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Smash Music: Phil
Yes - Steve Howe
It's early July 2005. In the worldd of Yes there are some exciting happenings at
the moment and Steve Howe is certainly keeping himself busy. A solo album, tour
and DVD are just a few things on the agenda. Smash Music Founder Phil Storey
gets on the phone to Steve Howe to find out how it's all being going.
Phil - Steve, where are you at the moment?
Steve ? I?m in Devon where I hang a lot. I?ve got a house here.
Phil ? And how are you Steve?
Steve ? I?m great thanks for asking. I?ve been preparing for the ?More Drama?
tour and promoting my new album ?Spectrum? & the ?Remedy? DVD amongst other
things.
Phil ? When was the new album recorded?
Steve ? It was recorded in Geneva, Switzerland where I also spend a lot of my
time.
Phil ? Tell me about the Remedy DVD.
Steve ? Well last March I went on tour with my two sons Dylan on drums and
Virgil on keyboards and Ray on second guitar. We spent a lot of time rehearsing
for that tour and it was a great way to exercise those songs and a lot of my old
songs in a band environment rather than solo.
Phil ? Are you looking forward to the ?More Drama? tour?
Steve ? Well yes I am. It was essential that there was more to do this year and
we thought that it would be a good opportunity to do something that wouldn?t
infringe on Jon and Rick. It?s an area that we haven?t exploited much before and
I?m looking forward to seeing how it will go. Chris and his band will play and
The White will play and I will be doing a solo set and then at the end we will
all perform a few songs.
Phil ? Is it going to come to the UK?
Steve ? It?s not settled as to when it will come to the UK. It?s a case of when
we are all available at the same time rather than whether we want to tour it
here. We were looking at the end of October but I?m on a solo tour in Japan so
I?m not available but we hope we can bring it to the UK at some point.
Phil ? You recently did some very different shows in Europe. Tell me about
them and in particular, the Appreciation Society performance.
Steve ? I like to talk about my guitar interests so we gave them a workshop,
that bit more than a normal gig. Pam helped me set up the evening and it went
really well. The idea about these one off appearances was for me to be flexible
and different rather than just tour. I played a couple of tracks with a Yes
cover band called The Fragile and I was really curious as to what It would be
like. It was a lot of fun and surprisingly natural and worked very well. We only
rehearsed the tracks once or twice just before the show and it was a real
novelty.
Phil ? Let?s quickly talk about Yes. Are there any plans for a new album or
tour in the near future?
Steve ? This year we will diversify and next year I would like to do both of
those. We need the nuts and bolts that make a good record and I guess that by
the end of the year we will have something planned.
Phil ? Last question Steve. If you had to choose one moment in your long
career, which moment would be the proudest?
Steve ? When Yes did ?Close to the Edge?, that was a musical high spot. We
encapsulated a new era for Yes but then again, Bill Bruford left shortly after.
I think musically, Asia had a lot of nice things going on but I would still
choose Close to the Edge.
Phil ? Thank you so much for your time Steve!
Steve ? Anytime. Thank you for being interested.
interviewed
by
Phil Storey
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