In a new interview with the Go With Elmo Lovano podcast, former JOURNEY drummer Steve Smith reflected on his original departure from the band in 1985. After joining JOURNEY in 1978 as the replacement for original drummer Aynsley Dunbar for the band’s fifth album, “Evolution”, and subsequent tour, he traveled the world with JOURNEY until the band’s “Raised On Radio” album in 1985, when he and bassist Ross Valory were fired by singer Steve Perry. When host Elmo Lovano noted that Smith‘s exit from JOURNEY “must have been a hard time”, the drummer concurred. “It was,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It was a hard transition, because I was invested as being a bandmember. I wasn’t a sideman. I was an equal member. It was like a divorce, and then there was a lot of legal work to officially separate. But interestingly, I still was part of the JOURNEY corporation. So, even though Ross and I left the group as touring members, we retained our ownership of the trademark JOURNEY and [JOURNEY‘s corporate entity] Nightmare Inc. And our royalties were all continuing to happen. So, it was more working through the legalities of not being a part of the touring aspect of the group. But it was hard. I did go to therapy to work out, to really work out a lot of those feelings of how hard it was to be in the group at that time and how hard it was to leave. But for me, the music is so important.
He continued: “My identity and my direction, it wasn’t connected to being the JOURNEY drummer, being in JOURNEY. It was definitely part of who I was during that time, but it wasn’t the entirety of it. And I had all these other musical environments and bands that I was playing in. And that saved me in a way, emotionally. I could go out and play with local jazz guys from San Francisco or go on tour, eventually, with STEPS AHEAD. And, really, my first step was going out and doing clinics. I had been asked to do clinics most of the whole time I was with JOURNEY, but I didn’t have time to do any clinics. And so the first thing that I did was let Sonor and Zildjian know that I was available for clinics. So I ended up doing a lot of clinics in late ’85 and then ’86, which is, in fact, what led me to be playing drums with STEPS AHEAD… It was a difficult transitionary year, but I wasn’t gonna let it stop me or derail me from my idea of what I wanted to be as a musician.”
Smith added: “I have like a perspective that bands have sort of a creative arc, a beginning, middle and end. And it’s really natural for that creative period to — and JOURNEY is a good example of it. I mean, right now, the main body of work that JOURNEY created was during that time, let’s say ’77 to ’85. And even now, that’s the music that the band plays, even though they’ve continued to make albums. The music that stands the test of time was during that one period. And so a lot of bands have that creative arc, and it’s totally natural for it to have a beginning, middle and end. And, really, one of the greatest examples is THE BEATLES. They didn’t keep going and going. They went until they were done. And then the individual musicians went out and did what they do. And I feel like that is the next step. If you’re an evolving musician, you have this experience in a group, and I learned a lot in that. It was like a finishing school. It was like getting a PhD in the music business. But then afterwards I wanted to continue on and focus on doing my own thing. And it feels like a real healthy way to be in life and in music.”
Smith most recently rejoined JOURNEY in 2015 when he was asked to tour again with the band as the replacement for drummer Deen Castronovo.
When JOURNEY was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2017, Smith was honored, along with Dunbar, keyboardists Gregg Rolie and Jonathan Cain, Valory, guitarist Neal Schon and Perry.
In March 2020, Schon and Cain filed a lawsuit against Smith and Valory, who had been members of JOURNEY on and off since the band formed in 1973, claiming the two attempted a “coup” in order to gain control of the JOURNEY trademark. The suit, which sought more than $10 million in damages, accused Smith and Valory of holding an “improper” shareholder and board of directors meetings in February 2020 during which they ousted Cain and Schon from leadership posts at Nightmare Productions under the “incorrect” assumption that the company held the rights to the JOURNEY name. An answer filed by counsel defending Valory against the complaint’s allegations and the cross-complaint attempted to dispute and refute these allegations. In April 2021, Schon and Cain “reached an amicable settlement agreement” with Smith and Valory.
Smith has won numerous Modern Drummer magazine readers’ polls, including being named one of the “Top 25 Drummers Of All Time”. In September 2023, he was inducted into the Zildjian Cymbal Hall Of Fame as part of the Zildjian 400th anniversary.
