----------------------------------------------------- NOVEMBER 13, 2001 ----------------------------------------------------- Source: Kuno Online http://kuno.senserdesign.com/shnews.php?id=23 Interview with Alan White of Yes  By Sven Kardelke SVEN: If you browse through the newsgroups on the internet or ask Yes fans about "Magnification," there is hardly anyone who is not fascinated by this album -- unlike all the other releases in the last twenty years that have been received quite biased... ALAN: I find that myself, too. A lot of people like this album, because it contains the future and the past. It´s futuristic. There is a lot of the image of our past music, which is longer-featured tracks, but it´s recorded in a modern way. We wrote that album thinking that we will have an orchestra coming in. So we wrote it without keyboards. I was the only person who played keyboards on the original version of it. For me, the futuristic thing about it is the orchestra playing with Yes. SVEN: How long did you carry the idea of making an album with a full orchestra in your head? When I talked to Chris Squire in March 2000, he said he knew nothing about that. ALAN: For many years people kept saying to us we should record with an orchestra, because the music really lends itself to orchestration. The band did it originally once, it didn´t work out too well. They played one show with an orchestra. We had it in our mind to do it again. A lot of fans and people around us kept saying: "You must do this again." SVEN: Many fans have been disappointed by the AOR direction the band has taken in the last twenty years. Is this album the end of it? ALAN: No, I don´t think so. We still have that on our minds. Yes music is very special to everybody in the band. We are always going into this two directions. I think we will be open-minded about all that. SVEN: Don´t you see that most fans like the longer stuff that you really can go into? ALAN: Yes, that´s still in our heads, of course. Everybody has a creative factor in the band. The band has a lot of creative people and that leads to different things all the time. You can´t put your finger on only one thing. We´ll be thinking of that, but basicallly it´s what turns out at a certain time. SVEN: You already mentioned it -- this is the first album without a keyboarder. Is it part of the new creativity? Does it give you more freedom? ALAN: Basically, we wanted to give Steve more freedom. SVEN: Do you think you´ll need a keyboarder again, because obviously it works without? ALAN: We proved it to ourselves that it can work with or without. It´s a neccessary factor, whether there is a orchstra or a keyboard. A keyboard is a great instrument. You have such a vast variety of samples or whatever you want to play. SVEN: ...well, it depends. When I listened back to Keys To Ascension, it sounds a bit forced, like the classic line-up has to play the classical style music in order to meet expectations. And as good as Rick Wakeman is technically, his sound always leads into the same direction, which districts the group somehow. ALAN: Yes, you´re right in saying that. It´s just whatever is at that time. You have to take moment for moment. SVEN: What was working as a four-piece group like? ALAN: Everything was written jointly. We were all in one room every day from lunchtime. We worked for six or eight hours together. The creativity came from everybody. SVEN: I read that you had a major input in "In The Presence Of...." ALAN: I wrote that song a couple of years ago. I just started to play it for a few days and Jon would come in and say, "Keep playing, keep playing."  That´s how we created most of the album, actually. That was a song that turns out really good. A lot of people like that song. On stage it goes down really, really well every day. SVEN: This tour is another Yes superlative. You must be carrying about a hundred people from town to town. That´s an immensely expensive untertaking. ALAN: It´s a big undertaking, but it´s worth it. We like to bring what we do to the people. Sometimes we need that. SVEN: Having the orchestra supporting you, why do you only play two songs of "Magnification" during the show? ALAN: Because people, for the first time, get to hear songs like Close To The Edge, Gates Of Delirium and Ritual with an orchestra. They want to see that. SVEN: What is it like playing all the long epics after such a long time again? Did you have to practise a lot to get back on track? ALAN: No, it´s like riding a bicycle. Once you get back on the the bike... They are not easy songs to play anytime, but once you start playing them, everything comes back into the pigeon. SVEN: It´s not so much a matter of the abitity to play it, but to remember what to play. Did you listen through the old records again? ALAN: No, it´s all in the head. I´m a computer. It´s very mathematical the way we play it. Mathematic, but with lots of emotions. SVEN: Since the Keys To Ascension times you´re constantly either in the studio or on tour. What´s the reason for this hyperactivity? ALAN: Because we enjoy what we do. I think we have a service to provide the people with good music. As a combination of so many individual artists that are very high-standard, you owe the public music. SVEN: After being in the business for over thirty years now and having earned some decent money, is Yes more a job or a hobby to you nowadays? ALAN: The lowest thing on my scale is the money. The main motivation is providing good music to the people who listen. SVEN: So what is more fun for you -- touring or being in the studio? ALAN: Both actually. The great thing about touring is that you get to play new music and music that people have been living with for a long time. And seeing smiling faces. SVEN: Did you all still get on with each other apart from the musical side? Do you hang out together outside the show? ALAN: Yeah, we get on fine. We have to deal with it on a daily basis. People have good days and bad days. At the same time, it´s almost like living with four wives. Everybody understands each other. We get on with each other really well. SVEN: So why does Steve Howe always travel on his own to each gig then? ALAN: He doesn´t like flying. So he has his own car, his own driver. But at the same time, he´s fine. He is still part of the group and we all have good relationships. SVEN: I was a bit disappointed about the promotion of the album here in Germany. If I wasn´t in the business, I probably wouldn´t knew that there is a new Yes album out. ALAN: When a product of Yes comes out, it´s more of a cultish kind of thing that happens. I´d like to see more, obviously. But if you hear "Have you heard the new YES album?", then you have to try and find it -- or burn it. A lot of people burn CDs nowadays. SVEN: So you no longer head for the singles charts with Owner Of A Lonely Heart -- part two? ALAN: It doesn´t matter anymore. It´s great to see us in the list of the Top Ten or whatever, but to me that´s old-fashioned. Nowadays it´s mainly rap people and things like that. SVEN: Having just released such a great record, what can come after that? ALAN: Another great record! Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com