Jon Anderson - A Thousand Hands for Mister Yes

It was a pleasure to speak, within the space of about ten days, with Rick Wakeman and with Jon Anderson of Yes. And yes, I do agree with good old Jon (as you'll read below): Steve Howe can do as he pleases, but the music of Yes rightfully belongs to every member who ever took part in it. “1000 Hands: Chapter One“, the veteran singer's latest effort, is a gripping record, packed with every influence that has shaped this eclectic artist over the decades and brimming with incredible guests. Jon is, as ever, affable and eager to share his environmentalist views and his sense of a spirituality that, in his opinion, is sometimes “lacking” in mankind. Plenty of projects await him as an artist, and await us as fans, so let's hand the floor over to mr. Jon Anderson…

First of all, I have to pass on greetings from Rick Wakeman, with whom I did an interview recently!

Ah, mr. Rick Wakeman…

We also talked about the album “The Living Tree“…

Yes, I love that record! Just think, I recorded it during my solo tour, they were tracks on my little laptop studio: I'd sing a song, send it over to him, and in the end it all worked out!

How are you experiencing these days of health emergency on the West Coast?

I'm living and enjoying life with my wife, we love each other so much and we're spending wonderful days together, we're always together: when we're on tour around the world, when we're at home…so we've been together for months now, but at the start of quarantine I was doing a barbecue, I slipped on the steps and broke my foot, so I couldn't go anywhere else anyway! (laughs)

Talking about your new album “1.000 Hands: Chapter One“, I noticed that the selection of special guests you invited is incredible. What were your criteria for choosing these amazing guests?

Well, it's one of those things that happen in life, you know? I was recording some songs by a friend of mine who'd been part of my first band: I was up in the mountains at Big Bear (near Los Angeles) with Brian Chatton – my friend who was part of my first group back in the Sixties. We wrote some really beautiful tracks, then I went on tour with Kitaro and my friend Brian went on tour with BB King: we didn't see each other for three or four months, and in the end it took us 28 years to finish the record (laughs)! These things happen… Then this producer (Michael Franklin, ed.) called me and asked: “Jon, do you still have the Big Bear tapes, from the place in the mountains?”. And I said: “Yes, but I don't have a 24-track mixer!”. So he replied: “Send them to me and I'll put them on computer!”… And to do that he had to put the tapes in the oven and bake them so they'd work at least once before falling apart. Anyway it worked that one time, they got put on computer and they sounded amazing! That's how the whole thing started, I called Michael the producer and told him I'd love to have Billy Cobham, who's one of the greatest drummers of all time, then my friend Jean-Luc Ponty, and he said: “Oh, I know Chick Corea, we can bring him in!”. So it grew from there.

Did it take a very long time to finish the work?

Well, it started out as three months up in the mountains at Big Bear, then once the tapes were transferred onto the computer at Orlando, where Michael Franklin has his studio, we started working on it two years ago and finished last Christmas. We didn't release it last year because we couldn't find an interested label, you know? So last year I went on tour in America with the band, a lineup exactly the way I wanted it, ensemble-style: two keyboard players, a violin, saxophone, flute, percussion, drums, bass, guitar… We had an absolute blast and the audience was fantastic, but we never released the record. Now, though, it's out, and next year we'll go on tour, once this virus is gone.

What can you tell us about the album's beautiful artwork?

Ah, my friend Jay (Nungesser, ed.), who's done the artwork for six of my albums so far, once came to one of my solo shows. We met after the performance and I asked him what he did for a living. He said: "All kinds of art!". So I asked him if he'd ever done album artwork before, and he said no. So I told him: "Ok, I'm making this album called 'Survival'"... He made that cover, and he's done all the others ever since - he likes giving me a hand.

Can you already tell us something, if possible, about Chapter Two?

We're working on it, and I think we already have five songs ready, but we probably won't start doing anything until early next year. We hope "1000 Hands" reaches a lot of people, so they'll be ready for the second chapter next year. When it'll come out, I don't know... we're promoting "1000 Hands" right now, and we hope it won't take another thirty years - that would be terrible.

What memories do you have of the recent Anderson/Rabin/Wakeman tours?

We really had a great time with those two and with a great band playing the classic Yes music! Songs from the Eighties like "Owner Of A Lonely Heart", tracks from that era, songs I recorded with Rick, and of course we played "Awaken" with some new additions from Trevor Rabin. The ARW band - I've seen the video of the show - is really great, and we had some wonderful moments, but things change: Trevor is still doing soundtracks, Rick is doing his solo shows, and in the story of my music there have been so many projects over the past twenty years, ever since the dawn of the computer age, thanks to which I've been able to ask people to send me music from all over the world. I'm actually working with a thousand people from all over the world on a whole bunch of projects, so my life is full of ideas for the future, and my philosophy is: the best is yet to come, you know?

Yes, let's hope we can get free of this virus for live activity too...

I agree! I saw a video someone sent me, and it's very clear that we're not taking care of Mother Earth! Deforestation is a plague affecting the whole world, animals are forced to flee from fires and forest destruction, so they end up having to live together where they shouldn't. That brings disease, and I've heard that this is part of the reason behind the virus's arrival in China: they're destroying Mother Earth in the worst possible way! So we need to change our thinking collectively, and for the first time we're all connected around the world thanks to the Internet, which is fantastic.

After all these years, how do you see Yes, both with you and without you in the lineup?

I've never... mmh... I've always felt part of Yes, I think whatever I do is Yes. Steve does his own thing, he's got his own band, and that's fine. They sing my songs: that's life! Life is full of changes, of different experiences, and as long as there are people who want to play Yes music, that's welcome. You know, there's a band in New Jersey that plays exactly like Yes did in 1972, they're amazing: they sent me a video of them playing "Fragile" and they play it exactly like the record, it's incredible! So there will always be Yes music.

What are your memories of Italy, as a musician?

Well, the other day I was writing about how I'd always go to Italy, to Rome, to Milan, because it's fantastic! My wonderful wife Jane went to school in Florence, so we spent our honeymoon in that city, then went on to Cinque Terre, Volterra, Siena, to see Italy, a wonderful country, where I'd really love to live. We've come on holiday there for so many years, but I remember one time when I was on tour, I think with Anderson/Bruford/Wakeman/Howe, and the Italian show was in Milan... I hope I'm remembering correctly. I couldn't sing because the day before I'd been in a swimming pool, and they'd put that stuff in the water, chlorine: I woke up the next morning and could barely speak! I was so angry, there were a thousand people waiting to hear me sing. Of course I got up on stage, pointed to my throat and said: "Sorry, my voice is terrible!" (speaking in a whisper, ed.). So they started singing every song. I was crying, I was so moved: they sang the whole show for me! I'll always be more than grateful to every single one of those people - it must have been thirty or thirty-two years ago, and those people will have grown up by now, but I'll always be grateful to them, because they sang every song in my place... incredible!

It was a kind of great communion...

Yes! I'll never forget it, it's etched into my soul! They sang in my place, because I had no voice: a truly magical moment, I sincerely appreciate every fan in Italy and of course around the world. But that moment in Italy was really meaningful for me.

What kind of message and final greeting would you like to send to your Italian fans?

The most important thing is that we're living through a time of change. And we really do need to change, because we can't keep living the same life cycle in which we've failed to connect with each other as friends. We need to learn to love one another, to respect one another: it might sound like a strange thing to say, but we're all indigenous people. Whoever's in Parliament, this president or that one, they think they're up there, all-powerful... no, they're not. They were created by the people and they should serve the people on their knees, be more intelligent, more spiritual, because the only reason we're alive is to find the divine within us, that's the only reason. You can do this, do that, be this, be that, but the only reason to live is to find the divine, the spiritual within us, and in doing so live a beautiful life. We're very, very lucky to have this life experience to pass on to our children and grandchildren - now I have grandchildren, and I want them to live in a better world, a more beautiful world.

Let's not waste this good fortune!

No, no, no! Let's get to work: I have a feeling the times ahead will be much better. We've been through hell these past four months.

Ride the wave of great music

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