Yes Blog

San Jose, CA, 3rd August, 2011

The Blog is late I know…here’s catch-up on the penultimate show…

So it was off to Silicon Valley today for the multiple bill with Styx, Kansas & the Greg Kihn Band. Surprisingly LAX was fairly quiet out of the South West terminal. All round fairly effortless, and only a quick 45-minute hop to San Jose.

You can probably imagine that with the 4-band bill, it was all fairly hectic and chaotic back-stage. The Shoreline Theater is a huge venue, sandwiched in between Google & Youtube HQ’s. And there’s no mistaking when you arrive in this town, what it’s all famous for. Yes indeed, there’s no doubt that computing is its’ staple diet.

Now this was a great gig – and a massive noisy crowd, possibly the biggest of the tour so far. I’d have estimated it at around 16,000. OK, so let me run down the bill: Greg Kihn Band – Didn’t actually see them as they were on at 5.30, and we didn’t get there until 6.30. However, I did bump into none other than Robert Berry in the catering area, who had been playing with them earlier. Now that name might not ring a bell for some of you, but I can tell you that he was a member of the 2nd version of GTR after Steve Hackett had left, and slightly more famously, as a member of ‘3’ with Carl Palmer and Keith Emerson. After those 2 outings, he turned his attention to jingle writing and became very successful in that field, particularly in his home-town San Francisco area. Anyway it was good to see him after some 25 years or so. He didn’t actually look that different to be honest.

Well next up, Kansas. Now I’ve got a lot of time for the Kansas boys. Having supported them on several occasions in the past. ‘Dust In The Wind’ has always been a goosebump tune.

And tonight finally, we said our farewell to the Styx-insect dudes – lots of high fives ‘n hugs ‘n all that. They weren’t a bad bunch of geezers to be honest. Enjoyed their company.

Ya know, one thing I’ve noticed on my travels this time, is how happy most Americans appear. You obviously bump into a few exceptions, but generally speaking, there seems to be a genuine wave of bonhomie. Personally – I like it. See, in my opinion, the British are largely a right miserable and cynical bunch. The main difference can be described as follows: When you meet a British person, they’ll usually say to you: “What do you want?” When you meet an American, it will be more than likely “How can I help you?’ In fact, I have to apologise for being part of a pretty rude race! But being British (can’t help it), I’ll continue with some rudery…

Now I’m suspecting that a few of my more extreme Yuppet chums will be rather dismayed to note the increasing number of positive reviews of the recent shows that have been coming in of late, and, that they will note I’ll shortly be taking my leave of you for some time. Because some of these people had already issued the last rites on the band, revelling in the negativity, judging their remarks or comments largely on some shaky, low-resolution Youtube footage or similar of the shows. I’ve seen quite a few of these from this tour and they really are quite bad for the most part. It doesn’t do any justice largely to the ‘way it was’. How anyone can pass a global opinion from that showing is beyond me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to avert the gaze of scrutiny, or deflate any poor reviews or challenge the right to anyone’s opinion, but at the same time, it does need to be kept in perspective. Yes, we all know those first few shows weren’t great. If you were there, you have every right to state your opinions on that…but how many more fecking times do you want me to admit they were below par? I think you’ll notice now though, that a lot of what was wrong then has been put right. So get off your high horses and deal with it, instead of recycling the same old nonsense, pullll-ease! OK, I’ve said my bit – I need to chill right down. Hey, no way Jose (geddit?), I’m in Mr. Angry mode – it’s one of those days. I’m rounding on my critics!

Talking of rubbish critical publications like Rolling Stone I mentioned a while back, I don’t suppose anyone here has had the misfortune to clock one of the so-called Yes ‘fan’ sites called XXX (I’m not saying it, but it could be similar to a girl’s name). I stumbled on it purely by chance a few days ago. But if not, don’t bother, because if you thought some of the folks over on Progressivears.com were weird, then this one has a collection of freaks and loonies that makes all of them pale into insignificance. (PE, you’ll notice I only said ‘some’ not ‘all’ this time – I know my place, bruvvers . Anyway, I won’t give you the exact site reference, as I don’t wish to feed any oxygen of publicity in the direction of this worthless crap.

But as you probably know 99% of the .alt sites are all to do with sex, porn and bizarre fetishes. The one I refer to is actually not even THAT good. Yeah, the only similarity is that it is probably run by the same type of pervs and paedos usually associated with some of the .alt sites. What I can also tell you is that has very little to do with the music of Yes, despite purporting to be a conduit of information. It is a grim reminder of how the Internet can be used and abused by a handful of no-marks. To be avoided!

But they all know best – these armchair experts, sitting there like ‘Madmen at the screens’! That’s right, they had not seen all the evidence, and yet they, the judges, had already doffed the black cap and passed the death sentence. It was like some kind of a ‘kangaroo court’, if you get my drift Yes that’s right, their stance was that Yes was over, and these folk were only too happy to line up and join in together like some lynch-mob hammering down the coffin lid – or so they thought!

So it must come as something of a great disappointment for them to note that it’s all business as usual over at Yes Central, and that things are on the up. Contrary to some public speculation, the band is alive and well, and making positive plans for the future. I think it was Mark Twain who once wrote: ‘reports of my death have become greatly exaggerated’ or something like that. Sorry chaps – so we could have scuttled off into a corner never to be seen again after some of those reviews (particularly those nasty biased threads on PE & AMY). Thing is if any of us listened to some of the crap that gets talked about you’d never go out of the front door again. So it’s a victory. It’s a major triumph over the vultures who thought they were circling above the carcass of some dying beast, and those who thought they’d pull down the ship with their comments have failed miserably. So they will now be left sniffing the exhaust fumes. That very tiny minority who said they never want to see the band or buy another album again, have been weeded out and sent packing. Au revoir, chums!

What amazes me is that in some of the critiques of yours truly, some people say they can’t hear the keyboards at all, and others say that I got all the parts wrong. I reckon some of you people need to get together and see if you were actually at the same show, or buy some feckin hearing aids!

OK, well I’ll be saying my goodbyes to yas all in the final instalment from San Diego over the next few days.

Finally, I can tell you that I went round the San Diego Zoo the day after the show, and, I had to raise a chuckle when I passed the “kangaroo” enclosure! I think I spotted a friend of mine hoppety hoppety! Come on peops, if you didn’t laugh, you’d be crying!

Cheers me dears,

Be seeing you…

GD

Los Angeles, CA, 2nd August, 2011

As I said, I was skipping yesterday’s blog – largely because I did nothing other than chill poolside at the hotel. It was great just to stop everything for a day and just switch off and recharge the batteries. Nice! But today’s a new day, and…

‘GET ME TO THE GREEK’!!

Well it was a really fab night out there tonight, in this beautiful outdoor theatre in Griffith Park, just out there on the edge of Los Feliz in the L of A. The crowd were stupendous, and I think we gave a pretty good account of ourselves all round. When you play in the main cities, you are very aware that the critical gaze of scrutiny is even more apparent than in the smaller towns and cities. Because those guys in the main cities have seen it all, done it all and got the frickin T-shirt. So some of them are much more cynical than you might dare to consider. Also, there are usually a high level of industry people and fellow musicians out there, so you are very conscious ‘to put on a good show’. Here’s me with one of those very dudes from last night…

That’s Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters, who gate-crashed my dressing room for half an hour before the show. Very nice fella!

People milling around outside before the Greek Theater show.

So anyways, we said farewell tonight to our buddy Shane Alexander who’s been with us throughout the tour. Great guy, and if you get chance, check out his website and listen to some of his stuff. Was great having him on board, so we’ll miss him. Good luck, my friend!

So it’s not long now to the end of the tour – 2 more shows to go, then I’ll be saying my last ‘be seeing you’ for some time as well. Have to say, it’s really been a lot of fun, and there have been quite a few humorous moments along the way.

We were all staying at separate hotels, (not because we don’t like each other, but more because everyone has their favourite LA location)! However we did manage to get a sound-check in the early afternoon, so we rehearsed ‘Machine Messiah’ & ‘Into The Storm’, which are to be included in the Yes show in San Diego. That should be interesting!

Well, talking of ‘Get Me To The Greek’, that Russell Brand guy really gets on my tits. I just don’t get why anyone would find him funny at all. Although, in honesty I haven’t see that particular film. But it’s no surprise that he’s a buddy of the equally obnoxious Jonathan Ross, although I doubt it much now as he pretty well single-handedly killed his career in that famous ‘Manuel-gate’ episode the two of them cooked up on that radio show. I though that was way out of order, personally. Calling dear old Andrew Sachs in the middle of the night, and leaving obscene messages on his answering machine about screwing his grand-daughter. Hahaha – I get it. Hilarious! What a pair of feckin chumps. However, I am informed by reliable sources that Brand is actually quite good in the GMTTG, so who am I to say? But I just have to take one look at the guy, and he makes me feel sick. Anyways…

Talking of musicians, film stars, celebrities and the like. (Well if you can’t talk about that in Hollywood, where else)?! We were expecting to see Trevor Rabin and possibly some other Yes alumni and other familiar faces at the show, as I spoke to him (TR) last week, and thought he might be there. But there were quite a few other ‘no-shows’. I can imagine though, it can be a little inconvenient dragging yourself out midweek. Some people have got kids at school, things to do, so it’s no ‘biggy’ if some people can’t make it, even at the last minute. But there were some pretty big industry dudes there nonetheless – some of the top brass from Universal, EMI, HK Management, The Agency and many more, so there was quite a posse of liggers backstage after the show. On top of that there were some 40 or so meet and greeters to contend with, so by the time we’d done all this, it must’ve been around 1.00am before we got out of there.

OK, well tomorrow it’s a hop up the coast to Silicon Valley, San Jose, and the last show with the Styx boys. The big party will soon be over, but not before I’ve had a few final parting shots at my old Yuppet adversaries! The Final Say! Watch this space…

Be seeing you…

GD

Los Angeles, CA, 31^st July, 2011

We arrived in at LAX from Portland around 5.00 late afternoon. You gotta love LA!

I’ll be taking a couple of days out from the Blog. I’ve got the missus flying in from the UK later, so I’m gonna be chilling out tomorrow on our day off before the Greek. There won’t be a lot to report to you guys…but don’t forget it’s the 30^th Anniversary of MTV, though! Those opening bars of ‘Video Killed Killed The Radio Star’ that kicked it all off…Aahhh…spare me a thought folks – that’s me!

OK talking video, to keep you going here are a couple of clips I took with the Flip on the way to the Red Rocks show. Enjoy…

Keep on keeping on…

Be seeing you…

GD

Alan’s Tech & The Audience

Bags & Haircuts

Goldendale, WA, 30th July, 2011

Well I thought I’d give you all a rest from my mad ramblings today. At least a little respite. As I’ve been promising, today’s entry has more of a photographical content.

Here are a few snaps I’ve taken recently during the tour. Enjoy…

The Board Lord’s rig!

Table 1 – Yestyx Party – Is Steve asleep?! Must be the company he keeps!

Table 2 – Yestyx Party

Table 3 – Yestyx Party

Just fulfilled a dream. I’ve joined Styx!!

God bless these guys – total respect to the servicemen!

And of course, not forgetting the ladies!!!!

Talking of which…I think Benoit’s after the Styx gig as well!

“Starship Trooper”. Me with Scott, the astronaut in Seattle, and certificate from NASA re: The NDO ‘Light Program’ in space

Up the creek in Washington…you’ll get the picture, read on…

OK, well it was business as usual on our drive this afternoon from Redmond to Goldendale – an easy couple of hundred miles, or so you’d have thought! No such luck. I didn’t take into account our tour manager’s reliance on the sat-nav system.

The journey was preceded by a superb lunch with me and my manager, Martin. Yes indeed, I trumped him once again by finding an Indian restaurant in close proximity to the hotel. How do I do it, you may ask? My answer: pure ingenuity and a lot of ‘goggling’!

So we all set off in the vehicle abut 3.00pm – me, Martin, Benoit and our tour manager, Paul Silveira. The Squires were pulling up the rear in another vehicle a bit like the Addams Family, but mobile in a vehicle, not in that spooky house, right. We were more like the Beverly Hillbillies (as it later transpired). It turns out to be a winding journey up to Goldendale, WA heading southwards near to the Northern border of Oregon.

It was all going according to plan, until Paul following his sat-nav, veered off along the gorge in the opposite direction from where we should’ve been going to the Maryhill Winery. (It was only 3 miles from that junction had we not turned off and carried straight on). Instead, we headed off on a wild goose chase, which cost us at least an hour and a half. Eventually, as time was ticking by, and it was fast approaching show-time, we turned around and headed back to that junction. Despite a sketchy phone signal I managed to Google the directions for the winery noting that it was in close proximity to that junction. Aha, the powers of modern technology!

Now I have a question here… If I were a tour manager, I would never rely exclusively on a sat-nav, particularly if heading to a more remote region. No, I’d Google it first, and find out exactly where it was, so I knew approximately where I was heading. It seems obvious to me, that would seem to be the safest option. Ya know, study the feckin map! Also, it is your duty as a tour manager to make sure your band get to a venue in plenty of time for the show. We nearly didn’t.

As it was, we cut it pretty fine and eventually turned up with just over an hour to spare before we went on. Put it this way, Styx were in full flight by the time we arrived. And it’s horrible that, because it gets you all stressed out because you don’t get the preparation for the gig time which is very important. It’s too late to eat anything, as nobody wants to go on stage on a full stomach. So we all got out of that car feeling very nerve-wracked I can tell you. Certainly not the best prep for a show, it has to be said.

However, you will see from the last picture above, there was a stunning view of the gorge to be savoured on our mistaken route. It was breathtaking. Trouble was, we were on the wrong end of it all! Aaahh, Spinal Tap indeed!

I thought the show was again a great one tonight. I was back on the in-ears, which made life a whole lot simpler. Thing is, once you get into the rhythm of a tour, it sort of becomes like auto-pilot. You know what you’ve got to do, and you know how to do it. It’s all about having a system. So, I think folks went home happy. There was a great turnout for this place that was kind of remote. Certainly, I had some nice comments at the meet ‘n greet so that’s all I really care about. If you’re happy, we’re happy!

So there was no hotel in the area for tonight. Paul had arranged for us to stay by Portland Airport for our flight out to LAX tomorrow afternoon. It was around a 2-hour drive across the border into Oregon after the show. Arrival at the hotel was about 2.00am.

Ah well, another day, another dollar…

Next stop LALA-land

Be seeing you…

GD

Seattle, WA, 29th July, 2011

Today’s blog has an aviation theme. Now I think that’s quite appropriate and a fitting topic considering the recent release of the ‘Fly From Here’ album. So here are a few personal experiences from your very own blog-meister. Read on for your pleasure…

Well the winery show at Redmond (a suburb of Seattle) tonight was excellent. It all took place in a stunning location set in private grounds, a kind of neo-chateau stylee group of buildings, and wine-producing machinery set amongst a series of man-made lakes. Quite amazing location. And I think the band really kicked some arse on this occasion. I think we deffo ‘stepped up to the plate’ as it were. I don’t know if that had something to do with the fact that it was a sellout, and a homeboy gig for Alan, hence there was a pretty hefty partisan contingent cheering every song, but it was also a very special night for me all round. For reasons I will now divulge…

I can say, there were some very interesting people turned up to this show too. Here’s a story of one of the chaps I was introduced to…

A friend of Alan’s, a gentleman called Scott is an astronaut. Yep, that’s right, a real life – astronaut! Impressed? Well I was – because that’s not your every-day sort of fella you’ll normally bump into of an evening down your local pub! He was explaining to me that he has worked for years on the US Space Shuttle program. Although, he never actually flew any of the missions he was part of the ‘back-up’ team i.e. had any of the selected astronauts on the space shuttle had to drop out for some reason, then he or one of his colleagues in that team would have taken their place. A kind of space age ‘super-sub’ if you like. Therefore, as a result, he was obviously very active in the preparation of each mission and still today has a high-profile job with NASA, even though the space shuttle program has recently concluded. Well it just turns out that this very likeable fellow is also a keen ‘progger’. And it was his call to select the music that went out with each mission, which presumably must have been quite an experience for the astronauts flying high above the earth’s stratosphere listening to all that interstellar stuff. Anyway, get this…I was highly honoured to note, that one of the selected works he chose to go on board the “Endeavour” – STS -99 Mission (Feb 11-22, 2000), was none other than my 1st solo album, the “Light Program”. He said he’d been waiting for an opportunity to give me something for some time, and this is what it was. He presented me with a proper NASA certificate together with a copy of the CD as authentication that it has actually travelled and been played over a 4.7 million mile journey around The Earth on the Endeavour space shuttle. 182 Earth orbits accomplished in 268 hours, and 38 minutes – to be precise.

What do you think of all that then? Well, I was pretty flabbergasted by that concept as you can imagine. I have to say…Very cosmic, indeed! Beam me up Scotty! It made me think that I won’t now need to buy into Sir Richard Branson’s proposed space travel ‘package deal’ he’s been talking about– because I’ve already been there, done that, and more importantly – got the CD!

Speaking of Sir Richard, did I ever tell about one of the few occasions I met our King Virgin entrepreneur? Here ya go…

OK, so I’m working late one night on the GTR album with just me and the engineer, Alan Douglas in Studio 4 at the old Virgin’s Townhouse Studios (sadly no longer there).This place was like a 2nd home to me during the whole of the 80’s, where we did most of the Buggles ‘Age of Plastic’, most of the ASIA albums, GTR, New Dance Orchestra (interesting tie-in with the previous paragraph!) and many other projects besides. I must have a spent the greater part of my life in those studios during that period. It was a real hive of industry, and I’d be working away with Queen in the next studio or Phil Collins, Eric Clapton in another. I’m not name-dropping or anything, just telling you like it was. There were always some of the biggest names in the business at any given time working in those studios out on the Goldhawk Rd, Shepherd’s Bush in West London. So I got to meet and got to know quite a few of these guys. I can tell you that most of them were usually very pleasant, unassuming, humble, quiet and polite characters from memory. The real arseholes you tended to meet were the young wannabes who hadn’t made it yet and were just recording their first album. A lot of these guys had just signed their first record deal, thought they ruled the world, and that they were the dogs’ bollocks. Usual story was they ended up quickly disappearing up their own arses, never to be heard of again!

Anyway, I guess it’s some time early 1986. It was common then to stay till all hours of the morning at the studio – usually running off rough mixes from the day’s recordings onto cassette to play in the car on the way home. Ya know – check it all out on another system. I look round and there’s this figure standing in the shadows at the back of control room. I don’t pay too much attention as I assume it might just be the night guy popping in. Anyways, after we’d run off one of the mixes, this voice pipes up from the back: ‘That sounds excellent’. It had to have been, say 2.30 in the morning. So I turn round from the console, and this guy’s dressed in an all-in-one khaki dungaree affair (a bit like an astronaut, actually!), and lo and behold, it’s none other than the man himself, Dickie B. Errrr? “I just popped in to see if everything was alright, and if there’s anything I can do, or you want me to get you”. OK – so Mr. Virgin has suddenly become my personal servant in the middle of the night. Hey, I should have said: ‘free 1st class tickets on your airline for the rest of my life!’ But rather overwhelmed by his humility, and totally taken aback by this mysterious appearance on the scene, I think I just said: ‘No, everything’s fine’. At which point he heads out the door with a little wave and a ‘be seeing you’ smile from that sizeable row of teeth of his! True story, buddies.

Back to tonight, and talking of entrepreneurs, also in attendance there were some pretty big players from some of those companies that Seattle has become known and famous for throughout the World. Some guys came from Amazon.com, American Seafoods, Microsoft – but strangely no-one from Starbuck’s. I guess they must have taken offence at my previous description of their non-fat café latte as an ‘artery-clogger’! Anyway, Alan seemed to know most of these guys (handy!), so there was a kind of post-gig party affair he and his wife Gigi had kindly organized for everyone. And there was also a pretty hefty ‘meet and greet’ afterwards (35 folks) to deal with, so after all this schmoozing it was quite late by the time we got out of there and back to the hotel.

The weather was absolutely stunning today, when we flew past the St Helen’s volcano and into Tacoma Airport this afternoon. Remember when that sucker blew, and clogged up all four engines of a British Airways Jumbo 747? That pilot must’ve been the calmest dude ever, as he slowly re-started each one, as the jet was in freefall. Bravo to him! Well even judging by the predictably unpredictable nature of Seattle’s weather, many were saying it was the nicest day of the year so far today. So continuing on with the aviation theme and big companies, of course Boeing originated in Seattle and have a huge base we passed on the way from the airport to the hotel in Redmond. There along the edge that airfield was one of their new massive 787’s. It was some impressive sight I can tell you. Hey with all this talk, I’m getting some ideas for a new album here

OK, well I hoped you enjoyed those few little aeronautical experiences I’ve shared with you today.

Onwards and upwards, my friends – let’s fly!

Be seeing you…

GD

Boise, Idaho, 28th July, 2011

Hey, great show it was tonight at Eagle, ID too – thanks for the humungous cheers, everyone. It was a beautiful sunny evening out there, and we enjoyed it all very much. Despite some of the technical problems, which I will go into in more detail shortly, the band seemed to be ‘on it’. It was a pretty sparse crowd to be honest – the lowest attendance yet, but I don’t think that dampened the proceedings in any way. Blame Live Nation for their promo! It was in true s**t-kicker tradition though, in a field (potato, I guess) in the middle of nowhere – like being down on old Macdonald’s farm. The dressing rooms were half a mile away, in one of the promoter’s houses. Steve even complained on stage one time about the ‘smell of waffles’. You get the picture? So all round it was a bit comical to say the least! It was an early show, so we were off the stage by 8.00pm, and back at the hotel by 9.00pm. That can feel a bit strange sometimes, as if – what happened?

What I can tell you though, is that tonight’s show nearly didn’t happen at all. When the guys were loading in this morning the stage started to subside, and all the gear and rigging had to be removed whilst extra supports were put in place. Don’t know if this was an aftermath of the frivolities from the night before that had an adverse effect on all the crew guys i.e. hangover city, and they just ‘took their eye off the ball’ so to speak! However, a field is not the best place for a stage, particularly when you’ve got 5 semis full of gear to put onto it. But fortunately they got it all fixed, and they just about made it good for show-time, but it was touch and go. On the reverse side, I had to go back to monitor wedges, as my in-ears weren’t working – this was not the best, but I struggled through. However, the delay in the set-up also did cost us a very valuable sound-check. (Any excuse for us not to rehearse I hear some of you cynics out there are shouting!!). But seriously, we could have done with that due to the extended show we’ll be playing on the last night in San Diego. We’ll have to try to grab some more time at the few remaining shows before then at the sound-checks though to sort through it. But had that stage collapsed on us tonight, it could well have been yet another defining ‘Spinal Tap’ moment (along with the smell of waffles)

So in the early afternoon tomorrow, we are due to be heading out from Boise airport bound for Seattle, or ‘Cyaddl’, as Alan calls his home town. Ya know, kind of like almost all one syllable instead of three! Hey others might not, but I understand him! Long having lost that Geordie accent, and having been an ‘Americo-phone’ for as long as he can remember, I guess you’re bound to pick up some of the vernacular. S**t, I’ve even found myself adopting some quasi-Transatlantic speak in recent times myself. I’ve started pronouncing ‘city’ as ‘siddy’. And of course, I’m well wised up on sidewalks, freeways, elevators and all of that kind of stuff. And I’ve even substituted the normal cheery British greeting of ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’ for the more US generic ‘What’s happening, buddy?’ or simply – ‘Wassup?’ – I guess it’s all quite infectious when we’re surrounded by our dear old American chums rabbit-ing away on a daily basis. Much longer out here, and I’ll be talking like one of those guys I reckon! I’ll be saying ‘raining on your parade’ instead of ‘pissing on your cornflakes’! So when I get home in a few weeks time, my mates back there probably won’t have a clue what the bloody hell I’m talking about, and won’t understand a word I’m saying!

So talking mumbo-jumbo, I saw we got the perfunctory cynical review of the “Fly From Here” album in Rolling Stone magazine. That does not surprise me one bit. In fact I’d be positively offended if it was a decent one. Because in all the 35 years or so of my active musical career, they have never once said anything positive about the music I’ve ever been involved with. Over the years it has slammed the Buggles, Yes, Asia, GTR, even my solo stuff and just about everything else, usually on the release of any of my albums. That’s too co-incidental for them to despise absolutely everything, right? I reckon there’s a little gremlin in their computer system that clocks it any time my name flags up, and a memo is automatically circulated to the journalists with the proviso – “SLAG THAT B**TARD OFF”!! And that probably just about goes for anybody else who wasn’t in The Doors, The Clash or The Beatles. Or if you weren’t Bob Dylan, you simply – don’t count to them. There’s also that unspoken, snarky and still very evident under-current in most of their journalism, that they actually resent anyone making any money out of music as an artist. If you’re getting paid for it, and it’s universally successful – then it can’t be any good, according to them! They’d much rather give oxygen to a penniless folk-singing busker on a street corner strumming a guitar. That to them is REAL music. Bunch of wankers!

I actually find it quite encouraging that they do slag my stuff off though – because it means to me, that it more than likely has a fighting chance of acquiring some commercial success and recognition if it has been lambasted by them. Because, they always tend to favour the obscure, and what they consider to be ‘eclectic’. Soooo all predictable – and way hippy-dippy. Personally, I think their tedious magazine blows big time. A sort of quaintly preserved relic from around the post San Fran flower-power days – it is most definitely from a bygone era, and has never really moved with the times. (Whoopee, they just got a website and a restaurant!) To me, it remains locked in that post-Nam, know-all self-satisfied format. It can’t make up it’s mind whether it is about politics or music. That’s a very dangerous combination – are you listening, Bono?! So I’m equally surprised that the US readership continues to put up with their left wing political views too – ‘Un-american Activity’ I call it. Bah! Hopefully it won’t be too long before the mighty Apple Corporation buys it, turns it into a ‘Nerds Fortnightly’ and puts it out to pasture. Actually, it’s pretty much there already, don’t ya think?!

Right, well I’ve spouted enough bile about Rolling Stone from my ivory tower for one day. I have the choice not to buy it I guess…

OK, it’s time to hit the sack. 5 shows to go, and I’m looking forward to those West Coast dates and getting onto the Pacific time-zone. I’m going to be laughing my way all the way down to LA, I tell ya. Bring it on!

Later buddies, keep smiling…

Be seeing you…

GD

Boise, Idaho, 27th July, 2011

Greetings pop-pickers, or should I say: Hello, s*t-kickers. Well that’s what I’ve heard the folk referred to up here in lil old I-da-ho, the Potato capital of America. I guess it’s the equivalent of the Somerset farmers’ cider drinking club – oo arrr! Now that’s very unfair I hear you say, about our chums from up here in one of the least populated parts of the US. It is pretty remote though up this neck of the woods, I have to say. Put another way, as our American buddies will no doubt tell you, it’s not a place you would stumble across on your day-to-day travel Stateside, sandwiched between the even less populous states of Wyoming and Oregon, in the Northern part of the continent, bordering remotest Canada, with the vast Nevada desert to the south. It’s very much off the beaten track, a kind of hidden or forgotten civilization in that great US of A. Boise is about the most isolated state capitol in the whole country, according my informees. So in short – it’s bandit country. The sort of place where you could easily disappear without trace, and no-one would ever know!

Mind you, I’d just about had enough of Denver nice enough though it is. The thin air doesn’t help due to its’ altitude, so it was something of a ‘been there, done that’ vibe around today, and a relief to be heading off to somewhere closer to sea-level, albeit flanked by mountains. There were some pretty stunning views flying into the city today, and some spectacular scenery to behold.

Unfortunately today though, the journey got off to a bad start. Scotland left her Iphone in the airport shuttle bus, and when we got through to security, there was the most almighty queue. So it was hot, sweaty, and fly-blown in that terminal at Denver Airport. People were starting to lose their cool as they were herded around like cattle by the airport officials. Yes that’s right, these ‘officials’ do treat you like farmyard animals. The only thing they’re missing is a cattle-prod! But it certainly felt like a farm out there today, and even smelt like one! Not much had changed when we eventually got to the decrepit old plane either – barely a jet, more of a battered old stunt-plane/hedge-hopper. Poky and cramped. The stewardess was the usual United Airlines Express, been there/done that/been round the block kind of vibe. Far too old to be doing this job of course, and possibly one of the most irritating whines you’ll ever come across on an airline PA system. That went down well with Steve of course! But in fairness to her, she was probably a ‘bit of a looker’ back in the day. Now sadly, completely gone to seed, as most of us have!

So I know I’ve said all this before, but air travel is by no means the glorious adventure it used to be these days. No way, not a cat in hell’s chance. In fact, travelling by air is a downright miserable experience these days. Apart from the fact I blame that goddam shoe-bomber for a lot of all this nonsense, there’s no accounting for the dour personnel, and sheer rudeness that gets meted out by some of the terminal staff. Of course it’s important to be watchful against the terrorists, we all know that, but it shouldn’t mean that every member of the airport staff has started to develop a personality bypass. ‘Fly From Here’? – my arse!

Well anyways we got to the hotel about 6.00pm and had about a 45-minute turnaround before dinner.

We headed off to the dinner party with Styx/Yes personnel tonight, and I have to say it was an outstanding evening of entertainment, and great food. They (and their crew) are such a nice bunch of guys, and fair play to Tommy Shaw who was there right until the end.

You know I was half expecting those guys (Styx) to be pushing a few edamame beans around the plate, like those size zero skeletal super-models do – but no way, fair play to them, they were eating like bloody trojans. Just makes you wonder where they put it all. The dinner took place in a downtown Boise eatery called Rams, and a good time was had by all. Some of the Styx crew guys were a little off the scale, but it was for the most part good-natured and clean fun. (Plenty of pics from the event to upload asap – watch this space!).

So anyway, it’s all back to the reality of a show tomorrow. Three on the run now, and the party’s nearly over.

On another quick note many thanks to the posters from yesterday for all the useful hot tips on the diet. Not got time to reply to you individually on this, but all points noted and taken on board. Thanks for that. You guys out there should be dieticians!

OK Ciao buddies,

Be seeing you…

GD

Denver, CO, 26th July, 2011

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends… and to the land of the stir crazies!

OK, so let’s talk about me – for a change!…The story today has a recurring theme. It’s all about food and water, and in no particular order…

Ya know, I was really hoping to drop some weight on this tour. I figured if I cut my intake to one meal a day, stayed off the Rolling Rocks, and went for the odd stroll, sweated out a bit onstage etc., then during the course of the 5/6 weeks, I’d be Mr. Slender, like one of those Styx guys. No such f**kin luck!

In fact, I think I’m pretty much the same weight as when I set off from the UK. Trouble is the older you get, the harder it is to get rid of that ol’ British beer gut, as some of you will no doubt testify. Not that my ‘expanded’ waistline is through beer specifically, which is something I very rarely drink anyway (I was kidding about the Rolling Rocks) – but how do you actually get rid of it? Well it’s not horrendous, but it deffo needs some work. So how do you become like one of the Styx dudes, without killing yourself on a mountain bike? It’s maybe easier than I think, but I’ve just not found the answer as yet…

See, I’ve tried all those weight loss things in the past, and some of that worked to some degree. About 10 years ago, when I’d really packed it on, I went on a rigorous low-cal, low-fat diet, got a personal exercise trainer (who damn near killed me – the bastardo!), and yeah – I got down to around 12 stone, which is an OK weight for my build. Lost about 3 stone. I felt pretty fit to be honest. But you know, it sneaks back on again if you’re not careful, (particularly around Christmas time), so it’s all a bit up and down.

Now a couple of years back I tried that ‘Lighter Life’ diet, which is actually nothing more than – starvation. You get 4 packs of vile tasting soups/bars to eat per day, and NOTHING else. It’s that extreme. Maximum 500 calories. Well, I stuck at that for a month and dropped 25lbs! So it worked, but it was feckin – miserable. The first bit of proper food I ate after that was a plate of fish fingers, and you know what. You’ve never ever tasted fish fingers as good as that! Well I’m guessing the old Indian curries don’t help either. You know, all that ghee floating around in your system can’t be good. Maybe I need to cut back on that stuff – trouble is, I love it! I could always go to the other extreme and get the old jaw wired shut, but that wouldn’t make much sense in the backing vocal department. Hey, come to think of it, it might even be an improvement! And then there’s always the gastric band, or even the ‘virtual’ gastric band. Ya know, that method where they hypnotize you into believing you’ve actually got one fitted so you don’t pig out as much. Sounds very far-fetched to me. Bah – rhubarb!

So continuing with my food theme, I went for another shufty around the town at lunchtime and found some additional hazards at large – even more so than yesterday. Every street corner had a Greenpeace guy trying to get you to take part in a survey – I guess, showing some pictures of dead whales or something. I didn’t get that close to be honest. My story was, “I just filled one of those out with one of the dudes on the other street corner!” Seemed to do the trick. Then of course I forgot to mention the cyclists as well. They kept coming past kamikaze-style, weaving in and out of the pedestrians – I swear they were aiming for me! So I thought I’d bolt for safety, and treat myself to a bit of lunch. I found this trendy nouveau riche gaff called Marlowe’s. It was really good actually. I had a soup and a salad – now that can’t do too much harm can it?

Anyways, tonight’s gig was interesting to say the least. It was lashing it down on our trip up to Red Rocks, and as we arrived there it seemed to ease off and stopped completely after a while. However, we were on the wire with coming off the stage at some points, or staying on. Because the minute we started Tempus Fugit it started to piss down with rain, quite heavily. Now my rig doesn’t like water, particularly the computers, and Steve was panicking because he thought he might get electrocuted. So we took a couple of pauses and thankfully it just about held off but it was pretty close; I had to keep wiping off the actual keys on the keyboards because they were slippery with water. One thing is, it did help to lubricate some of the organ glissandi parts! (erm, I’m not sure that came out sounding quite right – and no, there weren’t any panties on the keyboard riser tonight, if that’s what you’re thinking!)

But all round, it was a really nice show bearing in mind all of that, and I thank the audience for their loud and boisterous support throughout. Such a beautiful setting too at Red Rocks. They were all kitted out in their plastic anti-rain ponchos, so I guess they were all well prepared for the weather. It certainly didn’t dampen their enthusiasm however. And it was a big crowd. Thanks guys!

So, I’m back after the show, back at the hotel by 10.30pm, and I headed off out to the Tilted Kilt (my local!) for a nightcap. Well Styx were closing tonight, and it’s a day off tomorrow after all, so why not? I’m looking behind the bar (not at one of the mini-skirted babes I add!), and there is only one of the beers on tap called ‘Fat Bastard’!! Just about summed up the theme of the day! It’s a sign…it was telling me something.

Well anyway, it’s onwards and upwards. I tried a bit of that ‘video blogging’, but whilst it’s quite interesting there’s a lot of pilot error going on i.e. Mr. Wobbly/I don’t know what I’m doing with this old shaky cam. As yet, I’m unable to upload any of it from the show yesterday, because this site is telling me it has a 2MB limit for media. That’s not a lot of video! But leave it with me, there’s a dinner party for the entire Yes/Styx brigade on the day off in Idaho tomorrow night, so hopefully it will be all on the straight and narrow, and more importantly, I’ll get some better footage from the Flip cam, and work out how to upload it all.

Man, I’ve got to stop talking about food!!

OK, well our bus has now gone so we’re flying the remainder of the tour from here. Yes folks that’s right, we are in ‘Fly From Here’ – mode from now on.

Talking of which, I award my post of the week to OB1KenOB for his live photo – ‘Trevor looks on: from the Oklahoma Live thread on the forum. Very spooky! Signed CD on its’ way if you let the Webmaster know.

It’s Denver to Boise, Idaho tomorrow. Have wings will travel – here we come. Lets see what it all brings…

Be seeing you…

GD

Denver, CO – 25th July, 2011

We arrived in Denver this morning at around 10.00am Mountain time. I had a few (phoner) interviews come in, so did those and decided to head out into the town. We’re staying in a hotel just a couple of blocks off the main drag, so it’s spitting distance. Now Denver is a beautiful city in my opinion, one of the fastest growing population-wise in the US so I’m told, so I thought I’d go and have a mooch around the town on the day off, and see if anything had changed here since my last visit a few years ago at the Paramount Theater on the Yes/Asia tour 2009. One thing I noticed right away for sure is the downtown area is very clean. There’s no litter on the streets, and I’m reckoning the road sweepers are armed with toothbrushes because it is that feckin tidy out there – you could eat your breakfast off the pavement – and cook it on there…

…As it’s really blistering hot out there today, and I’m heading down the main paved pedestrian walkway known as 16th St Mall. There are tons of restaurants lining the route from Union Station at one end, to the main City Hall at the other. You can see the City Hall mini-White House affair at the end of the strip which is a dead giveaway that you’re in a state capital – of course, namely here in Colorado. Despite the lack of cars on the actual main street, the pedestrian walk is not without its’ own hazards. There are quite a few hobos about, trying to blag some cash off you – ya know the further West you get, the better the weather, and so it’s a more comfortable environment for those dudes I suppose. Hey, they were no bother though. I’ve seen more aggressive ones, that’s for sure. More dangerously though – there are the frequent shuttle buses either side of the central walkway as well as trams coming in from the side roads, and cars crossing the strip, so you’ve really got to keep your eyes in the back of your head, otherwise you’ll end up as roadkill! And it is quite unbearably hot. Must’ve been 100 + out there for sure. I found myself nipping in any old store every few minutes just to cool down and borrow a bit of their AC. I got to my destination, an Indian restaurant for lunch where there was a very reasonable buffet on-the-go. $9 – all in. I thought that was pretty damn reasonable, and a bargain compared to that $9 I was quoted at La Guardia for a tiny pre-wrapped tuna roll if you remember a couple of weeks back. That still rankles!

Anyways, I’ve had my lunch and I’m on the prowl. I head into the Pavilions, which is a kind of smallish downtown mall. It has all the usual suspects like Pac Sun, Banana Republic etc – but frankly I just didn’t have the energy to blow any bucks in this place. You’ve got to be in the mood for all that, right? So I figured, I’d head back to the hotel. Lo and behold, if I don’t nod off for a few hours and wake up about 6-ish. Where did the day-off go I wonder?!

So up I get, dust myself down, and it’s time to head off for a mosey again. I’m walking back down the strip, and there’s a lot of people sitting and dining outside the restaurants al fresco. You could quite easily be in any European city. These outdoor eateries reminded me a lot of Brussels or Rome or virtually any capital city in Europe. I notice this up-market pub/eatery called the Tilted Kilt. It’s a sort of themed Scottish pub version of Hooters i.e. all the waitresses have the shortest tartan skirts and the biggest boobs you can imagine. I don’t think they have been selected for the employment for their academic qualities – put it that way. And I reckon they all got a job-lot on the boobies from the same plastic surgery! Anyway, it wasn’t a bad stop-off to be honest, so I hung there for a while tonight. It was actually nothing like as seedy as Hooters thankfully, which I’m not a big fan of. No amount of attractive women can disguise how disgusting the food is they dish up in those places.

Now talking of all this ‘skirt’, something happened on stage last night that has not happened to me ever before (at least not that I can remember – read on!). I thought I’d seen it all in this game, but obviously I haven’t! I guess this has all got you wondering what this might be. Well, here’s the story…Blow me if some lady didn’t chuck a pair of her knickers on the keyboard riser after we had finished our set last night in St. Louis! It happened after I’d left the stage, so I couldn’t tell you who the owner was, what she looked like, or if they were used or otherwise, – needless to say, I didn’t inspect them closely enough to find that aspect out! Now I’m not being funny, but that’s pretty darn ridiculous chucking a pair of knickers at a near on 60-year old rock and roll dude. Thing is they were quite skimpy, you know, not like a grannies pair of old bloomers, which you might expect from some of the more ‘elderly’ female Yesfans (sorry!!! – I’m gonna get killed for that one!!). But hey come on, what’s all that about? It’s not like I’m Sir Tom Jones or anything is it? There are a couple of theories however I did come up with…1) They were intended for Styx’s keyboard player and it was another case of mistaken identity 2) Someone thought my keyboard playing was ‘pants’ 3) Some lady got overly excited during the keytar solo and had to dispose of the evidence 4) Someone was just simply ‘avin a larf’. Well it could be any of these and more, but needless to say, they were left at the gig so should the said ‘person’ want to be reunited with this ‘item’, I think they should call the venue hot(pants)line! You know actually though, I though it was pretty weird in some ways. Even in the more youthful days, I’d never have put Yes down as a ‘lower garment recipient’ kind of band, but maybe it could be something to do with ‘Flies From Here’

Ee – what a funny old world it is, eh? It’s all there to try you out. True story though – on my life! It could be the inspiration for a new Yes song though: “Owner Of A Pair O’ Pants’!

Well I can’t believe how fast this tour is going, and so I’m pretty sure many of you folks will miss my rants and raves when this tour ends next week. I’ll try to focus more on the video stuff now for the remainder of the blog. I think I’ve pretty much had my say to all you fans out there, so don’t expect too much more in that department. But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the banter, be it good, bad or indifferent. I hope you’ve found it to be entertaining too, and it’s brought a smile to your faces.

I’m very excited about tomorrow’s show at Red Rocks. It’s one of the finest venues in North America. If you’ve never seen it, it is a naturally formed amphitheatre hewn out of rock. It really is a spectacular vista on the foothills of the Rockies, and an iconic venue on the circuit. We played there with Asia in 1983, and it was an amazing experience.

So I’ll try to get some video footage of all that on my Flip for yers awl.

OK, be good.

Be seeing you…

GD

St Louis, Missouri, 24th July, 2011

Jeez, read this from the news today– I think it’s a lot more interesting than my blog!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14266358

Anybody here understand a word of it, coz I didn’t? And WTF is the ‘Higgs Boson’? OK, if you’ve had enough of trying to fathom any of that out – here’s something a lot simpler and easier for you to comprehend….The continuing adventures of ‘Downes’s Boson’….

So why not let’s talk a bit about the current shows? I’ve gotta say I have been getting much better feedback from you folks out there about the more recent shows. Particularly the performances, and I think that has been apparent by the enthusiastic applause that has been coming our way during and after the shows. Appreciate that a lot. Some have been commenting (in a nice way) on the keyboards, liking the inclusion of the Mellotron parts on ‘And You And I’, and of course seeing me playing my own versions of Yes recordings live such as Tempus Fugit & FFH. Sounds-wise, I try to remain as faithful to the original stuff as possible – I guess that’s the way I would like to hear it done myself if I were on the other side the track. However, quite a few people have also been commenting on the fact that the keyboards mix out front is consistently quiet in the balance. It does not surprise me. This is nothing new in Yes live shows in my experience. I remember when we toured as Asia a few years back, I was listening out front to a few of their shows, and you could hardly hear Oliver in the mix at all – he might as well as not have been there to all intent and purposes. And so it’s an ongoing criticism that I reckon needs to be addressed. However, we have the same guy now who does Asia, NOT in fact the same guy who was with Yes back then, so I am very surprised by some of those comments now, as I believe our sound guy is actually very good and musically sympathetic, so I’m not sure if any of you are right in your appraisal and might have got the wrong end of the stick– but let me put this in a hypothetical argument to you about Yes’s FOH if you like in all good humour, of course …

I think there could be a few possible explanations why the keys might be down in the mix…. 1) The sound guy doesn’t like keyboards 2) The sound guy doesn’t like me 3) The sound guy doesn’t like my keyboard playing 4) The sound guy is deaf as a post 5) The sound guy has been bribed nightly by Chris & Steve to make sure they are most prominent in the mix 6) The sound guy has gone for a pint and has just left the faders open on the console 7) The sound guy hasn’t realized that some Yuppet has got an I-pad that interfaces with the automation on the console, and is remotely turning my keyboard levels down on purpose without his knowledge. The sound guy is listening to Lady Gaga on his headphones and not paying attention to what’s happening on our stage 9) The sound guy has been told by Styx to eff up our sound balance on purpose so they come across as primo 10) The sound guy is not at all familiar with the music of Yes 11) There is actually NO SOUND GUY.

Yes folks, in the end it all always comes right down to one person – that much maligned sound guy! And so when you guys say the front of house balance sucks, it’s always the poor old sound guy’s fault, right….or is it? Let’s have a look…

You might all be being over critical because you’re not sitting in the so-called ‘hotspot’. Or it could be the shape of the theatre or venue that favours certain frequencies such as the low end – you know, like creating a giant bass trap or some such. Hence, the finer frequencies of the textured keyboard layers will go missing in these acoustic environments, and it makes it much more difficult to get a good sound overall. Also, he may be battling with the onstage volume of instruments coming from the bass and guitar amplification and acoustic drums particularly. This is very relevant! There are no keyboard amps, so there is no keys audio actually coming from the stage. Hence the acoustic barrage is pretty intense from the other instruments – particularly if you heard the Chris Squire giant bass rig next to me – it’s like hearing a jumbo jet taking off from your own back garden. Bloody deafening! This is all even more apparent to those sitting closer to the front, who are getting the wave of volume from the stage and not the mix further back where the vocals as well as the keys can be heard in the main system, hopefully well balanced. And there is also the added possibility he may be using a different type of soundboard and effects units each night (although not this tour), which makes consistency much more difficult.

But you could also say, that after all, it is his job to get the balance right so people can appreciate all the elements of a show, and so go home raving about the perfection of the band’s sound. Awkward acoustics, onstage volume, different PA/board – do you buy it? No, you say – just make it good!

Funnily enough, I actually I think it’s none of these reasons. What I think is, that most out-front sound engineers haven’t got much of a clue about the art of mixing keyboards in a live setting. I know that’s a pretty sweeping statement, but I am only going from experience. Their tendency is to look at the keys faders and set them at a safe level – and then, leave them like that all night. Then they spend their show-time messing around on vocal and drum effects at the expense of everything else. It’s not as if these guys haven’t got enough gear to be playing with. They’ve got effects units coming out of their ears, and a massive mixing console usually. It amounts to basically – a very well equipped mobile recording studio in their little pagoda out there. They have computerized pre-designed acoustic templates of all the venues so they have a very good idea of the acoustic properties they will be dealing with. So in short, they’re not short of bit of the good old technology to help them get the best sound possible.

But to be fair to our guy, I’ve got to say, that I have rarely heard a decent live keys mix from the many bands I’ve seen live over the years, with the exception of Prince, Steely Dan & the PE people will like this one – Caravan. Now I used to love that band. David Sinclair’s organ solos were stellar. He’s one of the few guys who could take a 10-minute solo, and it was so well constructed that you could pretty well sing the whole melody from beginning to end. It was one great big ultra long keyboard hook. The track ‘For Richard’ is a great example of that. And he was always jacked up well in the mix with his searing fuzz/wah Hammond A100. Top stuff!

I mean, what is it that some of these sound guys don’t get? Listen to the fookin tunes, man. You get to spend all that time in the studio getting all those magical colours and textures to blend with the other instruments, and have it all sounding lovely, integral signature leads, keyboards all over the place, and special effects – pristine production, and then you go out live and your sound guy hasn’t got a clue how you should sound – even though he’s got first class reference off the CD. Give me a break! Any fool can mic up a drumkit, a couple of guitar cabs, feed in a couple of vocal mics, and turn on/up the PA. Job done. But noooooo – ask him to blend in some of those keyboard textures with that and he’s all at sea. What is even worse is they usually blame the balance issues on the keyboard player or the keyboard tech. “Man, that patch nearly tore my head off last night” or, “I’m having to chase your keys faders all the time – it’s a pain-in-the-ass” Any old excuse, rather than dealing with the crux of the whole issue. The solution is a simple one though. When you guys come to one of our next gigs, if you want to hear more of me, I want you all shouting out in unison, read my lips: ‘TURN UP THE F**KIN KEYBOARDS’.

Ya know I reckon I’m fast becoming the ‘Mr. Marmite’ in this band. Love it or hate it! People are either liking having me around, or can’t wait to see the back of me. It comes with the turf I guess. You can’t please everyone. I got myself into a lot of trouble recently with my mention of the dreaded ‘S’ word. It was intended to be light-hearted, but even some of my more staunchest supporters thought it was over-the-top, and you know what? I didn’t even think about it that way to be honest. So if I offended, I take it back, but I thought it was not malicious, so no bad on me. Can I re-iterate that in no way was it intended as a slight on a fellow musician whom I have enormous respect for incidentally. I am more professional than that, believe me. But ya know, it reminds me of that exchange between Basil Fawlty and The Major in one of the episodes of Fawlty Towers ‘Don’t mention The War – I did, but I think I got away with it’!

OK well tonight’s show was great. What a fantastic audience! It wasn’t quite so hot as it has been the couple of nights, as we’ve been coming off stage soaking wet. Again, we’re in the opening slot, so we’re off and running overnight for the day off in Denver tomorrow, shortly after Styx hit the stage. I’ve got to say they are a very good band – no flies on them. And a word too for the opening act, Shane Alexander. He’s a great talent as a singer songwriter and adds a nice balance to the overall show. Even though he only gets 20 minutes, he gives a great account of himself, and he is a very calm dude, and just seems really grateful for his moment in the spotlight. Very nice, amenable chap too it has to be said. Good luck to him!

And a sad note on Amy Winehouse – too young to die. RIP.

OK, I’m just on the bus and ready to head out.

Have a good one…

More crazy nonsense from me tomorrow.

Be seeing you…

GD