In an Oct
2020 interview in Sean Tonar's SOAL series, asked how he had
been spending his time during the COVID-19 pandemic, Downes
replied:
I've been working on a few bits and
pieces, few projects. We've been exchanging a few files… um, on
a new Yes album. So that's been pretty exciting. [...] I've done
another album with Chris Braide as well. And that's pretty well
finished now [...] Little projects here and there, really.
People ask me to play on a couple of tunes, and send me the
files and I get stuck in with it.
In a Jan 2021
interview with A Better Way of Life, Downes said he is using
the time to write, but that he hopes to be back touring soon. In a Feb
2021 interview, asked about writing for DBA and Yes, he said:
I’ve been working on quite a lot of
stuff over the last year, because obviously we haven’t been
going out on the road at all. We’ve been exchanging ideas for
the next Yes album as well. But as far as working with Chris
[Braide], the ideas that I can perceive as being good for DBA, I
kind of put them in a compartment and send those over to Chris
and then the same with Yes. It’s a different vehicle that your
creative process is drawn towards. The way that I write is bound
to have some similarities here and there, but I try to keep it
as separated as possible.
In a Mar
2021 podcast, asked what was next for him, Downes talked about
a new Yes album and finishing off the last Asia tracks written with
John Wetton, before saying, "I've still got my solo career that I,
er, fish out from time to time". In a May
2021 interview (conducted Apr), he talked about currently
working on a Yes album, but also how, "I have been quite occupied,
doing other smaller projects here and there." As for the future, he
talked about the 2021 Yes tour, then added, "And if there are any
opportunities for the DBA, ASIA, or even The Buggles, I would be up
for it."
Downes Braide Association
The Downes Braide Association (DBA; Facebook,
Twitter)
is Downes and Chris
Braide (ex-Producers,
This Oceanic
Feeling, written for Trevor Horn, Sia, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, David Guetta, Cheryl Tweedy, Clay
Aiken, Will Young, Kylie Minogue, S Club 7). On their
fourth studio album, Halcyon Hymns (Cherry Red), they are
joined by Dave Bainbridge (Iona; guitar,
mandolin), Andy Hodge
(worked with Gary Husband; bass) and Ash
Soan (Trevor
Horn Band/Producers, Rick Wakeman,
worked with Dua Lipa, Adele, Will Young, Seal; drums),
with Barney Ashton-Bullock (worked with Andy Bell,
Giorgio Moroder, Dusty Springfield) providing 4 spoken
word pieces. Braide played some acoustic guitar and a bit of
electric guitar, while Bainbridge played all the guitar solos and
more. (Dave Colquhoun who played on the previous DBA album was
busy working on Rick Wakeman's
The Red Planet, thus Downes recruited Bainbridge. Lee Pomeroy,
who played on prior DBA material, was also on that project.) The
musicians recorded their parts seperately during the pandemic.
Backing vocals are by Joe Catcheside and Chris's children, Elijah
and Sascha Braide, while guesting are Marc Almond
(Soft Cell, worked with Chris Braide, Trevor Horn) and
David Longdon (Big Big Train, Dyble/Longdon)
on 1 track each, both of whom were on DBA's previous studio album.
Roger Dean
live-streamed his painting of the cover artwork. The songs are
intended to reflect a bucolic, halcyon summer. Braide was the main
lyricist. The album came out 5 Feb 2021 as a CD/DVD
(DBACDVD005) or digitally and later as a limited edition 2LP
white vinyl (DBALP005). The DVD contains lyric videos for 3
songs ("Love Among the Ruins", "Your Heart will Find the Way",
"Today") and Dean's live-streamed videos. The album is organised
around its 4 LP sides; tracks:
"Love Among the Ruins" (6:23), first single, with a video
directed by Paolo Marchetti; Downes in one interview said this
was the original planned title for the album; in another interview,
Braide said this was his favourite on the album
"King of the Sunset" (6:36)
"Your Heart will Find the Way" (5:19), second single; began
with a verse pattern and riff from Downes, Braide added the
chords in the chorus; lyric
video
"Holding the Heavens" (7:53), Downes in another
interview and another
said this was the original planned title for the album, while in
the former interview, he said this was another title considered;
side 2 begins
"Beachcombers" (3:30)
"Warm Summer Sun" (4:33); Downes identified this as one of his
favourites; began with some chords from Downes
"Today" (6:58), third single, lyric
video; side 3 begins
"Hymn to Darkness" (2:58), which began with an idea by Downes
he played on piano
"She'll be Riding Horses" (4:34)
"Late Summer" (2:23), side 4 begins
"Remembrance" (11:43)
"Epilogue" (0:35)
In Dec
2020 comments, Braide explained how, as the pandemic struck:
"Marc Almond suggested I 'get stuck into another DBA record' to lift
the malaise[.] Somehow [i]t was hard to muster any enthusiasm for
it. We had all been so upbeat at the recent [live] shows and now
here we were in a collective, creative void. [...] I opened up a
folder of new DBA ideas Geoff had sent to me a while back and which
I'd listened to briefly [...] I can't say why it happened but one
day in the studio as I listened to the bits and pieces of ideas
suddenly the songs started tumbling out as if by magic. I'm not
exaggerating [...] These new songs sounded like personal
reflections, they just wrote themselves." Downes commented, "It was
so great to witness Chris's creativity making my fundamental ideas
come alive. He took the bare bones of melodies, harmonies and
textures I sent him, and somehow crafted these into something way
beyond my expectations or imagination." Downes had sent his initial
ideas towards the end of 2019, he said in Better Way of Life Jan 2021 interview.
In another Jan
2021 interview, Braide said, "with the virtual shutdown of the
industry and tours being cancelled etc. it was very much a case of
'right what can I do now then?'. This album came out of that period,
Geoff had sent me some ideas and I got to work on them. I chose to
look at the world as it was when I was younger, the endless summer
days, cycling around everywhere, pure rose tinted nostalgia for a
world that had been but suddenly was not available to us now."
Although Downes said in another Jan
2021 interview that the album would probably have been made
and in a similar way without the pandemic. He also described how he
talked to Braide about wanting to draw more on classical and English
church music influences, and the album as "more acoustic". In the
former Jan 2021 interview, Downes said of the album, "I think it's
[...] got quite a lot of influences. It's got classical undertones
[...] there's a lot of pathos in the album. There's optimism in a
lot of the titles [...] even though there's an air of nostalgia
[...] there's a lot of depth of influence from, say, English church
music [...] and the classical music I was trained at music college
for [...] It's progressive pop, for want of a better term". In a Feb 2021
interview, Braide talked about the album having specifically
northern English roots, not just English roots. In another Feb
2021 interview, Downes talked of "Love Among the Ruins"
beginning with a "classical part" from him; and of "Holding the
Heavens" being the first song Braide worked on and sent back to him.
In a joint Feb
2021 interview, Braide said "Your Heart will Find the Way" was
the first song he finished writing on, followed by "Love Among the
Ruins". More generally, Downes said in a May
2021 interview: "Chris is really the lyricist. I feed him the
musical ideas and I even hint at the melodies. That's where he
creatively puts the words to the music. But he also contributes a
lot musically and production-wise as well. So this is only one side
of him." He also discussed working with Barney Ashton-Bullock: "He
has freedom. He is a poet. Sometimes when you work with people you
are better off letting them be themselves rather than saying this is
what you should be doing. I am not the one to tell him to make
poetry. That is not my gig. So if you bring someone in, you have to
let them roll with the ball. In the case of Barney, we said here are
the songs titles, some of the mood and the music, see what it says
to you."
On 26 Jun 2020, DBA tweeted that they were working on their fourth
studio album, Hodge tweeted
the same day in response, "DBA 4th album is being recorded
right now". Ashton-Bullock replied
the next day, "Some of lockdown has been spent shaping poetic
verse & dramatic speeches for our all new @TheRealDBAMusic album
[...] A fusion of pop, prog & poetry." In an Oct 2020
interview, Downes said the album is "pretty well finished
now". In a Nov
2019 interview, asked about a new studio album, Downes had
said, "Yes, although we mainly work remotely as Chris is in LA and
I'm in sunny Wales, but we will be working on ideas and putting
something new together before too long I hope." In another Nov
2019 interview, Downes had said, "We're talking about it [...]
It's really down to scheduling [...] I imagine [...] over the next
year or two, there should be another collaboration in the works."
Braide said of "Your Heart will Find the Way" that it "has an almost
Yes like quality [...] It's also a great example of how Geoff and I
will sometimes write. Geoff sent me the verse chord progression and
the riff and then I added the chorus chord progression and the
melody just fell out on top of those two elements. The brooding
verse and majestic riff coupled with the uplift of the chorus
dictated the lyric which is about listening to your inner voice and
trusting your gut instinct to navigate you out of adversity…It's a
positive self-affirmation of a song." Downes said of it, "It has
become something of a feature of mine and Chris's songwriting where
the verse (in the minor key) sets the mood of the piece only to
climax into an upbeat chorus (in the major)."
"Love Among the Ruins" made #1 on the United DJ Radio's Heritage
chart in the UK for 2 weeks running in Jan/Feb 2021. The album made
#23 in the UK Indie album chart and #7 in the Indie album Breakers
chart for artists who have not yet made the full top 40 (12 Feb). It
was #83 on the physical sales chart and #84 on the sales chart, but
did weaker on streaming, thus not making the overall top 100 in the
UK, although it did make #96 in Scotland. It was as high as #10 on
Amazon UK's Hot New Releases chart.
In Downes' Better Way of Life Jan 2021 interview, he explained how
Braide has moved back to the UK and said, "I'm sure we'll have [...]
discussions at some point about DBA 5." In a Sep
2021 interview with Prog Radar, he
said, "Chris has moved back here now from LA
and I'm hopeful that we can get together and
work on the next one more directly, as
opposed to being two oceans apart. So we
will have to see how that comes about in due
course."
DBA played their debut live show at Trading Boundaries
in Sep 2018. The duo performed with Hodge (bass), Dave Colquhoun
(guitar) and pre-recorded drums, plus guests Almond (vocals) and
Longdon (vocals, flute; on "Tomorrow" and another song). Roger Dean
was also at the evening showing artwork. In response to a fan who
tweeted there should be more shows, Hodge replied,
"We're all in agreement with you, it's just a matter of how and when
really...Keep spreading the word and crossing your fingers and we'll
get there sometime!" In response to someone saying they would love
to see DBA play in the US, Downes replied,
"So would I ! Let's hope we can make that happen sometime soon." In
his Jan 2021 interview, Braide likewise expressed the hope that they
could play live in the future, while in his, Downes said they would
like to play live with Bainbridge, Hodge and Soan, and possibly
additional players. Live
in England (Cherry Red, X2XCD004) is a 2CD/DVD (NTSC
Region 0) release of the show, released 29 Nov 2019, with a Dean
cover. Tracks:
A 2LP version followed 14 Feb 2020. The band played 2 more shows
14/15 Feb 2020, again at Trading Boundaries. The set was expected to
include some material by Asia. The 14 Feb show was reported to be
nearly sold out by mid-Oct 2019. The line-up is Downes, Braide,
Longdon, Hodge, Ashton-Bullock and Bainbridge.
Marc Almond has also performed "Skin Deep" live, in at least
one of his shows, with Braide, Hodge and Soan in his live band.
(Braide, Hodge, Soan, Colquhon and Pietrini also worked on Almond's
Chaos and a Dancing Star, released Jan 2020.)
In a Nov
2019 interview, on the topic of more live dates, Downes said
they would like to do them, but it's "down to timing". He said,
"it's not on the backburner" and that they would definitely try to
do something if the opportunity arises. Asked Mar 2017 about the
possibility of DBA touring, Downes had replied, "Not yet, but
certainly not out of the equation." On Nickey Radio in
Nov 2017, asked about touring, Downes said, "I think at the moment
it's very much an album album", but that "I'm looking forward to it
[touring], if it's going to be possible". He noted that a tour is
"not an easy concept", citing a poor appetite from promoters, but
said that "if we were offered some nice dates somewhere", they would
consider it. In one of the previously mentioned Nov
2017 interview, asked about touring, Downes replied, "We have
discussed it, it's not something that has been discounted.
Initially, when we only had one album, it would have been a struggle
to have a tour but we decided it might be nice potentially now that
we have more material. It would take some careful planning because
we both have a lot of things going but certainly something we would
consider." Braide also replied: "In [or]der to really make it work
we would have to devote a lot of time to it and my schedule and
Geoff's are pretty hectic at the moment. I haven't taken one week
off this year [2017] which I'm certainly not complaining about.
[...] Having said all that, no one would like to hear the DBA songs
played live more than me. [...] It may happen." Braide also
confirmed a desire to go on making albums together. In Downes' Dec
2017 interview, he said, "We've discussed [touring]. Chris is
very-very busy with all of his projects [...] I'm also touring quite
extensively [...] But when a little time comes up, I think we'd
certainly be looking at maybe doing a few gigs, but not a full-blown
tour." To the Feb 2018 issue of Prog, Downes demurred,
pointing to a busy 2018 touring schedule with Yes and possible Asia
and The Buggles, as well as Braide being busy, but he ended, saying,
"But we've built up a nice catalogue of music and it would be great
to take it out live." He made similar comments in a Mar
2018 interview: "We've talked about doing a couple of live
shows. We wouldn't discount the idea. It's just getting a run of
dates that you can do as just doing one or two dates would be
impractical so it's just getting the time to be able to do it. If
someone offered us a nice run of dates we'd look seriously at doing
it."
The band is with at QEDG Management.
All of Barney Ashton-Bullock's narration for
DBA is being released in a book, "Bucolicism
– Alt-Lite Lyric Verse for a Post-Pastoral England". The
books re-sets his contributions to DBA albums in their original
longer form works and includes further writings that "plough the
same idioms of nostalgia, misplaced or otherwise, that seek to
express the illusive golden age 'bucolics' of a nation going
through rapid change and, seemingly, often ill-at-ease with
itself." The limited edition book is available
through Cherry Red.
Pulse,
Jerusalem and Deckchair Poets Downes has guested on many projects by Jersualem and their
side projects, produced/engineered by Rob Aubrey (worked with Wetton/Downes).
Jerusalem and Zorbonauts are more serious bands, while
Deckchair Poets is a humorous project, and Zebras Don't
Smoke is for covers albums. Zorbonauts' The Unobserved
Beaver (Singsong Music, Singsong 110) was a
digital-only release, out 16 Jul 2020, with Downes, Lynden
Williams, Ollie Hannifan, Nick D'Virgilio
(Big Big Train, ex-Spock's Beard, worked with Genesis),
Dave Meros (Spock's Beard), Rachael
Hawnt, Bob Cooke, Rachel Hall (Big Big
Train) and Aubrey. Tracks:
"Don't Give a Monkeys" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Over the Chasm" [Bob Cooke/Williams]
"Mississippi Summer" [Kahn], cover
"Shangri-La" [Cooke/Williams]
"Badge" [Clapton/Harrison], cover
"Spiders' Rendezvous" [Cooke/Williams]
"My Death in Germany" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Stone Free" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Sick!" [Hannifan/Williams]
"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
[Hannifan/Williams]
The album received a physical release on 19 Mar 2021 on
Talking Elephant (TECD462).
The first Zebras Don't Smoke album, Don't
Mention the Swedes (Singsong Music), is an Abba
tribute album, released digitally only on 20 Nov 2020, with
Downes, Williams, Hannifan, D'Virgilio, Meros, Hawnt and
Aubrey. Tracks:
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Gal After Midnight)" (4:49)
There are two more Zorbonauts albums coming: Armed Slobbery
(Singsong Music) is with Downes, Williams, Hannifan, Meros,
D'Virgilio, Hawnt, Ray Drury, Will Wilde, Cooke, Hall, Gina Briant
and Aubrey. Tracks:
"Driving Down Alvarado" [Anne McCue/Janet Robin], cover
"The Void" [Cooke/Williams]
"Your Oilfield's on Fire" [Cooke/Williams]
"Echoes of the Charcoal Cenotaph" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Yardbird" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Beautifully Kinky" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Not Fade Away" [Buddy Holly/Norman Petty], cover
"Banging All Night Long" [Cooke/Williams]
"Bloodhound" [Larry Bright], cover
"Faith Healer" [Alex Harvey/Hugh McKenna], cover
"Merry-Go-Round" [Cooke/Williams]
Next expected is The Smartypants Variations (Singsong Music)
with with Downes, Williams, Hannifan, Meros, D'Virgilio, Hawnt,
Cooke and Aubrey. This appears to have alternate versions of earlier
Zorbonauts songs, or is it just a compilation? Tracks:
"A Passage to Avalon" [Cooke/Paul Dean/Bill Hinde/Ray
Sparrow/Williams]
"Into Another Dawn" [Cooke/Dean/Hinde/Sparrow/Williams]
Released digitally 26 Feb 2021 was Deckchair Poets' The Crop
Circlers' Guide to Abstract Expressionism (Singsong Music,
Singsong 129) with Downes, Williams, Hannifan, Meros, D'Virgilio,
Hawnt, Drury, Wilde, Cooke, Hall and Aubrey. Tracks:
"Fool Too Long" [N Lowe/D Edmunds/B Bremner/T Williams], cover
"Bleat" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Even the Queen" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Hey Napoleon" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Pointing Percy" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Fish on Your Car" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Willy's Caught" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Twang" [Hannifan/Williams]
"Sheepless in Seattle" [Hannifan/Williams], instrumental
"Sgt Friday" [Cooke/Williams]
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Other news
In a Sep
2021 interview with Prog Radar,
when asked about the possibility
of a new solo album, Downes
replied, "I have been thinking
about doing something, although
quite what that will be is very
open. I think I'd like to do
something in a similar vein to
'The Light Program' from 1987, a
sort of 'stream of consciousness'
album of its time".
Downes
tweeted
4 Sep, "Back working in my studio for a few days on
a project with good friend and producer/engineer, Steve
Rispin." This was followed by a 6
Sep tweet that described a "Great couple of days
working on an album project at my studio with this legend
of a footballer and Wycombe Wanderers manager, Gareth
Ainsworth." Ainsworth played with various clubs, including
Wimbledon and Queens Park Rangers, before focusing on
management. He has also sung since childhood and has been
in various bands. He currently sings lead vocals in rock
band The
Cold Blooded Hearts (YouTube),
with Lee-Van Sargeant (guitar, vocals), Ron (bass) and
Chalky Sargeant (drums), although it is unclear whether
the project with Downes is with the band. DBA label Cherry
Red Records are a shirt sponsor for Wycombe Wanderers and
released a previous single by Ainsworth & the Cold
Blooded Hearts.
Downes appeared on John Wetton's solo album Rock of
Faith, which is included in the forthcoming An
Extraordinary Life box: see
details on main page.
In the Nov
2017 radio interview, Downes said he had recently
returned to doing film and library music as well. Asked in
the Oct
2020 interview about the possibility of doing another
New Dance Orchestra album, Downes replied, "I'm always open
to doing another one".