September 2011

I'm very pleased so many people are enjoying Fly From Here. Here are some after-thoughts and further info on guitars and things.

... nothing is achieved without some struggles ...

In March 2010, Oliver, Chris & I meet in Devon to exchange ideas before we spent 2 weeks in Phoenix trying out a few of these songs, getting something rough down of each, on Oliver's laptop!

October crawled as we got started, into a steady pace. Then, once "Fly from Here Part 1" had been recorded with Trevor, we tried out further songs with Tim, including "Into The Storm", "The Man You Always Wanted Me To Be" & "Hour Of Need", making it 6 weeks.

Since The Yes Album days I know that there are areas that seem to require plenty of investigating, particularly when others present, were not at the conception of an idea's first beatings.

Mid January saw us return to rehearse some new songs by Trevor & Geoff, then record them. Plans changed but progress was being made. Gradually the machinery got going with some sense of urgency, once more, when we got our heads down in February to help reinvent what we had recorded.

Just as the final mixing in London was taking place (and not a moment too soon), did I present a guitar solo entitled "Solitaire". The inclusion of solos was an open door, I delivered. I had written & recorded it myself, then worked with Curtis to finalize it.

A great Roger Dean sleeve and we were done!

Guitars used on Fly From Here

1. Overture
   Fender Stratocaster in a Vox AC 50 amp
   Some acoustics, Martin MC38SH, 0018
2. We Can Fly
   Fender Stratocaster, re-amped in a Fender Twin Martin 12 string, Gibson ES175D Fender steel. (chorus)
3. Sad Night At The Airfield
   Martin MC38SH
   Ramiraz flamenco guitar (around 0:30 until 0:53)
   Trevor brought in his guitar that plays behind my guitar break.. )
   Gibson ES175D / Vox AC50 amp
   Fender Steel / Line 6 Vetta 11 amp
   
4. Madman At The Screen
   Gibson ES175D & F4 mandolin
5. Bumpy Ride
   Gibson ES175D / Korg multi-pedal
   Fender Steel
6. We Can Fly Reprise
   Fender Stratocaster & Steel
7. The Man You Always Wanted Me To Be
   Martin Acoustics, Gibson ES Artist & ES175D
8. Life On A Film Set Martin MC 38SH
   Steinberger 12 String
   Gibson Les Paul Custom
   
9. Hour Of Need*
   Portuguese 12 string acoustic
   *The Japanese release has a front & back of electric guitar stuff, I used my Gibson ES175DSH model.
10. Solitaire
    Solo guitar on my Theo Scharpach SKD
11. Into The Storm Steinberger GM4T- riffs
    Gibson ES175D - breaks
    Martin acoustics
    

The guitars were recorded by Tim Weidner and Patrick MacDougall.

June 2011

In early July Yes will be releasing their new album "Fly From Here", produced by "Drama" band mate Trevor Horn. The album includes Geoff Downes on keyboards and features Benoit David on lead vocals.

The album includes a solo acoustic piece from Steve titled "Solitaire". The band will be premiering tracks from the new album on their upcoming tour, co-headlined with Styx.  Visit YesWorld for tour dates and more information on Yes' activities.

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