Interview:

1. Jon, thank you very much for taking your time to make an interview with It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine. You are just back from the road, performing with Rick Wakeman. How was the tour, did it meet your expectations?

The tour was wonderful on many levels, great audience, the music sounded good, and Rick is a joy to be with…and we did Awaken..

2. I would like to talk about your two latest albums. In 2010 you released Survival & Other Stories. Can you tell me a few words about the concept behind the album?

All the songs came from working with people around the world via the internet, I asked these musicians to send me new music that I could write melodies and lyrics over, I have lots of new friends via the interenet, it is a wonderful new modern way to make music..

3. On October 25 you released an epic musical work entitled “OPEN.” A return to the long-form composition that you have been working on. This is in a way- a return to a “Yes” sound, isn’t it?

It is in my D&A to write this kind of music , I always enjoy this kind of musical creation, I used to do this in Yes…

4. Can we expect your involvement in any other project similar to “OPEN”, in the future?

I’m working on the next ‘opus’ now, I love the idea of music without time…

5. As we all know you got back together with Rick in 2010 to record The Living Tree album, which is really amazing. How did you and Rick get back together to record this album? Did you have any similar ideas, that resulted as the Living Tree album?

We wrote these songs again via the Internet, it is as though we are on the same wave length, and we are on the same planet, so why not use the internet…as a studio…

6. Do you have any future plans regarding touring and album making? Can we expect another album with both of you?

We are started writing in the new year, we have a lot of new ideas to work on, and we enjoy each others music…so a new album should be coming…

7. If we go back in the 70’s. I’m sure you experienced many interesting things. Would you like to share some stories from the “Yes years” with It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine readers?

Most of all was the willingness of our fans to follow us on musical journeys that had nothing to do with Radio, or Charts, or being popular in the ‘big sense’…

8. Let’s go a bit to the start of your career. Your first band was called The Electric Warriors and you released two singles for Decca. How do you remember those days with The Warriors, Jon?

It was a crazy dream to be in music, to be in a band, and travel all around Europe, playing long long shows in tiny smoky clubs, funny times, beautiful moments through the 60’s, peace signs, drinking too much, waiting for the next Beatle song to be released….such amazing music in the 60’s…

9. Later you also appeared with a band called Gun (I made an interview with Paul Gurvitz about it) and The Open Mind. Were you part of the 1969 album, that Open Mind released? In my humble opinion that’s a psychedelic masterpiece…

No… they had fired me from the band, before that album, I got the band a gig with the Who at the Marquee club , I said we would play for free, but the brothers didn’t like me for doing that…I just wanted the exposure for the Gun…but they wanted money, so the fired me…la la la

10. Mabel Greer’s Toyshop was another band known for having three future Yes members. How did the band transformed into later know Yes?

I joined a rehearsal of Chris’s band at that time , but 2 people left the first week to join other bands, so I suggested we find new people and find a shorter name…so we became YES

11. Jon, I’d like to thank you once again for taking the time and effort to answer my questions. Would you care to send a message to all of your fans and readers of It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine?

Music is for good, Music is for having fun, Music is for life, Music is not just to make money…Jon

http://jonanderson.com/index.html

Interview made by Klemen Breznikar / 2011
© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/ 2011

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MONTREAL – Jon Anderson can never not create.

The former frontman for archetypal 1970s progressive rock band Yes, prolific solo artist and collaborator, survivor of a near-fatal illness, painter, spiritualist, and Lancashire working-class boy-turned-California dreamer, he’s currently out with former Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman on a tour that brings the pair to Théâtre St. Denis on Saturday.

Yes songs will be played. Enduring Yes fans in this most resilient of prog-rock cities will be transported Close to the Edge, or thereabouts.

Despite having performed in Albany, N.Y., the night before, Anderson is on the phone at 10 a.m., bright-eyed and eager to talk about what’s on his plate right now. In the earliest going of the conversation, one enduring mystery is cleared up. Anderson’s singing voice is high enough to flush bats from a cave. His speaking voice is high. The two are a natural fit. Well, that’s one vexing question forever laid to rest.

Another is his most recent creation, the 21-minute musical work called Open, released as a digital download in late October. Legions of Yes men and several women will recall in its complex melodic and harmonic themes, classical framework and fairies-at-the-bottom-of-the-garden lyrics, the halcyon days of Yes. In those golden times there were the hits like Owner of a Lonely Heart, and an astonishing 18 album catalogue, beginning with the self-titled 1970 debut and including Close to the Edge in 1972, and Tales from Topographic Oceans one year later.

Despite band squabbles, defections, unfortunate lawyers’ fees and assorted creative differences, Yes albums continued until 2001 and may yet appear again. Unlike some people, and most rock critics, Anderson loves the old tunes and believes the 1970s were a wonderful time, allowing Yes and others like them to create music that would never find a home on mainstream radio today.

“Music is about magic. It’s not about money, it’s about creation.” says the affable lad from Northern England who now calls California home, and America his adopted country, citizenship and all.

“But when it’s all boiled down, (the music industry) has become such a factory, and that takes away from the potential for creation. TV shows like American Idol are dispiriting. There’s some real talent on display, but the format and the material discourage any originality. But it makes for good TV, I suppose. That’s life.”

Anderson in his more recent incarnations will never be accused of chasing the almighty dollar. He has embraced the Internet where so many of his analog-age cohorts fought it. Indeed, work like Open – begun when strumming his 19th-century guitar one day last year led to “songs pouring out of me for a week” – involved collaborations with musicians from the far-flung corners of the globe, all interacting over a digital platform.

It follows Survival & Other Stories, a solo album featuring similar Internet collaborations released in 2010, on the very day the germ of an idea for Open sprouted.

“I nearly died in 2008, twice,” he says by way of explaining the inspiration for Survival, Open and the drive to continue playing live. “It began as an asthma attack (the diminutive Anderson has always had a frail constitution) that led to respiratory failure and six operations. It was pretty bad. Hospitals are tough to hang around in. But the body is an engine – a soft machine to use the old term. When it breaks down it needs to be fixed. My amazing wife, Jane, kept me going. I survived and came out the other end twice as strong.”

One end result is Open, “a song about compassion. Your spirit has to hang tough in those situations, and let the divine guide you.”

Anderson has been on something of a tear ever since his close brush with the man who always knows the time. He toured Europe in 2009 as a solo act, and did the same in Canada and the U.S. the next year. He and Wakeman returned to the U.K. as a duo in 2010, and he sang Owner of a Lonely Heart with the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio Philharmonic in Texas.

“We’re out now, but will take a break for the holidays. There’s some talk about a peace concert on Christmas Day in Israel. Then there’s Mexico and South America in the new year. I’m enjoying playing concerts more than ever. I’m very interested in working with orchestras, especially youth orchestras. Their energy, enthusiasm and curiosity is inspiring.

“And there’s working with Rick, from all those years ago. He’s such a joy, and recreating those large-scale pieces from the ’70s remains a fascination. We got hammered by critics for them, but audiences stuck with us.

“Now I look out at the crowd and I see old fans, but I also see young faces. They must have been brainwashed with the music by their parents! And they’re all inspired by what we created. For some reason, I’m very creative. I’m dedicated to creating long-form pieces. It’s what I do. It’s who I am.”

Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman play at Théâtre St. Denis Saturday night. Tickets are $53.50 to $72 and are available via Ticketpro at (514) 790-1111 or http://www.ticketpro.ca

johngriffin@bell.net

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Jon Anderson of Yes stronger than ever
BMS chats with former Yes singer ahead of his show in Worcester
Jennifer Carney, Contributing Writer

It’s not so much that Jon Anderson is the voice of Yes. Or that he is a prolific songwriter. Or that he wrote some of the most iconic and esoteric music of the last 40 years. He’s too focused on music as he sees it now, through whatever lens is handy. This time, that lens is a stripped-down acoustic collaboration between Anderson and long-time, iconoclastic Yes keyboardist, Rick Wakeman. They will be mixing Yes classics, music from various solo projects, and songs off of their new collaboration, The Living Tree, this Tuesday at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester.

“People love the show,” Anderson tells Boston Music Spotlight from the road. “We put on a very entertaining show doing songs from Yes and songs from the new album, The Living Tree. Rick likes to tell jokes, and people just love the show. Obviously there’s one or two classic Yes songs that they go crazy about, but they’re responding very well to the new songs.

“I sing ‘Roundabout’ and it’s a lot of fun. I sing ‘Starship Trooper’ because I love singing it. I just love singing the songs, or I wouldn’t sing them. With Wakeman, I enjoy his accompaniment and with the new [and old] songs.”

While Anderson and Wakeman are on the road, Yes is touring Europe without them, touring and recording with a new frontman, tribute singer Benoit David. When asked how he feels about the band’s decision to go on without the “voice of Yes”, Anderson is candid.

“Life moves on, you know? You’ve got to get on with your career,” he says. “I’m very connected to the music that I love. I wrote all the songs for Yes, and I still sing them like when I first wrote them – sort of stripped-down, acoustic versions – and people [on this tour] just love listening; they sing along to everything, so that works for me.”

Anderson recently recorded a collaborative album with musicians from all over the world, Survival & Other Stories, and his most recent composition, Open, marks a return to the long-form songwriting for which he has been known for over forty years.

“It’s my nature to write music, whether it’s two-minute, seven-minute, ten-minute or twenty-minute song. I was always pushing the direction of the music towards the larger pieces because I think music isn’t just making ‘radio music’ or making money. Music is a very powerful energy, and you should go on a journey of music with great symphonies and long-form pieces because it takes you on a journey. I learned that many years ago, so I still carry that on with Open. Part of my DNA is to create long-form pieces so people could sit back and relax for twenty minutes and listen to something that takes them on an adventure musically.”

Playing in Massachusetts brings back especially fond memories for Anderson. When most Bostonians think of the old Garden, they think of obstructed views, uneven parquet flooring and sweltering rafter seats. Not Jon Anderson.

“The original Boston Garden was the best rock and roll arena in the world,” he proclaims. “It just had that sound because it was made of wood and whatever and the energy there was always amazing. But the sound in that room was unbelievable from the band’s point of view.”

Fans headed to the Hanover Theatre on Tuesday night can expect an intimate show – almost recital-like – from two prog-rock legends who have spent over forty years perfecting every note. As Anderson sees it, these performances with Rick Wakeman are all about the love of music and the love of a songbook that now spans generations.

“A good performance is to project how I am today, not how I was thirty years ago. I’m 67 now, and I’m still enjoying singing my songs, so that’s why I tour.”

Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman of Yes will perform at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester, Massachusetts on Tuesday, November 8. Tickets for the show, which range in price from $45 to $65, are now on sale through the venue’s website and box office.

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Interview with Jon Anderson: Opening Up

—by Andrew Magnotta, November 2, 2011

There may be no band more important to the development of modern, virtuosic progressive music than Yes. And, to that end, there is no person more important to the development of that band than their legendary (now former) singer and visionary Jon Anderson.

After being kicked to the curb in 2008 by his longtime bandmates when health issues prevented him from touring, Anderson has since recovered and he’s continuing to be creative; he released two albums last year, one as a solo artist and one with keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and he’s got much more on the way. At the age of 67, he is back on the road with Wakeman, his longtime friend, playing an assortment of songs old and new for fans all over the world.

The duo’s shows are intimate affairs buoyed in Anderson’s idealistic musings and anchored by Wakeman’s crude quips, which frequently befuddle the singer’s romantic monologues to the audience’s amusement. The dichotomy between the soft-spoken Anderson and the boorish Wakeman is drastic but, at the same time, telling of their decades-long friendship.

Anderson took some time to discuss his split with Yes, his creative revitalization and his partnership with Wakeman.

What’s gotten you back into the studio doing albums these past couple of years?

It’s been probably about nine years since I put something out. Maybe 10 years. You know, for a period I wasn’t that excited about touring a lot with the band Yes. I like working with other musicians. It’s like opening Pandora’s box; there are so many talented people out there who are really into creation at the moment.

Do you find that in both music and visual arts?

Yeah, everything. I just feel very convinced that the best work is yet to come because, in some ways, what’s the point of carrying on if you say, “Oh, my albums in the ‘70s were the best ones?” No, I always think the next things I’m doing are as equally exciting and adventurous.

Survival And Other Stories definitely has a very different vibe than anything I’ve heard from Yes.

Yeah. Just creating with other people, mostly people I’ve never met. Well, you meet them for a couple days when you’re on tour, but we work with each other via Skype and sending music by the internet, and you finish it working with people from all over the world. I have many projects. At the moment, I probably have eight different projects running at the same time, slowly, slowly in creation. And then when you get a lot of songs together, you think it’s okay to release an album.

Right now I’m finishing a mix of a 21-minute piece of music that’s very much in the classic, Yes style. You know, something that I was very involved in within the band. So I’m releasing that on my birthday, Oct. 25. I’m finishing the mix now, it sounds pretty amazing to me.

So that will be released under your name?

Yeah, it’s called “Open.“ I’ve had it orchestrated by a friend who lives just five miles away, Stefan Podell, and he’s done an amazing orchestration. We’re just mixing it today and tomorrow. It’ll be finished and we’ll get it onto Amazon and iTunes; just a downloadable piece of music.

Wow, it’s great to hear that from you personally.

Yeah, I’m very excited. I’m going on tour with Rick Wakeman, doing a nice one-month tour. That’ll be a lot of fun because me and Rick have a good time. It’s just the two of us onstage.

Next year, I’ll probably work with some ensembles and bands. I’m not quite sure how it’s all going to pan out. I’m hoping to keep up the adventure next year and the year after, of course.

Have you played shows with just Rick before?

Yeah, we did a U.K. tour last year and one about five years ago. It’s a very great time. It’s interesting to play the Yes music and our new music that we write together. We have an album out this year called The Living Tree. So, we perform some of that and some of the Yes songs like “Awaken,” as well as the Paul Simon song “America,” which Yes used to do. I love that song.

It’s interesting when you play together, just two of you in concert. It feels as though all the music we do on the show is so new. It’s like it was written a couple of months ago for some reason.

Why do you think it feels that way?

It’s just because we’re playing it differently from the recordings. We’re just playing them as songs, really. Music is timeless, anyway.

How do you approach rearranging those Yes songs?

I just play them as I wrote them. Very simple. I do a one man show [as well]. I go out there and sing all the very famous Yes songs exactly the way I originally wrote them, and it works onstage. People love it and I enjoy it. I just love being able to do that.

Were you anxious when you first started doing those solo shows?

I was in panic mode. I think the first tour that I did, actually, I had midi guitars so I had the songs sort of playing along with me as I [sang]. It felt very comfortable. And then, as it would happen, I was in Turkey and the airline misplaced all my equipment. So I [got to the next show] in Sweden and I had to go onstage with just a guitar, and it felt really good and the audience loved the show anyway. So I thought, “Hey, I don’t need all this equipment.” So I just go on with my guitar. I have three; acoustic guitar, a dulcimer and a ukulele and I play piano, so it gives me a variation on ideas.

Do you find yourself looking up to other artists who perform in that fashion?

Well, there’s been a ton. Rickie Lee Jones and anybody who gets up by themselves and does a performance I really like. It’s like walking a tightrope. Laurie Anderson is very good, too.

What is it about Rick Wakeman that keeps you working with him?

He’s a very, very gifted keyboard player, and when we perform onstage, this very romantic side of him comes out and it can get very cosmic at times. He has that energy of really wonderful keyboard work that really relates to classical music plus a little bit of cosmic energy and he gives me a good place to sing on. That’s why me and Rick work together.

When the two of you were in Yes, did you have a better relationship with him than the other guys?

Well, we had more fun. We used to drive around in our car; me, my wife, Jane, Rick, and it was the happy car. The other car, we used to call the grumpy car.

Have you heard the new Yes album?

No.

I guess you have no interest?

No, I’m too busy living my life and I’m happier and healthier than I’ve ever been. I’m in love with life and with my wife and everything, so I’m just in a better place than I was four or five years ago when I got sick. As you know, that possibly was because of touring too much or something. I’m in my 60s, I don’t pretend to be in my 40s and still rock and rolling, you know?

Do you feel free of something that was holding you back or harming your health now that you’re no longer playing with Yes?

I think that’s correct. There was something subconsciously. You know, you try to motivate guys in a band that you feel aren’t really interested in moving forward. I wanted to do an acoustic project with them and they just weren’t interested in doing something totally different, which I am always interested in. That motivates me. There’s no point in me hiding away and singing in a band.

I was always progressive about musical journeys and adventures within the band and it seemed stuck. So my illness actually helped me let go of 35 years of working with really wonderful people but things hadn’t evolved over the last 10 years. So now I’m on this really good path and I’m very happy about it.

I guess you find it a lot easier to just have yourself to motivate?

Well, my wife’s a very good critic. We produce the albums we do together now because she’s very sharp. She used to work for Ron Howard at Imagine and she did all the arranging of the music for movies like Apollo 13 at that time. So she was a very musical person and over the last few years she really helped. She’s a good critic. It’s good to have someone say, “Hey, Jon, not everything you do is great. Come on! Go make dinner.”

Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman will perform at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank on Nov. 4, Sherman Theatre in Stroudsburg, PA, on Nov. 5 and the Theatre At Westbury in Westbury, NY, on Nov. 6. For more info, go to jonanderson.com.

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