Friday 19 July 2013

Yes Q&A: Chris Squire talks LSD, 'Almost Famous,' Jimmy Page project, current tour featuring classic LPs


YES BAND PHOTO

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Chris Squire, bassist for '70s British prog-rock band Yes, sort of owes it all to a bad acid trip.

His contoured bass tone and spidery playing style couldn't be more integral to the group's sprawling '70s tunes, such as "Roundabout" and "Long Distance Runaround." And Squire developed his signature sound while recouping from a '60s LSD bummer.  
"I'd had lots of good acid trips prior to that," said Squire, 65. He's in a 12th floor Las Vegas hotel room when reached via phone. "But I made the mistake of trying some acid some friends of mine had home-made. [Laughs.] And also I think I had the flu or something at the time, so it was a combination of my buddies' homemade acid and also being under the weather anyway.

"That knocked me back there for quite a while, and I did sort of hibernate in an apartment in Kensington in London and spent quite a few months, maybe as much as a year, just playing bass. I don't think I even had it plugged into an amplifier. So that was a big learning curve for me. In a way it's weird, how a bad trip turned out to be a good thing for me in the long run for me."

In addition to Squire (the only person to appear on every Yes LP), the current Yes lineup features longtime members guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, and keyboardist Geoff Downes, as well as American singer Jon Davidson, who's been with the band since 2012.

Read on...

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