CHRIS SQUIRE: For Bass Players Only

Glenn Gottlieb

Chris Squire

Exclusive Interview with FBPO’s Jon Liebman
June 3, 2013

Chris Squire is the founder and bass player for the British supergroup Yes.

FBPO: It was great meeting you at Bass Player Live! last year and hearing so many great stories. I know our followers would be very interested in hearing a little bit about the early days before we work up to today. Would that be all right with you?

CS: Sure!

FBPO: Okay, then why don’t we start from the beginning? How would you describe your musical upbringing?

CS: That was mainly in the Church of England, at my local church, where I was in the choir. I got very good musical training there because we had a very good choirmaster. He was very enthusiastic about music and he was young, so he made it really interesting for me and the other guys in the choir. By the time I became 15 and the Beatles broke, that shifted my reality from that kind of music to another kind of music! That’s when my rock & roll education started.

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CABINET OF CURIOSITIES: Chris Squire stage clothes (Part One)

As regular readers will know, each week we post some item of rock music memorabilia which is vaguely on-topic to a band on Gonzo Multimedia, and leave pictures of it online for all the most fetishistic collectors to salivate over. I don't think that we have ever come close to this, however. These are excerpts from the online catalogue of a Music Memorabilia Auction in Stockport, Summer 2013.
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/omega-auctions/catalogue-id-2880485







YES - CHRIS SQUIRE - 1 x white cotton 'Doctor' coat with red cross printed on the right hand side and 'Doctor' on the reverse, worn by Chris Squire when touring with 'Yes', some staining but otherwise good condition. Provenance: Mr Squire kindly gifted his tour wardrobe from the 70's & 80's to his young grandchildren . It has been decided to place them into auction, so that fans of the of the band can purchase a piece of their tour history. Letter of provenance provided with each lot.

Estimate:
£800 - £1,000

YES - CHRIS SQUIRE - 1 x long sleeved black silk shirt with beige & rust floral design, worn by Chris Squire when touring with "Yes" and in good condition. Provenance: Mr Squire kindly gifted his tour wardrobe from the 70's & 80's to his young grandchildren . It has been decided to place them into auction, so that fans of the of the band can purchase a piece of their tour history. Letter of provenance provided with each lot.

Estimate:
£300 - £500

YES - CHRIS SQUIRE - 1 x long sleeved red crepe satin shirt, worn by Chris Squire when touring with "Yes" and in good condition. Provenance: Mr Squire kindly gifted his tour wardrobe from the 70's & 80's to his young grandchildren . It has been decided to place them into auction, so that fans of the of the band can purchase a piece of their tour history. Letter of provenance provided with each lot.

Estimate:
£200 - £400

YES - CHRIS SQUIRE - 1 x long sleeved lilac crepe shirt, worn by Chris Squire when touring with "Yes" and in good condition. Provenance: Mr Squire kindly gifted his tour wardrobe from the 70's & 80's to his young grandchildren . It has been decided to place them into auction, so that fans of the of the band can purchase a piece of their tour history. Letter of provenance provided with each lot.

Estimate:
£200 - £400

YES - CHRIS SQUIRE - 1 x long sleeved green and cream striped rayon shirt, worn by Chris Squire when touring with "Yes" and in good condition. Provenance: Mr Squire kindly gifted his tour wardrobe from the 70's & 80's to his young grandchildren . It has been decided to place them into auction, so that fans of the of the band can purchase a piece of their tour history. Letter of provenance provided with each lot.

Estimate:
£200 - £400

YES - CHRIS SQUIRE - 1 x black satin waistcoat with overlay of silver holographic paper to the front and collar with rubbing and wear in places, worn by Chris Squire when touring with "Yes". Provenance: Mr Squire kindly gifted his tour wardrobe from the 70's & 80's to his young grandchildren . It has been decided to place them into auction, so that fans of the of the band can purchase a piece of their tour history. Letter of provenance provided with each lot.

Estimate:
£300 - £500

YES - CHRIS SQUIRE - 1 x tunic designed by Andres in natural coloured satin with velvet detailing and decorated tail feature on the back in red, purple and green, includes natural satin trousers (not Andres), worn by Chris Squire when touring with "Yes". Great shot of Chris wearing this in the late 70's. Some staining and running of dye on the sleeves and upper back but otherwise a stunning stage outfit. Provenance: Mr Squire kindly gifted his tour wardrobe from the 70's & 80's to his young grandchildren . It has been decided to place them into auction, so that fans of the of the band can purchase a piece of their tour history. Letter of provenance provided with each lot.

Estimate:
£2,000 - £2,500

YES - CHRIS SQUIRE - 1 x tunic designed by Andres in red satin silk with stunning embroidered detailing and metal studs (some are missing and the remainder are damaged but can be removed as they are hand sewn onto the garment, some marking also from guitar strap to the left shoulder). Also included are green satin trousers with Chinese embroidered detail worn by Chris Squire when touring with "Yes" during 1977. Provenance: Mr Squire kindly gifted his tour wardrobe from the 70's & 80's to his young grandchildren . It has been decided to place them into auction, so that fans of the of the band can purchase a piece of their tour history. Letter of provenance provided with each lot.

Estimate:
£1,000 - £1,500

YES - CHRIS SQUIRE - 1 x tunic designed by Zandra Rhodes in blue printed satin with a feather design and scallop detail to the sleeves and hem. Worn by Chris Squire when touring with "Yes" and in very good condition. Provenance: Mr Squire kindly gifted his tour wardrobe from the 70's & 80's to his young grandchildren . It has been decided to place them into auction, so that fans of the of the band can purchase a piece of their tour history. Letter of provenance provided with each lot.

Estimate:
£1,000 - £1,500

Chris Squire Of Yes Featured on Latest Wikimetal Episode

The latest episode of Wikimetal features an exclusive interview with a member of progressive rock legends Yes. The show sent over these details:

One of the biggest Classic Rock bands of all time: Yes and the only Yes member that played in all of the band's records, the great bass player Chris Squire. Talking about his influences and the history of Yes, Squirhere or skip directly to the interview here.
e says: "I think we invented Progressive Rock". You can check out the full episode 

http://www.antimusic.com/news/13/May/21Chris_Squire_Of_Yes_Featured_on_Latest_Wikimetal_Episode.shtml

YES AT GONZO

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Rock Of The 70's DVD - £12.99

The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £7.99

ASK YES: Chris Squire

Nigel Kenny

How did you get the flanged bass sound on the intro to ‘Survival‘? Until the archive video appeared recently on YouTube, I thought it was Peter Banks’ lead (playing some of the lower strings high up the fret board)! I think this was one of the first times in rock history when the high strings on a bass were used on an intro riff! Ever the pioneer! : )
I honestly can’t remember exactly what effect I was using, but I think it was a Cry Baby Wah-Wah pedal, so it was more of a wah effect than a flange effect.

Miguel Falcão
Dear Chris. You mentioned on interviews about ‘Roundabout‘ bass line being doubled by yourself playing a guitar. It seems to me that you might have applied the same technique previously on ‘All Good People‘. Can you confirm this? Thank you.
No, the bass guitar on ‘All Good People’ was not doubled, as far as I can remember; I think that’s purely just a bass guitar. But you are indeed correct that ‘Roundabout’ was me doubling the bass line with a big Gibson electric guitar that belonged to Steve Howe.

Eric Mansfield
Chris, I noticed on songs like ‘Siberian Khatru‘ you are alternating between 8 & 7 beats. What are you guys doing on ‘Awaken‘ after the vocal intro when you start playing your triple neck bass? I can’t seem to figure out the time signature.
The Awaken first section is, in fact, in 11/4, and it should work out if you count to 11.

Read on...

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Union (Standard DVD) DVD - £9.99

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Rock Of The 70's DVD - £12.99

The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £7.99

LINK: Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood – Conspiracy Live (2013)

Chris Squire and Billy Sherwood, it seemed, had an immediate spark. Only Yes, the band Squire co-founded in the late 1960s and one that Sherwood was associated with throughout the 1990s, just kept getting in the way.

Beginning in the run up to 1991′s Union, the pair had been writing songs together, but the fruits of those labors would be sprinkled over a series of Yes projects, and Sherwood himself wouldn’t become an official member of the group for years. After Sherwood’s eventual departure in 2000, they finally issued a pair of albums as Conspiracy, and recorded this private show in 2004, but there remained a star-crossed sense of unfinished business.

Take “The More We Live,” the only remaining remnant of a collaboration that predates Sherwood’s official tenure in Yes. The track, presented here as a twilit reminiscence, illustrates how quickly these two began to mesh. Not much became of that fast start, unfortunately, as Sherwood would get pushed out when the 1980s-era edition of Yes combined with some of its former members. “The More We Live” would appear on the resulting Union, but with additional vocals from founding Yes frontman Jon Anderson recorded over the original demo. It’s restored here, at long last, as a soaring vocal collaboration between Squire and Sherwood.

Read on...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM YES AT GONZO

Union (2CD) 2CD - £7.99

Rock Of The 70's DVD - £12.99

The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £7.99

LIST: Chris Squire of Yes - Three Classic Albums In Their Entirety Tour

If you were a music follower in the early 70’s and happened to come across this new and stimulating sound, it’s almost guaranteed that you sat there transfixed for a few minutes just trying to comprehend it all. Chord progressions swirled around in vibrant colors while high-octave literature-worthy lyrics created a vibrant illusion of a world. And this was only the beginning, turning cosmically into the heyday of progressive rock featuring Yes as its crown prince. It was head music for the British intelligentsia that spread across the globe.

Formed in the UK in 1968, Yes has released twenty albums over its career yet surprisingly have scored only a single number one American hit, “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” from the 1983 album 90125. Although the band went through several changes in line-up throughout their history, bass player Chris Squire has been a solid mainstay, holding steadily in his position as keeper of the franchise and making sure the Yes name was never relegated to either a footnote or a joke within the music historical timeline.

With a new tour recently kicking off in the States, Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Geoff Downes and vocalist Jon Davison are bringing to life three of their most important albums of the seventies, playing them live in their entirety for the first time: The Yes Album, Close To The Edge and Going For The One.

Glide had the privilege to talk with the legendary bassist just prior to the tour’s kickoff on March 1st.

( note...in sad news, it was reported on this interview's publishing date that original Yes guitarist Peter Banks has died at age 65).Yes has a new tour but it’s not a typical set for you. What makes this tour different than previous ones?

Well, we’re doing a tour with the three albums back-to-back: The Yes Album, Close To The Edge and Going For The One. We decided to do those three albums because they each mark a sort of a landmark in Yes’ career. The Yes Album, which was released in 1970, was the first album that really brought us to the attention of the general public back then. That sort of broke the band in the early days. Then Close To The Edge is an album that has the first time we attempted to do a long twenty-minute piece of music. It took up one side of the vinyl albums we had back in those days. So that was a new thing for a rock artist to attempt to do. Then in 1977, we did the Going For The One album, which was also a new thing for us. It was the first time we had recorded a record outside of England, where we all lived at the time. We made that in Switzerland in a place called Montreux, which is on Lake Geneva. So that was an interesting time for us. The memories of those three records are pretty strong in Yes’ past.

Read on...

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LINK: Guitarist Steve Howe of Yes (Interview) Reflections on Vinyl, Vegetarianism, and The New Yes Tour

The Band Yes: Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Alan White, Chris Squire; photo: Rob Shanahan

Steve Howe, guitarist of the legendary rock band Yes, believes the 12-inch album is alive and well, especially now with the revived interest in the analog format.

“Vinyl has never totally gone away.  There are those who completely understand,” Howe recently told Rock Cellar Magazine, just before Yes kicked off their triple-album 3-month North American tour that begins March 1st.

Performing three of rock’s most influential albums in their entirety –  The Yes Album, Close to the Edge, and Going for the One – Yes members Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Alan White, Geoff Downes and Jon Davison will be playing all tracks in the order they appear on the albums.

Selling more than 50 million records worldwide, Yes stretched the boundaries of progressive rock throughout the ’70s with long-form compositions like I’ve Seen All Good People, And You and I, and Awaken.

Read on...

YES AT GONZO

Union (Standard DVD) DVD - £9.99

Union (2CD) 2CD - £7.99

Rock Of The 70's DVD - £12.99

The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £7.99

Rock of the 70s DVD - £9.99

LINK: Chris Squire Takes A Straight And Stronger Course… by Rick Suchow: Bass Musician Magazine March 2013

Chris Squire Takes A Straight And Stronger Course… by Rick Suchow: Bass Musician Magazine March 2013

I’m not really sure when the term “progressive rock” came to be, or for that matter, the more user-friendly “prog-rock”. Back in the day,when Yes first landed on everyone’s musical radar, the only term I recall using was “holy shit”. The band unleashed a ferocious series of albums the likes of which I’d never quite experienced before, and although there were other groups of that era working the new genre– King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, to name two– Yes seemed to posses some extra, other-worldly dimension. What exactly it was, though, was not easy to define. Was it Steve Howe’s unique approach to guitar? Jon Anderson’s identifiable voice, or his pieces-of-a-puzzle lyrics? Was it Roger Dean’s artwork, with visual landscapes that took us to fragile planets, topographic oceans and closer to the edge? Perhaps at the end of the day, and certainly at its core, that extra dimension was the sound of Chris Squire on bass.

With a biting Rickenbacker 4001 upfront in the mix, playing angular, syncopated and surprise-ready bass lines, Squire took bassists to uncharted territory in the 70′s with Yes. Songs like “Yours Is No Disgrace”, “Siberian Khatru” and the 18-minute opus “Close To The Edge” were bass anthems in their own right, and those toiling in the low-end game were suddenly scurrying to their turntables and tape decks to figure out what the hell Chris was doing, and could they possibly do it themselves. Progressive rock? Probably. Progressive bass? Absolutely.

Photo: Glenn Gottlieb

Okay, so let’s fast-forward about forty years to the present. After nearly 20 personnel changes and as many albums, Yes carries on. Chris is not only still the group’s anchor, but the only member to be there for the whole damn trip. Every record, every tour, every show… all of it. As others left the fold, returned to the fold, left again, sought out solo careers, other bands, and even other careers, the band’s name seemed to stretch from “Yes” to “Yes, but“.  All except Squire, that is. To this day he remains steadfast, eyes on the bigger picture, staying the course. For him Yes is a still-unfolding journey, one that began a long time ago and rolls on into the future.

This year is shaping up to be one of Yes’ more notable chapters, as they revisit those massively successful early days with a tour that kicks off today and features the band performing three of their classic albums in their entirety. It’s a format they haven’t done in over 30 years, and fans will be treated to The Yes Album, Close To The Edge, and Going For The Oneplayed in full, start to finish, just as they were heard when originally released in the age of vinyl. Some of the faces have changed from those who actually crafted those recordings; Jon Anderson is replaced by his younger clone Jon Davison (check him out on YouTube), and Geoff Downes is on hand for the keyboard parts originally played by Tony Kaye and Rick Wakeman. But Steve Howe is still aboard, as is drummer Alan White, who joined Yes in 1972, replacing Bill Bruford after Close To The Edge.

I caught up with Chris earlier this year, just weeks before he and the band were gearing up for mid-February rehearsals in Los Angeles. Oh yeah, if you’ve noticed that he has a tendency to not smile for the camera, be assured: the big man is full of laughs, fun to talk with, and exudes positive energy worthy of, well… a band name like Yes.

Read on...

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CHRIS SQUIRE IN RENO

One of the all-time great bass players, Chris Squire is a founding member of the rock band Yes, perhaps the defining band of progressive rock. Yes comes to the Silver Legacy, 407 N. Virginia St., on March 9. For tickets or more information, visit www.silverlegacyreno.com

In Reno, you guys are going to be performing the entirety of The Yes Album and Close to the Edge. Why those two albums?

We decided that those two albums would complement each other well and make a good history of Yes from the ‘70s, really.The Yes Album is kind of an exciting album for us because that was like our first album that got us recognized on the international stage and put us in the spotlight. It was also the first album Steve Howe, our guitar player, had joined the band for. So, a bit of a landmark album. And Close to the Edge, which followed on later, was an album that was our first foray into area of doing the extra long form music that then Yes then became well known for, as in doing a whole one side of the album being the “Close to the Edge” song in itself, 20 minutes long. So that was sort of groundbreaking for us as well at the time. So we thought it would be a pretty good potted history of Yes.

For most of the tour you’re also doing the album Going for the One, but not in Reno …

Yeah, I know, but you know these casino guys, they want people gambling. … That’s the bottom line on that, you know? … It is a bummer for me because we wanted to do all three albums everywhere, but you can’t argue with the man.

The trend of bands doing whole albums …

It’s not a new thing. It’s a new thing for us. Usually when we go out on the road, we usually have a new album to promote, and this is one of those very few occasions that we don’t actually have new music at the moment. We’ll be recording some new music later on in the year. But at the moment, we don’t actually have to focus on something new, so this idea came to fruition for us.

Read on...

YES AT GONZO

Union (Standard DVD) DVD - £9.99

Union (2CD) 2CD - £7.99

Rock Of The 70's DVD - £12.99

The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £7.99

Rock of the 70s DVD - £9.99