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By Jeb Wright
Hell hath frozen over! The
original four members of the prog/pop supergroup Asia have
reunited and recorded a new album titled Phoenix out this
month on EMI in America. The band consists of Geoff Downes on
keyboards, Carl Palmer on drums, Steve Howe on guitar and John
Wetton on vocals. The original four struck gold back in ’82
with the release of their debut album but there follow up
effort, Alpha, was a hit and miss affair that saw Steve
Howe running for the door to escape the overtly pop music
contained on the album.
Wetton and Howe had a personality clash, to say the least,
perhaps a personality explosion is a better description. The
duo came from different places and the fact that Wetton was as
much at home on a bar stool as he was on stage did not help
matters. Eventually everyone but Downes disappeared and the
band went through a transformation from supergroup to a group
barely hanging on. That is not to say that during this time
Asia were not a good band capable of writing and recording good
music – they were. However, the magic of the debut album was
gone and despite each member making a guest appearance here and
there over the years it was never recaptured.
Fast forward to 2006... With
the 25th Anniversary looming only a year away
interest in the reformation of the original members seemed to
keep finding itself on the table. Wetton and Downes were
writing and recording again as part of the Icon project. Howe
and Palmer were actually available and interested. Wetton had
quit drinking and the rest of the band were more mature as
well. They met and within two hours the foundation was laid for
a tour. During the tour the magic was still there and the band
took the next step and began writing and recording a new album.
Wetton nearly sidelined the project when he had a heart attack
followed by extensive surgery. Instead of bailing, this time
the band waited for him to recover and now it is official ---
the Phoenix has risen from the ashes. Asia has
returned.
Jeb: You have kept Asia
together all these years. Did you ever think the day would come
when Asia would have the original members back and record a new
album?
Geoff: I think it was always
something that was a possibility but all four members had to
want to make it happen. It was two years ago when we sat down
and decided to do it. It was a dream come true for the old fans
because many never got to see us when we first appeared. It was
an alignment of the planets where everyone was available to do
it and everybody wanted to do it.
Jeb: Asia’s trouble happened in
the studio.
Geoff: We really played it bit
by bit. We didn’t want to set our expectations too high. It
was a good idea to go out and do the 25th Anniversary
Tour. We all were getting on quite well and we got offered to
do the studio album. The general moral and spirit within the
band was very high. It came across when we went into the studio
as well.
Jeb: As an Asia fan, Phoenix
really goes where the band should be as they are older and
more mature.
Geoff: I think it is a
continuation. You are talking about a great gap in the middle
from when the original members recorded. We are all quite a bit
older now and we are more mature. The album is deep in a
slightly different well. The existing sound that the four of us
make is undeniable in the way that it will come out.
Jeb: You had both an emotional
and business interest in Asia. Was it stressful to let your
band mates go in order to get back with Steve Howe, Carl Palmer
and John Wetton?
Geoff: It was a difficult time
but I think we had really taken the other version of Asia as far
as we could. I had nearly got to the point in my own mind to
where I was not going to continue. The opportunity came to
reunite the original band and that was a breath of really fresh
air; it is a whole new chapter in the band’s history. It you
are realistic about it, I think the albums we made in-between
were justifiable albums that had a good sound to them. But
again, you have to look at what people really want to see and
generally speaking, people wanted to see the original lineup.
We all felt that if we don’t do
this now then we are never going to do it. We were all on the
brink of wanting to do this right now. If we had left it then
we would not have had the chance to do this again. We all
grabbed it with both hands and said, “Let’s do it.” We have a
very good catalog. We didn’t actually know each other that well
back in the early days. We were all thrown into this thing
together and we were very successful. We were all bowled over
by the roller coaster effect. We have now had all this time to
ponder on it and we came back with how we wanted to do it. We
want to respect everybody’s comfort zones and just do what we do
best, which is the four of us making music together.
Jeb: The advance CD doesn’t
show the writing credits. Did John and you write most of the
music?
Geoff: We tend to write in a
certain way that is a key part to Asia – I am not saying it is
the whole deal because I think Steve’s [Howe] input is very
important because he adds a whole different dimension. John [Wetton]
and myself are the commercial writers who concentrate on the
more melodic, pop style. Steve’s input is more out of left
field. Add Carl [Palmer] and you have the sound that makes
Asia. We were very conscious of keeping that balance on this
album. This is not the Icon show where John and I write all the
songs.
Jeb: One song I want to mention
is the song “Heroine.” That is a beautiful ballad.
Geoff: That is a Wetton/Downes
song and it is the kind of song we have written for years
together. It is a very personal song for John, as are quite a
number of songs on the album. John had his problems over the
years and this has all come out as he has rediscovered himself.
Jeb: John has survived his own
substance abuse issues and then in the middle of this thing he
had the heart surgery.
Geoff: I think that he put
quite a bit of that into the album. He feels that he has been
given quite a few chances and this is his way of showing it.
The lyrics on this album are very personal to John. I think the
other three of us just stood aside and allowed John to do what
he does best. When you couple it with the whole idea of the
Phoenix then it encapsulates all of our personal experiences
very well.
Jeb: A couple songs still have
some of the progressive pop that was so successful on the first
album. Take for instance “Parallel World/Vortex.”
Geoff: We do feel the
musicality is still very important to Asia and that is one thing
that has never really departed from the band. We try to make
these melodic songs appealing and personal but also we perform
them in the realm of progressive music. Getting the balance of
those two elements is quite difficult. We are always quite
conscious of how we create the music.
Jeb: When John and you sit down
after all this time, does the music come easy?
Geoff: We have a very similar
taste and understanding of music. We come from quite similar
backgrounds. We were both brought up on English church music
and that influence never really leaves you. When we sit down to
write a song there is a lot of stuff that goes by unsaid that we
both understand and that makes for an easy collaboration. A lot
of the songs that we have written for Asia over the years have
emerged over fifteen or twenty minutes. I will have an idea and
he will have idea and we kind of marry the two up and then it is
just a case of getting the lyrics and the arrangement worked up.
Jeb: Asia and not ELP or Yes is
on a major label.
Geoff: I don’t think we
expected to get back to a major label; that was a major bonus.
The deal for the album was brought forth from an Italian company
that does a lot of progressive rock. We have a lot of contacts
at EMI and they heard the music and said that they wanted the
music for America. It is very encouraging that we still have
the kind of profile in the band to be able to command being
released on a major label.
Jeb: It speaks a lot for your
success. I don’t think you can repeat the first album
again....
Geoff: In all honestly we are
not setting our sites on any kind of heights at all. We are
happy to go out and play live to reasonable audiences and to
have the ability to make a new album. Big bands that were
around when we were around do not have the same opportunity as
we do because it is not easy these days as the music scene has
changed so much.
Jeb: Did the 25th
Anniversary Tour open your eyes to how many Asia fans are still
out there?
Geoff: I think it was an honest
thing to do. The great thing was that a lot of fans who had
never seen us before were able to see the band. Also, they were
able to see us play some Yes material, ELP material and King
Crimson material. All of that makes for a very great musical
experience. It really made for an interesting night.
Jeb: As a music fan do you ever
sit back on stage and think to yourself, “I am playing with
Steve Howe, Carl Palmer and John Wetton.”
Geoff: Yeah I do actually. I
am the youngest in the band and when I was in college studying
for my exams I was listening to Yes and ELP albums. Sometimes I
look out and think, “I am playing with these guys. This is
weird.” Time has gone by and you realize what a great privilege
it is to do something that you love doing.
Jeb: Did Roger Dean do the
artwork for the album?
Geoff: Roger did do the
artwork; we got him out of retirement again. Roger’s artwork is
synonymous with the band. I think that it was a no brainer to
ask him to do the cover for Phoenix. Roger was the man
for the job and he has come up with a fabulous piece of
artwork. The days of the great vinyl covers are over but we
sell posters at the gigs and we have it on t-shirts.
Jeb: Last one: Which Asia song
is more fun to play: “Only Time Will Tell” or “Heat of the
Moment?”
Geoff: Probably “Heat of the
Moment” is more fun to play because it is less stressful in
terms of the arrangement. “Only Time Will Tell” has quite a
complex arrangement and I still find myself having to really
focus hard on that one. “Heat of the Moment” is not as complex
concerning the keyboard arrangement so I tend to relax on that
one.
Click Here on Tuesday, April 15th @ 8pm
Eastern to watch a LIVE concert as it happens from Asia!
www.originalasia.com
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