by Gary Graff, Detroit |
May 05, 2009 12:42 EDT
Steve Howe is playing both sets on the Yes/Asia summer tour.
Steve Howe expects to be making some new music with both Yes and Asia after the two bands complete a joint U.S. tour this summer.
Though the guitarist insists specific plans are "hypothetical" at the moment, he tells Billboard.com that Asia is "hot on the trail of another record" after a "pleasant" experience making "Phoenix" -- the original quartet's first set of new material 26 years -- and tends to be "more prepared and jumps at things more quickly." Yes, meanwhile, "has got to pace itself," according to the guitarist, especially with the two new members -- vocalist David Benoit and former keyboardist Rick Wakeman's son Oliver in his dad's spot -- in tow.
Howe does acknowledge, however, that the long-lived quintet has "other plans going through the year, but we're not going to announce them yet. One thing at a time...do a little bit more work and playing and then divert to recordings."
Howe, meanwhile, will be doing plenty of work -- double-duty, in fact -- during the 24-date outing that kicks off June 26 in Indio, Calif. He'll begin with Asia's 50-minute opening set -- which Howe says will focus on the prog all-star group's 1982 debut and last year's "Phoenix" -- and then move to Yes for 95 minutes of favorites from the group's catalog.
His wife, Howe says, "thought it was a completely crazy idea" to play in two bands at one night, but he's confident he can handle it. "I'll actually be on stage about two and a half hours, which was what Yes was doing back in (the fall)," Howe notes.
"Physically Asia's a lot more demanding, guitaristically, a lot of flying around (the fretboard), and Yes has got a kind of smoothness, so I think it's going to be easy to for me to go from one to the other.
"It's a great opportunity, really; all I've got to do is show up and play guitar. That's not too bad, is it?"
Howe is also looking to release a pair of solo recordings, perhaps this year -- "Motif, Vol. 2," another collection of solo guitar pieces, and a live album by the Steve How Trio recorded during tours last year of England and Canada.
Though the guitarist insists specific plans are "hypothetical" at the moment, he tells Billboard.com that Asia is "hot on the trail of another record" after a "pleasant" experience making "Phoenix" -- the original quartet's first set of new material 26 years -- and tends to be "more prepared and jumps at things more quickly." Yes, meanwhile, "has got to pace itself," according to the guitarist, especially with the two new members -- vocalist David Benoit and former keyboardist Rick Wakeman's son Oliver in his dad's spot -- in tow.
Howe does acknowledge, however, that the long-lived quintet has "other plans going through the year, but we're not going to announce them yet. One thing at a time...do a little bit more work and playing and then divert to recordings."
Howe, meanwhile, will be doing plenty of work -- double-duty, in fact -- during the 24-date outing that kicks off June 26 in Indio, Calif. He'll begin with Asia's 50-minute opening set -- which Howe says will focus on the prog all-star group's 1982 debut and last year's "Phoenix" -- and then move to Yes for 95 minutes of favorites from the group's catalog.
His wife, Howe says, "thought it was a completely crazy idea" to play in two bands at one night, but he's confident he can handle it. "I'll actually be on stage about two and a half hours, which was what Yes was doing back in (the fall)," Howe notes.
"Physically Asia's a lot more demanding, guitaristically, a lot of flying around (the fretboard), and Yes has got a kind of smoothness, so I think it's going to be easy to for me to go from one to the other.
"It's a great opportunity, really; all I've got to do is show up and play guitar. That's not too bad, is it?"
Howe is also looking to release a pair of solo recordings, perhaps this year -- "Motif, Vol. 2," another collection of solo guitar pieces, and a live album by the Steve How Trio recorded during tours last year of England and Canada.
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