Latest incarnation of Yes plays Cleveland on tour

By John Benson

The only yes left for the band is an induction into the Rock Hall.

Over the past 40 years there have been so many lineup changes to prog rock giant Yes that a chart is required to keep up. However, the one person who has remained through every incarnation is Yes bassist Chris Squire.

“Yeah, I have been like a caretaker as it were,” Squire laughingly said, calling from Los Angeles. “I guess it’s been more by default than any other reason. During the history of the band, people have come and gone. Rick Wakeman, for instance, has rejoined and left three or four times. He’d go off to pursue solo ventures, and the same thing happened with Jon (Anderson) at the end of the ’70s.

“We replaced him with Trevor Horn and Rick with Geoff Downes from the Buggles [and Asia]. And we made ‘Drama,’ which is one of Yes’ better albums. And then Jon came back and went off again with ABWH [Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe], which was when we had Trevor Rabin in the band. So people have left to pursue other interests and when those other interests haven’t paid off or they’re done with that, they rejoin. That seems to be the history.”

So here we go again with new incarnation Howe, Squire and White of Yes hitting the road this fall on the “In The Present” tour, which comes to Cleveland Tuesday at the House of Blues.

The new makeup of the group includes veteran members Squire, Steve Howe (guitar) and Alan White (drums), along with newcomers Oliver Wakeman (keyboards) and Beno Æt David (vocals). Wakeman is the son of longtime Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, while David, taking a page out of the Judas Priest and, more recently, Journey playbooks, is a cover-band singer from Canada.

Actually, “In The Present” was supposed to be Yes career-retrospective tour “Close to the Edge and Back,” featuring original and key members. However, Anderson’s respiratory problems kept him from going on the road.

“Jon’s unfortunate health problems have made it difficult for scheduling Yes tours, but we wanted to go out and honor the music for the fans, who have been missing their Yes shows, basically,” Squire said.

So Squire recruited David, Yes tribute band singer, for the real thing.

“A friend of mine said, ‘You should check out this guy on YouTube.com. He’s in a tribute band called Close to the Edge.’

“So I checked him out and thought he could be the guy. I think Beno Æt does a real good job, and I think the Yes fans will appreciate his attention to detail in the way the music is performed. He seems like he’s really meticulous.”

Before die-hard Yes fans cry heresy, Squire said Howe, Squire and White of Yes plans on delving deep into the band’s catalog. Not only will audience members hear the must-play hits from the classic rock group, but material from the obscure albums “Drama” and “Time in a Word” will also get stage time.

After nearly four decades of recording and touring, the one last feather in the Yes cap remains an induction invite from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Though hopeful, Squire admittedly is unsure if induction into the institution located on the shores of Lake Erie will ever come to fruition.

“Who knows, I don’t know what you do about that,” Squire said. “They just seem to have some anti-prog rock thing going on within their voting committee, and it’s just incredible that we’ve never been put forward. I guess neither has Genesis. I just think there’s just a whole blip in an era that somehow doesn’t get on their radar.”

He added, “I would have thought Yes would have been voted in there at least 15 years ago, sometime after Led Zeppelin and before Queen. If there is logic to it, I don’t understand it, and I’ve resigned myself to the fact that it’s probably never going to happen.”

That said, does Squire have any animosity toward the Rock Hall or, um, Cleveland?

“No,” Squire said with a laugh. “Who do I have to be mad at?”