Journey Bandmates Defend Frontman Arnel Pineda, Blame Fellow Performers For Sound Issues

After taking a hit from fans following a less-than-stellar performance during the band’s Rock in Rio appearance in Brazil, frontman Arnel Pineda has vowed to leave Journey if that’s what enough fans want. However, his bandmates, Deen Castronovo and Neal Schon, have made it clear they are standing firmly behind him.

Arnel Pineda Leaves It Up to the Fans

Journey took the stage earlier this month at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Afterwards, online footage began circulating of Arnel Pineda stumbling over the high notes in “Don’t Stop Believin.’” The frontman was apparently struggling with his ear monitors.

As we’ve likely all experienced, the internet can be a very unkind place. Left “devastated” by the widespread criticism, Pineda took to social media to invite fans to vote him out of the band.

“i am offering you a chance now ( especially those who’s hated me and never liked me from the very beginning) to simply text GO or STAY right here,” wrote Pineda, who took the reins in 2007. “and if GO reaches 1million… im stepping out for good.”

Journey Bandmates Won’t Stop Believin’ in Arnel Pineda

In a rare social media post, drummer Deen Castronovo fired back at “the trolls” who have blasted Pineda’s vocals.

“I know very few who can pull off what Arnel does without ego and with passion and grace. BACK OFF TROLLS!” wrote Castronovo, who first joined Journey in 1998. “You are MESSING with MY FAMILY NOW and I am A RABID PROTECTOR OF MY OWN!!!”

Lead guitarist Neal Schon also rejected the “absolute garbage fabricated bulls—” about his bandmate. In a separate Facebook post, the Journey co-founder took it a step further, pinning the band’s sound issues on festival headliners Avenged Sevenfold.

[RELATED: Journey’s Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon Resolve Legal Dispute over Band’s Financial Issues]

“[We] found out much later that we got extremely limited by Avenged Sevenfold that means that hardly hardly any sound can get out of the PA to the audience,” Schon, 70, wrote on Facebook. “It’s a bulls— move.”

Featured image by Antonio Lacerda/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

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