Where are they now? - Chris Squire
This page last updated: 1 Jul 2009
On this page: New solo album - work with Steve Hackett - 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.net; MySpace page; Official Chris Squire store
Overview of the direction of
Squire's
career
The Squire family has temporarily moved to Arizona while Yes tour the
US (see main page), but are
planning to return to the UK. While in the UK previously, Squire wrote
material now being used in a number of ways. After leaving The Syn, in
2007 he
worked on demos for a yet-to-be-released solo album
with Gerard Johnson
and Paul Stacey. At the end of that year, he recorded Chris Squire's Swiss Choir with
Johnson, Steve Hackett and others. He then started on material with Steve Hackett in
2008, including using some of the 2007 songs. That project is due
2009. Some material is now planned for Yes.
In early Feb, Squire was rushed
to hospital with an unspecified "medical emergency", leading to the
cancellation of the remainder of the In the Present tour; a full
recovery is expected. More details
on the main page.
On 18 Apr 2009, Squire performed at a John Lennon tribute event for
charity with Alan White and
Trevor Rabin (details on
main page), which will
be
his first live work since the emergency. My best wishes
to Chris at this time.
Collaboration
with
Steve Hackett
Squire guests on a forthcoming solo album from guitarist Steve
Hackett (ex-Genesis,
ex-GTR) and the pair are 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 a collaboration. In
an early
Nov 2008 interview, Squire explained, "Following on from [Swiss Choir], 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 "The Hackett/Squire project doesn't yet have a
name, although people are already calling us the Squacketts, which was
an idea Chris' wife Scotty came up with!" In
an early 2008 interview in German magazine Eclipsed, Hackett described the
line-up as
also being with his brother John
and that he would like to get Simon
Phillips (ex-Toto, ex-Mike Oldfield, ex-Mike
Rutherford) on drums. Phillips was subsequently
confirmed and
one Jan
2008 interview with him
suggested he had already laid down tracks. In the Feb 2009 interview,
Hackett
said, "It's difficult to fully describe an unfinished project as more
musos come on board, but I can confirm that it's really exciting [...]
We're sending stems to a famous drummer at the moment, so the ball's in
his court whilst we wait for its return."
An
announcement from Hackett's website
about a joint Dec 2007 radio appearance read, "If we're lucky [...]
there may be an
exclusive advance playing of a new Hackett rock track featuring Chris
on bass - this can't be guaranteed though!" In the end, the piece
wasn't played. In a Sep 2008 post on
Yesfans.com, Squire said that some of the songs he had been
working on for his next 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 on the In the Present tour by
Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White of Yes (see main page).
In an Oct
article, Squire said:
New solo album
Squire was working on a new solo album with Gerard
Johnson (Funky Monkey,
St
Etienne, ex-The Syn, ex-Peter
Banks), Paul Stacey
(The
Black Crowes, ex-The Syn,
ex-The Lemon Trees,
worked with Oasis) and
Jeremy Stacey (ex-The
Syn, Sheryl Crow, ex-The Lemon
Trees). The album was being
recorded
at Stacey's Strangeways studio for release on Stone
Ghost. 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."
In
Oct
2007, Squire
blogged that he
"will resume recording my
second solo album in November". 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
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 to have
been delayed since 2007, initially in part because of P.
Stacey's other commitments, with some material being diverted to a
collaboration with Steve
Hackett, see
above. In Sep, Squire posted
to Yesfans.com:
One song from these demos,
"Aliens are Only Us from the Future", is being played live on the
current tour by
Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White of Yes (see main page). Live, the song is
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)). Most
of the arrangements are by
Squire/Johnson, with Jackman also involved in arranging the choir.
Greg Jackman (Andrew
and
Jeremy's brother; worked with Yes, Patrick
Moraz and
on Fish Out of Water)
recorded
and mixed the album, which was produced by Squire/Johnson.
The album is available
online from the Squires directly, through
various
online retailers or as a digital download through
the usual sources. Tracks:
"Adam Lay Y'bounden", "I Saw Three Ships"
(baritone solo by Squire), "O
Come, O Come Emmanuel", "Silent
Night/Night of
Silence" (baritone solo by Squire),
"Ding Dong Merrily on High" (with new material by Squire/Johnson), "The
Three Kings", "Sans Day Carol",
"Personent Hodie", "Sussex
Carol", "Gaudete",
"In The Bleak Midwinter"
(tenor solo by Squire),
"Past 3 O'Clock" (arr. by
Squire/Johnson/J. Jackman), "Run
with the Fox" (adaptation of the 1981 single by
Squire and Alan White, adding a
choir to the original recording). Samples can be heard at
ChrisSquire.net and
at the Market
site. There is an accompanying single release
of "Gaudete" b/w "Run with the Fox" (Stone Ghost/Lime Records). This is
a digital release only, available through Yahoo! Music
and Zune.
Ahmet
Ertegün memorial show
Squire played at the Ahmet Ertegün
memorial show in London on
10 Dec, in a band with Alan
White (tympani), Keith
Emerson (ex-ELP; keys)
and Simon Kirke (ex-Free,
Bad Company; drums).
The line-up played ELP's version of "Fanfare
for the Common Man", including elements from "the fish". Plans
for Rick
Wakeman to be involved too were
scuppered by the re-scheduling
of the event—see details
on main page. Asked on his
website
about working with Emerson again, Squire said (1 Jan 2008), "[W]e'd
like to
after that experience. That project was definitely a
good experience for both of us, so we wouldn't rule that out."
Stone Ghost Records and Fish
Out
of Water re-release
Squire and his wife Scotland
Squire have formed his own record label, Stone
Ghost Entertainment Ltd.,
which will be releasing the new albums described above and has
re-released
Fish
Out of Water. 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
by Tom Dowd), while the second disc is a DVD (Region free; in both PAL
and NTSC) with promo videos for "Hold Out Your Hand" and "You By My
Side",
a 41 minute
interview
with Squire by Jon Kirkman
and a 53 minute
commentary by Squire (co-filmed by Gerard
Johnson). The CD audio has been remastered
from the original master tapes. (The album, without any extras, was
previously
re-released in the US by Wounded Bird Records—see
here.)
Squire's
1981 single with Alan White, "Run with
the Fox", was included as a bonus track on the Japanese release of White—see
under White for details. (A
revised version released on Chris
Squire's
Swiss Choir can also be heard at ChrisSquire.net.)
Jim McNeill has recorded a
piece, "Homage", to Squire; available on his MySpace page.
Any news, additions or corrections, please e-mail Henry
Potts. Thanks.