Jon Anderson and the Band of Geeks |The ANDY GRAZIANO Interview

[@EddieDeeVee-pf1iu]

Andy G. kicks it out Live, what a player. Unreal. I hope that the Band Geeks keep making originals with Jon. Best stuff I've heard in a long time.

[@rayeccleston2196]

Andy said the stage wasn’t his total comfort zone, he really looked the part on Friday at St Georges Staten Island. Amazing performance by everyone and worth the effort to get there from the UK to see the last show of the tour. Brilliant night, thanks Andy.

[@billwilkie6211]

I'm conservatory trained (NEC), I studied with legends, I practice 3-5 hours per day, still. I can play what I like (except giant steps). And I've never even attempted close to the edge! It's Howe's phrasing and attack! Nope. Can't, won't. Well done Andy! (PS: I grew up in Staten Island, '60-'74).

[@SwampEye1]

Howe's phrasing and attack needs time to get used to

[@hillmillenia]

It definitely blew my mind

[@nickmastro6870]

Band Geeks are AMAZING…. With Jon singing, it’s a band that has made many men cry

[@88Binky88]

Thank you for having Andy G as guest. He ‘s a wonderful player and I appreciated what he had to say. Sure hope there will be more touring and a second album together!

[@dmacnic]

I just saw Jon and the Band Geeks last Sunday at the Keswick Theatre in PA. What a great experience. Jon's voice was spot on and strong. The Band Geeks were so good. Andy Graziano played the Steve Howe parts with ease. I had nostalgic tears in my eyes when Close to the Edge was played. Go see them live if you can.

[@LoungingDog]

Love the comment of playing for years and then starting to play in front of audiences. I’m 62 and still learning and loving playing guitar and singing!

[@richard127gm]

From the moment I discovered Band Geeks (Just Band Geek, originally), I thought "they have to make an album with Jon Anderson", never believing it could happen. It was amazing to see it actually happen. And not just happen but be so incredibly excellent. I'm now trying to work my Karma on Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett to work together on an album. After True, I totally believe it could happen. Peter... Steve... Are you listening?

[@jimbo029]

Richie has a story about Band Geek and how Rudy Sarzo (bass player for BOC at the time, 2007). Rudy asked Richie if he had a KZbin account and Richie said "no". Sarzo told him he was making a big mistake and helped Richie set up the account. That's where it all started. Thank you Rudy.

[@hillmillenia]

Anybody with a copy of Zappa’s Sheik Yerbouti is alright in my book… as for Andy, I’ve been listening to Richie and Band Geeks for years. These guys are inspiring musicians!

[@genestippell1833]

Very interesting interview... It was fun listening to two guys chat and it was a quick hour. Instead of canned questions, just listening to you guys talk back and forth was a great listen

[@briandillon8041]

Lovely discussion between two music teachers named Andy across the ocean. They are both virtuoso musicians, and big fans of music.😂 Andy represented the US well especially us Italian-Americans.!🇨🇮🇺🇸🇬🇧😃

[@AndyAction]

Oh hell yes - up with Andy Graziano!

[@AndyGrazianoNYC]

Shaolin represent

[@harleyw]

I really enjoyed this conversation! Thanks! True is true.

[@Yes_Jorge_Yes]

True is the best Yes album that Yes official never did in the past 2 decades.

[@ricmatteson225]

True is an incredible album and Andy really Shines on this album and just amazing live with Jon and the Geeks

[@leifmarkutza7736]

Beautiful and thank you very much for for recording this conversation.🙏

[@yes_head]

Nice interview, Andy. It would be awesome if those Zoom sessions between Jon and Richie would be packaged into something that could be released on a deluxe edition release or something. I also like the point about how Jon comes from that era of maximum experimentation, which probably IS where his music and the current official version of Yes diverge. When Steve's Yes plays a show they're pretty mechanical. Plus, I also agree that the Steve's Yes is fairly limp-wristed. I'm hoping that touring with Deep Purple will light a bit of a fire under those guys to get a bit grittier. That's one of the fun things about watching Andy Graziano covering the classic Yes stuff, is you can see he's having a ton of fun, bouncing around on stage and all that (the way Steve USED to do.)

[@elmolewis9123]

Andy's tone makes a world of difference on the overall sound of the new YES. And, of course, all great musicians.

[@losendos8963]

Thoroughly enjoyed this, Andy. I was hoping for mention of an expanded tour, but I would certainly think that Jon Anderson is pacing himself. He's no spring chicken, but he sounds great in my opinion as is proved by the live videos I've seen posted. He's a gift and so are the Geeks. Something tells me you'll have him on your channel soon. Again, well done.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

I may do.............................................

[@miykaelp5284]

Andy your channel is probably my favorite about the topic of music on KZbin, I think the first video I Watched of yours was the one on the newly uncovered footage of Tony Williams Lifetime on Beat Club. I have similar taste to yours , plus I find out about new bands and albums I may not of heard. I also enjoy the Law of Three band you have and your playing. So Thanks for what you do ! The Band Geeks generally do my favorite cover songs on KZbin, one of the few cover bands I actually would watch regularly.. It is great to hear them doing original material with Jon Anderson too! Hope they travel to England so you can see them.

[@wendellwiggins2900]

delightful

[@paulmenard7936]

Great chat. Andy getting a lot of grief from Andy about the cover!

[@privatemale2147]

With Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks, all thoughts of Steve Howe and his version of "YES" just disappear. As far as I'm concerned Jon is YES. His voice cannot be duplicated. It's beautiful and otherworldly.

[@SPY1964-LL]

I hope Jon does something lasting with them. They got it goin' on.

[@sean317]

seeing them Tuesday for the 3rd time !! Sorry Europe

[@SphericalHang]

Glad you tried to convince him to come to the UK! Great interview!!

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@rayeccleston2196]

So relieved when Andy said no plans to come to UK, as we are off to the Staten Island show. Would still go to a UK show if it happens. Great conversion Andy.

[@riffmondo9733]

Well this was just great! Very interesting. He is correct on the Howe stuff. I can’ imagine having to learn that stuff and pull it off. Awesome.

[@hmsdefiant]

Always top banana Andy. Many treats. Many thanks!

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

My pleasure!

[@johannhauffman323]

Wonderful Video Andy ! Band Geeks with Jon Anderson sound amazing. There are many bands bringing older music back to life, such as Beat and Zappa plays Zappa…. Both of which I absolutely love ! But Band Geeks play with more freedom to my ear. Seems they get to be more expressive of themselves. I wonder if it would go over well if Beat tossed in a version of San Ber’Dino. Or lone Rino ?

[@JonnyDee123]

Excellent. Only today I was thinking of messaging you to say how good True is... and then as if by magic this pops up. The Geeks are exceptional, Andy is a stellar guitarist and Jon is nothing short of a marvel at his age. True is the best Prog album in years and only serves to highlight how utterly ghastly the bloated corpse of the current incarnation of Yes really is.

[@JonnyDee123]

On a different note. Have you seen the Beat footage now popping up? Most are phone captures but some are decent quality. There's another band that needs to extend its tour to include the UK.

[@thomasbeck2934]

The Band Geeks are NOT Yes! And that is meant as a compliment! While they are “Yes like” they are just different enough to make the music both nostalgic and fresh sounding at the same time. IMHO this is a monumental task to achieve the unique sound and yet not just making it “copy cat”.

[@JCJones-Warner]

Band Geeks bring fun back to music.

[@SPY1964-LL]

I wish Band Geeks would play Northern California. Hey Jon! Over here!

[@nicksodano4762]

I know why Jon contacted Richie! He almost said as much in different forums if you're listening. He wanted to do a great Yes album, and Steve was not open to it. Years are passing. Then he sees this awesome band who LOVE Yes... He got his wish!! A Great Yes album.

[@jimbo029]

To Andy Edwards: As a retired middle and high school teacher, I believe I can offer some insight. Bands like the Rolling Stones etc, have short songs with repetitive lyrics, which are predictable. This makes it easy for the listener to interact, to sing with the band. This is great for many of today's youth as they don't have the attention span to actually listen to "Gates of Delirium". Anything longer than 4 minutes is too much for many of today's youth to handle. I blame social media and the internet. Sucks but it is what it is.

[@FloatingAnarchy61]

Great interview, love the album. I'm not familiar with a lot of modern Yes stuff, to be honest I bailed after 90125. I did see Yes back in 2014 at the Bristol Hippodrome in 2014, which was filmed for a dvd. It was an albums tour and they did all of Close To The Edge, Going For The One (the roar and outbreak of sheer joy, adults with tears running down their faces when they finished Awaken was something to behold). Then a short interval, and then the Yes Album, encore was Roundabout. It was amazing and I thought Jon Davison did a pretty good job. Alan White was on drums and Geoff Downes on keys. But now Chris is gone and couldn't imagine seeing them now without him. I know you're not a fan of Floyd's early stuff but I feel the same way about Nick Masons Saucerful Of Secrets, they seem to have more of the spirit of Floyd than the awful musak of Gilmour's incarnation, what I like to call the Ford Mondeo man years. Also seeing SOS gave me a new found respect for Gary Kemp, a great guitarist. Sometimes someone like Jon is just synonymous with a band. Anyone whose a longtime Hawkwind fan will tell you they lost something when Nik Turner was kicked out the band. It's no suprise Dave Brock has been the only constant, if you read the books he does seem a bit difficult to get along with. Nik picked up the mantle with his band Space Ritual with ex Hawks members, playing proper space rock. I'd highly recommenend the Space Ritual live Dvd. My ears pricked up when you mentioned Frank Freemans Dance Club. There's a story in John Peels book Margrave Of The Marshes about Beefheart. When they booked the tour they chose the venue because they thought it was a pyschedelic club with a made up name like Granny takes a trip Ufo or Middle Earth. Beefheart said to Peel 'what a groovy name for a club', until Peel informed him it was indeed a dance club owned by a bloke called Frank Freeman. Peel was there with tape recorder and apparently there's a live album in existence. There's another story from the same gig. After Beefheart's set someone asked him what he thought, expecting him to say something like it was an unlistenable racket. He surveyed the audience with a withering stare and said 'They don't bloody drink much do they'?😂

[@Justin_Kipper]

Great interview! I remember seeing Andy G on a Band Geeks stream a few years ago, just Ritchie C and him jamming on various songs. At one point, they did a Van Halen song with Andy on lead. It sounded terrible, and Andy said the guitar that Ritchie handed him was out of tune. I thought Andy was just an awful player wondered why Ritchie even had him hanging around. Lol, my initial reaction to Andy's playing was totally wrong as I saw him play more and more with the Band Geeks, and his recent work with Jon's songs, old and new, is incredible!

[@YESFan1971]

Love Counties and Countries. Late in the song, some of the chords remind me of Homeworld (Ladder).

[@trippknotic]

True has more in common with Magnification than any other Yes album. Which says we have been waiting 24 years for a true Yes album. It’s Jon’s voice with that slight raspy R&B edge.

[@gratmatassa5432]

Graziano is my first name hence Grat for short well done on the pronunciation

[@bernardjharmsen304]

1:03:35. Captain Beefheart 👏👏👏

[@jimbo029]

Andy obviously admires Steve Howe, as do I. But I have one question. How did Steve get so good when he couldn't read music. He admitted this and says he "plays by ear". I don't get it. Any comments?

[@JOSESILVA-wc2vx]

♥️

[@nickmastro6870]

I’m seriously hoping for a full Tales album tour 😁 Some incredible music, and I don’t think any of it’s overdone, other than maybe a couple too many repeating parts in the Revealing Science of God. Unfairly maligned by many Yes fans who don’t get it. It’s ambient, aggressive, peaceful all at once, great album

[@javilalima]

My favourite Yes album. 👍

[@davegarbrick2605]

"Your Pretty Nifty!!" Great Interview Andys!!!

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@KanakarisGeorge]

Any chance for Europe ?

[@stevegriffin8055]

Band Geeks - a famous Spongebob Squarepants episode.

[@sicko_the_ew]

Dandy Bandandy of Andes ... I think I need to work on it a bit ... Not the worst idea ever, eh?

[@sicko_the_ew]

Er... OK, how about The Andes (a band of Andes). The official plural of Andy can become "Andes". You'd have to get the OED to agree first, obviously.

[@SwampEye1]

Yes was 35% Jon Anderson, 25 % Steve Howe, 20% Chris Squire, 15 % Keys , 10 % Drums😉

[@christopherboccalupo6393]

I think the first five albums of Yes was a collective that the whole so much more than the sum of their parts to use a cliche. Bruford spoke of the painstakingly democratic way thw band operated. They hit the peak of their musical vision with CTTE. After that, they explored the different aspects of their music more focused based on individuals for better or worse.

[@richard127gm]

For Mr. Grazziano (and anyone else who's interested)... it's spelled Phi Yaan-Zek. (Corrected from Phi Yann-Zek).

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

No it's not!

[@richard127gm]

@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Ooops. Phi Yaan-Zek. That'll teach me to stop trying to be smart. Apologies Andy. I've also corrected the original.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

@@richard127gm I thought it was very funny!

[@richard127gm]

@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I was only trying to help... Story of my life. Huge fan-boy of your videos Andy. They make my day.

[@AndyEdwardsDrummer]

all the best to you and yours Richard

[@javilalima]

True is indeed a great álbum, but Andy, I don’t appreciate you backing down on the cover issue, don’t loose your balls, say it like it is: awful.

[@gordonmcgregor6431]

It’s a picture of an 80 year old man whose name is on the tin . You don’t listen to the cover.

[@stevesmith3990]

Am I the only one who finds all this pretend Yes fakery rather tedious? The Band Geeks have done a great job but if I want to listen to Yes I'll listen to Yes.