Jenelle Janci - LNP Always Lancaster

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Yes drummer Alan White speaks on friendship with Michael Tait, connections to Lancaster County and what keeps him inspired

JENELLE JANCI | Staff Writer Aug 13, 2017

Veteran progressive rock band Yes will perform at Hershey Theatre Monday. But it wasn’t all that long ago the band was in central Pennsylvania.

Drummer Alan White says the band spent a week rehearsing at the Rock Lititz campus before embarking on its Yestival Summer Tour with Todd Rundgren and Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy.

The connection shouldn’t be a surprise to those privy to the band’s history. Tait Towers founder Michael Tait met Yes in 1968 while bartending in a London bar. His company, Tait Towers, the live-event industry’s biggest provider of staging, is a developer of Rock Lititz.

Clair Global is also a developer of Rock Lititz, which is home to more than 20 other live-event companies.

While working one night in that London bar, Tait met the band’s manager, which led to a job as the band’s driver. Tait would work with the band for 13 years as its tour manager, sound engineer and lighting designer.

White says the band had a chance to reconnect with Tait while rehearsing for the tour. Clair Brothers will provide the sound for the Yestival Summer Tour.

“He was there pretty much on a daily basis,” White says. “He came to say hi, and then we went out for dinner one night with the whole band. Michael’s great.”

Because of its local connections, White says the band particularly enjoys playing shows in central Pennsylvania.

“We love to come to that area and we spend quite a bit of time around there,” White says. “We’ve been there a whole week in Lancaster, and we always like to come back to either Harrisburg or Hershey. We have good shows there. We usually get a lot of fans from around the area coming out.”

Yes, founded in 1968, is currently White, Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Billy Sherwood and Jon Davison. Some former members perform as a separate group, Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman.

White, 68, joined the band in 1972. Before his time with Yes, he played in the Plastic Ono Band with John Lennon. He drummed on Lennon’s best-selling solo single “Imagine” and also performed on George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass.”

In April, White and the other past and present members of Yes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. White knew Yes was nominated, but found out it had been chosen for induction the same way the rest of us did — from the news.

“I didn’t actually get any phone calls or anything about it. We all knew we were nominated again, and I happened to be watching ‘The Today Show’ on NBC on TV. … That’s how I actually found out, from the TV,” White says. He was watching with his wife.

Members of both iterations of Yes were present at the ceremony. An edited version was later broadcast on HBO.

“It was great,” White says. “The band played well and I think gave pretty good speeches. … They cut my speech out and I think they cut Trevor Rabin’s speech out because it was timing. I think Rick Wakeman took up too much time. He was telling too many jokes. … It was a lot of fun.”

On this summer’s Yestival tour, the band is taking a different approach to its setlist. Yes will perform one song from each of its first 10 albums, with some surprises thrown in. White says guitarist Howe came up with the idea.

“It’s good, because you go through a rotation of the career of the band from the kind of beginning to the 1980s,” White says.

Howe’s son Dylan will join Yes on tour to drum alongside White.

“He’s coming on to help out with the drumming because, you know, I had back surgery a couple of times,” White says. “The doctor said it was from playing the drums for over 50 years.”

White says he’s made significant progress since his last surgery.

“Everything feels good,” White says. “I’m walking a lot better than I was about three months ago, that’s for sure.”

While some aspects of performing have become more difficult over the years, it’s the love of the music that keeps White going.

“The music for us is the kind of music that we’ll probably love for a long time. … It just seems to be timeless,” White says.

White is deeply appreciative of the band’s longevity.

“I don’t think anybody in the band would have expected that this band would still be thriving after being around for 50 years,” White says. “Not many bands have been around 50 years and are still on the road. It kind of makes you proud in a certain way.”