This page last updated: 29 Apr 2022
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 was doing online clinics
and teaching, as he explained in this Apr
2020 Facebook post and this
one, but most of all this
one. He has opened his new Sherwood
Studios Online, saying:
The studio is open and operational. Anyone needing real drums, bass, gtrs, keys, vocals or mixing simply message me for details here at my FB page. File sharing makes it all doable from a safe social distance 😎 as I’m not touring nows a good time to help with any artists/bands looking for professional assistance. I love helping folks along thier musical journey 😇
| Solo
work Sherwood has been 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". In a Feb 2021 interview, Sherwood said, "I'm in the final stages of another solo album [...] called Pushing Into the Wind [...] there's a song called "Love Remains Real" [...] which is about [...] these people who have never seen each other, never touched [having met online] [...] but love remains as real as if you were there in person." (In a Feb 2021 appearance by Arc of Life on SOAL Night Live, Jay Schellen described recently working with Sherwood, which could be for this project.) In a Mar 2021 interview, Sherwood said, "It's basically ready to head over to mastering and bring it home. I just haven't had a moment to get on that because there's always stuff going on..." Back in Sep 2016 on Facebook, Sherwood described working on a song entitled "Until Further Notice", which was also the working title for a solo album. Another song was "Talking with Siri". In early Nov 2017, Sherwood shared video on Facebook of a drum session by Jay Schellen (working with Yes, ex-Asia, ex-World Trade) for that song. These are both now on Arc of Life. Late Sep 2015, Sherwood announced that he is working on another project, Earth and Science, consisting of 5 original songs by Sherwood and 5 covers, again to feature an array of guests. He said on 24 Sep 2015: "Back in studio production mode [...] It's early going but everything is tracked already, now I'm filling in the guest slots". However, further news of this project did not follow. |
#ad |
Tribute
albums & related
Sherwood appeared on "Pigs on a Wing 2" on the
Cleopatra Records release, Animals Reimagined
– A Tribute to Pink Floyd:
see
on main page for details.
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
Sherwood guests on a
2022 solo album from Dave Kerzner and also joins him in his
All Star Prog Band to play live: see
details on main page.
Sherwood is working on a solo album from David Paich (ex-Toto). In a Feb 2021 interview, Sherwood said he'd "recently been doing some sessions with Paich, doing some vocal things". In the Mar 2021 interview, Sherwood said, "I'm working with David Paich on some stuff for his solo album".
Beth Patterson's Singles
(Stone Groove Records) is a 13-track album released 26 Mar 2021,
with Sherwood guesting on 2 tracks. The project began as a
collection of covers, before being developed into a full album.
Tracks:
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 2020,
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. Due 26 Nov 2021 is Random
Dreams: The Very Best of David Minasian Vol. 1 (Golden
Robot Records, GOLDRRLP194) with remixed tracks from Random
Acts of Beauty and The Sound of Dreams. Due 1 Jun
2021 was a double A-side single, 'The Sound of
Dreams/Masquerade', with the former track being an edit from the
opening section of "The Sound of Dreams".
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.
|
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 Bills, who
have previously worked with The Pineapple Thief. Sherwood
again co-wrote/produced/arranged 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. 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 three guests: Colin Moudling
(ex-XTC) sings lead and co-wrote lyrics on "Goes
by Gravity"; Durga McBroom (works with
Dave Kerzner, worked with Pink Floyd) provides
lead vocals on "Witness the End of the World"; and Inid
Abiza provides backing vocals on "Spark". The band are
shooting a video for "Witness the End of the World". In
the Mar
2021 interview, Sherwood said, "I'm playing drums as
a de facto band member, if you will, with a band called
Days Between Stations. We're trying to gear up to record a
live DVD/Blu-ray for sale and possible stream." Samzadeh
and Fuentes were in rehearsals in Apr 2021, for planned
live shows with Sherwood (drums) and Jennifer Jo Oberle
(bass) later in 2021, but they didn't happen. The quartet
had previously rehearsed in Nov 2020. The set was expected
to include [SPOILERS—highlight to read] "Giants" and
"Eggshell Man". The
band have now announced a one-off live show/filming
session on 15 May 2022 in Los Angeles, CA. The band are
described as Samzadeh (guitars) and Fuentes Bills
(keys), with Scott Connor (CIRCA:;
drums, backing vocals), Jarad Lander (bass),
Persephone Godwin (backing vocals), Michelle Aragon
(vocals) and David Hussey (XNA; vocals).
Sherwood and McBroom are also billed on vocals as
special guests. The show will be recorded for
Blu-ray/CD/digital release. In promo for Giants, 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. Oberle mentioned on Facebook in 2019 recording
some vocals for a project with Sherwood and Samzadeh,
which she later referred to as the debut album by The
Settlements. Sherwood, Samzadeh and Zal Cleminson (ex-Nazareth) all guested 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). Sherwood also guested on bass on Clark's
forthcoming next album, Journeys. Sherwood is on
the song "There's No Place Like You". Other guests on the
album include Anne Claire. |
#ad |
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."
Sherwood and older brother Michael guest on Kurt Michaels' forthcoming
Stones from the Garden. 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!", was 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).
Second single, "Forever (So Completely)" (video),
followed May 2021, with B Sherwood and Lehmann. The full album
credits are Michaels (guitar, vocals), B Sherwood (drums, bass,
vocals), John Abbey (bass), M Sherwood (keys), Jim Gully (keys),
Ussery (keys), Abbott (keys), Kathie Mills (vocals), Carlson
(vocals), Lehmann (vocals), Cory Hance (vocals), Scott Williams
(bass), Bill Kavanagh (bass), Szymanski (drums, percussion) and
Ken Rupp (drums). 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 guested 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 guested on the album.)
All the tracks were written and arranged by Tiano, who was the
lead vocalist and main guitarist. Tiano also produced the album,
except for the tracks indicated above.
Sherwood mixed the debut, 6-track album New Beginnings
(Melodic Revolution Records)
from southern California band AmuZeum, who are
Michael Matier (Ten Jinn, ex-Heliopolis;
guitars), Matt Brown (Genesis tribute
band Gabble Ratchet, ex-Heliopolis; keys, vocals),
Mark Wickliffe (bass, vocals), Jerry Beller (ex-Heliopolis,
ex-Mars Hollow; drums, vocals) and Scott Jones (ex-Heliopolis; vocals). The album was
released 17 Apr 2020 and was produced by the band, and mastered
by Mike Bozzi. There are two promo videos: a radio edit of "Changing Seasons",
followed by "Naysayer".
"Naysayer" is also on the label's digital compilation album A
Year in the Revolution 2020,
released 1 Jan 2021.
Sherwood drums on "From
the Other Planet" and "True
Journey" from Digger. The song is otherwise performed by
Stefan Peetz (vocals) and Hilli Hill (guitars, bass, keys). It was
recorded by Stefan and Gerrit Peetz, Hill and Sherwood, and
mastered by Hill.
Sherwood and Jon Davison may join Leon Alvarado for a new project
called White Car: see details
on main page.
Sherwood was producing his then 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's Tribute to Celine [Dion] show was
advertising for bookings, 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.