------------------------------------------------------- OCTOBER 18, 1969 ------------------------------------------------------- Source: Publication Unknown, (from the Legendary Roxi Collection) Stand Up the Boy Who Nicked Granny's Curtains! (No author listed in hardcopy) Chris Squires (sic) is the Yes bass guitarist, and the first to admit that he's a show-off. When I met him, he was wearing a black, lacey see-through garment -- with black flowers linked like a spider's web -- that hung loosely over his shoulders, and flopped around his arms. "A young lady fixed this up for me," he said, grinning broadly. They were yellow curtains that someone's grandmother had thrown away, and we dyed them black." The other members of this five-man London-based group swear that one night Chris turned up for a gig "dressed like a greenfly," with a net cloak in emerald green trailing to the ground, embroidered in green tinsel and sequins. "I got that from a former landlady in Drayton Gardens who was in films before the war," he told me. "Anyway, green suits me -- I'm Pisces." And there's another story, told with relish, about his days with a group called The Syn when Chris had his hair dyed silver. That, apparently, seated him, too. "But were not all like that," said the group's founder John (sic) Anderson (24), a self-confessed hick. He spent three years working on a farm near Accrington and drove a 12-ton lorry. Then he discovered that it had all been a big mistake, and that he really should have made his tracks to London and gone in for pop. He and the others had all been in other groups before forming Yes. Peter Banks (22), a former art student from Barnet who was kicked out of college because he was hardly ever there, is the Yes guitarist. He was formerly with Chris in The Syn. "It was Peter who thought up our name -- he'd thought of it before he joined us, and brought the name with him," said John (sic). Tony Kaye (24) is their organist, comes from Leicester, and used to be in French star Johnny Hallyday's backing group. "He is the Romeo of the group," said John (sic), adding that Tony was also a person with exceptional taste. "He has taste in everything -- particularly clothes, which is probably why he's so attractive to girls." Bill Bruford (19), comes from Sevenoaks, Kent, and was a studying economics at Leeds University when the group tempted him away. "He'd been there about nine months, and during his holidays he'd answered and advert of ours and played with the group a few times on a temporary basis. Then when we were asked to play on The Cream's farewell concert, he decided to join us full-time. We bribed him with a fancy drum kit!" John (sic) and Chris write most of the group's material (they nearly always play their own), and Bill writes a lot of jazz material, "which we never use because we're not a jazz group." The group started in August last year when John and Chris met in a musician's pub in Soho and started discussing ideas, and found they were both looking for new groups, and shared similar ideas in music. "I was able to raise enough money to keep us together while we got the group going," said John (sic). That was £300, which they divided between them -- £5 a week from September to December -- while they rehearsed every day, occasionally taking a few bookings towards the end of last year at £10-15 a night. "When we first started rehearsing, we didn't have any idea what we were trying to do, or in what direction we were going, but over those months we found ourselves. "On the first few gigs we didn't happen at all -- and we were very disheartened to find that the kids were interested in dancing, but not in listening to us." Now, the pendulum has started to swing the other way. They were among the groups booked for the Oxfam Walk -- with Amen Corner, the Status Quo and the Love Affair. "Everyone seemed to think we were an underground group -- perhaps because we hadn't had a hit record," said John (sic). "And the amazing thing was that when the Love Affair came on, all the kids went absolutely wild. "No-one was listening to their music at all -- and really it was very good, and Steve Ellis was brilliant -- but all they wanted to do was jump up on stage, and shout and scream. "And then we went on and played to exactly the same audience, and they listened to us in total silence, and at the end of each number those same kids just clapped us." Another unusual weekend was when they flew to Ireland with the Bonzo Dog and the Nice, firstly for concerts in Belfast, and then down to Dublin. "We drove down to Dublin, and the nearer we got, the narrower the roads became, until eventually we were driving down a track, and we opened a gate, and there was a field -- an open air field, a football ground, where we were supposed to be playing. "There was an overhead wire stretching across where the audience should be -- and that was the amplifying system. It was supposed to be an evening concert -- but there were no lights." But, with the help of draght Guinness and the discovery that "Give Peace A Chance" is the most marvellous pub song ever -- particularly with the Bonzo Doggs leading the choruses, and adapting the lyrics -- they caroused back to London. "That was a terrific flight home," said John (sic) "Was it?" said Chris. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, inquiries, corrections, or additions, contact yitp@yesservices.com