Journey's drum tech | Steve Toomey saves Tulsa

Every drummer has had the nightmare where the gig starts without them. On Thursday night, Journey’s drum tech lived the other version of it.

Two songs into the band’s show at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Deen Castronovo was taken unwell and helped off the stage. The person who finished the night behind his kit was Steve Toomey, the man who sets it up every day.

So what actually happened, and why was the drum tech the obvious answer? Let’s take a look.

What happened in Tulsa

The show on 8 October was part of Journey’s Final Frontier Tour. After the second song, the band stopped.

Jonathan Cain told the crowd their drummer was having a medical emergency, that they hoped it was only a delay, and asked people to “have your prayers ready”. Neal Schon then confirmed that Castronovo was on his way to hospital.

Reports put the break at anywhere from about eight minutes to 20. Then Toomey sat down and the band came back with “Ask the Lonely”, and he played the rest of the set.

The next day, Schon posted on Facebook that Castronovo was “doing great” and asked fans at the San Antonio show on 10 October to help welcome him back. No cause has been announced, and we are not going to guess at one. Journey had not changed any tour dates when we published.

Why the drum tech?

Because nobody else in the building knows that kit like they do.

A drum tech tunes every drum, changes the heads, sets every stand to the millimetre and fixes whatever breaks mid-song. They sit side-stage for the whole show, close enough to swap a snapped pedal spring between songs. On a big tour, they have heard the set more times than anyone except the band.

Most techs are good drummers too. Plenty sound-check the kit themselves while the band is still at the hotel, so the parts are already in their hands.

That is why the drum tech is the usual stand-in when a drummer goes down mid-show. A dep needs flights, rehearsal and a seat moved. The tech is already there, on a kit they know, playing songs they hear every night.

Learning a catalogue like Journey’s in your head is one thing. Playing it in front of an arena with no warning is quite another. Hats off.

Deen Castronovo and Journey

Castronovo first joined Journey in 1998, replacing Steve Smith. Schon brought him in from Bad English, the band they had played in together, and his first Journey recording was “Remember Me” for the Armageddon soundtrack.

He left the band in 2015 and came back in 2021. He is also one of the few rock drummers who regularly sings lead. He takes the lead vocal on “After Glow” from 2022’s Freedom, and he has sung lead in the live show for years.

The fall leg of the tour runs until a hometown finale at San Francisco’s Chase Center on 28 November.

Final thoughts

Here’s to Castronovo feeling better soon, and to Steve Toomey, who got the hardest gig of his life with about ten minutes’ notice.

If you have ever wondered what keeps a touring kit in shape, our drum tuner guide is a good place to start. For a very different kind of night at the drum riser, see Tommy Lee selling the snare he played that night.

Sources: Billboard, Rolling Stone, Guitar Player, Ultimate Classic Rock, Tulsa World and The Rock Revival.