The band's current touring lineup features bassist Todd Jensen, a veteran musician also part of JOURNEY's current incarnation is returning drummer Deen Castronovo, who shared the drum duties in the band last year with Narada Michael Walden. Walden, bassist Randy Jackson and keyboardist/backing singer Jason Derlatka all joined JOURNEY in 2020 following the band's acrimonious split with drummer Steve Smith and bassist Ross Valory. Jackson — who previously played with JOURNEY during the mid-1980s — was forced to miss all the recent gigs because he was reportedly recovering from back surgery. Prior to JOURNEY's recent Las Vegas residency, Jackson had been replaced at the band's 2021 shows by Marco Mendoza, who had played several shows in 2019 with Castronovo and JOURNEY guitarist Neal Schon under the "Neal Schon's Journey Through Time" banner.
JOURNEY has set "Freedom" as the title of its long-awaited new album, to be released later in the year. The LP will include the single "The Way We Used To Be", which came out last June. The song was the multi-platinum band's first new music since 2011's album "Eclipse", and the first track released by the band's revamped lineup. "The Way We Used To Be" marked Walden and Derlatka's first studio recordings with the band, and Jackson's first since 1986's "Raised On Radio". The song was produced by Walden at his Tarpan Studios, with co-production by Schon and Cain.
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