Interview: Steve Howe, YES

CLEAR AIR TURBULENCE

Veteran YES guitarist Steve Howe explains the emotional expression behind his playing with veteran Prog Rocker Mike Harris

With the reincarnation of YES last year, and the ensuing tour work that's followed, guitarist Steve Howe, at this stage in his career, could be forgiven for taking a rest. But, like other musical workaholics from his generation, Steve is happiest when working on new and fresh ideas.

Turbulence, his first solo album since the late 70s, gives perhaps a clear perspective of where his heart lies, and reveals a wider look at his YES input. Never digressing into technical indulgence, Turbulence manifests itself as an emotional piece, holding down some intriguing atmospheres, and carries across many high-charged moments of sound. To understand a bit more about the venture and to find out what plans YES have in the future, I met up with Steve on a bitterly cold morning, and together we're ushered into a room at the back of his record company offices.

After a succession of interruptions, from faulty telephones that seemed to perpetually ring and an odd asortment of messenger boys and delivery men, we eventually made some progress. Given time to finish the sentence, Steve retraces his first thoughts on the album.

"This is the kind of album in detail I really had to make. I've been working on it since 89 in various forms, and I had a lot of things I wanted to get across. I spent a long time thinking about this album."

Was it harder writing on your own without others to feed off?

"Not really because in YES or ASIA I'd still write works on my own and then bring them to the band. In this case, I just had to stretch myself a bit further because I had to get all the parts together. In some ways it's easier because you tend to do things in stages. I do most of my writing and idea-creating back in a demo studio I've got in Devon. I still tend to construct my music like a song although they are instrumental.  They're built around a chorus/ verse/ bridge structure, and are put together in stages. I tend, when they're finished, to sit back and brood over them and think of ways I can modify them."

As Steve talks another intruder enters, this time in dirty overalls and a tailor-made beard and asks if either of us is called Ron, “it's to do with the pipes.” Convincing him we are not, but somewhere losing the thread,  we cross-talk for a while, and come back to Steve's guitar playing. I wonder if his playing has changed down the years?

"When I first came onto the scene, there were a whole batch of guitarists who aspired to be the fastest player in town, and I too got accused of that. I could never understand it because I knew players who really could play fast. I always felt I was using what I was learning. Now I know I've achieved technical prowess, and, with playing a long time, I don't feel a need to display what I can do. I tend to think a lot more melodically, rather than technically. Being in groups rather than being solo throughout my career has also, so I think, stopped me falling into some of the pitfalls of self-indulgence."

Have you found it difficult working with YES again, particularly now, when you have to share the guitar spot?

"It's not easy all the time. It's great to be part of YES, although the whole process of getting eight members playing together is obviously going to pose problems. I'm sure there are times when Trevor [Rabin] gets frustrated, and that's true with me, but it's a case of working parts in. There are numbers where it's just unnecessary to add another guitar part, so we both drop out from time to time. But, considering the size of the task, I'd say we've coped fairly well. We certainly haven't let it develop into a Guitar War."

Do you feel that you've captured the excitement of the old days?

"In some ways it's impossible to repeat the feelings you felt 15 years back. Getting the early albums out was like going through a pregnancy and having a baby. Everything was new and very exciting. That's difficult to recapture. We are committed to YES but we're not as close as we were. It's hard to keep the band moving in total sympathy when we all live in different places."

When does the band get-together next?

"When we tour. We're going to Japan very soon and we'll rehearse for a couple of days before we go out and play."

Doesn't seem like much time.

"We're all expected to have done our homework. If anyone shows up and doesn't know their parts, they are going to have egg on their face, so I don't think anyone will be ill prepared. YES has always had this 'homework concept' where each member is expected to have done a lot of preparatory work."

Looking back over your first stint with YES, did you ever feel your search for perfection became a strain?

"Oh definitely! The mistake I feel we always made was trying to find replacement members who sounded like the guy they replaced. They even did that with me when I joined. I felt an immense pressure to be another Peter Banks. The same was true with Pat Morris and Rick Wakeman. The band was always a bit unstable in some ways."

Will that be the case in the future?

"Well,  I  can't speak for the others, but I think the new look YES has taken so much work to get off the ground we're unlikely to throw it away now. And I think we all know our roles in the new band."

As the interview winds to an end, I asked Steve what's been the most exciting thing for him musically recently.

"I should say making Turbulence or working with YES again, but in a sense I'm only furthering boundaries I've already explored.  Obviously that's important and I've loved doing it, but working for QUEEN recently on there Innuendo album was truly exciting for me. It was a chance to come from a different approach, and I felt really close to them and enjoyed the way they worked. What more could you want, playing with people who are nice and whom you have a great respect for. It feels all the more poignant with what happened since."

Finally what are you working on at the moment?

"Well I continue to write ideas down and put together pieces for a later solo album, but I'm also writing with John Anderson for the next YES album. Music for me must be a constant thing. I need to keep working and reworking. The cycle doesn't stop."

Mike Harris
Riff Raff
April 1992

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