Follow-Up: Journey Drummer Deen Castronovo Steps Away From Farewell Tour for Health Reasons, Steve Murphy Fills In for Rest of November
Deen Castronovo, drummer of the American rock band Journey, has stepped away from the band's ongoing Final Frontier farewell tour to focus on personal health matters that require his attention. Guitarist Neal Schon announced the decision in a statement on Friday afternoon, November 13. The tour resumed on Saturday, November 14, in Greenville, South Carolina, with drummer Steve Murphy filling in for the remainder of the November dates.
In the statement, Schon said that after careful consideration and an extensive year of touring, the band's longtime drummer had decided to step away, that he has the band's full support, and that Castronovo extends his heartfelt thanks to fans for their love, encouragement and kindness. Neither the band nor Castronovo has disclosed the nature of the health matters.
Before the announcement, Castronovo had missed all or part of three recent shows: he left mid-show in Boston on Tuesday, following a similar episode in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in early October, when he was taken to a hospital; longtime Journey drum tech Steve Toomey filled in both times. When the tour reached Rocket Arena in Cleveland on Thursday, he never appeared on stage, and Steve Murphy played his first show with the band, introduced to the crowd on stage by keyboardist Jonathan Cain.
Murphy is a New York drummer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who has worked with the Alan Parsons Project, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Christopher Cross and Jack Bruce. Schon confirmed Murphy will join the band for the remainder of November. The tour runs through November 28, closing in the band's hometown of San Francisco at Chase Center. Journey also has a makeup date at the Stagecoach Festival next April; whether Castronovo will return by then has not been announced.
Castronovo, 62, first joined Journey in 1998, replacing Steve Smith, left in 2015 and returned in 2021, more recently also taking occasional lead-vocal duties. GSM reported his October medical emergency in Tulsa at the time.
Related: Journey drummer taken to hospital after medical emergency at Tulsa show; concert interrupted, then continued (Source: Journey)
Source: Journey
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Journey 鼓手 Deen Castronovo 2018 年在 Pomona 一场乐器店演出活动上（资料图）。Tommy-Orange 摄，经 Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 3.0。 / Photo: Journey drummer Deen Castronovo at a 2018 instrument-store performance in Pomona (file photo). By Tommy-Orange, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
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- 2026-11-14Follow-Up: Journey Drummer Deen Castronovo Steps Away From Farewell Tour for Health Reasons, Steve Murphy Fills In for Rest of NovemberThis story
