Deen Castronovo

Wild Dogs is an America rock band from Portland, Oregon formed loosely in 1981 by Jeff Mark, Danny Kurth, Matt McCourt, and Pete Holmes. Drummer Pete Holmes was lured away by Black 'n Blue and was replaced by Jaime St. James. The band had an appearance on a compilation series, but before a full album could be recorded with Shrapnel Records, St. James left the band to also join Black 'n Blue. It was at this point Deen was first discovered by McCourt, who recruited the local, and then only 16-year-old drummer Castronovo to join the band.

While working with Wild Dogs, Deen met and began working with Tony MacAlpine, which led to an introduction to future long-time collaboration partner, Neal Schon. Shortly after, Neal would invite Deen to audition for a new band with Jonathan Cain, John Waite and Ricky Phillips, which became Bad English. After two albums, which included being nominated for Best New Group in 1989 at the International Rock Awards, Bad English disbanded in 1991. In 1995 a Greatest Hits was released.

He has released an instructional video entitled "High Performance Drumming" in 1991, and has been involved with the Boys & Girls Club of Salem.

Johnny Gioeli and Deen Castronovo first played together on the debut Hardline album, Double Eclipse, which was released in 1992. 25 years later, the two were reunited in Italy to commence work on the debut Gioeli-Castronovo album, Set The World On Fire, available July 13, 2018. Both men have continued on their musical paths since they last saw one another, with Gioeli continuing to lead Hardline as well as being the lead singer of Crush 40 and Axel Rudi Pell's band, while Castronovo spent time with various bands.

Deen appeared on the 1995 release Ozzmosis, the seventh solo studio album by Ozzy Osbourne. The album reached number 22 on the UK Albums Chart and number four on the US Billboard 200. Deen also toured with Ozzy on a portion of the 1995 leg of the Retirement Sucks Tour.

In early 2005, with a completed album titled World Play (the "black sleeve" version) the band was ready to tour, but Castronovo fell ill due to extreme exhaustion. Soon after, Castronovo bowed out of Soul SirkUS based on his doctor's recommendation and was replaced by Australian drummer Virgil Donati.

Deen is married to Julie. They had dated for over a decade before walking the aisle. They have a son named Roman Jude Castronovo, who was born on May 8, 2005. The family lives in Salem, Oregon.

Castronovo was fired by Journey in August 2015 following a June 2015 domestic violence arrest. He was replaced by Omar Hakim on the band's 2015 tour, with longtime drummer Steve Smith subsequently rejoining the band.

While still with Journey, Deen, Jack Blades (Night Ranger, Damn Yankees and Shaw Blades), and Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Dio, The Dead Daisies) formed Revolution Saints. The band, where Deen served as lead vocalist and handled drumming duties, released its self-titled debut album on February 24, 2015. A follow-up album, Light in the Dark, was released on October 13, 2017. The album was ranked #8 on Dr. Music's 2017 "Album of the Year" list.

In June 2015, Deen was arrested for domestic violence. A Marion County grand jury later indicted him of rape (the charge was dropped later), physical assault, sexual abuse, illegal use of a lethal weapon, and contempt of court. After spending 15 days in prison, he went to a drug rehabilitation center for the fifth time. He was eventually sentenced to a 4-year probationary imprisonment (5 years, in case he violated the probation) and counseling for domestic violence.

On November 4, 2017, it was announced that Deen would become the new drummer for The Dead Daisies, replacing Brian Tichy. Deen and the band almost immediately began song writing and hit the studio, again with producer Marti Frederiksen (Aerosmith, Gavin Rossdale, Mötley Crüe, Buckcherry), to record a follow-up to the successful Make Some Noise (2016) album and Live & Louder (2017) release. The new album, Burn It Down was released April 6, 2018 in multiple formats including: CD, colored vinyl, picture disk vinyl and digital download. The band began a 26-date UK and European tour April 8, 2018 in Glasgow, UK.

In 2019, he toured with guitarist Neal Schon on the "Journey Through Time" tour, which features former members of Journey performing songs from the band's entire discography (including some no longer performed by the official Journey). He acted as the drummer and shares lead vocal duties with keyboardist Gregg Rolie.