was what kept Steve Perry away was all the bombing and, you know, the unrest,’ he said.
‘He was always worried about something happening in one of our shows. I didn’t get that because we’re not political. We just come and play our hits, you know.
‘Don’t Stop Believin’, the one song that made it in the UK, was an escape route. That’s all we needed to do.’
Cain added: ‘But in the end I think we missed an opportunity that we could have showed up. There would have been no trouble, I don’t think at all. But he had to approve it. And he just said it wasn’t safe.’
Journey’s 2024 line up consists of founder Neal Schon, Cain, Jason Derlatka, Deen Castronovo, Todd Jensen, and Arnel Pineda (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
Lead singer Steve Perry left the band in the 1990s (Picture: Ross Marino/Getty Images)
Discussing Perry’s departure from the group – first in 1987 and again in 1998 – Cain said the band worked the former lead singer too hard over the years, which also to their lack of UK shows.
Arnel Pineda, 56, is the group’s current lead singer, having joined Journey in 2007.
‘I was young enough to deal with it,’ Cain said. ‘But Steve had to sing all this stiff and in the end I think it took its toll and that’s why he’s not with us.
‘You just have to pace things. I don’t think we paced it right with him. His voice is very sensitive, and he needs time off.’
Cain also revealed that when Perry took time off, he wouldn’t hear from him ‘for a year’.
‘It was weird,’ he said, explaining how Perry would come back and say: ‘Time to make another album.’
Comparing Journey to The Beatles, Cain said they worked much like John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney, when they would disappear then come back together and write a song.
‘When I watched the old Beatles movies, the way it was between those two guys was the same way in our band, you know, we had similar patterns. We had the magic chemistry. That was the coolest thing, it was undeniable.’
Reflecting on their various breaks, he added: ‘It was good to go away because Steve Perry used to say: “How can you miss me if I don’t go away?”‘
Perhaps Trump should take a leaf out of Perry’s book…
Journey’s 50th Anniversary Arena Headline Tour of the UK and Ireland starts on October 30th.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.