This page last updated: 27 Jun 2018
Sherwood is in Yes: news on the main
page. Following John Wetton's death, he also joined Asia:
see under Asia
for details.
| Solo
work Sherwood is doing music clinics, with Q&A sessions, in and around Yes's summer tour: dates include on 3 Jun (Chicago, IL) and 20 Jun (San Jose, CA). Sherwood is working on one or more new solo albums. In early Jan 2018, he mentioned on Facebook working on a new song called "Sky Writer", although he did not specify what project it was for at that stage. The next month, he described on Facebook recording drums himself for what was then called Citizen 2. (2015's Citizen was Sherwood's most recent solo album—details in the Yescography.) 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 and tracks:
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The original line-up of World Trade reunited
and Unify was released 21 Jun 2017 in Japan (King
Records, KICP-1852), 7 Jul in the US and 4 Aug in Europe
(Frontiers Music Srl). The band are Sherwood (bass, vocals),
Bruce Gowdy (guitars), Mark T Williams (brother
of Joseph Williams; drums) and Guy Allison (keys).
Gowdy and Allison were already working together in Unruly
Child: see under Gowdy for
details. The reunion was announced Feb 2015: Sherwood
said online that the band had "just signed a record deal to
make another ‘WORLD TRADE’ record !!! After many moons we
are returning to the studio to create that sound once more."
Sherwood described the new album in Apr 2015 as taking a
"musical direction close to Toto's most recent releases and
90125/Big Generator-era Yes." In a Nov 2015
interview, Sherwood said the impetus for the new album
came from Derek Shulman, who originally signed the band to
Polydor in the 1980s and is now working with Frontiers. He
also said the band were planning to work further on the
album in Dec 2015-Jan 2016, having already recorded about
half of it. On Facebook on 16 Mar 2016, Sherwood said,
"Mixing the last song for "WORLD TRADE" this afternoon !!
[...] You would never know there was a 27 year gap between
records lol (from the original line up). Sounds like we
picked up right where we left off". In a 6
Apr Q&A, Sherwood said he was "finishing up a
World Trade album". Sherwood announced in Aug 2016 that the
album had been mastered by frequent collaborator Maor
Appelbaum. Tracks:
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Buy "The New Norm" as MP3
from Amazon (UK): |
Buy the album from Amazon
(US): |
The album was largely written by Sherwood and Gowdy. In an Aug 2017 interview, Sherwood explained it thus: "It's really 50/50 with Bruce Gowdy and I. Bruce handles the musical side and gets the arrangement together and the chordal structures and whatnot, then he'll present me with some music. As I'm listening to it I'll start to hear melodies and lyrics." Work had begun late in 2003 on a new World Trade album. In a Jun 2004 interview, Schellen says, "We [Sherwood and Schellen] have recently begun a new World Trade record with Bruce [Gowdy]", but the project stalled. In a Jan 2006 interview, Sherwood was asked whether World Trade is now defunct and replied, "It lives on in my mind and in Bruce Gowdy's mind and in Jay Schellen's mind. We talk about it, but life gets busy and it just doesn't seem like it's something we ever focus on. Two of the tracks on the new Conspiracy project [which in turn stalled and was subsequently abandoned] were written by Bruce and me with the idea that maybe we would start working on a new World Trade record. But Bruce got really swamped, and so did I, and it fell on the back burner. But those two tracks blend in perfectly, so there's a World Trade flavor to the new Conspiracy record." One of those Sherwood/Gowdy co-writes was "Gone All the Way", the song now appearing on Unify. An excerpt from the planned Conspiracy version of the song was available (around 2008) for download from Sherwood's website. Sherwood described the song as "a story of a man dreaming he is the only human left on earth after a nuclear holocaust, by the middle of the song he reailizes he in fact isn't dreaming, warmakers had finally "Gone All The Way"."
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).
Tribute
albums & related
Sherwood has been working on a Chris
Squire tribute album: see
details on main page.
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 has yet to emerge.
The Human Experimente is a King Crimson-related project from Jeffrey Fayman (Globus, ex-Empire) with Robert Fripp (King Crimson). They released a digital single of "21st Century Schizoid Man" with Maynard James Keenan (Tool; lead vocals) in late 2009. An album appears to be forthcoming, with Sherwood joining the collaboration. In Jun 2011 on Facebook, Sherwood said he had just finished mixing "21st Century Schizoid Man" with Fripp, Keenan, Gregg Bissonette (ex-Steve Vai, ex-David Lee Roth, ex-Toto, ex-Ringo Starr; drums) and Matt Bissonette (ex-Brian Wilson, ex-David Lee Roth, ex-Ringo Starr; bass), presumably a new mix of the prior single. Then in Jul 2011 on Facebook, he talked of mixing a version of "Epitaph" with Fripp, himself on drums and 5-string bass, and Fayman (drums).
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: see under
Banks for details.
Scott Walton, who was in Sherwood's live
band for 2016 shows, uploaded a video to
YouTube of a song called "The Last Flame", written by
himself and Sherwood, performed by Walton (keys, vocals) and
Sherwood (drums, bass, guitar), mixed by Walton and produced
by Sherwood.
Sherwood is guesting on The Sound
of Dreams by David Minasian & Friends, out Oct
2018. The album is by D
Minasian (worked with Camel, Andy
Latimer; piano, Mellotron, harpsichord, keys,
vocals) and Justin Minasian (guitars) with guests Sherwood
(bass, described by Minasian as playing on "a lot of" the
album), 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 written by D
Minasian/Hayward (Haslam on vocals), a song written by D
Minasian/Haslam, and another by D Minasian/Hackett.
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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 produced and mixed Alpha
Lighting System's second album, 836 (promo
video), which was recorded at Uncle Studios in
California. The album was released 11 Aug 2017 through
CDBaby and various digital sites. The Mexican band
consists of Alam Hernández (lead vocals, keys), Jaco
Jácome (bass, backing vocals), Joshua San Martín (guitar,
backing vocals) and Juan Gabriel Hernández (drums).
Tracks:
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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. Peter Banks
also contributed to the album before his death in Mar 2013,
while Rick Wakeman and Tony Levin
also guested. Sherwood is again co-writing/producing 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).
Sherwood is 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.
Any news, additions or corrections, please e-mail Henry Potts. Thanks.