Steve Howe was first rock star who ever said the word hello to me. How you say? As a preface to this interview with Yes guitar great Steve Howe, come with me back into the time tunnel to the years just after my high school daze. I was actually a part time (a not knowing I was aspiring to be) writer for my town newspaper the South Shore Record, where I had my first album and concert reviews published in 1972 and ‘73.
On that fateful day for me I forever remember simply walking in to the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale on the afternoon of February, 14th 1974 and getting to spend several hours in the company of the Yes group before their concert there that night. I was attending college at New York Tech, in Old Westbury, a 20 minute drive away from where the show was to be in Uniondale, out here on Long Island.
I actually drove to the Coliseum twice from school that day, thinking I just had to meet Yes, who had just, in my opinion recorded the most important rock album ever made. After returning back to school the first time, I remember looking at my teacher drivel on about how I wasn’t college material or something crazy like that, when, all I could only think was that Yes were about to play their greatest album ever, Tales From Topographic Oceans live on Long Island, 15 minutes from where I was sitting. So here I was, sitting in this class where I kept thinking I had to go back to do the impossible, meet Yes, surely something would happen! I had already planned to go to the Yes Garden show in Manhattan the following Monday, but right then and there it was a case of now or never! So, I drove back to the Coliseum for the second time that day. As forever etched in my consciousness, after managing to sneak (did I say sneak? I mean steadfastly stroll!) into the Coliseum twice, two different times that day with no one stopping me, and returning to the same seat, I then miraculously saw and met my high school acquaintance (and subsequent night school comrade!) Steven Wolf while I sat alone, in the same seat, watching Mike Tait and company set up the famous Topographic stage, not knowing what would happen next or thinking I would be thrown out any minute without any press credentials! Amazingly, Steve also wrote music reviews for the South Shore Record at that time. And after I greeted him, we both had mile wide smiles, he told me he was there to interview Yes that night. He asked if I wanted to come and watch him interview Jon Anderson. Just like that, holy shit, Wolfy walked me right in to the dressing room backstage area, where I cowered behind a sleeping roadie who looked like Atila the hun. That’s when Steve Howe popped in the room and smiled and simply said ‘Hello!’ Long story short I quickly moved to the right room (the roadie was still dead asleep) and I went on to spend at least 3 or so hours alone with my Yes idols.
My long lost friend, haven't seen him since, Steve Wolf interviewed Jon Anderson right in front of my face. A few questions were ridiculous Steve! He asked Jon if he thought Yes was sounding more like The Band now, as we each sat on three wooden stools facing each other backstage! I remember Jon's lizard skin high heel boots and serious business like demeanor. I suppose what Steve Wolf was getting at was Alan White had just brought a more earthy drum sound to the Yes lineup! I got on quite well with the ultra affable Chris Squire, who was the only Yes member I actually was able to speak with! I swigged a bottle of wine with Chris while I kept on about how great Yes was, how great Tales was and how the album changed the music world forever. After Steve Wolf left I was alone with them, though I was slightly bummed when Eddie Offord asked Jon, who was surveying the landscape of the Coliseum, if they wanted a sound check and Jon said no! So, no soundcheck at the Coliseum that night. I also remember speaking some to the fabled Yes producer Eddie Offord, who I recall actually asked me if I could get him some hash that night! Sorry Eddie, I would have loved to have blown a bowl with you and I haven’t forgotten your brilliance. I remember Eddie had a young girl with him at the Coliseum, who I spoke with too! Also strange was I was the only writer, fan or journalist there with Yes that night, aside from Steve Wolf. Not a journalist or writer in sight. Why I don't know—considering that Tales From Topographic Oceans was the most important rock album of early '74—but looking back, I just chalk it up to fate. Not bad for a 19 year old college kid and certainly the kind of experience that would (and did) alter anyone’s life! Being asked by Jon Anderson to leave the dressing room as they had to change into their stage outfits, I walked out of the Coliseum in an air of amazing euphoria to the sound of John Martin's acoustic guitar warming up the crowd. Funny thing was four nights later, Monday February 18th, 1974 I was sitting third row center at Madison Square Garden—the Yes concert that Rick Wakeman proclaimed was the finest ever live performance of Tales. I always my kept ticket stub from that night, which you can see above alongside an actual picture with me wearing my red flannel shirt standing at the foot of the concert stage of that very Yes Garden show from that Monday, that I found on the excellent www.ForgottenYesterdays.com (now sadly defunct) web site. At least that's how I found the picture although I have no idea who took that picture! Eddie? So that was me standing in front of them throughout the entire performance of the double album masterpiece that night. And I remember distinctly that at that show, each seat in the first ten rows in both the A and R center orchestra sections at the Garden that night each had a new issue of Melody Maker magazine, laid on the seat. The headline? Insane, it was “Beatles To Reform” I'll never forget it! Chris Welch will never live that one down! That Madison Sq. Garden show was possibly the greatest and most influential concert I ever saw in my life. Looking back at that milestone in Yes history, it was Tales From Topographic Oceans, that finally convinced me to take the guitar seriously and study classical guitar, although I probably should have stuck with the writing early on!
{Flash forward to 2008. The founder of 20th Century Guitar magazine—which after 17 years closed down at the peak of the disastrous Bush II era in late ‘08—Larry "Lawrence" Acunto is major buds with Steve Howe. Larry used to always interview Steve himself for the mag, but he finally let me speak to Steve for this '03 interview. Anyway, the following interview first appeared as the cover story of the October 2003 issue of 20th Century Guitar. The producer, researcher and writer of this interview with Steve Howe, Robert Silverstein and his online music zine mwe3.com now presents the full uncut version of the interview, originally entitled Steve Howe’s Remedy ‘Elements’—rare planned pics and all! I also remember making good old Larry put Bryon Thompson’s name on the cover for the interview I did with him under Steve’s name. High the memory carries on! Here now is the complete mwe3.com interview with Steve Howe - editor, October 11, 2009}
Any rumors that a new Conspiracy album had taken a back seat in Chris Squire’s mind are squashed in the mighty light of The Unknown, released during 2003 on Inside Out Music America. Conspiracies abound as Squire and his on again / off again band mate in Yes, Billy Sherwood raise the stakes on an album that clearly plays both to Yes fans and to those who turned on to Squire’s Yes-inspired vision on the first Conspiracy album from 2000. Although Sherwood politely exited the Yes lineup following his influential performance on the band’s ‘99 masterpiece, The Ladder, the sheer variety of progressive pop and rock flavors on The Unknown proves Sherwood still has a unique ability to coax further musical greatness out of Squire, who released his solo debut Fish Out Of Water nearly 30 years ago in 1975. Following The Unknown, Billy Sherwood summons up even more exceptional sounds with his latest solo CD. Released in England on the renowned Voiceprint label, Sherwood’s 2003 solo CD, No Comment, reveals yet another amazing layer of his vivid musical imagination. Even without the towering presence of Squire and Conspiracy drummer Jay Schellen, Sherwood performs everything on No Comment, conjuring a skillfully executed, sumptuous prog-rock sound that, at times rivals the intensity of The Unknown. In the following interview segments, both Chris Squire (at 2:30pm on Monday, September 8th 2003) and Billy Sherwood on (at 1pm on Wednesday October 1, 2003) spoke to 20th Century Guitar reviews editor Robert Silverstein, MWE3.com founder, about the The Unknown and related musical topics.
{With Chris Squire, Alan White and Steve Howe out on tour with Rick Wakeman’s son Oliver and Canadian singer Benoit David, the music that YES recorded back in the 1970’s once again brings their illustrious early years up to date. Fabled YES singer Jon Anderson—who actually nearly died a couple years back—is sorely missed but, Benoit David of the Montreal based prog-rock group Mystery carries on the YES legacy while bringing a fresh perspective to Anderson’s intricate wordplay and unmistakable vocal sound. Also, tying in with the winter 2010 YES tour is the release of Oneirology—a freshly minted 2010 album from late '90s YES guitarist/vocalist/producer Billy Sherwood—Chris Squire’s musical sparring partner of the early double O era. With the ongoing YES legacy in the limelight once again, it's worth taking a look back at The Unknown—the second Conspiracy album Billy and Chris recorded in California back in 2003. The following interview first appeared, in edited form, as the cover of the December 2003 issue of 20th Century Guitar magazine. MWE3.com now presents the complete interview with Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood in its entirety - editor February 2010}
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