woKos uMwrc IPat Kramer { Rick Wakeman

R*r#rffpxtHis classically based musicprompted a whole Dew trend inprogressive rock in the t970's.Now on rour with his l9-year-oldkeyboard playing son. Adam.Wakeman has jusr finished re-cording Classical Connection lI,(a follow-up to Classical Con-nection ) an album not yet arail-;ble in rhe Unireri Srrtes. Still.\\'al,cmrn i\ c\riteJ abour BeninSout and playing selections fiomhis solo works in this all-instru-nrenral lour. Although he enjoyedhis reunion tours with Yes nrcm-bers Jon Anderson, Bill Brufordand Strve Hone two years agorWakernan will not be pan of thenext Yes album. nor of any yeslofrs in the near future. ln thisinterview. Rick Wakentan re-counts tinre spent u'ith Yes. whatit's Iike touring with his reenageson. and describes his latest recordClassical Conneclions ILL-I: How are you enjoying yourtour so lar'.}lVakenran: lt's greal. it's been llot of fun. We originally set out todo l0 shou r in the U. K. iind endeduP tloing '1-5. We then got bookedIor:hou's in Europr-.Jnpan, South.\nrcrica and Sourh Aliica. Thealbum's duing real *ell in all ofthose couritlic.s. The only piaceil \ nol ()u1 i\ lhc LISA. But u e hatl.r nrcali't,-' ,rnrl,lt'.rLlcti Io plir\ inthc U.S. anr u r-v. to lcep the brn<Jtrqht. \\'e're tlre onir band on lhet,'irJ lr(riltr)lillL un .rlbuitr Ihat,not cu1. \\ c sort ol do ererythingbrcku ards.E?': \\'ell \oorler or later vou'llhar c the album ourlVakeman; Ya. in thc;-ear 2000 rtrvill probabl_v appear.!-ir: Since I ean't hcar it cln yourell nre about it?lVakcman: Il's an instn:mentalclassical rock album which f'ea-tures my son and rnyself. It's hardlo describe actually.6I: ls your son a keyboard playeras well?Wakeman: Yes, he was in thestudio recording his own album:he has a 2-yeardeal. and there wasa gap in time betrveen when hefinished recording it and was setlo promotc. So I srid ro him;okingly, "Do you fancv comingoul on lour with mel" And hesaid. "Sure. why not."€I: Well. how is it going?lYakernan: lt's great. It's reallyfunnv lookin-u over at him. I mean.

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he's really an astonishing player.He looks so young. He's terrified.EI: How would you describe histalents, compared to whar you$were at that age?Wakeman: He's further aheadthan I was, technically. But in mydefense, there's a lot more musi-cal equipment and possibilities athis disposal that weren't around

when I was his age. Technically,he's stunning. He has this greatadvantage over me in that he has agreat voice.ET: Do you each play solos, or doyou play togerher in this show?Wakeman: We have two key-board rigs set up on stage and weplay togelher, all rhe rime.fI: When you wrote the musicdid you write him into ir'lWakeman: Some of it was al-ready recorded because I was inthe middle of rhe album * hen wedecided that Adam was -eoing tocon']e out on tour. Then the recordcompany said, "if Adam is goingto cOnre out on tour, we want himon the aibum as well," so Adam

sort ofjoined in larcr in the pro-cess,ET: Who else is in the band otherthan you and Adam?Wakeman: My bass player isAlan Thompson. He's workedwith Andy Summers and JohnMartin. My drummer is TonyFernandez. He's been with mesince 1975. ..

at a grand piano and I'm quitehappy to play there too.El You did rhe last Yes tourrwo-yea$ ago. How did that fe€l?Wakemon: It was great fun. Ireally enjoyed iL I sel out ro havea nice time. I sat down with mywife the night before I left and shesaid, "Do you think there will belots ofarguments and lots ofouts?'

And I said, "Probably, but I'mgoing to keep clear of ir all be-cause I want to have a really nicetime." If I can have a really nicetime, and help the band have anice time, that's got to get over lothe audience.El: You've always gotten alongwith the rest of the band. haven'tyou?lVakeman: I've never had anyproblems actually. The majorproblem there sort ofcame in theearly and mid'80s. I was in. sonof. a lucky position: there was noanimosity between myselfand anyof the band members at all.E1n: Where does it stand now interms of the usage of the name

Yes?Wakeman: Well, the guys whohad it in Caiifornia, TrevorRabin,Tony Kaye, Alan White andChrisSquire, still have the name andthey are, atthe moment, recordingan album with Anderson doingvocals. That's. basically. where itstands,8t So the lawsuit got droppedand $at's all done?lVakeman: Yes, that was alldropped. I mean, I just threw myhands up in the air when thingslike lawsuits started fl ying around.Yes had the possibility, ifnot theprobability, ofbeing rhe besr bandof it's kind, ever. in producingmusic. The problems, which havealways been caused by manage-ment, I personally feel, havewrecked it. I think there's been alot of damage done lo yes bypeople on the periphery.El: So, are you thinking of puFting togelher anorher Yes albumafter.your tour?Wakeman: The guys will be do-ing another Yes album but unfor-tunalely, there's a big politicalargument going on right now be-tween Yes' management and mymanagement, so it looks highlyunlikely rhat I'll be playing on ir.El So you don't think rhere willbe a future with you and Yes rightnow-Wakeman: I take it as it comes. Idon't look over my shoulder any-more, I look to see what's in frontof me. ll the management sLlrtsout their difficulties and there's aplace for me to plal,l'll be quirchapp-v. lf there isn'r. then I'll bequite happy ro do * hat I'm doing_E7: Do members of the audienceeyer ask for Yes material?Wakeman: No, I've never hadanvone shout out lor a Yes song i n23 years. It'll probably happennow. you realize. To me. there isno wav you can do any Yes stuffunless you have Jon singing ir.dI: Well, even without a recordout, you seem to be still in de-nrrnd. wirh five :hou s booked inSouthern California next week.Wakeman: I know. it's been re-ally good, acually. It surprisesme at times but it's like, I'm eirherbecoming pan of rhe dreaded es-tabiishment or people are comingto see if I'm still alive.

Rick Wakeman is very muchaiive and uill shou uh1 he isknown to have the fastest tingersin the business in upcoming showson this solo tour. at the VenturaTheater, June 26, and The CoachHouse. June 25 and 27. f

"I think there's been a lot of damage to yes by peopre o" tn, wiWffi*iioa

EI: What songs do you do in theshow?Wakeman: It's entirely instru-mental. Apan from the new stuff(Classical Connection & Classi-cal Connection II), we do oldersongs from King Arthur and theKnights of the Round Table,Journey to the Centre of theEarth and The Six Wives ofHenry VIII.EI: Are you comfortable as a soloartist now?lVakeman: This sounds like apolitical answer but I'm comfon-able with wherever I am at thetime. If I'm working wirhin aband,then I'm quite happy there. I doclassical concerts where I sit down

JUNE 25. r 993