Few rock bands from the 1960s are still going strong today, and fewer still have been as musically adventurous as prog rockers Yes. Formed in London in 1968, the outfit has survived numerous lineup changes, but the death last year of bassist Chris Squire left an especially large hole in the group after 47 years of his punchy, melodic basslines.
Drummer Alan White had powered the Yes rhythm section with Squire since 1972, from compositions that mixed folk, classical and jazz in odd time signatures to the power chord-driven chart topper "Owner of a Lonely Heart" of 1983. Relaxing in a Tokyo hotel this week during a Yes tour of Japan, whose shows have opened with Squire's Rickenbacker bass spotlighted alone on stage, White showed off a plastic bracelet emblazoned with "Chris" and an image of a fish, an old nickname for Squire.
"I wore this through back surgery, and I think he helped me through it," White says. "You can't replace Chris Squire. We were together for 43 years. He was a fundamental part of the rhythm section for Yes. But he lives on."
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