Where are they now? - Chris Squire

This page last updated: 7 Jul 2010
 
YES and projects with several Yesmen
Jon
Anderson
Chris
Squire
Steve
Howe
Alan
White
Rick
Wakeman
Bill
Bruford
Tony
Kaye
Peter
Banks
Patrick
Moraz
Trevor
Horn
Geoff
Downes
Trevor
Rabin
Billy
Sherwood
Igor
Khoroshev
Anderson & Wakeman
Asia
CIRCA:
Yoso
Oliver Wakeman
Benoît David
Others associated with the band

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:

We're nearly 75 percent done. [...] Hackett is [...] a very good singer. We're doing a lot of harmonizing, and some of it is almost in the Crosby, Stills & Nash vein.

Work then proceeded slower than first planned. In a Jan 2009 interview, Hackett said, "[Squire]'s a busy man [...] but the internet's a wonderful thing [...] we can just ping MP3s across the pond." In a May 2009 interview, Hackett said of the project, "I'll be visiting the States soon to work with him and meet some guys who should be on the album." In another May 2009 interview, Hackett said, "I should be visiting Chris Squire sometime in August and we intend to write more material for our joint project."

The album was recorded in Hackett's home. Hackett revealed more of the band on the album in a Facebook post in Jul 2010: from his solo projects, there is keyboardist/recording engineer Roger King (worked with Gerard Johnson) and singer Amanda Lehmann, plus Jeremy Stacey (ex-The Syn, Sheryl Crow) on drums. In a spring 2010 interview, asked about recent work, J. Stacey said:

I did a Chris Squire/Steve Hackett session [...] which was a real honour for me because in my early years I was a Yes and Genesis fan. [...] There’s a ‘Prog’ element to it and I used some different drums, power toms which I don’t think I’ve ever recorded in my life, but it just seemed the right sound for this particular thing.

There appear to have been alternate plans for others on the album that were abandoned as the project developed. In an early 2008 interview in Eclipsed, Hackett described the line-up as including his brother John and that he would like to get Simon Phillips (ex-Toto, ex-Mike Oldfield, ex-Mike Rutherford, ex-U-Z) on drums. Phillips then appeared to have been confirmed and one Jan 2008 interview with him suggested he had already laid down tracks. In Aug 2009, it was reported that Squire had said Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) will be playing some drums on the album.

In a Jan 2010 US radio interview, Squire said the album "is on the brink of being finished" and "probably will be by the end of next month [Feb]". In a May 2010 interview, asked about the project, Hackett said: "We're very close to finishing a really exciting project that I'm extremely proud of." In an early Jun 2010 article, Squire said: "I just finished an album with Steve Hackett [...] I was just over in London putting the finishing touches on that, and that is going to be coming out soon. I am really proud of the album. So look out for that. It is going to be called "Squackett."" And in a late Jun article, he 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:
  1. "Fire on the Moon" [written by Hackett]
  2. "Nomads" [Hackett/Lehmann]
  3. "Emerald and Ash" [Hackett/King]
  4. "Tubehead" [Hackett/King]
  5. "Sleepers" [Hackett/King/Lehmann/Clabburn]
  6. "Ghost in the Glass" [Hackett/King]
  7. "Still Waters" [Hackett/Lehmann]
  8. "Last Train to Istanbul" [Hackett/King/Lehmann]
Performers on the album include Hackett (guitar, vocals (all tracks)), Squire (bass (1, 2)), King (keys, drum and other programming, engineer (all tracks)), Nick Beggs (Kajagoogoo, ex-Steve Howe, ex-Iona; bass, stick (2, 3, 5-7)), Anthony Phillips (ex-Genesis, worked with Camel and Mother Gong; 12-string guitar (3, 5)). Details in the Yescography.

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:

I've been working on that for the last year for my new album. I come up with musical moods, rhythm ideas, melody ideas, and lyrical ideas. Lyrics are always the toughest thing, to come up with something intelligent that also means something and can be motivational. I've been working hard over the last year to try to find new ways to come up with lyrics for songs. To a certain extent I've been successful with that in my new compositions, but you're gonna have to wait until it's finished to see if you like it or not.

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:

As for my solo album. Some, but not all, of the songs have been diverted to the project I'm working on with Steve Hackett.

I've been waiting to start production of my solo album with my friend and guitar player, Paul Stacey, who is finishing up on projects to which he was already pre-obligated. It will happen.

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.

So, obviously, I said YES (ahem...)

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."

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.

Other news
In mid-Nov 2007, Squire announced on his website that, "In the not too distant future, after delaying the project for awhile, I'm going to start work on my book which will cover my experiences, anecdotes, etc. over the last forty years".

In 2009, Squire was awarded the Honorary Medal of the Prime Minister of Armenia for his involvement in the 1989 Rock Aid Armenia projectsee under Downes for details.



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YES and projects with several Yesmen
Jon
Anderson
Chris
Squire
Steve
Howe
Alan
White
Rick
Wakeman
Bill
Bruford
Tony
Kaye
Peter
Banks
Patrick
Moraz
Trevor
Horn
Geoff
Downes
Trevor
Rabin
Billy
Sherwood
Igor
Khoroshev
Anderson & Wakeman
Asia
CIRCA:
Yoso
Oliver Wakeman
Benoît David
Others associated with the band

Any news, additions or corrections, please e-mail Henry Potts. Thanks.