Where are they now? - Chris Squire
This page last updated: 10 Apr 2008
On this page: New solo album - Xmas album: Chris Squire's Swiss Choir - New record company: Stone Ghost Records
On other pages: Yes news - Conspiracy - The Syn - Billy Sherwood's Pink Floyd tribute albums (with Squire) - Re-release of 1975/6 solo albums
Chris Squire's official site: ChrisSquire.net; MySpace page; Official Chris Squire store (ChrisSquire.com has now been retired)
New solo album
Squire is working on a new solo album with Gerard
Johnson (Funky Monkey,
St
Etienne, ex-The Syn, ex-Peter
Banks), Paul Stacey
(The
Black Crowes, ex-The Syn, Oasis,
ex-The Lemon Trees) and Jeremy Stacey (ex-The
Syn, Sheryl Crow, ex-The Lemon
Trees). The album
is being
recorded
at Stacey's Strangeways studio and will be released on Stone
Ghost. In a Mar 2007 post
to alt.music.yes, Johnson said, "Chris, Paul (Stacey) and I are
working
on material now, which will be ready when it's ready and not before. We
certainly hope to release something later this year [2007] though." In
Oct
2007, Squire
blogged that he
"will resume recording my
second solo album in November", with his website reporting it is
"hopefully
to be finished early in the new year". Another
report
in Mar 2007 talked of Squire, Johnson and P. Stacey having demo'd four
songs
with lengths of around 5-10 minutes. In
the
interview done late 2006 for the Fish Out of Water re-release (see
below), Squire said he had "29 minutes worth of ideas [...] not
finished
ideas, but ideas." He also described the material as "leaning in [the]
direction"
of having orchestral accompaniment. In a late 2007
interview, Squire was asked from where his inspiration comes on
solo projects. He replied:
In a Nov 2007 Notes from the Edge interview, Squire said he's "got close to 80% I think of the material I'm working on for the solo record; I'm pretty much in good shape, a lot of the lyrics had gotten written". On 17 Mar 2007, Jem Godfrey (Frost*, The Accidental, worked with Atomic Kitten) met with Squire and blogged:
Chris is making a solo album, most of it is written, but he wanted to get together with me to kick a few ideas about as well. He played me some works in progress and there's some really good things going on. In particular, there was a track called "Can't Stop The Rain" (or something like that), which was really excellent.However, on 5 Sep 2007, Godfrey blogged, "Jordan Rudess has invited me for lunch. Let's hope it goes a bit better than the one I had with Chris Squire..." I am unclear what this means. Scotland Squire said in a Mar 2006 post to Yesfans.com that, "as for who will be participating in the project there are some very interesting musicians that said they would be involved that I won't mention at this time."So, obviously, I said YES (ahem...). It's not everyday a proper, bone fide stadium rock star buys you lunch and says he wants to co-write some songs with you.
Chris Squire's Swiss Choir and collaboration with
Steve Hackett
Chris Squire's
Swiss Choir (Stone Ghost; dur.
~55 minutes) is a 13-track Christmas
album with
prog rock arrangements of traditional carols
with Squire on basses and vocals,
Gerard Johnson (Funky
Monkey,
St
Etienne, ex-The
Syn, ex-Peter
Banks; keys), Steve
Hackett (ex-Genesis, ex-GTR; guitar),
Jeremy Stacey (ex-The Syn,
Sheryl Crow, ex-The Lemon Trees; drums)
and the English Baroque Choir
(main vocals; musical director: Jeremy
Jackman (Andrew Jackman's
brother; ex-The
King's Singers)). (Squire approached both Brian May and
Jeff Beck to play guitar on the album, but both were unavailable.) Most
of the arrangements are by
Squire/Johnson, with Jackman also involved in arranging the choir.
Greg Jackman (Andrew
and
Jeremy's brother; worked with Yes, Patrick
Moraz and
on Fish Out of Water)
recorded
and mixed the album, which was produced by Squire/Johnson.
The album is now
out: available
online from the Squires directly, through
various
online retailers or as a digital download through
the usual sources. Squire described
the album: "I am taking traditional Christmas carols and arranging them
with an
instrumental prog rock style backing track." Tracks:
"Adam Lay Y'bounden", "I Saw Three Ships"
(baritone solo by Squire), "O
Come, O Come Emmanuel", "Silent
Night/Night of
Silence" (baritone solo by Squire),
"Ding Dong Merrily on High" (with new material by Squire/Johnson), "The
Three Kings", "Sans Day Carol",
"Personent Hodie", "Sussex
Carol", "Gaudete",
"In The Bleak Midwinter"
(tenor solo by Squire),
"Past 3 O'Clock" (arr. by
Squire/Johnson/J. Jackman), "Run
with the Fox" (adaptation of the 1981 single by
Squire and Alan White, adding a
choir to the original recording). "Silent Night" and "Run with the Fox"
can be heard at
ChrisSquire.net, while clips of several further pieces can be heard
at the Market
site.
There is an accompanying single release
of "Gaudete" b/w "Run with the Fox" (Stone Ghost/Lime Records). This is
a digital release only, available through Yahoo! Music
and Zune.
Squire and Hackett appeared on BBC Radio 2's Ken Bruce show on
5 Dec (show will be available there until 11
Dec; Squire and Hackett appear one hour in). As
well as Hackett appearing on Swiss
Choir, Squire is also appearing on a new project by Hackett.
An announcement from Steve Hackett's website
about the radio appearance adds, "If we're lucky and
there's time, there may be an
exclusive advance playing of a new Hackett rock track featuring Chris
on bass - this can't be guaranteed though!" In the end, the piece
wasn't played. In the NftE
interview, Squire said, "I've
actually gone on
playing bass and sang on the project that he's working." Squire
appeared on
Wakeman's radio show on 15 Dec (archived at Squire's
site), saying of
Hackett, "I've been working on stuff of his that he's been working on."
Also on the show, a new,
spoof version of "Run with the Fox" was played: entitled "A New Pair of
Socks", it
featured lyrics by Yes fan Richard Wright (InverYes on Yesfans.com).
Hackett's
project is a new rock album. In
an early 2008 interview in German magazine Eclipsed, Hackett describes the line-up as
being with Squire and his brother John
and that he would like to get Simon Phillips (Toto, ex-Mike Oldfield, ex-Mike
Rutherford) on drums.
Asked about the possibility of touring, Hackett replied that he hoped
Squire and Phillips would have the time. Meanwhile, Squire, Hackett and
P. Stacey all went to see Bill Bruford
play a show on 2 Apr.
Ahmet
Ertegün memorial show
Squire played at the Ahmet Ertegün
memorial show in London on
10 Dec, in a band with Alan
White (tympani), Keith
Emerson (ex-ELP; keys)
and Simon Kirke (ex-Free,
Bad Company; drums).
The line-up played ELP's version of "Fanfare
for the Common Man", including elements from "the fish". Plans
for Rick
Wakeman to be involved too were
scuppered by the re-scheduling
of the event—see details
on main page.
Asked on his
website
about working with Emerson again, Squire said (1 Jan), "[W]e'd like to
after that experience [the 10 Dec show]. That project was definitely a
good experience for both of us, so we wouldn't rule that out."
Stone Ghost Records and Fish
Out
of Water re-release
Squire and his wife Scotland
Squire have formed his own record label, Stone
Ghost Entertainment Ltd.,
which will be releasing the new albums described above and has
re-released
Fish
Out of Water. The 2-disc remaster of
Fish Out of Water (CMFVD1545)
is out in the UK and US (with a limited edition autographed edition
available
through the official Chris
Squire store). Distribution is by Castle (Sanctuary). Bonus
material
on the CD consists of an alternate version of "Lucky Seven" (US promo
edit
by Tom Dowd), while the second disc is a DVD (Region free; in both PAL
and NTSC) with promo videos for "Hold Out Your Hand" and "You By My
Side",
a 41 minute
interview
with Squire by Jon Kirkman
and a 53 minute
commentary by Squire (co-filmed by Gerard
Johnson). The CD audio has been remastered
from the original master tapes. (The album, without any extras, was
previously
re-released in the US by Wounded Bird Records—see
here.)
Prior bands
Conspiracy
was based around Squire (bass,
vocals),
Billy
Sherwood (guitars, keys, vocals) and Jay
Schellen (GPS,
ex-Asia,
World Trade; drums,
percussion). The band has effectively come to an end. (Sherwood and
Schellen have been working on an
album
without Squire, initially billed as a third Conspiracy album, but now
to
be released under a new name—details also on
main news page.)
Squire left The Syn in 2006. Their album with Squire, Syndestructible, was released in 2005 and the band toured the US early 2006, with a subsequent live DVD release. While recordings by Squire appear on the album Armistice Day, Squire would like it known that neither he nor some of the other musicians gave written permission for their work to be used on the album and he strongly discourages people from buying it. See under The Syn for details.
Other
news
In mid-Nov 2007, Squire
announced
on his website
that, "In the not too distant future, after delaying the project for
awhile, I'm going to start work on my book which will cover my
experiences, anecdotes, etc. over the last forty years".
Squire's 1981 single with Alan White, "Run with the Fox", was included as a bonus track on the Japanese release of White—see under White for details. (A revised version released on Chris Squire's Swiss Choir can also be heard at ChrisSquire.net.)
Any news, additions or corrections, please e-mail Henry
Potts. Thanks.