Jon Anderson (YES) Interview with Meagan Panici on WZRD Chicago 88.3 FM ~ 5.16.24

good what day is it Thursday Thursday yes it is Thursday and we are happy to have you on the air H how how are things buddy very very good thankk you very much all is [Music] good yeah everything's fine I just been for my walk I go for a walk about a a couple of miles up the hill and down the Dale oh nice and I've started running now have you oh my gosh it's amazing like I'm trying to get away from something you just pretend somebody's chasing you and then you really you start running yeah yeah you know because there's some downhill bits and I start running and then skipping a little bit here I go always there's never anybody there except there's one dog that comes to greet me every morning and uh she tries to eat my my jacket she used to like my shoes and start eating my shoes and I have have to find things to throw down the road and say chase that pepper go on go on pepper go on yeah not my jacket maybe that right so where did excuse me where do you live these days what part of live live I live here uh no in the studio this is my studio as you can tell with the guitars and yeah the green screen behind it yeah Green screen uh I just live Central California oh cool so you're in the states up in the hills away from the craziness of the village very nice that's cool it's nice to be away from everything and still get cool stuff but have some quiet time well we're real excited because you're coming on tour you're going to be in Chicago on the 13th uh at the cernus center so you start off like May 30th it's almost time for tour are you excited oh I better get going I know right it's already 16 what happened hey we start rehearsing in a few days I think next weekend next week sometime yes tell me about the the band of Geeks I mean you guys have been uh we're on a great tour last year I mean what a phenomenal group of musicians how do you find these guys yeah that that's the story is um a guy who works at serus Radio called John amik is old friend I've known John for years actually and he sent me a video of this band of musicians in a studio tiny studio in New Jersey playing the hell out of Hearts of the sunrise which is a classic yes piece of music you know and it was brilliant and this is like uh year and a half ago so I'd always wanted to you know I've been doing solo shows and I've been working with different musicians and different styles of bands and things and I thought wouldn't it be great to have a band that sounded just like yes so I called up the bass player Richie and I said Richie I love your heart of the sunrise do you know any more yes songs and he said yeah I do actually yeah no we love yes and I said oh good do you want to go on the road doing yes Classics and epics he went very silent and I rich say you're crazy said no I said no we could do you know close to the edge we could do awaken we could do yours noce Grace I've seen all good people Perpetual CH all the 70th songs he said John you're crazy I said oh Richie come on you guys are so good do you want to do it so they rehearsed and we went on toour last year for 12 12 shows just to see see how the the we are together and it was like heaven for me it was it was just so so kind of natural that they could play the music and they enjoyed playing the music and that's where we got and the tour went very well as you as you say and about November two months later I called up Richie and said why don't we do an album yes not not thinking about you know just why don't we just do an album together because we sound like yes yeah I said that' be great so I said I'll send you two or three ideas and you can send me a couple of your ideas and then we'll stick them together with superglue and make an album and that's what we did it took three months and the interesting thing though Megan is that to be able to use zoom and everything's in time it's such a a dream come true for me I when Zoom started I was always why don't we just make music with each other and people would say yeah but you're out of time everything's out of time soon as you go 10 miles away you're not in time but that's gone now and uh so that's what we made the album i' I'd uh Zoom with them every couple of weeks and just talk about this and that and and uh you know try some ideas and they would try them very very much like being in yes in the 70s actually because I was always coming up with ideas you know just popped out of my head and why don't we do Gates of delirium yeah what is that well it's a it's about war you know why why do we keep going to war what's the matter with us we're supposed to be wonderful beings on this beautiful planet Earth and we're always at war with somebody it's got to do with money or something like that it's just Madness anyway that was GES of delirium and we actually did that on the tour did you yeah we did but uh this year we're just going to do a couple of new songs from the new album The the album we just finished uh only about two three weeks ago and then me and my wife my beautiful wife J we went to Kawaii just for just for a break and jump in the ocean which was great nice you need that that's beautiful yeah so the the album is called true t r u e true very simple and and well put you know it's talking about I'm sure true things or truth true that's very true so you'll incorporate some of the true uh songs on this tour as well as some of the 70s kind of Classics from yes yeah just only a couple because the album's not out till August so we you know we might try it we're going to we're going to see it's always nice to do that you know you give the audience a little sneak peek and they feel special because they got we heard the songs before they were out you know and yeah we're actually gonna play one in the middle of the show when when we have a break you know you do an hour and then you say okay we're just going to go and have a cup of tea and um I need to go lie down let me take my nap for five minutes or 10 and oh so you'll play it over the the PA like as the house music while you're you're resting that's what that's what we're thinking cool that's not a bad idea I like that yeah it'd be fun it's coming out uh August 23rd but there's a debut single and video premiere coming out like mid June you know more than me hey yeah you've got a good uh a good publicist there Billy he's great yeah Billy's great um yeah we we're gonna do a video and I'm still trying to remember the words yes beautiful love that that's been my problem for the past uh I don't know how long but just the idea of remembering all the words what was I writing in in 1976 close to the edge yeah close to the edge what was I thinking but a season which could call you from the depths of your disgrace and re re arrange your liver to the solid mental Grace and achieve it all with music that came quickly from afar then taste the fruit of man recorded losing goal against the hour that's beautiful man I mean you remember that off the top of your head good job yeah all I got to do is remember the first word yeah if you can remember that first word all I got this I love that I love that well I mean were you you writing the lyricss to these songs or was it a collective thing back when when you were doing it with yes or how was that I figured that I figured you were writing the Ling my fault my fault actually actually uh Steve bless him wrote close to the edge round by the corner and I sang down at the end round by the river and change change the key St I get up I get down yeah well and that because I I was going by the river because I just read um s Arthur a beautiful book by Herman hes yeah who searched for realization of religion and spirituality and eventually found himself by the river realizing that is heaven that is God that is all that is how beautiful it all hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah that's amazing that's great to hear so you were mainly doing the lyrics and then some people were chiming in with other parts how about heart of the sunrise was that you doing the lyrics on that one I don't know that one that one I don't remember you don't have to that one you need like a script for no no this it's it's just that in those days you know I'd be I going to have a cup of tea and I come back in the studio and Bill bruford and Chris are going I just stand there and think well that's that's really good yeah Steve can you play along with that yeah and then let's just go do that and then do it again and then modulate and then let's just go into uh like a like a a movie yeah like you're waking up from a dream you're just waking up that's beautiful because when I talked to Rick wakan he told me pretty much the same thing which he came in and there was Chris Squire just and he's like okay like it just was flowing and happening like yeah yeah came out of that came out of the base in the drums it's beautiful oh yeah crazy crazy wonderful magic super magic that song is one of the most magical songs I've ever heard uh the wind with its arms all around me I mean yeah who wrote that I don't no I do know this man in front of me this special human I get to talk to that's that's powerful stuff like I had heard all fragile I don't know if I ever resonated on heart of the sunrise and then one day it hit me and I was like in Palm Springs California and the wind was literally all around me I felt so cradled by it so you know thanks for making those tunes and keeping playing them with new people is wonderful yep well that the idea of the new album is uh same game plan same idea in terms of the spirit of music and how um thankfully Richie celleno the bass player happens to be a brilliant uh producer so I'd send him this idea that I'd written many years ago about um what was it called um [Applause] it's in here [Laughter] somewhere that's cool I've SE I've seen counties and countries okay the whole idea was the song is is very very simple song I've seen counties and countries The Gardens of Eden are calling me calling me home because we forgot why we're here we're supposed to be here to look after Mother Earth and evolve Mother Earth into the Garden of Eden that's why we learn about the Garden of Eden from way way way way way way way back and something to do with an apple yeah I remember something like that that's the Beatles yes and that's how it all started so the idea is that I've seen counties and countries the guidance I I should get the words take so so I sent Richie this uh song and then this other little bit in the middle was all about a song idea that I wrote about only for you only for you only for you only for you only for you to receive from the divine who you really are sort of thing totally so i s I sent them and then about two weeks later this beautiful big piece of music comes back and it's it's Richie doing a big rock and Orchestra and an all ma magical event you know and I I just sat there and went oh my God this is fun this making this album is really really fun you never know what's going to happen next musically speaking which was very much like being being in yes sort of thing yeah which is what you want just to have fun while you're doing it right yeah it's got to do with um when I met the bang geks uh first thing I felt was like well I'm home I'm with these guys yeah and they're they're joyful thankful grateful wonderful that's what I'm like all day long that's what you want to be yeah you want to be around the same same energy you know you want to bring that around yeah absolutely absolutely that's wonderful so it's Richie Andy Christopher Andy and Robert right is a is the whole band there's another one okay we're missing one see the funny thing is I i' just been on tour with the The Academy of Rock these young musicians Paul greens uh we went to Europe and uh so I'm working with 26 young people and trying to remember their names I think I remembered their names at the end of the tour yeah finally you're like oh yeah Billy I remember you hey so so here I am trying to remember uh the two Chris's okay one one Andy okay drummer really great they're really great beautiful guys you know that's all rest to it that's I mean when I was watching them play it definitely felt like what I could have seen back then when you were playing with yes it was just so so precise I was just so grateful to hear all the changes yeah and then to have you you know doing your dance and relaxing do you like dancing on stage do you enjoy kind of letting go and letting the band kind of guide you is that fun I don't know it just happens I just just do your thing that's what you do I don't know well how about um when I was watching last year's performance there was kind of this Like Instrumental orchestral piece that started off the whole show did that happen every every time and was that something you guys wrote that comes from the beginning of yes on tour way back I always thought before you know the the bang on stage and somebody's playing and why don't we just have a piece of music before we come on stage so there was this beautiful movie um 2001 I think it was called yeah and it this beautiful music by I think it was Strauss also spoke zeroth who I can't speak person yeah I know what you're talking about yes yeah it's a great great Beau music so I started using that before we went on stage and it actually worked and then the Rolling Stones pinched it did they no yes you're the first to know I've never told it to anybody before and they they used it and of course they were playing for 10,000 people Here There and Everywhere and we just started and we were playing in front of 50 60 people 70 people right or or 80 sometimes sometimes you get Lu yeah that's cool so you would play You' play the the Strauss the 2001 also 2001 scatch yes all that so I thought okay um and and I just been listening to Firebird Suite by stavinsky I'd become very uh Enchanted by stravinski and uh the ending was so beautiful it is it's like this gigantic opening energy and all of a sudden I thought that's what we'll do we'll use it and then the first song we'll play will be yours no disgrace it went right into yours as no disgrace and it really just gave me goosebumps I was like there we go we're running here we go let's get on with it let's go and then I saw that the video was when I was watching it yesterday it was like a two-hour video you guys play a damn long two two set show right yeah it's a lot don't tell me now I've forgotten yeah you're like that is a lot maybe we should cut [Laughter] some it was really cool I like that and it was cool because the lights were kind of synced with spotlights with the music beforehand and you're like where's the band but that kind of gets you going it gets excited for it will you do on this tour or was that just a 20 no we we used it all the time in the 70s and 80s and so it's to me it was a natural thing to want to do awesome I look forward to that yeah it sets it up you know people want to hear yes they want to hear some good music and then this music opens up and look out yeah exactly I love it I love it um I was going to ask uh is there any other songs by yes that you wish you could put in the repertoire or something you haven't done yet that you really want to sing with the Geeks of course yeah yeah no I was thinking about one yesterday was because you can you can go in on the internet and all of a sudden you see me singing from 30 years ago or something like that song called and it starts like d d d d it'll be a good day it's called it's a beautiful song we recorded it in in Vancouver on an album called um gosh I don't I don't remember but it was uh ladder maybe from 99 ladder yeah well done hey you know what you're doing hey I'm trying real time you know gotta help each other out so it's it'll be a good day so a really good song so maybe we'll throw that in wait a minute we haveen got time I know I was about to say yeah you have interiew I think after this should I let you go sorry so do you have to go I know you might not have tons of time no I was just trying to remember if we could actually uh oh fit into the show that song in the show yeah not with your two and a half hour show already maybe any time sorry maybe on the next store you could oh your fault I know I did brought it up for no reason well what song what song are you doing by yes that you still love singing like it's just part of you and you always I was I was actually singing awaken yesterday and I I started crying at the end oh beautiful to because Awaken was one of the greatest musical ideas yes ever did for me uh it was the greatest thing Rick Wan come back in the band and we were in Geneva late Geneva were in montroy in fact in Switzerland in a studio and uh it was just so beautiful to to make a piece of music like awaken and uh that's all I can say yeah no I mean 15 minutes it's a beautiful song do you remember what that that studio time was like what that was oh yeah I was um I was always painting like I'm doing now look at that I love it I'm always painting and while the guys are rehearsing idea that we started off and I'd just be painting and then I added my harp there so like I have my harp here I see so it came to the middle of the song I said why don't we do a piece of music is very little thing and just the harp and bells and then Rick is playing the church org so we had to go and find a church which we found around the corner from where Stravinsky wrote wrs of spring wow meant to be that something so beautiful right around the corner around the corner around the corner oh that's beautiful so that same harp or a different harp oh yeah it was not the same harp no no was I want you to play the harp that's why I'm asking can you can you give us a little ding ding d oh I don't know it's it fell over the other day did it oh [Music] shoot sounds pretty good John yeah it's kind of nice you know it is is well what I noticed between uh this tour your band geeks tour and like maybe like a close to the edge tour is that you're doing three legs of this tour just like that one was three legs it's a lot yeah I'll let you know yeah you're like it may cut short how do you how do you stay uh you know on on the road like what keeps you going painting my wife my wife did she come with you my beautiful wife yeah gosh she just so wonderful beautiful and you know for 30 years I'm married now and it's just heaven I'm in heaven I can hardly see that's beautiful if you're hearing that song still after 30 years you did something right you know yeah well it's it's you know I look back at all the songs I used to remember from the radio in the 40s and 50s and things and then kind you know 50 years later here I am still making music Still excited about the future what's going to be coming the new world is coming the new world away from all the Strife of money and there's so many drug adverts on TV oh my gosh kind it's kind of frightening it's scary the nonsense we call life at the moment has got to just chill chillax I love that one relax let's get on with life and enjoy life and enjoy each other for we are all one I got to go now Megan I feel you no problem you have a wonderful day and thank you so much for spending time with us John bye bye we'll see you June 13th at the comput center bye yeah I'll be there all right cool thanks John bye wzrd Chicago 88.3 FM you just heard from the great John Anderson and thank you so much John for taking the time to speak with us super super cool um anytime time I speak to that man I'm just like enamored in love happy and this is the first time that we were face to face um and it felt so natural I didn't even feel like

Channel: Meagan Panici

Views: 25,588

Keywords: yesband, yes, music, jonanderson, johnanderson

Id: w9_ew3xEW6w

Length: 25min 39sec (1539 seconds)

Published: Wed May 22 2024