Few bands have existed as living, breathing entities the way Yes has. Over the decades its members have branched out into countless projects across the progressive music landscape. The latest of these projects is Arc of Life. The band features “new generation” Yes members Billy Sherwood, Jon Davison, and Jay Schellen alongside Dave Kerzner and Jimmy Haun. Their self-titled debut is out on February 12 and bassist/vocalist Billy Sherwood recently took some time to talk about the band and the future of Yes.
Please press the PLAY icon below for the MisplacedStraws.com Conversation with Billy Sherwood –
On how the band came together – Well, it started from songwriting, which is kind of how all the bands I’ve been involved with have started. And so if you go into a time machine and go back to 2017 in the back of the Yes bus, Jon and I shared a bus on the tour. I had my studio set up with instruments everywhere and production-ready to go capability. And so we started writing songs for fun. After we written a few of them, several songs started kind of realizing that it was taking a shape unto itself and was going to a kind of a higher level. So we started talking about putting a band together and got a little more serious about things and called Jay and asked Jimmy if he wanted to jump in. Then, of course, Dave Kerzner, and there you have it. Now we have Arc of Life. The whole record took from about 2017-19 to make. Then we just finally have reached a point where we’re getting that out here and we’re really excited about it. 1:19
On how the record was recorded – We worked in kind of weird little groupings by virtue of just where we were in the recording process. Jon and I sang a lot of vocals on the bus and then when Jon came to L.A. on a break for one of the tours, we went to his place in the hills and set up shop there and finished the rest of the vocals off. I went with Jay Schellen, who lives locally here, we went into a studio and tracks all the drums, the bass, and kind of made sure it was feeling live and rocking. Then Jimmy lives in Utah at the time, so he was farming in parts virtually, and Dave was in Florida where he was filesharing stuff in as well. Everyone participated and it all came together quite nicely all things considered. 2:50
“You Make It Real”
On the non-Yes members of the band – Jim’s an old ally, and we go way back and he’s just a fantastic guitar player and songwriter in his own right. Dave is an amazing talent that has his own solo career. And he’s kind of known in the prog community. He and I have been friends for over a decade now and always threatened to do something together. But just nothing came about at the right timing until now, and so it just seemed like the right time to try that experiment we’ve been talking about. 4:01
On sharing vocals with Jon Davison –We were just creating and we knew that we wanted to share the vocal role in the way that Supertramp kind of has or Pink Floyd or there are many bands like that, the Eagles. So we just we knew that and we just went about it in terms of what feels best for which guy to sing and what sounding the best. We weren’t really thinking, “How do we divert from being Yes-like”, because we’re not thinking about that a whole lot. We’re in Yes, and by proxy, that DNA kind of follows us wherever we go so we don’t kind of sit around and think, “Let’s do something like this today or like that”. We just get in there and start creating. 5:17
“Just In Sight”
On touring and continuing Arc of Life – Anything is possible and we’re open for anything. The management just the same company as Yes and Asia, so they can look at a calendar and figure out how to make things work. We’ve got TKO (booking) Agency ready to jump on the case and get us going. So all the components are in the right order to make things happen. We just need somewhere to be able to go…We’re looking already down the road at the next album and obviously, our debut is not even out and we’re talking about the next album. But that’s how we are. 8:08
On the future of Yes – I think that Yes’ destiny is to continue making new music, and that would be something that we see happening because that’s just the nature of the band. I think up to now and real recently now, it might have been too soon given Chris (Squire)’s passing to even go near that. But I think now that time has passed and there’s an acceptance of where we are at, but that possibility is very, very strong. And I think eventually you will see an album, it’s not going to be next Tuesday, but I think you’ll see it coming down. 9:21
“I Want To Know You Better”
On creating music outside the confines of Yes and Asia – Writing and creating is the evolution of you as an artist moving forward down this journey. So I’m always excited about that and always have been. That’s probably why I’ve been in so many bands. I like that journey and want to continue down that road. So it’s exciting for that reason. That said, I mean, I love playing the classic music of Yes, and Asia, it is an honor and a privilege to do so, so I enjoy that to the best of both worlds, really, where I can really go to town on one thing without limitations and expectations and then the other one, you just kind of take within the lines and do your gig. 10:24
On the expansion of Progressive music in the last few years – I think it’s the one place for ears who haven’t experienced it to really have an epic sonic adventure. Progressive rock affords you the ability to have an empty canvas and paint things however you want to, and it’s not bound by commercial law, so to speak. So I think for that reason it’s a great thing. Turning younger generations onto these bands that we have known and loved for all time is something that changes people’s lives. It kicks open a door they have no idea was even there. I’m hoping that Arc of Life becomes added to their playlist and is something that they latch on to and take into the future with them and start experiencing what really progressive rock is about and how deep it goes. For me, it’s always interesting to think about how many satellite bands there have been that have come off the Yes mothership. There are a lot of them. I mean, right now you have (Chris) Braide and (Geoff) Downes doing their thing (in the band DBA), and Steve (Howes)’s got his trio and Allen (White)’s got White. We’ve got this Arc of Life. So I think once people key into that and they start seeing all the tentacles and where they reach to, they discover more and more and more about the movement itself, the idea of progressive rock being this gigantic pool of nothing more than probably where the real cutting edge of art and music lies anymore. People actually play instruments and they don’t rely on lifting other people’s riffs and sampling. It’s actually a place where real things are made and new. So for that, I hope the movement does well and continues to prosper. 11:53
“Locked Down”
On whether Arc of Life is the future of Yes – I’m a member of Yes, as is Jon and Jay by proxy of how he’s involved with it. We’re committed to keeping that mothership alive and well. Arc of Life is a different animal altogether. I think the future of Yes is ongoing and something that just continues to defy the laws of nature and move forward. The fact that Jon Anderson’s been out of the band for 16 years and it’s still going is one thing. You lose Chris and it’s still going, that’s another. So I don’t know, it’s just supposed to keep on going and going. So we’ll just have to see. We certainly weren’t thinking we’ll design Arc to be the life raft. It’s its own standalone band. We are actually crew members on the mothership. 15:22
On the Yes Hall of Fame induction – I was really happy it happened after all these years. It made me kind of sad to sit there and think that I’m sitting there and Chris isn’t, why the hell did they wait so long? Then there were the strenuous politics of the day that were going on, which were no fun to be around. Yes is a very political animal. I’ve always said that being in Yes is way more than just the musical aspects, it’s the personalities, and will your personality survive 24 hours? Somehow I’ve managed to navigate those very treacherous waters in a very strange way. Having replaced Chris, which was totally unexpected, but exactly what he wanted. We had many chats near the end there where he just kept saying, “Keep Yes going, that what’s important to me”. Sometimes when I see people on Facebook, “No Chris, no Yes, you should’ve stopped when Chris died”. That’s exactly what he didn’t want. We’ll just have to see. But I mean, I’m as committed to Yes moving forward as I am any other band that I’m in, really. pay attention to each band in that same way. 16:52
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