It was noted here last week that members of the band Journey were seen at the White House. It looks like that appearance may rip the band apart.

Journey are apparently at another career crossroads. Founding guitarist Neal Schon spent the week taking a trio of bandmates to task publicly over their recent White House visit, capping a period of deep inner turmoil. By yesterday, Journey appeared to be breaking apart.

Schon claimed other members now want to tour without him, while he continued to assert his longtime leadership role. He responded by strongly implying that he intended to construct a different lineup of the band. “I will travel to new musical terrain that we never have and encompass everything,” Schon wrote on Twitter. “Hits are hits; we have a ton.”

Asked later if he’d be able to keep the Journey name, Schon said, “It’s not going anywhere.” He also posted an informational graphic, pulled from Wikipedia, illustrating that he’s the only member to have appeared on every Journey album.

These recent turn of events follow a visit by three band members to President Donald Trump’s press room - apparently without Schon’s knowledge - in the days before the band’s tour finale at the Classic East festival in New York on July 30. Schon immediately began expressing surprise and dismay. Subsequent news reports then misrepresented the trip as band-sanctioned, which Schon angrily reiterated was not the case. (NBC, for instance, reported that “Journey Poses for Pictures in the White House Press Briefing Room.”)

“Wow, this is not the Journey I started in 1972 and have been fighting to protect since the beginning,” Schon wrote on Facebook on July 28. “I’ve discussed this many times with management and counsel, and they both agreed that there should never be anything to do with religious beliefs or politics with Journey.”

I’m with Schon on this one. Other bands have successfully navigated having differing political views (like Twisted Sister, which I saw first-hand), and they did it by simply keeping the politics to themselves. The fact that the rest of Journey went to the WH behind Schon’s back (and now apparently want to throw him out of his own band!) has gotta sting.

And I’m very surprised that Jon Cain is married to Paula White. Strange bedfellows, indeed.