Where are they now?
Admin: about the site
News about the site and current issues - General information policy
Site news
20 Mar 2020: Thanks again to the Peter Banks Musical Estate
for continued cooperation. I hope all my readers out there are doing
OK in these difficult times.
27 Oct 2018: Thanks to the Peter Banks Musical Estate,
Andrew Booker and Geoff Bailie for CDs and help.
31 Jul 2018: Thanks to Luna and her excellent Rabin-esque blog for
continued great research on all things Trevor Rabin. Thanks also for
the shout out from Prog in this
news story.
16 May 2017: An angry email
recently from John
Vehadija, unhappy at a bad review of his album in the
Yescography. (Fair enough: it was a very bad review!) So, to
clarify: my editorial policy with the WATN pages is not to cast
judgement on the quality of the music. It's a news site. I report
what's being released or about a tour, etc., but whether
you'll like the result, caveat emptor. I think most of the
projects I cover are good—that's why I'm spending my time on the
website!—but a few of them are stinkers. Either way, I keep such
opinions off these pages. I do link to the Yescography,
another site I came to run. The Yescography accepts entries from
anyone. It has always included reviews along side facts. I have my
own opinions, likes and dislikes, which I'll write about in
Yescography reviews, my blog or elsewhere. Other people's
Yescography entries may include their opinions. Artists are very
welcome to get in touch with any corrections or comments about
either site... although I may not respond to the ones that tell me
to "f*** off".
10 Apr 2017: The mystery of what ARW are calling themselves
and how they can do it has been resolved: ARW are now Yes ft. ARW
because Anderson co-owns the Yes trademark. This looks like a
stalemate between the two bands rather than any sort of agreement.
I've re-jigged the site to reflect that there are two rival bands
called Yes, although there will be legacy text that just calls ARW
"ARW".
Unsurprisingly, we've seen a recent peak in traffic (442 and
counting for today [eventually reached 489]), although that is way
down on past peaks (see below). Is the page less popular than it
once was? A shift in online Yes fan activity to social media rather
than traditional webpages? Am I slower with breaking news and with
fewer exclusives?
10 Nov 2016: Note change of site email address to
bondegezou-at-googlemail.com
30 Jul 2013: I am aware that there are some problems in the
HTML such that certain sections show up in red when they shouldn't
on certain browsers/devices (on an iPad). I am looking into the
problem. Thanks to Days Between Stations and Sarastro Blake for the
CDs.
29 Jul 2013: In 1988, I went to university and met this
guy called Adrian Wrigley. He was friendly, inventive and had great
taste in music. He had a CD player, the first I'd seen, and we
played three CDs over and over: Rush's Hold Your Fire and Power
Windows, and Yes's 90125. That's why I am a Yes fan
today. I hadn't seen him in many years, but I recently discovered
that, sadly, Adrian passed away recently. In memoriam
Adrian.
22 May 2012: Here's a new
donate button if you'd like to contribute to the site's upkeep
costs.
20 Feb 2012: Another year,
another line-up change! Traffic peaked on 7 Feb with 1,551 unique
visitors and 3,512 page loads.
15 Jun 2011: Thanks to the YesWorld team for their
assistance, and for asking me to assist with the two recent Yes
quizzes. Also a belated thanks to Rob Ayling @ Gonzo for the ABWH re-release and Gong DVD.
And also thanks to everyone who has bought through Amazon via the links on the website.
It helps raise funds for the site's upkeep.
4 Jun 2011: First up, thanks
to various people who must remain nameless for assistance around the
new Yes album. Thanks also to 10T Records for more CDs. The latest
high in traffic was 1 Jun with 1,459 unique visitors and 2,649 page
loads.
12 Apr 2011: The news around
Geoff Downes replacing Oliver Wakeman broke in several stages, but
we had a recent high in traffic on 1 Apr with 1,404 unique visitors
and 2,458 page loads. This is still some way off the overall record
since using the current counter, which is 2,947 unique visitors and
4,822 page loads on 16 Jun 2010... although what happened on that
day, I can't remember! Meanwhile, thanks to people too numerous to
mention for sending me news and info.
10 Jan 2011: Some more
thanks! Thanks to Anil Prasad
for a copy of his "Innerviews"
book; thanks to 10T Records
for the CDs; thanks to Rob Ayling @ Gonzo for the "Union
Live" set; and thanks to the many of you who keep sending me news,
links to articles and so on. As ever, the site is what it is because
of your contributions.
By the way, some of you have asked to 'friend' me on Facebook. I'm
mostly keeping Facebook for friends I know "in real life" rather
than the wider world of online Yes fandom. However, please do add me
on MySpace and/or Twitter. [UPDATE (11 Apr
2011): I now have a Yes-specific Facebook account.]
11 Jul 2009: Thanks to Deborah Anderson and E-Rok for the copies
of Deborah's great debut album, Silence. Thanks also to Concert Live for the Rick Wakeman/Henry VIII live CDs. I'll
be attending the London Yes show in November (and Gong's show the
same month) if anyone wants to say hi!
13 Dec 2008: Thanks to
various people who have talked to me about their work: Peter Machajdík (my interview
with Peter is here), Tom Curiano
and Joe Luca. Thanks to Steve Nardelli for a guest
pass to the 1
Nov Francis Dunnery show, despite my ongoing skepticism about
The Syn's plans! Also, congratulations to Steven
Sullivan who is taking over running ForgottenYesterdays.com.
Finally, but by no means least, thanks to the numerous people who
have sent me news about the band and its members over the last few
months.
15 Sep 2008: There is some
uncertainty about whether the new line-up are describing themselves
as Yes or not. Without getting into an argument over whether they
should or should not call themselves Yes, for simplicity's sake, I
am covering news of the In the Present tour line-up in the Yes section.
10 Sep 2008: Well, I've
broken the news online of the new vocalist, Benoît David, after details were
confirmed at the Shepperton screening of "The Director's Cut" DVD
(and a big thanks to Marc Catchpole for his report from the
evening). The news has been picked up by Classic
Rock magazine's website, although the phrasing of the story
suggests they got the story from here, so I wouldn't take that as
independent confirmation! The DPRP news page
is also covering my report. The real announcement by the band is
expected in a few weeks. This is obviously a hugely controversial
step for Squire, Howe and White to take and I've waded into the
online debates on the issue, but I intend to keep the news page, as
ever, focused on informing fans as to what's happening rather than
casting judgement.
The news went up on Sunday 7 Sep. Subsequent traffic broke the
previous record from Mar: Monday 8 Sep saw 3,420 page loads and
1,709 unique visitors, while 9 Sep saw 3,283 page loads and 1,815
unique visitors.
1 Aug 2008: For those of you
who wonder what I do in between all this Yes stuff, I'm a lecturer
in health informatics at
University College London, so I
do things like this paper on
failings in Choose & Book, the electronic booking system
for outpatient appointments in the UK. Unique visitors to the site
had been over 900 every day so far this week with the ongoing
speculation around Yes's plans.
16 Jun 2008: Thanks to all
of you who have sent in donations! I've received 24 donations so
far, adding up to $430, which about covers all my web hosting costs
for the year. I'm taking down the PayPal donate buttons on the main
pages. Thanks again.
3 Jun 2008:
10th anniversary and site in
crisis!
Welcome back! And sorry for the site's absence this last week or so.
To cut a long story short, the site's traffic has been well over
what my Internet Service Provider allows for months now, and so they
suspended the site. We've been running at about 4-5GB per month compared to a 2.5GB
quota. I am pleased and honoured, and slightly dumbstruck, that the
site has become so successful, but do now face a problem. A problem
with a simple solution: money! I generally like my ISP, so I am
upgrading my account for an extra £11.75 (~$23) per month to an allowed quota
of 5GB per month. I've
also made some tweaks that should reduce data throughput, including
splitting off pages for Asia and for CIRCA: (and associated projects).
I run this site out of love, not for money. The site has some
adverts, mainly Amazon links. If you click on one of those, then
anything you buy on that visit should result in me getting about 4%
commission (at no extra cost to you). That's generated a bit of
money, about half of my previous account costs. This new expense is
a step up, so I'm looking at featuring adverts more prominently. I
will try to make sure this doesn't spoil the site's clean look or be
distracting. If you would like to support the site more directly,
I've set up an option for donations through PayPal (below and on the
front page). If I get enough donations to
cover costs, I'll say so here and stop accepting them. If you have a
burning desire to support the site through gifts of CDs or donations
away from PayPal, drop
me a line. That said, as ever, the way you can best support
the site is by sending in any news you have about the band: it is
that effort on the part of all my readers that really keeps the site
going.
[Old donate button no longer working]
In writing this, I realised that the site has passed it's 10th
anniversary. I don't quite know when I began the site, but I think
it was some time in 1998 and the earliest reference I can find is 1
May 1998. (If anyone remembers better, do tell me!) Here's to
another decade, and I hope another decade's worth of band and band
member activity to report on. It is very saddening that, just as the
site returns, the news breaks that Jon's health problems are so
severe that he will be unable to tour this summer. Here's hoping he
gets the better of his condition soon.
23 May 08: There were ten
more days with over 1,000 unique visitors, but site traffic has now
stabilised to somewhere in the 600s as we await the Yes tour.
Meanwhile, it appears that an extract from my review
of the Steve Howe Trio mini-tour last year has been included in
promo material for this year's tour with the same quote ("friendly
tension between Steve Howe's compositions and Yes lineage and the
hard bop jazz of Dylan and Ross. A stellar encore achieved a balance
between the prog rock dynamics of the original and the jazz styling
of the trio.") cropping up on several sites (e.g. Ronnie
Scott's).
11 Mar 08: Monday 10 Mar was
another new peak, with 2,124 page loads and 1,187 unique visitors. I
had expected that traffic would die down somewhat after the initial
tour news came out, but clearly not. We've been above 900 unique
visitors every day since 3 Mar.
9 Mar 08: And Friday 7 Mar
beat Wednesday's record with 1,842 page loads and 1,039 unique
visitors.
5 Mar 08: Wednesday 4 Mar
beat Tuesday's record with 1,788 page loads and, for the first time
I believe, over 1000 unique visitors (1,029).
4 Mar 08: Confirmation of Oliver Wakeman replacing Rick and
Jul/Aug dates for the Yes tour saw what is probably a record for the
site—1,772 page loads / 933 unique visitors—on 3 Mar.
19 Jun 07: Thanks to Kurt Michaels (who
supported The Syn on some 2006 dates)
for a copy of his new album Outer Worlds.
8 May 07: I've started a MySpace page as an
accompaniment to the site. Tony Kaye,
Billy Sherwood (as himself and
on behalf of CIRCA:), Peter Banks and Jimmy Haun have all left welcome
messages so far.
1 Apr 07: No April Fool's here, I've added an RSS feed to the site to make it easier
for you to keep track of breaking stories. [Since retired with a
switch to Twitter.]
11 Feb 07: I've added the first ever photos to the news
page: see here! While the site
will be remaining graphics-light, I couldn't resist adding a
couple of shots I took with my mobile phone at the 7 Feb 2007 The Producers show with Trevor Horn. Visitors to the site
continue to grow: the last 30 days saw an average of 1,076 page
loads per day for the site (or, at least, those pages to
which I've added the counter), with 554 unique visitors per
day.
- News from 2006 back to our
beginnings in 1998 is archived
here -
Information policy
Where Are They Now? is an unofficial site and I have no
official connection to the band: nothing I print is authorised, but
instead reflects the current state of play to the best of my
understanding. I cannot guarantee to always be accurate, so some
reports may turn out to not be true, while others will have become
out of date. Information is derived from a wide range of sources,
both found myself or forwarded from readers. I try to take into
account the reliability of the source of any information, to verify
that information elsewhere and then to write news items that reflect
my judgement of the accuracy of the news. At times, I will report
rumours (indicated as such) that I can neither confirm or deny, but
which have some plausibility. Because of a desire to be succinct,
shortness of time and occasionally confidentiality, I do not always
give explicit details of from where information came, although links
provided often reveal the sources.
Note that external links are generally given to official sites
only or to particular news reports. There are many very good
unofficial sites that I use myself, but Where Are They Now?
is not intended as a links resource.
The site is updated frequently, most weekdays. The front page gives the latest date for a
change anywhere on these pages. The site is an evolving text: I do
not post headlines; rather, the text changes such that it always
acts as an up-to-date summary of all the news. The newest
information is in red, going
monochrome after a number of weeks. News remains for as long as it
is relevant and verifiable as still correct. Coverage of
individual news items may become less detailed as time passes. The
Choice link on the front page
is to my pick of the most interesting news of the week and is
updated usually on Friday, although I may change it during the
week if something particularly interesting arises. Breaking news
will go on the Twitter
feed.
I report future release details as available, but remember that
schedules very often get pushed back but practically never brought
forward. Think of release dates, particularly for those further
into the future, as lower bounds: the album will not be released
before this date, but it might well be released some time after.
Note also that release dates will generally be for the US or
sometimes the UK if not otherwise stated. Remember also that long
delays between the recording of an album and any announcement of a
release date are not uncommon. It is not unusual for albums to sit
on the shelf for a couple of years.
Note that the Internet allows for such rapid dissemination of
news that we get to hear about many plans at preliminary stages,
most of which never come to fruition. It is important not to
assume that any particular plan will necessarily become a reality.
Thanks to the numerous people who have helped with information
for this page and who post news to the various online Yes fora;
regular helpers are also listed on the FAQ
main page. This page was inspired in part by Shannon Patrick
Sullivan's former Doctor Who News Page.
Thanks to... Steven Sullivan, Jeremy S.
Weissenburger, Tiz Hay, Jeff Hunnicutt, David Brown, Paul
Secord, Gerard Johnson, Ray Riethmeier, John Amick, Shoji
Yamada, Matt @ Yesfans.com, Wesley Miller, Matt Putzel, Eduardo
Mohallem, Geoff @ Marbecks,
David Watkinson, Yann Clochec, Roy DeRousse, Alex
Douglass-Bonner, David Seeley, Martyn Adelman, Stephen Nardelli,
Peter Banks, Michael Sherwood, Colin Riley, Diane Ash, Scott
Bassin, B. Aasen, Rabinesque,
Joe Brasfield, Trevon Broad, 'Machete Bug', Nic Caciappo, Mark
Clapham, Jimmy Clutter, Christopher Currie, Daniel Earnshaw,
Christopher Elliott, Dave Gallant, Hugh Macpherson, 'Giotto
Lady', Bill Haley, Jimmy Haun, Mike Bentley, 'Impman', Brent
Gordon Jones, Helen King, Jim Kirkhope, Andreas 'AKortm1073',
Nathaniel Lathrop, Mike Lord, Billy James, Edupaulo, Andrew
Pashley, Brian Neeson, Anil Prasad, Gisbert Prinz, Matt Revell,
Paul Rogers, 'YESWOLF1', Chris West, Pierre Kandel, Ian
Weatherhill, Simon
Barrow, Graeme Stevenson, Peter Limbach, Umbrello Records,
Classic Pictures, Vojtech Toman, Daniel Krohn, Donald Fisher,
Robert Packard and numerous further people on ProgressiveEars.com and
Yesfans.com, and formerly
on alt.music.yes and Allgoodpeople.net, and who have emailed me over
the years.
Henry Potts
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