A Conversation with Jon Anderson – HuffPost 5.4.12

Mike Ragogna: Jon, there’s so much to talk about, but let’s start with the film The Highest Pass that you’ve contributed a couple of songs for — the title track, “The Highest Pass,” and “Waking Up.” The movie is about following a modern guru. Jon, can you take it from there?

Jon Anderson: Well, the movie was sent to me last year. I was very, very excited about the movie. It’s about a dozen guys on their motorbikes who go to the highest point in the Himalayas. They’re taken there by a guru in India, and he’s a wonderful man. It’s just the idea that these guys would try to get to the highest pass in the mountains of the Himalayas, it being a very spiritual place that they went to. It’s the trials and tribulations of the motor bike riding in the mountains; it’s pretty dangerous there. It’s quite an interesting documentary and I just like the idea very much. Michael (Mollura) sent me some music to sing on top, so I wrote this melody and lyrics about how I felt about what the characters were going through and what we’re all going through, to find a higher self.

MR: And, of course, you personally are into spirituality.

JA: Well, the movie is all about that. People find their spiritual selves as they ride up these crazy mountain passes on their motorbikes. They were very excited to do it and eventually thankful to do it and I think that comes through in the movie.

MR: In the movie, it’s almost like the path itself, the journey itself was the evolutionary “path” of this particular group.

JA: Yeah. We go through this everyday in our lives on many levels — these challenges to keep the spirit going, you know. This was sort of a metaphor for how we feel. That’s why it struck me as a great movie.

MR: Also, the motorcycle ride — in comparison to the more acetic ways of trying to find evolution — is almost like the path the rest of us are on, like we’re riding motorcycles trying to get there in comparison.

JA: It’s true. I just put it on to watch it to see what it’s about. I thought, “Okay, I’ll add a song,” but then I got into the movie and it inspired me to write the song. It’s an inspiring project for anybody to go and watch that movie and feel that they’re part of that journey.

MR: Jon, as I said earlier, you have your own spiritual path, right?

JA: We all have the same path, we just speak about it in many ways. We have that same path that we travel in our lives to find that divine energy that surrounds us.

MR: Is that divine energy where you feel that your creativity comes from?

JA: For sure. Everything is from The Divine, whichever way you look at it. As Gandhi said, “God has no religion.” It has to do with our spiritual connection and rediscovering that connection.

MR: Jon, when you sing, do you feel that connection?

JA: Constantly. To me, I’m so thankful everyday. I’ve been singing this morning. I got up this morning in my studio and I sang. That’s my life. Then I go on tour and I sing. I do a lot of singing. It’s a connection that I have with this incredible power out there. It’s ageless and limitless.

MR: And after all these years, your vocals seem ageless and limitless.

JA: I like singing. I get high when I’m singing on many levels, especially in front of an audience for my solo shows around the world. It’s just an amazing feeling to be standing on stage and this voice comes out. It’s wonderful.

MR: Jon, how much touring do you do?

JA: I tour at least three or four months a year. I do a month here or a month there. I’m doing a month in June, touring the West Coast of America and the Chicago area. I go to England in August for a concert, then I go to Brazil for a month in September, so I get around.

MR: Looking back at your first solo album, Olias Of Sunhillow, do you have any observations at this point in your life?

JA: Interestingly, in my solo show, I do two songs from Olias. I am starting to revisit that period. I might be doing a concert with some musicians from Philadelphia who learned the whole album. It’s interesting to look back 35 years later. I’m still singing those songs that I wrote with Yes and by myself, and people still want to hear them, which is a great feeling.

MR: I imagine you play Yes material live?

JA: Well, I sing the songs I wrote for the band and I do them exactly as I originally wrote them on guitar and a couple of things on piano. When I wrote for the band, I would write ideas and go to the band with the song and we would expand the idea of the song within the framework of the musicians in the band, because they were so talented they could play anything. It was always simple songs like “You And I” and “Close To The Edge” that I wrote with Steve (Howe). When you’re with really talented musicians, you expand them and let everybody get their musical thoughts together and you finish with Yes music.

MR: When working with Yes, was there a lot of compromise or was everyone on the same page for the most part?

JA: Well, we’re all on the same page, of course. There was a lot of practicing going on. The idea was that we would get together, I came up with this idea of how the framework of the piece would be, we would just start working on it. The band would be rehearsing a certain section, I’d already be working on a next one, and then I’d go back with the next one, and we’d work on the next one together and start rehearsing that section, and I’d be thinking about the next piece. We’d be working in tandem, but I’d be leap-frogging as we went along on ideas that I thought would work, and that’s how the piece came together. It was definitely something that we all did together. It was a wonderful experience. We were all very much in harmony in the beginning of the ’70s, of course, because we’d started off and struggled at the beginning doing our concerts. Then we became famous. When you become famous, you start working harder to maintain that career energy. It never stops, it just keeps going.

MR: I does, it just keeps going. When you look back at the Yes years, what are your thoughts about that whole thing?

JA: Amazing. When you start a band, you think you’re going to be together two or three years later. Then you think five years later, ten years later, 20 years later, 35 years later, and you can’t believe that you’re still performing. Thank God for the fans that would come and see the band. We were doing music that was really, really different, very, very different than the norm. A lot of our music, like “Close to the Edge,” never got played on the radio. The only reason it survived is because of the fans that loved the music itself. Music is everything, really.

MR: Plus you had a resurgence when Yes recorded the album 90125 that included “Owner Of A Lonely Heart.” You guys segued nicely into the video age.

JA: I agree. We survived. We kept playing our music, expanding our ideas. Even the last album, Magnification, which was released probably six or seven years ago, is still a great album. Whenever I was involved with the band, I made sure we always created really good music. You never go into a studio and create music thinking this is rubbish but we’ll put it out anyway. You always believe you’re doing great work.

MR: Let’s move on to another body of work of yours. Jon and Vangelis.

JA: Well, that was totally a different world. Vangelis is one of the greats. He is the original keyboard player. I had never seen anyone with four or five keyboards before. We became good friends. He even joined the band. He carried on working in London making music for movies like Chariots Of Fire and a couple of science fiction titles.

MR: Yeah, Blade Runner was my favorite.

JA: Right. One of the things with Vangelis is we always had fun. Music was fun. We put out albums over a period of ten years. He was like a mentor to me, so I had a great energy with him.

MR: I especially love “Italian Song.” Okay, let’s get back to the movie here. I asked when you sing does it come from that divine source. Do you feel all creativity comes from that?

JA: Everything — all music, all creation — everything. That’s the way it is. It’s one of those interesting things. We do forget that nature that surrounds us is part of our life’s experience and that is a part of the divine as well.

MR: As in everything is a part of the one.

JA: Exactly.

MR: When you’re watching a playback of The Highest Pass, do you feel there was anything concerning spirituality or enlightenment that you hadn’t considered before this movie turned you on to?

JA: Sure. I think everyday, something happens that enlightens us in many ways — in this movie, that they survived to the top of this highest passage. Halfway through the movie, I thought they weren’t going to make it. Some terrible things happened. Eventually, they all got there. They had to push through the snow and ice and everything. It’s like, “Are they going to get there, are they going to get there?” And of course, they do, and you realize that’s what life is. You still have to climb those mountains everyday.

MR: Speaking of mountains to climb, there are mountains that new artists have to climb everyday in order to achieve their goals. Do you have any advice for new artists?

JA: Just keep practicing. You have to have faith in what you do. Don’t try to become a pop star or a rock star, become a great musician first and foremost. Everything else will evolve.

MR: Right, everything else will evolve. That’s nature’s play with a growing artist?

JA: Yeah, for sure. I work with a lot of young musicians. I always tell them the first thing is to believe in yourself. Practice and study what you’re doing and don’t be pushed to one side thinking money is everything. You don’t make music for money; you make money for the joy of making music.

MR: Nicely said. Jon what do you think when you’re watching shows like American Idol?

JA: I only watch them in the beginning because that’s the best part. Then it becomes like showbiz, then the image arrives and everything. I love the first two or three episodes when they’re trying to get to Vegas, and the young people who have come through that are very, very talented. You can see in their heart they have talent. It’s wonderful to see those first parts.

MR: For me, when the show had a meaner spirit, I couldn’t watch it.

JA: Well, the whole idea is you don’t build people up to break them down, and that’s why sometimes these kinds of TV shows are just for TV. They’ll keep somebody that isn’t good but he’s funny or crazy or it’s good TV. They’ll keep somebody that looks the part but can’t really sing that great, just for the TV, just for ratings. They forget that these are people and they’ve got to go through that real difficult time when they’re dropped. Then where does it go from there? They’ve got this big dream to become an idol of the day and 90 percent of them they don’t make it, and you wonder what happens to them. Do they get really broken up because of it? That’s what would happen with record companies. They would expect the band to sound like the last band or the last hit record. If you’re not sounding like what’s on the radio, you’re not good. A lot of young musicians would go find another job. I always believed that music was a lot more important than getting to number one. Music is all about your inner powers and the connection you have with the audience that you play to.

MR: Obviously, you’re not just making music for money, it’s coming from a higher place. Are you fulfilled with where you are?

JA: Constantly! And I do things for money, too. Money is part of God. It’s all it is, as we said before, it’s not the driving force. When you start up, you don’t make music for money, you want to get on stage and sing songs. In the old days, you copied The Beatles or The Stones or whatever, then you grow old and you get better as a songwriter and you travel the world and you play music to everybody around the world. It’s a daily thankfulness of what you’re doing. It’s such a blessing to do what I do. That’s why I constantly work on what I’m doing. Like I said, I was singing this morning. I’m just enjoying life.

MR: Any other new projects?

JA: People can actually hear a piece of music called Open that was released on my birthday, October 25, last year, which is a tournament at work. It’s a lovely piece of music. I think it’s on YouTube so they can hear half of it, then go buy it on iTunes. I have a new album coming out this summer. I’m having a good time writing songs. There are always projects I’m working on.

MR: Well, we definitely enjoyed this time with you. Close To The Edge, Fragile… Jon, there are so many recordings that you’ve performed on over the years that mean a lot to people including me. Thank you so much for your time.

JA: Thank you, I appreciate it very much.

Transcribed by Brian O’Neal