Line-up
BILLY
SHERWOOD-
Lead Vocals & Basses
TONY KAYE-
Hammond & Keyboards
ALAN WHITE-
Drums, Percussion & Vocals
JIMMY HAUN-
Electric & Acoustic Guitars & Vocals
Circa
The band is called CIRCA: and is comprised
of veteran YES rockers from different eras: Billy Sherwood, Tony
Kaye and Alan White with Jimmy Haun on lead Guitar have
completed their debut Album. Capturing various eras of
Progressive Classic Rock to create a dynamic new sound, CIRCA:
2007 is an Album of original compositions that defines a new
musical chapter for the Band. ex-members Guitarist Billy
Sherwood who performed on the TALK Tour (1994), and played on
Keys to Ascension Volume I and II (1996/97), Open Your Eyes
(1997), and The Ladder (1999), next is current YES drummer Alan
White who has been hitting the skins for YES since 1972,
keyboard player Tony Kaye was with YES when it formed in 1968
and he played on their first several albums and then went on to
a successful solo career. Kaye returned to band in 1983 for the
90125 album - arguable the most successful compilation of the
band's career (and which yield the still-popular #1 hit "Owner
of a Lonely Heart") and stuck around for another 10 years and
then departed again, and finally the quartet is rounded out by
Jimmy Haun - a name many YES fans may not be familiar with but
who in fact played guitar parts on the 1991 YES album "UNION."
as a session player
According to an interview posted on Notes from the Edge (http://www.nfte.org/),
the impetus for CIRCA: came while Sherwood was producing a Dark
Side of the Moon tribute album that featured a variety of
artists interpreting some of the Pink Floyd classics. That
project brought together a number of current or former YES
musicians including Bill Bruford (drums) Rick Wakeman
(keyboards) and Peter Banks (guitar) among others. Recalled
Sherwood, "...I thought wouldn't it be kind of interesting to
put together a sort of a "family" of Yes members and make a
record like that, and I toyed around with that concept for a
little while, but as the music [that Tony Kaye and I were
working on] started forming, and then Alan put his imprint on
it, it really started taking shape. That [YES Family] idea kind
of went to the wayside, and we started thinking of this in a
different way, and so it was kind of a brief moment in time
where that concept was in my head; "Maybe I can get all the Yes
guys together and make a record...but it's a tall order as I've
found to make that happen..."
So one idea fell by the wayside while another evolved in its
place (in fact there was much speculation and rumor bandied
about the internet regarding a Yes band called "Family" or "YES
Family"). All the while the quartet continued rehearsing songs
and building the elements of an album - which will showcase
longer songs in the "8-12 minute range" - a hallmark of YES
music both old and new.
Drummer Alan White remarked that although the music of CIRCA:
harks best to a lot of YES music of the 1970's, 80's and 90's,
the music also has a fleshly stamped newness to it that is
distinctly 2007. "...It's forward-thinking music for sure when
you hear it, yet it still harkens back to... TALES ["Tales from
Topographic Oceans,"1974), from FRAGILE (1971), from BIG
GENERATOR (1987)..."
The Notes from the Edge interview points out that now that the
band has a management contract and album in the offing they are
working at putting a touring schedule together that would
showcase the new album and some YES favorites. Commented Billy
Sherwood, "...there's going to be a strategy about booking gigs.
I would imagine you could see some House of Blues and Canyon
Clubs, some 800-1000 seaters. I would imagine that that's
doable. The plan here is to be able to play the entire record;
that's the whole thing, which would be, you know that's the
goal...and then add in some material from here, there, and
everywhere to kind of fill in the rest of the show..."
Check out the Notes from Edge website (http://www.nfte.org/)
and YESWORLD (www.yesworld.org)
for more information as well as CIRCA: audio bytes on
Myspace.com.
CIRCA: will be playing the entire new "CIRCA: 2007" CD, as well
as touching on special moments from every YES era !! 2 hours of
non stop prog !!
