This page last updated: 30 Dec 2020
Sherwood is in Yes: news on the main page. Following John Wetton's death, he also joined Asia: see under Asia for details. Billy Sherwood and Tony Kaye continue as CIRCA:, they are planning a new album: covered on its own page. He is also in Arc of Life with Jon Davison, Jay Schellen, Jimmy Haun and Dave Kerzner: see the main page.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sherwood is doing online clinics
and teaching, as he explains in this Apr
2020 Facebook post and this
one, but most of all this
one.
| Solo
work Sherwood is working on his next solo album. On 22 Sep 2018, he said on Facebook that he had, "Started working on another solo CD… The 1st track is called "pushing into the wind".... its early going of course but I'm feeling that creative wave coming on and so it begins". On 10 Oct 2019, again on Facebook, he said, "Working on my own new song , material for what will become my next solo cd. Recording guitars". A sequel to 2015's Citizen (details in the Yescography), Citizen—In the Next Life (Frontiers) came out Jun 2019 in Japan and Jul elsewhere. In early Jan 2018, he mentioned on Facebook working on a new song called "Sky Writer". The next month, he described on Facebook recording drums himself for what was then called Citizen 2. Asked about it in a mid-Mar 2018 interview, Sherwood replied, "I'm writing feverishly. The whole album is basically written and I'm now working on the production side. I've tracked all the drums myself, and got all the tracks cut. I'm sprinkling overdubs on things now. It's sounding really cool as a really interesting collection of songs and ideas about where the Citizen character is now." On 3 Apr 2018, he announced on Facebook that he had started mixing the album, including a song entitled "Sophia" about the robot of the same name, saying, "The song speaks to the uneasy nature of the Human to A.I. Relationship.... the more human they become the more mankind has to rethink its own position." The next day, he was mixing "Monet", about the painter. 6 May, he was mixing "Sailing the Seas" about Christopher Columbus. He announced he had "Just finished mixing" the album on 10 May, with the title In the Next Life. Unlike the multiple guest appearances of the first, this album was an entirely solo project. This sequel, and doing it all alone, was suggested by the label; Sherwood said in a Jul 2019 interview that he's up for further Citizen albums. Sherwood said in a Jul 2019 interview: "I think Yes fans who buy the album will understand the last track being "Amazing Grace" was Chris' solo piece during the 80s. And so I remade "Amazing Grace" in that style that Chris did and then just altered the words to sort of represent his passing, if you will. And in that way, he sort of bookends these two records. He's on the first track on the first album and is on the last track on the last one." |
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Project with Ciago & Goodsall
On 9 Jun 2015, Ronnie Ciago (ex-CIRCA:, worked with Brand
X, Patrick Moraz, Jaco Pastorius, Bill Ward, Mick Taylor)
announced
on Facebook that he was recording that week a project with
himself (drums, composing), Sherwood (bass, composing), John
Goodsall (ex-Brand X; guitar, composing) and Franz
Pusch (ex-Brand X; keys, engineer, producer). I
presume this either was or was related to what became Pusch's
album Lustig and Munter, released Jul 2016; tracks:
Tribute
albums & related
In an Apr
2008 interview, Sherwood said he was working on a
tribute to The Police, saying, "I was planning on kind of
inviting just like great guitar players to come on and play
some great solos and play over the top of the stuff and keep
the music kind of pure." However, further news on this did not
emerge.
Other news
Tony Kaye,
Sherwood and Jay
Schellen finished off an incomplete Peter
Banks recording for the new compilation of his music, Be
Well, Be Safe, Be Lucky... The Anthology. All 3 also
guested on Crossover by David Cross & Peter Banks. See under
Banks for details.
Sherwood sang lead vocals for "The Covid
Kid", a comedy education song (in the style of Steely Dan)
by The Fabiani Bros. for the MusiCares
COVID-19 Relief Fund (to help musicians affected by the
COVID-19 pandemic). The Fabiana Bros. are Steve
Porcaro (Toto, worked with Yes,
Conspiracy) and David
Kamp. The music was written by Porcaro and the lyrics by
Kamp. Guitars were by Denny Dias (ex-Steely Dan)
and Marc Bonilla (worked with Keith Emerson, Eddie
Jobson), drums by Shannon Forrest
(Toto) and keys by Porcaro. The song was produced by
Porcaro/Kamp, and mixed by Mike Ging. The accompanying video was
produced and directed by Ted Kamp.
Sherwood has also done a remake of The Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me" at Alan and Gigi White's request. The song is being used as for a public service film by Newcastle, WA Police Department.
Sherwood guests on David Minasian's The Sound of Dreams (Golden Robot). The album is by D Minasian (worked with Justin Hayward, Camel, Andy Latimer; piano, Mellotron, harpsichord, keys, vocals) and Justin Minasian (guitars; David's son) with guests Sherwood (bass on 4 tracks), Justin Hayward (The Moody Blues), Steve Hackett (ex-Genesis, ex-GTR, ex-Squackett), Annie Haslam (Renaissance) and Geof O'Keefe (Pentagram; drums). Songs include a 10 minute opener co-written with Hayward (Haslam on vocals), a song written by D Minasian/Haslam, and another by D Minasian/Hackett. The album was mooted as being due Oct 2018, but was delayed until Aug 2020. A first single, "So Far from Home" (5:15) featuring PJ Olsson (works with Alan Parsons), was released May 2020. This was performed by D Minasian (keys, 12-string guitar, backing vocals), J Minasian (guitars), O'Keefe (drums) and Olsson (lead vocals). The second single is "The Sound of Dreams (Third Movement)", out 10 Aug, co-written by D Minasian/Hackett, with Hackett, Sherwood and O'Keefe. The album's title track is overall 11 minutes long and also includes Haslam. Details in Yescography.
Directions is the debut EP from Middlesong, Joe Schneider (vocals, guitar, keys) and Phil Tomczak (keys, guitars). Sherwood produced, mixed and played bass, drums, keys and guitar on the release; Maor Appelbaum mastered. Tracks: "See This Through" (3:53), "Rain to Sun" (4:45), "Directions in D Minor (Make Sure that You Learn)" (5:53). Tracks can be heard on their SoundCloud page. Middlesong are continuing to work on a full album.
Sherwood and Oliver Wakeman both appear on the latest album from John Holden. See details on main page.|
Summer 2015, Sherwood talked of working with William
Shatner again. This was for a cover of "Garbage Man" for a
forthcoming Dr Demento tribute album. Asked about a
follow-up to Ponder the Mystery, in an Oct
2015 interview, Sherwood said, "At present, this is
indeed a rumor. Shatner is always incredibly busy, and my
schedule's a little hectic a present. Those two factors
combined make it difficult to foresee. That's [sic]
said, I love Bill and would work with him again in a
heartbeat." Ben Craven's 2016 album Last
Chance to Hear includes vocals by Shatner on
the track "Spy in the Sky Part 3", the vocals being
produced and engineered by Sherwood. Sherwood co-produced, co-wrote and played on In Extremis, the second release from Los Angeles prog band, Days Between Stations. The band consists of guitarist Sepand Samzadeh and keyboardist Oscar Fuentes, who have previously worked with The Pineapple Thief. Sherwood is again co-writing/producing/arranging their next album: in a 16 Dec 2014 Facebook update, he described "tonight we are recording the 2nd song for the record (as yet untitled)." He talked of mastering the album in a Mar 2016 Facebook post, and in Apr 2016 listed Days Between Stations as one of the bands he is currently in. Erik Nielsen said on Facebook in Dec 2017 that he, with Paul Whitehead (worked with Genesis, Van der Graaf Generator, Le Orme), were finalising artwork for the third album (both worked on In Extremis). The album, entitled Giants, is now out digitally (on Bandcamp or Amazon UK), on CD and vinyl. The band is self-releasing the album: the LP release, a 180g colour or black 2LP, is dependent on sufficient pre-orders. A loose concept album, tracks include "Giant" and "The Common Thread" (written by Sherwood). Sherwood performs drums, bass and vocals, and the album also includes two guests: Colin Moudling (ex-XTC) sings lead and co-wrote lyrics on "Goes by Gravity"; and Durga McBroom (works with Dave Kerzner, worked with Pink Floyd) provides vocals on "Witness the End of the World". In promo for the album, Samzadeh said he was now also working on "a side project with Billy Sherwood". Sherwood said in a Jan 2019 interview that he is producing a solo album by Samzadeh. Sherwood, Samzadeh and Zal Cleminson (ex-Nazareth) all guest on Stewart Clark's And Then There was Me..., released 1 Nov 2019 on Bandcamp digitally and, with an additional track, on CD. The album was produced by Clark and John Hannon. Sherwood at least plays bass on "A Drive to the Ocean", which was also included on the cover disc of the Jun 2020 issue of Prog (#110). |
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Sherwood has been working with the Sonic Reality music
software development company, founded by Dave Kerzner
(working with Steven Wilson, worked with Jon Anderson),
including with Sonic
Elements, a.k.a.
the Sonic Reality Progressive Rock Project. The project entails
plans to release various pieces of music with various guests,
some covers (including of Yes, Genesis and Rush), some original,
but where some of the instrumental tracks are also available
through Sonic Reality's sample libraries. With other Yesmen
involved, see on the main page for
details. Sherwood was also on Kerzner's solo albums New
World and Static. In a Feb 2019
Instagram post, Kerzner said, "Making more plans to work
with Billy Sherwood this year [2019] including some live shows."
In Jun 2019 came news of a new project with Sherwood and Jon
Davison, see
on the main page for details.
Sherwood plays on The McBroom Sisters' Black
Floyd, also involving Kerzner. The McBroom Sisters are
Durga and Lorelei McBroom, who both worked with Pink Floyd. The
album mixes Pink Floyd covers and original material co-written
with Jon Carin (worked with Pink Floyd, Roger
Waters, David Gilmour, Bryan Ferry, The Psychedelic Furs),
Guy Pratt (worked with Pink Floyd, David Gilmour,
Bryan Ferry, Madonna, Sophie Ellis-Bextor), Lemmy
Kilmister (Motörhead), Paul Litteral (worked with The Power Station), Kerzner and
others. The McBroom sisters sing lead and backing vocals, with
further vocals from Kerzner, Louise Goffin, Lara Smiles and Emily
Lynn. Performing are Sherwood (guitars), David Domminney Fowler (The Australian Pink Floyd Show; guitars, keys,
drums), Fernando Perdomo (works with Kerzner, The
New Empire; guitars, bass), Randy McStine (works with Kerzner; guitars), Steve McElroy
(guitars), Kerzner (keys), Carin (keys), Jason Sawford (keys),
Dave Innis (keys), Paul Grant (keys), Ricky Howard (bass), Derek
Cintron (drums), Paul Bonney (drums), Litteral (trumpet), Mike
Kidson (sax) and Lili Haydn (violin). The album also uses the
Sonic Reality Nick Mason Drums library. The album was mixed and
mastered by Fowler, with additional recording, mixing and editing
by Kerzner, Tom Lord-Alge and Zach Ziskin. It was co-produced by
the McBrooms, Fowler and Kerzner, with executive producers Roberto
Zaninelli and Marc Balet. Tracks:
The album is available digitally from Bandcamp, with a physical release forthcoming.
Sherwood and older brother Michael guested on Kurt Michaels' Stones
from the Garden, now out. Billy is on 2 tracks (drums,
bass, vocals) and the late M
Sherwood (keys) is on 3. The title track features Michaels (Facebook,
Soundcloud),
the Sherwoods and Len Szymanski. A first single, "Relax...Nothing's
Under Control!", has been made available online, with a video on
YouTube. The song was performed by Michaels (guitar,
vocals), B Sherwood (backing vocals), Szymanski (drums,
percussion), Annie Carlson (vocals), Jeffrey Abbott (piano), Chris
Ussery (keys), Dennis Johnson (bass), and Amanda Lehmann (works with Steve Hackett; backing vocals).
Michaels said
on Yesfans.com that, "the plan is to release a few singles
to raise the money to manufacture some cd and vinyl versions."
Billy also guests on the instrumental "The
Answered Prayer" (3:37) on the new, 7-track Projekt Gemineye
album, In
the Year 3073 - Book II. (Lee
Pomeroy also guests.)
Sherwood and Jon Davison may join Leon Alvarado for a new
project called White Car: see
details on main page.
Sherwood was producing his partner, Elisa Furr's
debut album. Late Nov 2018, they wrote "Step Out of the
Shadows", the first song for it, as shown
on Facebook. Furr, singing lead vocals, played a Las Vegas
"birthday
bash" on 12 Apr 2019. The set included "Tell Me
Something Good" with Sherwood (bass), Kenny Davidsen
(keys, vocals), Jason Ebs (guitar, vocals), Janea Chadwick
Ebsworth (vocals) and Scott Bihlman (drums). Furr's Tribute to
Celine [Dion] show is available for booking, with a backing band
of Sherwood, Schellen, Guy Allison (World Trade)
and John Thomas (worked with Vixen).
In Aug 2019, Sherwood was mixing a release by AmuZeum.
Scott Walton, who was in Sherwood's live band for 2016 shows, uploaded a video to YouTube of a song called "The Last Flame" in Apr 2018, written by himself and Sherwood, performed by Walton (keys, vocals) and Sherwood (drums, bass, guitar), mixed by Walton and produced by Sherwood. In Jun 2019, Walton uploaded another, "One Step Back", with both Sherwood (on at least guitar, I think) and Tony Kaye (keys).
Sherwood appeared on John Wetton's solo album Raised in Captivity, which is included in the forthcoming An Extraordinary Life box: see details on main page.Any news, additions or corrections, please e-mail Henry Potts. Thanks.