Chords for YES interview - Steve Howe - Geoff Downes - Alan White - 2014

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Hi there, I'm Rene Diebold, reporting from Aarhus, Denmark for Skatha.dk.
I'm here together with some of the band members from Yes.
They are here in Aarhus to play some of their classic albums live.
This one, _ this one, _ _ and that one.
_ _ _ _ Hi, I'm Alan White, [Ab] and I play in the band [Abm] here,
but we actually have a lot of big names here.
I've been in the band since [Ab] 1932,
and [E] I play drums occasionally.
[F] _ _ [Ab] _
[B] And I've had a [Ab] very pleasurable time here.
[G] _ Hi, I'm Geoff Downs, and I play,
this is my second stint in the [N] band.
I joined in 1980 originally,
and then I rejoined about three years ago.
I came to fly from here, Aarhus. _
And I'm still going strong.
_ Okay, hi, I'm Steve Howard, I play guitar.
I'm a singer a bit with Yes.
And, yeah, I've been back with Yes [Ab] since 1995.
I was in, and [F] then, at the [D] end with Geoff, of course,
and then, of [G] course, Geoff and I went on to do Asia.
Geoff [E] produced UGR, and I had a good time [F] with him.
You know, we've done various groups, you know,
but in a way, it's full circle back to Yes.
I've even played on some of his solo albums.
Absolutely.
And your solo album.
I've brought it on this tour.
That's right.
[N] Yeah, it's all posh pollinated, but yeah.
_ Okay, thank you.
And welcome to Aarhus.
I've read somewhere that the only time Yes was here
was sometime in [F] 1971.
So that was quite a long years ago.
Was it on the Iron Butterfly tour?
[N] Because I think that's when I remember this hotel.
It could have been.
It didn't say on the website.
No, but I think it was.
I think we toured with Iron _ Butterfly.
So that was the only Yes time in Aarhus so far,
but luckily we're going to listen to you again soon.
_ _ _ This ongoing tour, where you play three classic albums,
which are the Yes album, Close to the Edge,
and Going for the One.
How's been so far the tour?
Long.
Very long.
_ It's been great.
We've been playing this [A] three album tour for quite a while.
[Gb] And it's a little bit more obvious in _ [G] the transport we're getting.
At the same [N] time, the cars are still a huge effort.
We're enjoying it.
You only started over 14 months ago on this tour.
14, 15 months ago _ [E] with the three albums.
So we've had a great response. _ _ _ _ _
[N] Now we do this whole framework of the album and the albums.
It's a nice mix because also those albums,
they were vinyl, the CDs weren't.
So they _ [Ab] bring back memories of when people [G] played the original vinyl.
Because we [N] played them in sequence, each album in sequence.
You get the effects of it, playing one side of the album
and then flipping it over and then playing the other side.
That's how people listened to music in those days.
They didn't just download one track from one album
and put together their own little shuffle,
those on their iPods.
_ They were conceived as albums.
I think that's one of the reasons why this tour has been so successful.
Yeah, it was kind of like, from those days, it was a total experience.
You looked at the artwork and you were listening to the album track by track.
You get the full experience.
Nowadays people can buy these.
So that's the reason why you play them from start [Abm] to finish?
Not really.
It's just [G] a lot of people have done it.
In true Yes Nature, we do [N] three instead of one.
The other thing is of course the fact that
a lot of the tracks that were overlooked [G] by the band [Db] historically
because they [F] did a set that was mixed up with the whole genre of music.
_ [Ab] The fans get a chance to [A] hear some of the less known tracks.
I think it's [Eb] really nice that we actually do try to present
[Gb] the original as we possibly [N] can.
Were there other reasons to pick exactly these three albums?
Because you could have chosen any of them.
Well, we discussed it.
[G] We could have played any albums.
But what we came up with this [Eb] first run of the three albums,
just because there was some logic, there were some challenges,
but also there was [F] some ease.
We could drop into the F album.
It's been a very stable part of our repertoire.
So there's kind of a part where they're easy and parts where they're challenging.
And therefore, it was a good balance for our two albums that popped across all the seven albums.
_ It [Ab] was kind of like staring [Gb] us in the face really because it became more difficult.
_ [G] The S album, [Db] it was a slight [Gb] change in style in the 70s.
[G] _
_ _ [N] _ I mean, you've been playing these songs for many years,
but do they get harder to play, the parts?
It's pretty complex music.
They do get easier because they're [F] more experienced at playing it.
But we have to refine [G] it.
We have [Fm] to define it sometimes and clarify and [F] rehearse.
But without that, it might be more difficult if we didn't prepare ourselves.
I think you've got to be able to [G] play that kind of music.
You can't just [N] chill out and just strum along to it.
It requires an element [F] of focus every night.
_ _ _ [N] You've got to recreate the program _ and present it in the best way you can,
whatever happens that night. _ _ _ _ _ _ _