Jeff and GEOFF Downes of Yes talk new music and Video Killed the Radio Star

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's the eighties show podcast. Howabout Keyboard Extraordinary of Yes Asia and the
Buggles. Jeff Downs? Hello,Hello, Jeff Downs. How are you?
Is that mister Jeff Stevens it is, and this is mister Jeff Downs.
I can't believe it. You goton. Well, we certainly can
start off and relate to our namesat least, although our spellings are different.

(00:23):
We got the Jeff club going.Yeah, it's coming. It's it's
Fritish, you know that. Justlook at it that way? All right,
that sounds good. Well, firstof all, it's it's really great
to talk to you, and itwas fun. I was looking at some
pictures and and just seeing you onstage and seeing basically you circled you know,
keyboards are circled around you. Ithink that is just you have the

(00:46):
coolest stage presence of just about anybodyI've ever seen. Oh thank you?
Yeah, I mean I do loveI don't know. I'm a keyboard fanatic,
so you know, I've gone fromtwenty eight I'm down to about twelve
now. But it's important for meto have those sounds readily available, just
to be able to dive in andplay a have an organ sound or a

(01:07):
piano or synthasizer or melotron. Youknow, that's that's one of the reasons
why I keep so many keyboards aroundme, because you know, I'm a
bit of a sound smith. Youknow, a lot of the Yes music
requires all these different approaches in differentsounds. So hopefully we'll you know,
hopefully we'll carry on doing that.And they enjoyed the playing live. Well,

(01:32):
we are very glad to hear you'reback with new music. As we're
chatting with Jeff Down's keyboard extraordinary forYes and the Buggles and Asia, which
we will talk about here in justa few minutes. But Mirror to the
Sky is out. I love itbecause there's several tracks on there that are
over eight minutes long, and Igot a chance to listen to a couple
of them, and you're just it'sit's instantly like somebody could if somebody knows

(01:55):
music and as listen to your musicand all of the years, you're like,
wow, this is this is newmusic from Yes. Yeah. I
think we really were conscious on thisalbum that we wanted to reflect not just
the not just the song side ofthe band and the vocals, but which
were more dominant in the last twoalbums. I think with this album,
we really wanted to show the potentialof the musicians in the band, and

(02:16):
so that's why we've got these longertracks, why we've got these longer instrumental
sections, I think, which youknow, if you look back historically,
are very synonymous with Yes back inyou know, the seventies when they were
doing albums like Tales from Topographic andClose to the Edge. Certainly, I
think that it's a bit of anod in that direction, and I think

(02:39):
it's it's very refreshing because you know, this is a great band. This
band has been you know, sadlywe lost Alan last year, which was
real tragedy for all of us.Certainly Jay has been you know, it
has been Alan's understudy for some time. So this lineup really is that thinks

(03:00):
the longest serving Yes lineup for fromthe very beginning. Wow, Well,
you've had such a story career andwe're so glad that Yes is back with
new music. Mirror to the Sky. Let's go back for a second to
when things really got going for you. So you and Trevor Horne joined Yes

(03:20):
in nineteen eighty but at the sametime you were also both in the Buggles.
Is that pretty much the same timeor was it sort of back to
back? How did that go?So we're almost back to back. I
think that we came out I've beenworking with Trevor quite a bit before we
formed The Bubbles. I think thatwe were we were both doing sessions in
London at the time, so andwe were in a disco sting as backing

(03:42):
band, so I've got to knowin that way really, but we had
a good understanding with this so othernwe started writing together and I think that
The Bubbles really came out of that. So we're very much a rising partnership.
U in the studio back back,you know, not doing any gigs
or anything like that. But ofcourse when we were we bumped into the
Yes guys who were in the samerehearsal room as we were. That's there

(04:05):
were three of them and there weretwo of us, and they they almost
just said, you know, comeand invite some stuff with us and let's
see what we get out of that. And that's really how the Drama album
come about. Really. That isso just just a matter of being in
proximity connected you with the guys inYes, and then that's when you jumped
over to be a part of thatband, and I you know, we

(04:26):
we we were both big fans ofYes before, so it was it was
almost ironic that we would end upworking with the other three guys and creating
that version of Yes. Yeah theSpace Space Days indeed. Yeah, absolutely,
And of course you know you guys, Yes and the Buggles very very

(04:46):
defined on MTV. Uh And ofcourse the first video ever on MTV.
I've never spoken to. I've talkedto so many artists who you know,
made videos and they talked about MTVa lot, but I've never ever spoken
to one of the artists who wasliterally a part of the first video ever
on MTV video Killed the Radio Star. First, there's first keyboard notes that
came out on the front the videoKilled the Radio Star. You're speaking to

(05:10):
the man himself, Oh, mygoodness, exactly. So we I mean,
it's it's a privilege to have that, you know that they picks up
on that because the fact was thatit had been a hit all around the
world two years before, right,but with the exception of America. So
um, it was ironic in away that the American what was then an

(05:33):
MTV was then a cable cable TVchannel happened to pick up on it because
of course it's it was you know, it sends their message and what they
were they were they were doing andin snowboard massively after that, I mean,
you know, the rest is historyreally as far as that's concerned.
Yeah, did you guys know reallythat? I mean, did somebody make

(05:56):
you aware that said, hey,you know, video Killed the Radio Star
is going to be the first videoon MTV And you're probably like, what
is MTV? Was someone called mea couple of weeks after and say,
oh, there's there's a new cablechannel started in America and they they open
with your you know, they openwith your video. Oh that's that's nice.
You know. I never never thinkit's going to be, you know,

(06:17):
go through the ceiling and be ashuge as it was, but said
it was, it was. It'sa nice thing to be associated with.
And I think that, um,you know, the song now has become
almost embedded in the psyche of alot of people because for that very fact.
Absolutely. And the other thing Ilove is that I thought, I
truly thought, I mean, Asiawas one of my favorite bands. The

(06:41):
minute that debut album came out andI heard heat of the Moment, and
then I heard the beautiful keys onOnly Time Will Tell and the and then
you know, the next year withsmiles left your eyes and don't cry.
Um. I mean, you havebeen a part of some of the most
iconic bands of the last four orfive decades. Yeah, I mean,
I'm very lucky that I still youknow, I still work with all three.

(07:03):
It's it's to some varying degrees.And I think that you know,
if you think that that all happenedreally in this space of three years,
right, three big projects or bandsor whatever you want to call them,
or in the space for three years, and those those those bands have stayed
with me right throughout from that periodof time. So you know, you're

(07:23):
talking about five decades of of ofYes, Asia and and the bubbles.
So man, it's it's it's nicethat you know, I'm still bands with
the guys and still go on withthe people who I who I've made all
that music with. Yeah, that'sreally cool. We're chatting with Jeff Down's
keyboard Extraordinaire in the Guinness Book ofWorld Records for performing with a twenty eight

(07:46):
record At twenty eight keyboards on stageof a single performance, you said,
you're down to twelve. Now doesthat feel Does that feel different? Yeah?
No, it's it's because you cando a lot more with them now,
you know, they they were verydead Kate's instruments at that point.
But I think that that my smallmulti purpose now. Yeah, but you
know, having said that, Ihad a couple of guys, crew guys

(08:09):
who were lugging all that stuff around, and you know they had to spare
them having to do that for therest of our lives. So well I
had to cut down. I betwhatever made you, Jeff, whatever made
you back in the early days goall right, you know what two keyboards
on stage would really help? Well, well, three would help, well,

(08:31):
four would help. And then howdid it get up to twenty eight?
Where you know, did it wasjust a gradual build or all of
a sudden You're like, wait,I just kind of wanted I want a
keyboard for each different sound. No, yeah, it was that's more what
it was because they, as Isay, they weren't as multi tasking the
keyboards than or multi purpose, sothey you get one decent sound out of

(08:52):
one and that would be pretty muchit. So that's one of the reasons.
And so I started collecting them,and I started taking them on the
road. And you know, Iwas one of the first people to say
the first digital was a digital mallatronon the road. It was actually a
sampler called a fair Light. Andpeople used to ask me what this crazy
thing was with a TV screen onit, and that's you know, that's

(09:15):
going back forty five years or so. It was very much ahead of its
time. And I've always been embracingthe technology, you know, in particularly
in keyboard instruments. I've always beenvery interested in that side of it.
Well, you've you've always kept ourinterest, that's for sure. You're fun
to watch. You've had some ofthe most amazing iconic melodies of the last
as you said, basically fifty years. Will yes be going out to support

(09:39):
this album on tour? Will wesee some live shows? Yeah, Well,
we're planning a tour in the autumnfall which will encompass some of the
new music, which will focus onsome of the older music as well.
And I think that we would liketo keep it fresh and keep the fans
like to keep it fresh. They'dlike to and new music. We're not

(10:03):
going to play the whole album,of course, but I think it's nice
to throw in new ideas and keepkeep the whole thing fresh. Absolutely well,
Jeff, I just want to saythank you for the music. You
are literally the soundtrack of our lives, all of us who have loved music
since the late seventies, and you'resuch a huge part of that. Pleasure
to talk to you, and welook forward to seeing you onto our Jeff

(10:24):
downs of Yes, thank you somuch for chatting with me. Thank you
very much. Nice to talk toyou.