------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 20, 2004 ------------------------------------------------------- Source: Press of Atlantic City http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/entertainment/nightlife/band1.shtml Yes celebrates 35 years with stop in Atlantic City By Scott Cronick Yes, the masters of progressive rock, finally makes it to Atlantic City this weekend to perform outdoors for two shows (sic) at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. Boasting a classic lineup of singer Jon Anderson, guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire, keyboardist Rick Wakeman and drummer Alan Whie, Yes is celebrating its 35th year in rock with a massive tour that features a gorgeous set designed by Roger Dean, who created the band's logo and classic album covers. In its long career, the band scored 15 Top 40 albums and sales of more than 40 million records worldwide thanks to songs like "Roundabout," "I've Seen All Good People" and "Starship Trooper." Yes brings its experimental rock to Borgata Friday and Saturday. Plan on hearing the band's hits as well as some obscure surprises. Steve Howe took some time to talk about his band's past, present and future. Q: I had to call you at a hotel under an alias. After 35 years, does Yes still have groupies. A: Not really. I absolutely hate having an alias. The only reason I do it is because everyone else does. It's because one band member -- who will remain nameless -- once told the crowd that everyone can find out where Yes stays because Steve doesn't use an alias. So I reluctantly use a non-stupid pseudonym. Now I get about three less calls a year. Every so often, I would get a call at 3 in the morning, (with a hippie voice) "Hey dude. Is this really Steve Howe, man. I can't believe it." And then I would just hang up. Q: How do you keep it fresh after all of these years. A: We rarely ever went out and did an identical tour. We did the Symphonic tour with the orchestra and the Masterworks tour with 20-minute pieces. Now, we're changing things every night. The real thing we changed is the set. We have an enormous repertoire of material to pull from over the years. The truth is we don't change things nightly enough. We do it to an extent. But I am the radical. I always lean toward the extremes. But we can't play songs that no one ever heard. We choose from the well of songs that have been good to us. Q: But you don't want to be a greatest hits band, either? A: We've never been that. We keep performing and hoping and praying that the people will keep coming to see us and not say, "Oh, that was just another Yes set." The '80s Yes relied on the stable of popular songs; we try to avoid that. We hope to play those songs better or authentically or in the original arrangements because we are the guys who have to play this stuff and we have to believe in it. Q: Aside from the hits, Yes has been always considered the quasi mainstream rock band that made it based on sheer talent -- the musicianship. Is that some you take pride in? A: The 20-minute songs, the things we've been slated for are really the staple reason why we are still here. We found a niche. It was always about originality. In 1967, I turned away from guitar cliches and blues, which was the biggest cliche style we ever had. (He sings standard blues riff.) When that became rock, I said, "Oh no, I am not going to play that." I did blues when I was 17 or 18. At this point, I was 20 and playing psychedelic, which became prog. The key to that was to not sound like anyone else. I was lucky to have my own sound and style, and you can't worry about having it when you have it. So I am not merely proud of what we achieved. I am also proud of the way we achieved it. We never had all of the hit singles. We had big albums, and we notched a career out of a spectacular 10-year period from '70 to '80. When you consider that "Fragile" and "Close to the Edge" came out in the same year, and "Yessongs" right after, that was amazing. Q: You haven't lost appreciation for it? A: I remind the rest of the band how lucky we are. We are one of the few bands that has an audience to play to that loves us and we don't have to rely on the dreadful thing called commerciality. In the '80s, when I wasn't in the band and they did "Owner of a Lonely Heart" is a good example. That's not a bad pop song, but it's not a great song. It did a great thing for the band at the time, but with it came some incredible badness. Q: Do you ever play "Owner?" A: We actually do it as an acoustic song, which I said would never work. I was slightly wrong because it actually works better for us in that form instead of being austere and saying, (in a big voice) "Here's one of our big hit singles" and be in their face about it. Q: You seem happy to not have been a part of that. A: When I watch footage from 1990 and how Yes appeared at the time I piss myself laughing when I see them playing. It was like Duran Duran gone horribly wrong. When you see the band around "Big Generator" (1997), it's unbelievable. They went to the hairdressers, got frightening new clothes and looked atrocious. I am glad not to have been there at that time. I was happier to be with (the supergroup) Asia at the time. We did what the hell we wanted and dressed however we wanted. The attitude of Yes at the time was to sell, sell, sell, and I am so ashamed of that. Q: Before you joined, Yes was already different. You fit right in. A: Oh yes. We had a quirky keyboardist, a drummer who defied to play 4-4 time and all of that. Then I stepped in and never wanted to be branded like any other guitarist. Q: Q Magazine said you were the "long haired dads of Radiohead." A: I am pretty good stomaching that kind of stuff. Better to have stuff said about you than not said. It's a better question than if you had to ask, "Steve, tell me about the silence that reigns over this band." The great thing is that I am still playing and not pushing up daisies in a retirement music college. Hey, that's a pretty good idea. Q: The latest compilation -- "The Ultimate Yes" -- features some new stuff, including a new song titled "Show Me." Was it nice to record new material again? A: It was one of Jon's songs, and we all added certain things to it. Somehow, we work quite well together if we work a song gradually in isolation. What I find daunting is looking at a bigger project. The responsibility of managing, producing, writing, rehearsing and recording a whole new record seems so difficult for me. We used to churn them out. Now I am the most guilty member to be reluctant of how we are going to do this. Finding a producer, a mutual geographic location, the time ... everything has to come together. I also don't want to waste money and time. I want it to be productive and great, which is the hardest thing. You can never say that something is going to be great even though you are always expected to write great stuff and have great ideas. Q: Is it amusing today that Yes' music was originally panned by critics and is now held up like the holy grail of classic rock? A: I like the irony of it, yes. One thing an artist should be is resilient to criticism. You can't ignore it. That will be your peril. You have to take little elements of criticism and use that to improve. The lasting quality of music pays back the initial criticism. They thought we were pretentious because we were quirky and weird. I don't think we were. They were complex records that were cleverly defective. People forget about the turnaround on that. So yes, I smile when I think about that one. WHERE: Outdoor Stage, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Atlantic City WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 20 and Saturday, Aug. 21 HOW MUCH: Tickets are $65 and $75 and available at Borgata box office or Ticketmaster at (800) 736-1420 or http://www.ticketmaster.com. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, inquiries, corrections, or additions, contact yitp@yesservices.com