The Gonzo Daily: CHRIS SQUIRE OF YES INTERVIEWED (2014): A career that's no disgrace

Friday 7 November 2014

CHRIS SQUIRE OF YES INTERVIEWED (2014): A career that's no disgrace

Chris Squire – bassist and sole constant in Yes, the prog-rock band he founded – is reflecting on the group's longevity using the only reference point he had when the group formed.

“Oh yes. 'Who knew?' is the catch phrase about this.

“When Yes first started in 68 that was a year prior to the Beatles breaking up. Their visible career was really just 63 to 69 and when I started Yes I thought it would be amazing if we could have a five or six year career. Not knowing that here we are year 46 or something now,” he laughs.

And in that time Yes has seen an interesting revolving door of members: a quick count reveals – aside from Squire – 18 names including keyboard player Rick Wakeman, producer and onetime Buggle Trevor Horn, on-again off-again drummer Bill Bruford, keyboard player/violinist Eddie Jobson (for a few months), keyboard player Patrick Moraz, drummer Alan White who was a former member of the Plastic Ono Band . . .

And as the sole surviving member of the original line-up, is 66-year old Squire the archivist, the keeper of the keys?

“That role has fallen to me more by default than desire. I never left. The only difference between me and some of the others like [singer] Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman is they left the band on more than one occasion to pursue solo careers, and then rejoined and left again. That's their legacy in the band.

“But I was just there toiling on the whole time. But let's not forget that Alan White has been there since 72. That's a good innings.”

Indeed, and it hasn't been a bad one for Yes which, despite the musical chairs and going out of the business for a year or so in the early Eighties, is not only still here but still recording and touring widely.

“We never thought that was possible. It was a young man's game when we started and not something you thought you could do for life. But I was wrong about that. It's a testament to the [prog-rock] genre that it has lasted.

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