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Journey has fired bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith.

According to court documents filed in the Superior Court of Contra Costa County, California, Valory and Smith were fired due to their attempt to take control of Nightmare Productions, a band business entity.

The lawsuit filed yesterday by Miller Barondess, LLP, says that “in 1998, Schon, Cain and [former singer Steve] Perry entered into a written agreement providing Schon and Cain the sole, exclusive, irrevocable right to control the Journey Mark, including the Journey name. They are, therefore, authorized to perform together as Journey, with or without anyone else.”

According to a statement, “defendants Smith and Valory were members of Journey at various times during the band’s history. Collectively, they only have a very few song credits on Journey albums. Nevertheless, they were compensated generously for many years. Recently, however, defendants attempted to launch an ill-conceived corporate coup d’état to assume control of Nightmare Productions because they incorrectly believe that Nightmare Productions controls the Journey name and Mark.”

The document further claims that Valory and Smith wanted to take over Nightmare Productions in order to “hold the Journey name hostage and set themselves up with a guaranteed income stream after they stop performing.”

Read the full story on Ultimate Classic Rock.