The sound of a legend talking down the phone might be enough to send the brain cells scurrying into submission, to wave the white flag of surrender and allow the moment to get out of hand but in Geoff Downes’ case it is a moment in which serenity and spirit is authorised to be conscious of just how important groups such as Progressive Rock Kings Yes are to the fabric of Britain and that each member of that group has played their part with enormous pride.

Yes are about to tour the U.K. once more and it is with an audible sound of regretful purpose that the band will be for the first ever time touring the country without the presence of Chris Squire on stage. The man and the legend are so far entwined that to imagine a Yes gig without him is almost impossible; however as I talk to Geoff Downes, a man whose own personality looms large on the stage with a certain particular beauty as he makes the key board sing in its own wonderful fashion, it is the conclusion of thought that dictates that the show must go on, sad though the concept may be but belief in the music, in the strength of unity within the band, is everything.

With Yes starting the U.K. leg of the tour at the end of April, time is short, there are a million things to do before embarking upon any journey and as wondrous or as exciting as any excursion into the world of the Progressive can be, taking time to speak to the fans, the press or an interested observer is a challenge; it is a challenge that Geoff Downes accepted with his usual excellent grace.

The whole point of the tour is to perform Fragile and Drama in their entirety, they are two very dissimilar albums in a way, was it a conscious decision to do those two?

Geoff: “I think they are defining albums for two particular periods of Yes, I think that when Rick Wakeman joined for the Fragile album, I think that transported Yes into a new area. They became a much more symphonic band, the songs stretched out a lot more and it became a much more musical experience in some ways that album was very defining. The Drama album is another chapter, another kind of milestone with moving forward into another generation of music.”

The Drama album especially is the one that you and Trevor Horn joined Yes. It’s a slightly shorter album in many ways in comparison with some of the others, how does that replicate itself on stage when it’s an evening of two halves as it were?

Geoff: “Well, it’s not really much shorter than Fragile, in those days you could only get about 18 or 20 minutes a side and so doing the two albums, it’s about an hour and a half for the two albums. I think Fragile is about 40 minutes as far as I know. I think when people hear an album played in its entirety they want to listen to it as when they bought it, they don’t want dodging around the tracks and doing it in a difference sequence. The sequences are a kind of mechanical way of preparing an album, you had certain tracks that followed on from others in respect of keys or anything like that, or that that the tracks merged and I think it was almost designed as a whole album. When you listen to classical music, you always listen to each movement of a symphony one after the other. The orchestra don’t suddenly don’t go from the last movement to the first one and I think that sorts out the principle of recording and the way those albums were recorded and I think that’s one of the reasons why we’ve taken two albums out over the recent years and are doing them whole.”

It is the first time that you’ve done Drama in its entirety on tour isn’t it?

Geoff: “Yeah, we did Fragile a couple of years ago in the States, we did Closer to the Edge, the Yes album and Going For The One, we’ve done those three albums in their entirety before as well. As I said, it’s a popular format with bands because when people first got those albums they would play them in their entirety.”

I must admit, I’m looking forward to it as I’ve only sadly seen Yes three times so to actually to see the band in Liverpool is going to be wonderful.

Geoff: “It certainly won’t be just those two albums; there are some other classic Yes songs so you’ll hear a lot more Yes music than those two albums. In addition to those, there’s going to be plenty more on display as well.”

I don’t know if I should ask this question, I suppose I must and I apologise greatly and just tell me to sod off if you don’t want to talk about it. How is everyone now since Chris Squire passed away last year?

Geoff: “No, it’s an important aspect of Yes, we’re very much deeply saddened by what happened last year and there was a point when we weren’t sure if we’d go on without Chris but I think the key aspect was that was when he first became sick he nominated Billy Sherwood to take his place all be it on a temporary basis as we thought at the time, unfortunately that was not the case but certainly we continued on really. Billy’s done a very good job and he’d worked with Chris on many things before and he’s got great knowledge of Chris’s bass work and vocals so in a way he was a natural successor to Chris but obviously we are still very, very saddened by this. We can’t deny the enormous impact Christ made to Yes’s music over the years, having been with the band right from the beginning, on every single album and at every single show, Chris has been there so it’s been very tough coming to terms with that and it’s important now that we continue Chris’s legacy.”

Thank you very much for being so candid with that reply. I really wasn’t sure whether to ask or not! Thank you for answering that one. Obviously the five of you seem very comfortable as a group with Steve back in the fold and Alan on drums and yourself, how has it affected or not affected your approach to these gigs?

Geoff: “We approached the situation and just had to deal with it, the most important aspect I think is that everyone holds the whole concept of Yes’s music almost as much as you would as I said before classical music, so it kind of lives on. I think Yes’ music will outlive us all in many ways. For this tour, we adopted the principle that we all continue to work together as long as we enjoy it and each other. It’s just a solid line up, we’re all looking after each other and certainly Jon Davison who joined the band about three or four years ago has been an enormous asset to all of us because his vocals are great and his personal vibe is very, very strong, he’s helping to propel Yes into the future.”

One last question if I may, are you looking forward to playing at the Philharmonic Hall?

Geoff: “Yes very much so, it’s not a gig that we’ve done before I think, we’ve usually played somewhere else (The Empire) so it sounds like a proper classical venue, something that should be good for Yes. In the North West in general there are a lot of rock fans influenced by Yes’s music, there’s a massive market place, we’re really looking forward to it.”

I know that the sound will go down well there; it’s so suited for your music.

Geoff: “We’re very excited and psyched up for it and it’s not that far away now so we’re working our way up to it and things are hotting up.”

 Yes come to Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall on May 2nd 2016

Ian D. Hall