This page last updated: 2 Feb 2012
 

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

Overview of the direction of Squire's career
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 in May 2012, with one song ("The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be") diverted to Yes's Fly from Here.

Squackett and other collaboration with Steve Hackett
After guitarist Steve Hackett (ex-Genesis, ex-GTR) played on Chris Squire's Swiss Choir, Squire guested on some of Hackett's solo albums—Out of the Tunnel's Mouth and Beyond the Shrouded Horizon—and the duo now have a collaborative rock album under the name Squackett due 8 May on Esoteric Recordings' new label Esoteric Antenna (other bands signed include Sanguiine Hum, Panic Room, The Reasoning, John Lees' Barclay James Harvest; Esoteric is an imprint of Cherry Red Records). In an Oct 2011 interview, Hackett had confirmed that the album is fully recorded and said it was just awaiting paperwork to be sorted out. Squire told Billboard (Jan 2012) that the project "is going to surprise a few people, I think." Two logo designs for the project appeared on online in Dec 2011, one saying Squackett and the other, Geneyes, although whether these will be used and whether they represent band or album names is unclear. A tour around autumn 2012 is under consideration.

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". These first recording sessions, around the end of 2007, were with Hackett, Squire and Simon Phillips (ex-Toto, ex-Mike Oldfield, ex-Mike Rutherford, ex-U-Z) on drums; their release was held up following legal issues around Hackett's divorce but have now seen the light on Hackett's latest solo album, Beyond the Shrouded Horizon (see below).

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:

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. In another late Jun 2010 interview, Squire said:

I was really determined to do a follow-up to 'Fish Out of Water' the last two or three years [...] 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

The album has 11 tracks and is confirmed as including a version of "Aliens are Only Us...". (ASCAP has a recent, but seemingly mistaken, listing for "Aliens are Only Us from the Future" credited to Steve Hackett alone.) In the Dec 2010 issue of Classic Rock Presents... Prog, Hackett says the album is complete but is uncertain about touring plans given he and Squire are both busy. He goes on:

The album is really good. All the obvious influences are there - it's reminiscent of early-to-mid period Genesis meets Yes, of course - but it also sounds quite romantic in places.

In an Aug 2010 interview, Hackett spoke at length about the project. He was asked whether the album would be progressive rock:

I think that parts of it are progressive, but I like to think there's more than that. [...] I think it's a songwriters' album as much as an instrumentalists' album. [...] some of the tunes have got, um, a very accessible kind of feel to them, but they weren't designed, initially, as something that was going to go... on this project. It's been a much more organic thing. Y'know, Chris had some ideas, I had some ideas, we combined them, um, we, y'know, extended them, shortened them, pruned them. And they went through various stages. And we wrote stuff together. There was stuff designed for an album of his. There was stuff designed for something of mine. And, y'know, we orientated towards the stuff that we liked best, from each other. But there'd be certain things on there that I think you'd be hard pushed to say... er, y'know, this is a combination of, of guys that come from Genesis and Yes. I think it's bigger than that. [...] We come to widen it over all of the, all of the genres. [...] there is no [...] lead singer along the lines of a Jon Anderson or a Peter Gabriel, or a Phil Collins. Something Chris said, he said, the combination of the two of us makes a really strong singer [...] The sum of the parts. [...] I'm very pleased with the way the vocals sound. [...] A lot of harmony singing [...]

one of the people he [Squire] works with is playing it to one or two record companies. We'll just have to see what they come back with. [...] I gotta feeling it's something that fans will like very much. In as much as you can ever say that because any record you make is a total shot in the dark.

Later in the interview, asked about touring Squackett, he replied:

That rather depends on record companies and whether they come back to us with a thumbs up or a thumbs down, and whether they understand, y'know, why we're doing what we're doing. [...] I don't know... Um... Chris is a great optimist. He assumes that we're gonna... have record companies falling over themselves to want to buy it. Because you'd think a combination of, y'know, our previous histories would speak for ourselves [...] but we are in a very cautious A&R climate [...] record companies don't have a lot of money these days.

In an Oct 2011 interview, Hackett said that at least half of the album sounds "exactly as if Genesis and Yes had collided back in the day and formed a band". Whereas in a Jan 2012 interview, Hackett had this to say:

Obviously, there is a certain amount of our two histories involved with it but, in the main, it was written very quickly between the two of us. [...] I always loved Chris’ bass sound and the whole vocal approach [in Yes], which was largely harmony based. So when we worked on this record, [...] we decided that harmony vocals were going to be the thing. Chris and I both grew up listening to the Beatles and the Who, and there were some great harmony bands around at the time. That’s how we went at it. [...]

It’s a fun thing. That’s the plan. We’ve got that title, so surely no one buying something called Squackett would assume it to all be intense opuses. One day, for instance, Chris was in my studio and he had a new bass, and he wanted to try it out. He started playing something, and I said: ‘That sounds like an interesting riff. Can you do that again? Because I think I can turn that into a tune.’ So, that became the basis for second tune, which is called “Tall Ships.” It was all very natural. We didn’t stand in each other’s way. We didn’t go: ‘Oh, that’s a terrible idea. [...]’ It was a case of, ‘Well, that’s your idea; let’s relate it to this idea.’ [...] I’m sure it’s going to be different from what [people] expect – because they probably think: ‘[...] Genesis meets Yes. Everything is going to be in 19/5, and it’s all going to be finely clothed.’ But it’s not like that. It’s a very melodic album, with a selection of surprisingly gentle songs at times.

In the Billboard interview, Squire said, "Our voices blend really, really well, so there's quite a bit of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young-type harmony stuff [...] as well as some pretty heavy-duty bass and guitar playing."

In a Sep 2008 interview, Squire had 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,  Hackett said, "hopefully there'll be some shows soon, schedules permitting!" Hackett played a piece from the collaboration, "Storm Chaser", on his Mar 2009 Italian tour. In the Billboard interview, Squire said they have talked about touring in autumn 2012 with a set list based on the album but also including songs from Fish Out of Water, Beyond the Shrouded Horizon (Hackett's recent solo album on which Squire guests—see below) and further material from Hackett. The Mar 2012 Classic Rock says, "A tour is scheduled for the autumn."

Meanwhile, Squire has appeared on two of Hackett's solo albums. Hackett's rock album, Out of the Tunnel's Mouth was released first 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 plus an extra studio track ("Every Star in the Night Sky"). Produced by Hackett/King. Hackett (guitar, vocals) and King (keys, drum and other programming, engineer) are on the whole album, with guests of Squire (bass—first two tracks only), Nick Beggs (Kajagoogoo, ex-Steve Howe, ex-Iona; bass, Stick), Anthony Phillips (ex-Genesis; 12-string guitar). Details in the Yescography.

1. "Four Winds: North" [S Hackett/King] (1:34)—with Hackett, King, Squire, Phillips (originally from the end of "Turn This Island Earth")
   
2. "Four Winds: South" [S Hackett/King] (2:35)
   
3. "Four Winds: East" [S Hackett/Fenner] (3:34)
   
4. "Four Winds: West" [S Hackett/King] (3:04)
   
5. "Pieds en L'Air" [Peter Warlock] (2:25)
   
6. "She Said Maybe" [S Hackett/King] (4:21)
   
7. "Enter the Night" [S Hackett/King/J Hackett] (3:59)—with Hackett, King, Squire, A Lehmann, O'Toole (a new version of the piece previously known as "Depth Charge" and later "Riding the Colossus")
   
8. "Eruption: Tommy" [Thijs van Leer (Focus)] (3:37)
   
9. "Reconditioned Nightmare" [S Hackett] (4:06)
   

The album reached #133 in the UK.

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, with one song, "The Man You Always Wanted Me to Be", going to Fly from Here. It now appears unlikely that this solo project 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.

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

1. "Don't Bang the Gun"
2. "Walk Away" (with Squire)
3. "Lets Go" (with Michael Carr)
4. "The World is All About Her"
5. "Stop the Messenger"
6. "Earth Ballad" (with Squire, Karyn Sarring)
7. "The Best of Both Worlds"
8. "The Road That Never Ends"
9. "I Will"
10. "Numb"
11. "Womanchild"
12. "Waiting" (with Dave Tucciarone, Sarring)
13. "Ill be There for Christmas"
14. "Goodbye"
15. "Breakfast in Bed"
16. "Its Good to be Home"
    

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; guitar), Jeremy Stacey (ex-The Syn, Sheryl Crow; drums) and the English Baroque Choir (main vocals; musical director: Jeremy Jackman (Andrew Jackman's brother)).

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. 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.

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