Journey east by southern band (6)
I believe the answer is:
stripe
'band' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'journey east by southern' is the wordplay.
'journey' becomes 'trip' (trip is a kind of journey).
'east' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'trip'+'e'='tripe'
'tripe' after 's' is 'STRIPE'.
(Other definitions for stripe that I've seen before include "Piece of braid indicating military rank" , "promotion, maybe" , "bar" , "Braid showing military rank" , "Band of colour - 3 of rank" .)