In a recent interview with Scott Itter of Dr. Music, founding YES frontman Jon Anderson was asked if fans may expect a memoir or autobiography from him. The 79-year-old singer answered (as reported by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I was reading something that was… I actually wrote an autobiography until I met my spiritual teacher, a little lady from Hawaii, and then I met her. And she glanced at me and asked, “Your name is Jon?” I answered, ‘Yes.’ And she said, “Do you know that God is free?” I replied, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I sat with her for an hour, and I knew I was in love with life and the concept of learning. And it has been my life. That was 30 years ago, shortly before I met [my wife] Jane. And I wrote an autobiography up to that point in time, and I showed it to my manager Larry, who asked, ‘Can you not do the remainder of your life, please?’ I answered, ‘Okay.’ I need to start thinking about that.”
Following a tremendously successful 2023 tour with THE BAND GEEKS, Jon chose to expand his creative cooperation with the band in order to generate new content for a potential new studio album. The outcome of this work is “True,” which will be released on August 23 by Jon’s new label, Frontiers Music Srl.
“True” is a nine-song album that will be a welcome treat for all fans of Jon’s 40-year run as lead vocalist of multi-platinum Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee YES. The LP’s song collection pays homage to YES’s classic 1970s sounds as well as their later success with the album “90125.”
Richie Castellano, the bassist and musical director for THE BAND GEEKS, co-produced, engineered, and mixed the record.
Jon and THE BAND GEEKS kicked off their 2024 U.S. tour on May 30 in New Brunswick, NJ. The tour will consist of three legs that will run through September.
Anderson stated in a recent issue of Mojo magazine that he would be open to reforming with former YES comrades Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe.
“I was talking to THE BAND GEEKS and said, ‘Hopefully we can play in London and Steve will get up and do a couple of songs with us, maybe Rick too,'” Anderson explained. “It just means chatting. When I’m out there singing on my own, I still believe I’m a member of YES. “They still feel like my music.”
Anderson co-founded YES with bassist Chris Squire in 1968 and stayed with the band until 2008, when he was replaced by Benoit David, an Anderson sound-alike who previously fronted the YES tribute band CLOSE TO THE EDGE. David departed YES in 2012 and was succeeded by Jon Davison.
In July 2020, Howe informed Rolling Stone that the remaining members of YES have almost little possibility of reforming for a tour.
“I don’t think [the supporters] should stay up late thinking about it,” he explained. “There is just too much space between people. “To be in a band together or even to do another tour like ‘Union’ is completely unthinkable,” referring to the group’s 1990 “Union” album and tour, which brought together the previous YES album’s lineup (Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Trevor Rabin, Alan White, Tony Kaye) and the then-ex-YES members’ group ANDERSON BRUFORD WAKEMAN HOWE (Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman, and Steve Howe). “It was challenging when we went through it, especially because of the personalities,” Howe admitted.
“I’m not blaming anyone in particular, but putting such a disparate group together is a nightmare. We created a nightmare out of what may have been a fantastic thing back in 1990. “I don’t think I have the stamina or appetite to do that again.”
Anderson, Wakeman, and Rabin began performing as ARW: ANDERSON, RABIN AND WAKEMAN in 2016 until changing their name to YES FEATURING JON ANDERSON, TREVOR RABIN, RICK WAKEMAN shortly after the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
Howe last traveled with Anderson and Wakeman in 2004.
