YES Frontman Blasts Band Members
A bit of background. YES were originally going to tour to celebrate their 40th anniversary this year, but frontman Jon Anderson called in sick and asked the others:”Could we do it next year?” Not getting the answer he wanted, he has now posted a message on his official website (www.jonanderson.com) telling fans that he’s “disappointed, and very disrespected” over his colleagues’ lack of compassion since his illness forced him to back out of the band’s 40th anniversary tour.
In June, the band canceled their tour after Anderson suffered respiratory failure. Earlier this month, Yes decided to regroup with a fill-in for Anderson — Canadian vocalist Benoit David from the Yes tribute bandClose To The Edge — whom they spotted on YouTube.
Anderson’s post to fans reads in part:
“Disappointed, and Very Disrespected: Disappointed that, with the exception of one phone call from (drummer) Alan (White), none of the guys have been in touch since my illness, just to find out how I am doing, and how we will foresee the future for Yes. And disappointed that they were not willing to wait till 2009 when I’m fully recovered. And I feel very disrespected, having spent most of this year creating songs and constant ideas for the band, spending time… creating a stage design, also working… to help promote the welfare of Yes.”
Anderson went on explain, “Getting sick was not ‘on my radar,’ and I thank my own angel Janeee and my family for helping me through this difficult time, and the many well wishers, friends and fans alike, for understanding that ‘things happen.’ Of course I wish the guys all the best in their ’solo’ work, but I just wish this could have been done in a more gentlemanly fashion. After all Yes is a precious musical band.”
He closed by saying, “This is not Yes on tour… I send best wishes to one and all, Jon Anderson September 2008.”
Yes kicks off their In The Present tour on November 4th in Ontario. Touring with the latest incarnation of the band will be bassist Chris Squire, Steve Howe, lead vocalist Benoit David, drummer Alan White and keyboardist Oliver Wakeman who’s the son of legendary Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman.
Jon Anderson says that it took a while for Yes to find the proper footing that lead them to superstardom: “When we first started out, we wanted to be pretty well known in London, and then you hope that you’re gonna get pretty well known in England and Scotland, and all of a sudden you end up in Ireland, and then Europe. And then give it a couple of years, and then all of a sudden we were lucky enough to go to America and have a breakthrough there — and then it was ‘Hey, let’s rehearse! (laughs) And let’s do something musically, different.”