 |
|
| |
Q: Why do
you use the sun as a central image in your lyrics?
| - Paul M. Ruzicka - Reading,
PA, USA |
|
|
|
A: I have a great belief
system that we are from the sun, our main soul
entity is directed from the sun. And the sun is
the beginning and the end of everything in fact.
|
|
| |
Q: Do you
anticipate that Yes' music will continue to be interpreted
and performed beyond the lives of its founders,
you, Chris, and as well Steve and Alan?
| - Jamison Smeltz - Oakland,
CA, USA |
|
|
A: I hope so. I think
there are going to be musicians down the line
who enjoy the history of the music of Yes and
try to reproduce it in their own extension of
their ideas, some of the songs and lyrics ...
music should want to be preformed in later times
- you never know though. I was surprised even
when we recorded "Close To the Edge", and
people would say "in ten years time, people will
listen to this album" and I would think, "no,
I can't see that at all... I can't imagine it
in ten years time". And here we are thirty years
later. So the idea of our music being timeless
has always seemed to work.
|
|
| Q: I have
heard that the band have not played "Southside
of the Sky" for so long because it is very difficult
to perform live. What about that piece is prohibitively
difficult in a live setting?
|
|
|
A: I think we've tried
to rehearse that every other tour. That song just
doesn't have rhythmic qualities in live performance
for some strange reason. It feels, when you start
rehearsing it, "oh it's great", and within an
hour you're starting to say "it's not sounding
so good, let's get on with 'Heart of the Sunrise'
or other songs." Something about the rhythm of
it that doesn't translate to the stage.
[Webmaster's Note - The band
are now performing "South Side of the Sky"
on the Yes 2002 Tour, and it sounds great!]
|
|
| |
Q: I've
heard that you go into a tipi before a performance
to meditate and prepare for the show. Can you tell
us a little of what you do there? Do you visit the
Otherworld, the Spiritworld? We know that you are
into Native American philosophy. What Native American
rituals have you performed? Have you ever done a
Stone (Sweat) Lodge?
| - Jim "GrayHawk" Williar
- Charlottesville, VA, USA |
|
|
A: Backstage is always
a difficult place. It's never like home. It's
just usually so removed, and my idea of putting
in a tent was to have the same area every night.
So I would put a hammock in the tent, a table,
a light and everything. It wasn't an actual tipi,
it was a tent I got at Sears for a hundred and
fifty bucks. But I used to decorate it with feathers
and dream catchers, creating a little home away
from home. And I would meditate there and get
ready for the show ahead. As for Native American
culture, I'm still a learner, a beginner. I have
done Sweat Lodge, but I am still a learner and
a beginner in understanding the wonderful indiginous
people from on this land.
|
|
Q: What
goes through your mind when fans tell you that they
go to multiple shows during a tour, or when you
see familiar faces (or banners) at several concerts
in a row? Why do you think some fans
see the need to do this for your concerts?
| - Rhea Frankel, St.
Louis, MO, USA |
|
|
|
A: It's a very
good feeling, it's a very gratifying feeling that
people will travel to come and see the show and
put up banners. And you feel that you're part
of their life, and they're part of my life when
I'm on stage. There are certain people I've known,
I wave to them, and I've seen them for up to twenty-five
years. And there are few people that you get used
to seeing - and it's always great to see. Not
that we know each other that well, but it's just
a fun thing. An extended Yes family.
|
|
| |
Q: Can tell
us the concept behind the Interdimensional Reality
Machine and how it may relate to future YES projects?
|
|
A: When Bob Cesca showed
me the original machine it was just a sort of
rusty old thing, and I said 'why don't we develop
it and make it into a glass one with workings
on the inner spheres, and make sure the spheres
are numerogically right.' So I started writing
the story based on the machine,
what it does and where it comes from. I'm into
the third chapter of the story already - the inception
of the project. Bob and I are working on the idea
of making it into an ongoing adventure. An Interdimensional
Reality Machine is the key to it all.
|
|
| Q: I have
often wondered how a YES set list evolves. Do you
all vote? Who dictates which songs are dropped?
And if you could decide, what would be your dream
YES set list?
|
|
|
A: The tour will
start off with a set list that we all kind of
understand could work. And during the course of
the first two or three weeks, we drop songs that
just aren't happening... we say, 'this still doesn't
work'. As we did this last tour, we tried very
hard with 'Wondrous Stories' but it never
gelled on stage as a song. So eventually, you
change, and you move the songs around. Some songs
might sound better in the show rather then
at the end of the show. In fact, we started doing
'Starship Trooper' towards the end of the
[Yessymphonic North American] tour in the middle
of the show, and Chris thought it was really the
wrong idea. But two days later, he was digging
it. So we all have our understanding of how the
set should move. And during the course of the
first two weeks we really find out how it's gelling
together.
As for my all-time favorite tour,
it would obviously just be five large pieces of
music including 'Awaken', 'Gates of
Delirium', 'Revealing', 'Close To
the Edge', 'Heart of the Sunrise'...
and then the whole of 'Magnification'! [laughs]
It would be a four-hour show!
|
|
|
|
|
|
