Announcement: Legendary Progressive Rocker Jon Anderson Has Shared a Special Career Announcement
On his new solo album, Jon Anderson claims to have found the “Yes” he “always wanted.”
According to Jon Anderson, who co-founded the prog icons Yes more than 55 years ago, he is no longer “hurt” over being replaced.
Anderson, who recently released his 16th solo album, True, talks about his 2008 breakup with Yes and his present connection with longtime Yes guitarist Steve Howe in a new interview that appears in the current edition of Classic Rock.
After a serious asthma episode that left the singer hospitalized with respiratory failure, Canadian vocalist Benoît David took over.
“They got a new singer, so I didn’t leave the band,” Anderson explains. “I told my wife Jane that I would take my guitar on stage and share stories, and that we would travel the world together.” And we spent two years doing it. It was unthinkable. Yes, they found a vocalist and continued in that direction, and things have never been the same since.
asked him what he would answer if Howe phoned and invited him to come back. Indeed, the musician maintains that he would not be considering the offer at this time.
“No. Not at this moment. In fact, I reached out to him and had very little response; yet, the song “Still A Friend Of Mine” [from True] comes to mind. Eventually, you say, “Okay, I’ve got to move on, you’ve got to move on, do your own thing, it’s okay,” since it didn’t work out for so many of the people I’ve met. But because we experienced so much together at one point, you are still a buddy of mine. Steve and I co-wrote the [indeed iconic] song “Close To The Edge.”
After listening to their internet rendition of the Yes song “Heart Of The Sunrise,” Anderson found his current backing group, The Band Geeks, and collaborated with them on “True.”
The vocalist describes it as “like a gift from the heavens.” “One of the most amazing experiences of my life was creating this record. It was easy.
He responds, “No, because I’ve got the Yes that I wanted,” when asked if being replaced in Yes still hurts.
The vocalist also talks about Anderson, Rabin And Wakeman, the band he founded with Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman, two other former Yes alumni, in the same interview. In 2018, ARW, which was founded in 2016, released their live CD, Live At The Apollo. However, a studio album never came to pass, and the band broke up in 2020, despite rumors that they were working on new songs together.
Regarding what went wrong with ARW, Anderson adds, “It’s very simple – it was just bad management.” “There are people outside making noise. It was difficult to go on because of outside factors. Life continues.
Anderson discusses getting stoned with Jimi Hendrix in Germany in the 1960s, meeting Joe Cocker at a Sheffield show, and nearly starting a three-man supergroup with Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson, another keyboard player, in other parts of the conversation.
The latest issue of Classic Rock, which features Thin Lizzy on the cover and is currently available for purchase, contains the whole interview with Jon Anderson. Get it delivered right to your door when you place an online order.
