In an
Apr 2013 Q&A for YesWorld, Squire laid out his immediate
future: "I'm very tied up with my work with YES, and possibly
another album with Steve Hackett, which could also come down the
pipe in the next couple of years."
Solo work Bass Player magazine presented Squire and Aston
Barrett (Bob Marley & The Wailers) with
Lifetime Achievement Awards on 20 Oct 2012 in Hollywood, CA. There
was an accompanying
concert including sets by Squire and Barrett. Performing
with Squire were Jon
Davison (Yes; lead
vocals, tambourine), Taylor
Hawkins (Foo
Fighters; drums), Johnny Bruhns (ex-CIRCA:,
ex-Yoso; guitar, backing vocals), Matt Brown (worked
with CIRCA:, keys, backing vocals), Claudio Pesavento (worked
with Squire before; keys). Set: "Hold Out Your Hand/You
by My Side", "I've Seen All Good People", "Owner of a Lonely
Heart", "Roundabout". Billy Sherwood was among those in the
audience. Squire also hosted a clinic the next day.
SquackettOfficial site
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 (see below
for details)—and the duo then made a collaborative rock
album as Squackett on Esoteric Antenna, a label of Esoteric
Recordings, part of Cherry Red Records. The album, A Life Within a Day, was
released Jun 2012. In the UK, that means digitally and in 3
physical formats: standard CD (EANTCD 1002), limited edition vinyl
(EANTLP 1002), and limited edition 2-disc deluxe edition (EANTCD
2002) with hardback cover and a 5.1 Surround bonus DVD (not region
encoded). US release was the regular album only, with a separate
catalogue number, manufactured and distributed by MVD.
The deluxe and vinyl versions are not receiving a US release:
Esoteric recommend you use hackettsongs,their
website or usual mail order suppliers for these.
There is also an Australian release through Select Audio-Visual
Distribution. Import copies are available in Japan. Several
retailers in the US and UK, including Amazon, made the digital
version of the album available on 28 May, which had been the CD
release date until a last minute delay to 4 Jun (due to a problem
at the factory pressing the deluxe edition). However, these were
then withdrawn. The album then had a regular digital release.
"Aliens" [Hackett/Squire/King/Healy (Hackett
says Squire wrote the lyrics)]
(5:32) (previously played live by Yes)
"Sea of Smiles" [Hackett/Squire/King] (5:25)
"The Summer Backwards" [Hackett/Squire/King (although Hackett said here
that he also had input from
his wife on the lyrics)]
(3:01)
"Storm Chaser" [Hackett/Squire/King] (5:27)
(previously played live by Steve Hackett in 2009)
"Can't Stop the Rain"
[Hackett/Squire/King/Johnson/Sessler] (5:47)
"Perfect Love Song" [Hackett/Squire/King/Johnson (chorus lyrics by Squire, rest of
lyrics by Hackett)] (4:04)
Performed by Chris Squire (bass, vocals), Steve Hackett
(guitars, vocals, harmonica), Roger King (Steve
Hackett, worked with Gerard Johnson; keys,
programming), Jeremy Stacey (ex-The Syn, Noel
Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Sheryl Crow; drums),
Amanda Lehmann (Steve Hackett; backing
vocals), plus on "A Life Within a Day", Christine Townsend
(violin, viola), Richard Stewart (cello), Dick Driver
(double bass); produced and mastered by King. Artwork and
design is by Xu Bing, with photography by Maurizio &
Angela Vicedomini. (Hackett, King, Squire, Lehmann,
Townsend, Stewart, Driver and M Vicedomini all worked on Beyond
the Shrouded Horizon.)
A single edit of "Sea of Smiles" (4:21), backed with
"Perfect Love Song", preceded the album. This came first
as a limited edition (2000 copies) 7" vinyl single ("Sea
of Smiles" (45 edit) b/w "Perfect Love Song"; EANTS 1001)
as part of International
Record Store Day in the UK on 21 Apr. A digital-only
single was then released on 21 May.
On 22 Jun, the album was #56 on US Amazon (#39 in Rock,
#56 in Pop). On 5 Jun, it was #137 on UK Amazon (#32 in
Rock). On 29 May, it was #1 in Classic Rock MP3 Albums on
UK Amazon, #13 in Rock, and #64 in all MP3 Albums. It was
#1 in Progressive Rock MP3 Albums on US Amazon repeatedly
in May/Jun and #6 in Classic Rock on 30 May. Hackett
tweeted that the album entered the UK Independent Album
chart at #23 (I think this may have been the midweek
chart). The regular release of the album was the top
selling Cherry Red Records title in Jan-Sep 2012, with the
deluxe edition being the third best selling.
Both Squire and
Hackett brought material to the project. Squire brought 3
songs—"Aliens", "Can't Stop the Rain" and "Perfect Love Song"—that
date back to plans
for a Squire solo album in 2006/7, some co-written by Gerard
Johnson (co-wrote "The Man You Always Wanted Me to
Be", The Electric Opera/Funky Monkey, St
Etienne, ex-The Syn, ex-Peter Banks) and Simon
Sessler (co-wrote "The Man
You Always Wanted Me to Be", works with Chris Kimsey, worked
with IQ, Terry Reid, Francis Dunnery).
Hackett brought "Storm Chaser" and "Divided Self" among other
pieces (presumably also "Sea of Smiles" and "The Summer
Backwards"); in a Jun 2012
interview, Squire said he first played on "Divided
Self" when it was to be a Hackett solo piece, before its inclusion
in the Squackett project. "A Life Within a Day" and "Tall Ships"
were specifically written for the album. An article in the May
2012 issue of Prog (#26) explains how "Tall Ships" began
with a bass riff from Squire; Hackett then "added a guitar phrase,
the lyric and the chorus tune, while Squire provided the verse
melody." In the Jun 2012
interview, Squire described the piece beginning
with a riff, that King recorded. He then goes on to say that King
and Hackett then built a demo around that recording, adding a
chorus, and then all three of them worked on the vocal line and
lyrics. In the May 2012 article, King explains, "I did most of the
arrangements with Steve and Chris' approval." Hackett talks about
how they both brought music to the project and how the credits
were decided in this exchange in a Jun
2012 interview at MWE3.com:
mwe3: So “Aliens” is kind of a
co-write?
SH: No. That track originally is something that was written by
Chris, but obviously I contributed to the arrangement that you
hear on the record. And many things were written face to face
but some[ ]things were already written and in some cases, some
were already recorded. But, you know, as soon as someone starts
contributing their part to something, they become part of the
writing process. At least that’s the way we used to do it in
Genesis, in the early ‘70s.
At first we gave each other the
pick of material we’d been working on, and reviewed that
together. We spent time together socially, which was very nice.
Our wives got on well. A lot of the album was recorded in the
living room I’m calling you from. In a way, it was an
anti-studio album. We recorded some bass parts and drums in the
studio, but most of it was recorded in a domestic environment.
We did a lot of writing face to face.
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
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. [...] 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.
Touring was discussed, but didn't materialise. In the Billboard interview, Squire
said they had 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." In a May
2012 interview, Squire, talking about Jeremy
Stacey, said, "hopefully he'll be able to come and play with
Squackett when we eventually get some live dates scheduled." The
May 2012 Prog quotes both men on the possibility of
touring: Hackett said, "I would like to think that there's time in
the midst of our busy schedules to play live together, [b]ut I
don't want to make promises I can't keep." Squire: "There's a
possibility that around September, October [2012] we'll do
Squackett live, [b]ut we haven't pinned anything down." A May
2012 interview with Squire says the group are
"planning on touring England in the fall, and they might expand
that into a broader European tour." It then quotes Squire to say
that the set list will not include any Yes or Genesis, drawing
instead on Fish Out of Water and Hackett's solo career in
addition to A Life Within a Day. A joint
Jun 2012 interview has this in response to the
touring question:
Hackett: I certainly hope so.
I’m looking forward to the time when we’re able, in the midst of
our busy schedules, to be able to do this stuff live.
Squire: I believe the fall is
the time we’re focusing on, but it’s most likely going to start
off in Europe, I think. We’re looking at offers right now but
nothing is confirmed. We’re looking at doing some work in
England and we’re getting inquiries about Germany as well. So
we’re more likely to put our toes in the water and test it out
over there. The U.S., we’ll have to fit that in sometime next
near. We’ll see how it goes.
In another interview
published Jun 2012, asked about touring and possible set list
choices, Squire said:
if we do live shows, and [...] Steve and I have talked
about it [...] We have the material on the Squackett album but
to fill out the rest of the show I would like to do some live
Fish Out of Water stuff, which has never been done. I
did a video with Billy Sherwood a few years back doing a
couple of the tracks. I'd like to be able to do more as part
of the Squackett show. Steve has a wealth of material from the
various albums to fill out the Squackett show. I don't think
we'll be doing anything with Genesis...maybe we'll throw
something in.
In the early Jun
2012 interview at MWE3.com, Hackett says: "I hope there will
be shows, but it depends on our availability's amidst busy
schedules! DVD sounds like a good idea..."
As for the future of the collaboration, the May 2012 Prog quotes Squire: "I think
the degree of success Squackett achieves will decide that" and the
article goes on:
But Squire thinks that there is
probably space in his schedule to do so: "Steve Howe and Geoff
Downes have Asia, which means I'm going to have time to do
something on my own."
In the joint Jun 2012 interview, asked about a second Squackett
album, Hackett replied: "I hope there will be that, too." And in
the other Jun interview, asked about 'Squackett 2', Squire
replied:
Yes, I'm sure as this album does well, there will be
pressure from the record company to do another project and I
don't see why that wouldn't happen because Steve and I enjoy
the creative process together and I'm sure we'll be happy to
work on some material in the future.
In a Jan
2013 interview, Squire said: "I'm sure at some point, Steve
and I will probably want to do another one." In an Apr
2013 interview, Hackett said that Squire would like to do
another album and how he "had great fun" working with Squire on A
Life Within a Day. He continued, "The only problem is that
he lives in the States and I live over here [...] It's easier to
do an album than it is a tour".
In an Apr
2013 Q&A for YesWorld, Squire talked about, "possibly
another album with Steve Hackett, which could also come down the
pipe in the next couple of years."
History of Squackett
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.
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, "I should be visiting Chris Squire
sometime in August [2009] and we intend to write more material for
our joint project." The album was eventually recorded mostly in
Hackett's home (most of the album except bass and drums) or his
studio. In a spring
2010 interview, 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.
The album includes material with Hackett on lead vocals, and
material on which they share lead vocals. Plans that appear to have
been abandoned as the project developed include the involvement of
Steve Hackett's brother John
(described in an early 2008 interview with S Hackett) and Taylor
Hawkins (Foo Fighters)
on drums (Aug 2009 report from Squire).
I’ve just finished [the album] [...]
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
[...]
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.
Squire
guesting on Hackett's solo albums
Squire has appeared on two of Steve Hackett's solo albums. Out of the Tunnel's Mouth is detailed
in the Yescography.
Then
came Beyond the Shrouded Horizon
(InsideOut Music), available as a 2CD limited edition with a
bonus disc of 6 previously unreleased pieces and as a 1 CD
version. Squire plays bass on 3 tracks of the regular CD and
2 tracks of the bonus CD. These use material from 2007
sessions that became tangled in legal issues around
Hackett's divorce from Kim Poor (see above). Performing on
most of the album are Hackett (guitars, vocals, harmonica)
and Roger King (keys, programming), while others include
Gary O'Toole (drums, vocals), Rob Townsend (sax, whistle,
bass clarinet), Nick
Beggs (Kajagoogoo, ex-Steve Howe, ex-Iona; bass,
Stick, pink ukele), Amanda Lehmann (vocals, guitar), John
Hackett (Steve's brother; flute, vocals),
Christine Townsend (violin, viola), Richard Stuart (cello),
Benedict Fenner (keys, programming) and Dick Driver (double
bass). Most tracks were co-written by Steve Hackett, Roger
King and Jo Hackett (Steve's wife, Amanda Lehmann's
sister). Tracks:
"Loch Lomond" [S Hackett/King/J Hackett] (6:49)
"The Phoenix Flown" [S Hackett/King/J Hackett] (2:08)
"Wanderlust" [S Hackett/King/J Hackett] (0:44)
"Til These Eyes" [S Hackett/King/J Hackett] (2:41)
"Turn This Island Earth" [S Hackett/King/J
Hackett/Howe/Mover] (11:51)—with Hackett, King, Squire,
Phillips
Buy limited edition 2CD version from
Amazon (UK):
Buy limited edition 2CD version from
Amazon (US):
Bonus CD:
"Four Winds: North" [S Hackett/King] (1:34)—with Hackett,
King, Squire, Phillips (originally from the end of "Turn This
Island Earth")
"Four Winds: South" [S Hackett/King] (2:35)
"Four Winds: East" [S Hackett/Fenner] (3:34)
"Four Winds: West" [S Hackett/King] (3:04)
"Pieds en L'Air" [Peter Warlock] (2:25)
"She Said Maybe" [S Hackett/King] (4:21)
"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")
"Eruption: Tommy" [Thijs van Leer (Focus)]
(3:37)—previously available as a bonus track on another release
in Japan
"Reconditioned Nightmare" [S Hackett] (4:06)
Both writing credits for Howe and Mover reflect the use of the same
riff that came from a GTR piece. In a Nov
2011 interview, Hackett, talking about "Turn This Island
Earth", explained:
there was a riff that was
left over from GTR with Steve Howe and Jonathan Mover. It was a
great riff in 7/8 and I always wanted the band to develop it but
it didn't fit with any of the songs at the time, so we've done
it as a group and we've done it with orchestral style as well
and developed it [...] the influence of GTR. But it's nice to
use the influence when you need it and to leave behind what you
don't need.
Interviewer: On your website, you mentioned
that the new album is a sequel to Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth. How so? [...]
Hackett: I did,
because all of the material was recorded at the same time, in
parallel. I wasn’t able to finish those pieces at the time. So
it’s a bit like working on separate canvases at the same time.
Also, I had other things going on in my life — litigations,
contesting the rights of some of those tracks. I’d put some of
them to the side.
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. 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
material will have a life of its own. As for his solo album plans,
asked in a May
2012 interview about a follow-up to Fish Out of
Water, Squire said:
What seems to happen is every
time I’ve sat down and been disciplined with myself and written
new material, I’m thinking it’s going to go in that direction
and then something else has come up, like the Squackett project.
[...] So it might be best that there will never be a follow up
to Fish Out Of Water…
never say never… but we’ll see what happens . I do want to say
that [the late] Andrew Jackman and his arrangements had a lot to
do with the appealing of that album.
I've been trying to make a follow-up [to Fish Out of
Water] for years, but the material always gets diverted
for other projects [...] But the chances of that happening
again in that way is unlikely because a lot of the flavor and
the orchestral arrangements [...] were done by my dear friend
Andrew Jackman and he is no longer with us. [...] I think I'll
not attempt to do a Fish Out Of Water 2. I might
stumble upon another way to do it at some point.
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 Squackett. 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.
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."
Collaborations & guest
appearances Squire is guesting on Billy Sherwood's forthcoming
The Prog Collective project and a Supertramp tribute album organised
by him too—see details under Sherwood.
In an interview,
published Jun 2012, Squire said: "There are offers for us to do a
third Conspiracy album. At the moment, my hands are a little full
because of [Yes touring and Squackett]".
In Arizona, 19-25 Sep 2010, Squire recorded
parts for a guest appearance on some songs on an album by Abbey stJohn (Facebook, MySpace; a.k.a. Alvin Lorenzo Brazley
Jr.; ex-Stop, worked with Eddie Offord, Sidney Barnes);
a glimpse of the recording
sessions can be seen on YouTube. StJohn and Squire have been
friends since the 1980s and previously recorded together in 2003.
Entitled The Songwriter,
the album was released 21 May 2011 as
a digital download from his website. A more general release
may follow. Tracks:
"Don't Bang the Gun"
"Walk Away" (with Squire)
"Lets Go" (with Michael Carr)
"The World is All About Her"
"Stop the Messenger"
"Earth Ballad" (with Squire, Karyn Sarring)
"The Best of Both Worlds"
"The Road That Never Ends"
"I Will"
"Numb"
"Womanchild"
"Waiting" (with Dave Tucciarone, Sarring)
"Ill be There for Christmas"
"Goodbye"
"Breakfast in Bed"
"Its Good to be Home"
XYZ
In an interview for Rolling Stone published Nov 2012,
Jimmy Page (ex-Led Zeppelin) said that he has
multi-track recordings from the 1981 XYZ sessions with Chris
Squire and Alan White and that he would like to see these released
at some point. Squire's response to this came in a Jan
2013 interview:
Interviewer: Jimmy Page recently brought
up [...] the XYZ sessions [...] even suggesting the idea of
releasing some of it. Are you on board with that?
Squire: I wouldn’t have a problem. It was fairly
unfinished when we left it; it was pretty much in a demo form,
mainly. So it would require some more work. There were only four
tunes that were involved in that, so if there is an idea for a
serious release of it, there would have to be a little bit more
done on it.
[...]
Most of the material was songs I had written actually, although
Jimmy did contribute. [...] Yeah, we might try and revive it in
the future. We’d have to get together, of course, and welcome
it, but that wouldn’t be something I’d be opposed to.
While Squire refers to "four tunes" here and that's what has been
bootlegged, there have been past indications that there was
further material beyond those four. A Feb
2013 interview then has this exchange:
Interviewer: [Page] said that there are some
multi-track recordings that exist that he’d love to see come
out. Would the two of you have to do some additional work to
make that happen?
Squire: Probably, yeah. There are bass tracks and drum
tracks and guitar tracks, but there wasn’t much in the way of
overdubs. I did quite a few vocals and harmonies, but they
were somewhat rough. It was intended just really to be demos
that we were making anyway. So that’s where it got to really.
I know you can probably access that stuff — it’s out there on
the web and you can find it, but they are just really rough
mixes. How they got out there I’m not really sure, but that’s
the way those things happen. So yes, if we seriously did
anything with those, they’d need a little bit more work on
them.
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, Adele, Sheryl
Crow; drums) and the English
Baroque Choir (main vocals; musical director: Jeremy Jackman
(Andrew Jackman's brother)).
Other
news
Asked about plans for a Fish Out of Water Part 2 in the Apr
2013 Q&A, Squire answered:
There’s never really been a plan to do that. I
don’t think I would ever want to [...] do a followup to that
particular album as it stands very much in its own right.
However, I can tell you that there is a 5.1 mix of Fish Out of
Water which is in the completion stages at the moment and should
be available at some point this year.
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 an Aug 2012 Innerview,
Squire said he is working on his autobiography with
actor/musician/film-maker Vincent Gallo: "I'm doing interviews with
him and we're recording them. Vince and I have been good friends for
years. He's the godfather of my son. [...] the interviews involve me
just remembering stuff about my life. I think the project will take
a couple of years. We'll see how it ends up." On to Steve Howe news Return to Where are they now? front page Return to alt.music.yesFAQ
