Neal Schon Renames Journey to “Who Dis”

By Claudia Stavola

Neal Schon renamed Journey ‘Who Dis’ during a bizarre magazine interview last Tuesday.

Schon has been in the news since March after a dispute and ultimate firing of original bassist Ross Valory and longtime drummer, Steve Smith. The public was told it was over money and rights to the band name but an anonymous source (who needed a Tagalog-to-English translator) claims “Mr. Schon was sick of fans never mispronouncing Smith’s or Varory’s names.” (did he just say “Varory”?) To this day, people still aren’t sure how to say Schon’s name—Shonn, Scone, Shone, Dick Bag—and often misspell his first name with an i instead of an e.

The incident unfolded after a video interview with Rolling Stone. Bob Reilly asked about adding Randy Jackson to the lineup to which Schon replied, “You’ve gotta be shitting me. He did one album with us back in ’86. One and done! That’s something he’s never said to breadsticks [chuckles]!” Reilly reminded him that he just hired Jackson along with percussionist Narada Michael Walden and keyboardist Jason Derlatka. Schon suddenly yelled into the camera, “New phone! Who dis?” before ducking under a desk. Reilly told Schon he could still see him but what happened next was shocking. Schon reappeared in a long blonde wig claiming he was Michaele Salahi (Schon’s wife) and that her husband was unavailable.

When Rolling Stone resumed the interview the next day, Schon acted like nothing happened. But when Reilly asked him about the events the day before, Schon stammered before claiming it was a publicity stunt to announce the band’s new name, ‘Who Dis’. It’s safe to say Smith and Valory were emotionally distraught about being fired, but after this new name debacle, you have to wonder who’s crying now?