Where are they now? - Chris Squire
This page last updated: 7 Jul 2010
On this page: New solo album - Squackett - 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.com (new site); MySpace page; Official Chris Squire store (not currently working)
Overview of the direction of
Squire's
career
After leaving The Syn, in
2007 Squire
worked on demos for a planned solo album
with Gerard
Johnson (The
Electric Opera, ex-The Syn, ex-Peter
Banks) and Paul Stacey
(The
Black Crowes, ex-The Syn,
worked with Oasis). At the end of that year, he recorded Chris Squire's Swiss
Choir with
Johnson, Steve
Hackett (ex-Genesis,
ex-GTR), Jeremy Stacey (ex-The Syn,
Sheryl Crow)
and Jeremy
Jackman (Andrew Jackman's
brother). Much of the 2007 material was then re-directed to
Squackett, a collaboration with Hackett due later this year.
Squackett
and further collaboration
with
Steve Hackett
Squire guested on guitarist Steve
Hackett's (ex-Genesis,
ex-GTR) solo
album Out of the Tunnel's
Mouth and the pair have been working on a collaborative rock
album.
Following
Hackett's
appearence on Chris
Squire's
Swiss
Choir, Squire did some work on a planned solo
project by Hackett and this developed into the collaboration. They have now recorded an album
together, with release expected by Sep 2010.
In
an early
Nov 2008 interview, Squire explained, "I went round to his
studio and played on some things for him that he had been working on I
think from a view to making a solo album. [...] he had been working on
a new project and asked me to join in on it. Once I became involved in
it, we started writing new material together and now it's developing
into another project, which I think, is collaboration and I think it's
going to be called Squackett." Hackett,
in a Feb
2009
interview, said, "people are already calling us the Squacketts,
which was
an idea Chris' wife Scotty came up with!"
In a Sep 2008 post on
Yesfans.com, Squire said that some of the songs he had been
working on for a solo album (see below)
"have
been
diverted
to the project" with Hackett. This includes "Aliens
are Only Us from the Future",
which in another form was
also played live by Yes (see main page).
In
an
Oct
2008
article, Squire said:
I’ve just finished an album with Steve Hackett and I’m very, very happy with it. It’s actually one of my greatest achievements I think. The best achievements, I’ve always found, are always when you’re working with someone else and of course when it’s with someone new, I guess it’s like a new relationship, so we really have made this work and we’ve just finished it so that’s going to be showing up in the next few months.
[...]
The amazing
thing is that Steve and I just work together so well and so naturally
and we sing together really well and the combination of our talent is
really something that doesn’t happen often so we’re both really pleased
with the outcome of the record.
The article
also reports that the band name will be Squackett, but that the pair
are deciding whether the album will be self-titled or not. Another late Jun
interview (published early Jul) says the album "should be released
within the next three months." It goes on:
Squire said he's never been able
to complete another solo album because all of the material he's written
has been diverted to Yes or side projects with other musicians.
"I was really determined to do a follow-up to 'Fish Out of Water' the
last two or three years," Squire said. "And I put all this material
together, and then I met Steve, and we ended up collaborating. A lot of
the music that was going to be on the solo album is now on this
collaboration with Steve Hackett."
In a Facebook
message on 20 Jul, Hackett said, "I don'e yet know when the 'Squackett'
album will be released - I'll certainly let everyone know when I know."
Touring in support of the album is also planned. In a Sep 2008 interview, Squire said they might perform some [SPOILERS—highlight to read] Fish Out of Water material. When it appeared the album would come out in 2008/9, there seems to have been plans for a European tour, possibly with a line-up of Squire, Hackett and Phillips. In a Feb 2010 article, Squire again talked of touring with Hackett and of playing Fish Out of Water material. In a May 2010 interview, asked whether he and Squire had discussed touring, Hackett said, "Yes we have and hopefully there'll be some shows soon, schedules permitting!" Hackett played a piece from the collaboration, "Storm Chaser", on his Mar 2009 Italian tour (I think this is it in this YouTube clip).
Hackett's new solo rock album, Out of the Tunnel's Mouth, on which Squire guests, was released in the UK on Hackett's own Wolfworks Records, available from his website. Worldwide re-release on InsideOut followed as a Special Edition with a bonus second disc with 5 live tracks from the spring 2009 Italian tour—"Blood on the Rooftops", "A Tower Struck Down", "Firth of Fifth", "Fly on a Windshield", "Broadway Melody of 1974"—plus an additional studio track ("Every Star in the Night Sky"). Produced by Hackett/King; tracks:Former solo album plans
Squire was working on a new solo album in 2006/7, co-writing with
Gerard
Johnson (The Electric Opera/Funky Monkey,
St
Etienne, ex-The Syn, ex-Peter
Banks) and Paul Stacey
(The
Black Crowes, ex-The Syn,
worked with Oasis), with a plan to record with
Jeremy Stacey (ex-The
Syn, Sheryl Crow) as well and release through Stone
Ghost. Material for around half an album appears to have been
developed, but this has been largely adopted into the Squackett project and it now appears unlikely
that it will have a life of its own.
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."
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
Oct
2007, Squire
blogged that he
"will resume recording my
second solo album in November". 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". However,
the project appears not to have progressed since 2007, initially in
part because of P.
Stacey's other commitments and then with material and focus shifting to
the Hackett collaboration. In Sep 2008, Squire posted
to
Yesfans.com:
One song from these demos,
"Aliens are Only Us from the Future", was played live by
Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White of Yes (see main page). Live, the song was
performed by Squire (bass, lead vocals), Oliver Wakeman (keys) and Benoît
David (backing vocals).
In Mar 2007, Jem Godfrey (Frost*, 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, in 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...)
Chris Squire's Swiss Choir
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)).
Stone Ghost Records and Fish
Out
of Water
Squire and his wife Scotland
Squire have formed their own record label, Stone
Ghost Entertainment Ltd. 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), while the second disc is a DVD with promo videos for "Hold Out
Your Hand" and "You By My
Side",
a 41 minute
interview
with Squire and a 53 minute
commentary by Squire. The CD audio has been remastered
from the original master tapes.
"Silently Falling" from Fish Out of Water has been used as the basis of the
single "Falling Down" by P-Money,
featuring
Milan
Borich,
released Jun 2010. "Falling Down" is also
included on P-Money's new album Everything, released on Dirty Records in New
Zealand and on Central Station in Australia. There is a video for the song.
In 2009, Squire was awarded the Honorary Medal of the Prime Minister of Armenia for his involvement in the 1989 Rock Aid Armenia project—see under Downes for details.
Any news, additions or corrections, please e-mail Henry
Potts. Thanks.