Classic Rock Revisited founder Jeb Write recently caught up with former YES keyboardist RICK WAKEMAN. An excerpt from the interview is available below.

When asked if he will ever play with the band Yes again, Rick Wakeman answers with a resounding, “No.” This one simple word is a huge statement coming from the man whose roots go back to the band’s 1971 classic album Fragile. Rick has made it known that he does not agree with the recent decision his former band mates made when they sought out a replacement for Yes vocalist JON ANDERSON on YouTube during a time when Anderson was physically unable to perform.

“What Chris [Squire], Alan [White] and Steve [Howe] do is their business and it is for them to decide what they do in the same way that I make my own decisions as to what I want to do,” Wakeman continues, “All I will say is that I did have dreams as to how I saw Yes in it’s twilight years but those dreams are now passed and totally unachievable, so life moves on.”

When asked if he is angry or hurt by his band mate’s behavior Wakeman simply says, “I’ve moved on.”

Wakeman and Anderson did indeed move on and have released an album titled The Living Tree. When the inquiry is raised that perhaps the two reunited out of spite against Yes, Wakeman unequivocally states, “Absolutely not. Jon and I enjoy writing together and we have been on a parallel musical route and journey for some years now. It was really the most natural thing to do. We didn’t simply do it because we could. We did it because we felt we had something together musically that was worthwhile; that’s the principal we work on.”

The album was created with each musician in different locations. They would trade computerized music files back and forth, Anderson not sure what he would hear musically and Wakeman not sure what lyrics Jon would add to his piece. Rick admits he enjoyed this process very much.

“That was one of the exciting things for me as I couldn’t wait to get the music back to find out what it had said to Jon.”

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