Sterling Whitaker at Examiner.com recently caught up with vocalist Jon Anderson, a founding member of the seminal British progressive rock group YES. Anderson recently released a new album with former Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman entitled The Living Tree; he discusses the album, the upcoming tour, becoming an American citizen, his longstanding concern about the environment, the war in Afghanistan and more.

The following is an excerpt from the interview:

On the role he played in Yes: "I'm still writing Yes music, even though I'm not in the band. Because that's what I do. It's part of my DNA. I'd write the songs, I'd come up with ideas for the structure . . . I pushed them up the mountain every time. When we did Close to the Edge, Topographic, 'Gates of Delirium' [and] 'Awaken' are my favorite pieces. I pushed them up the mountain. They wouldn't have gone there without me. It was my dream. I had this idea of, we're talented musicians. Why don't we expand music and make it something different, rather than chase the charts?"

On whether he would re-join Yes if the opportunity came: "That's a difficult question, obviously. Because they decided to do what they want to do. They just disappointed me totally, and a lot of fans. But who cares? Fans, people in live music, they don't care what the problems are within a band. And they decided they wanted to go and get a guy that sounded like me and looked like me.

I'm not a pushover. I have a good, strong spirit, and I'm doing what I believe to be the right thing by just getting on with music, rather than worrying about the band. I know they're out there, they're making an album. Good luck to them.

It should have been done in a more gentlemanly way. We should have talked a little more about it. But they needed to make money. They were broke, and they needed to get on the road. And they like doing that. They like being journeymen. I've got a great life. I'm in love, I have a happy, wonderful, beautiful time with my marriage, and I have a beautiful home. I want to spend time here working and creating. Some people just want to be out on the road all the time. That's just the way it goes."

Read Part One here, check out Part Two here.