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Health & Fitness

YES: Prog Rock's Pioneers headline at the Cap

Legendary pioneers of progressive rock, YES have a long history and loyal following of fans around the world. The Capitol Theatre will be the lucky host for this iconic rock band on July 28. The band is best known for their long roster of extended play songs heard on classic rock radio including, "I've Seen All Good People," "Roundabout" "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Leave It,"  and "Love Will Find a Way." This time, they are set to play three of their albums in their entirety for the first time ever; including Close to the Edge, The Yes Album and Going For the One on their tour this summer of the U.S., Canada and Europe.

The current line-up is Alan White, (drums), Chris Squire, (bass), Jon Davison, (vocals), Steve Howe, (guitars) and Geoff Downes, (keyboards).

Port Chester Patch had the honor of speaking with YES drummer, Alan White in an exclusive telephone interview back in June; on the upcoming tour, playing three albums live in their entirety, and the band's future plans.

"We're touring in general, the last album we made was two years ago. We're doing this concept of playing three of our albums in their entirety and we're working on new material for an album later this year or early next year," Alan White said by phone. "I recall having played at the Capitol Theatre in the 1970s."

Alan has a long dossier of famous musicians he's performed with, including Beatles' John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ginger Baker.

"I seemed to fit in with them and jamming with them was great! They seemed to like me and what I did with my playing and I had a great time playing with all those people they were all respected and I was so carried away but not in awe about playing with them it was part of my career at the time. John Lennon took me under his wing and enjoyed having me around and we became pretty good friends! He was quite a bit older than me but we got on really well. And whatever I did in the studio; John used to tell me, "Whatever you're doing in the studio, keep doing it! It sounds great!"

White's drum technique is many styles rolled into one. He uses Ludwig drums on stage and on the tour and in clinics when he teaches others to play the drums. He's been teaching drums for approximately 10 Rock and Roll Fantasy Camps.

"I've been endorsing Ludwig Drums for over 40 years now. With YES music, you need a different kind of percussion instrument around the kit and samples so I've got a lot of different things at my fingertips to be able to play the part," White admits. He adds, "My style changed over the years; as a teenager I listened to a lot of jazz, fusion, rock 'n' roll and kind of mixing both the styles together and that means quite a few different areas in music like classical music also— and just combine it into one kind of style and always made sure it had a great feel and feel the pulse of the band and you're not going to lose that sense, you're performing your role but at the same time, as an artist you have a creative style that's different from other people."

So what's the best YES song of all time? It's all a matter of opinion and taste.

"The fans like to hear a wide variety of YES music because it covers a vast area. We're playing a whole album like Close to the Edge in its entirety. The YES album has songs like, "I've Seen All Good People" and "Starship Trooper" those songs live with people quite a long time and they just love to hear at any YES concert," Alan stated.

He is not ruling out a possible YES reunion, with former band mates, Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman.

"It's crossed my mind, I'm not ruling it out but the band right now is playing extremely well in its current form. We'll see what happens in the next four or five years down the line. Chris Squire, Steve Howe, and myself are members from the 70s and our new singer, Jon Davison who's really doing a great job; sings very much like Jon Anderson and is a hard working great guy and fits in with everybody and Geoff Downes on keyboards who was in the band in the early 80s with the album, Drama that we made with Trevor Horn," he recalls. "The band has been playing a very high standard so the fans are in for a good show."

Alan enjoys playing to fans every night and connecting with the audience.

"It's the greatest thing for us on stage to see so many smiling faces and people being satisfied and enjoying our music that we spent a lot of our time and worked on for many years. That's an accomplishment for us."

There's a possibility for a new album, but right now the tour is the band's focus.

"We're coming up with new ideas for new material for a new album later this year or possibly early next year but the ideas are going around right now so we'll see what comes to fruition but that's what we're planning."

The band is known for their pretty long stage shows on tour. It will be experimental when all three of their best albums are played in their entirety.

"Three albums is quite a lot of music but we enjoy doing it and everybody seems to be having a good time and I hope the people in Port Chester will enjoy it and we look forward to it," Alan said with enthusiasm.

Alan said the music business is more difficult to break into now even with the power of social media.

"If you really get a chance to be something it's obvious that comes out anyway but someone who is grinding away making albums and demos; it's not an easy business to get into nowadays, the competition is very high."

For YES fans of Port Chester, seeing them locally in their hometown will be a real treat.

"We look forward to seeing the fans at the Capitol Theatre. We're going to have a great time and I hope they enjoy the concert," he said.

For further information and to purchase tickets to the YES concert, visit the Capitol Theatre website and yesworld.com.





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