CS: Obviously, when writing or arranging for a choir, you're dealing with the soprano, alto, tenor and bass parts. It's all about getting the right harmonies that come about when everyone is singing at the same time. It's an exercise in harmony. The harmonies that we use in Yes is a lot more of a rock and roll based harmony, and the harmonies that we use in the Swiss Choir album were traditionally taken from 'old fashioned' church music, gothic, and all kinds of influences. RS: In arranging for choir, you're working with people who have egos. As a producer, how do you manage people as instruments? CS: Certainly, when you have hired people to come in and do a job, you generally just tell them what to do and how you want it to be done. The focus is shifted. I suppose that the actual arrangement for the choir parts in Swiss Choir, I left more to Gerard Johnson and Jeremy Jackman. I was more responsible in coming up with the different methods of marrying the genres together, and how to manipulate the rock elements to suit the songs that I've known as a kid. I dealt with how can a drummer, a bass player, and a guitar player work with this music and keep it rockin'. RS: Your vocal characteristics in Swiss Choir was unlike any other you've done. Your range has deepened. CS: There's a couple of tracks where I do baritone solos. It's like a whole new thing. I've never had to use that voice very much in my rock career, if at all. Around the 90125 era, I did some very low bass stuff, like in Leave It, that we tracked up and put in the Fairlight and used voices for effect. I've never actually had a melodic baritone or tenor solo before, so it was a challenge. I was curious if I could do it, and as it turns out, it sounded surprisingly well, so I'm happy about that. \ RS: How many octaves is your range? CS: Not a tremendous amount, maybe 3 or 3 and a half.\ RS: Do you see yourself taking on more of a vocalist role in Yes. CS: Well, when we come together to do an album Jon encourages me to do more vocal things. But when it comes to it, at the end of the day, it tends to not happen that much as suggested at the beginning of the album. I suppose that's because I've become more involved in the role of putting together the overall sound and manufacturing harmonies that work with Jon's vocal, and generally putting the whole thing together. Let's see how this all plays out. If I become revered as a great baritone soloist maybe I'll take that up with Yes. RS: That would be a departure from the traditional sound of the band. CS: The thing about Yes is we've always challenged ourselves to do different things, bring different things out, approach music differently, and stretch the boundaries of our capabilities under the banner of it being Yes. Next time when we're in the studio, which might be in a years' time or something like that, I'm sure we'll look at certain ways of doing things in a different fashion. Some things will work, some won't - but we'll give it a go. On Yes' Success... RS: Why do you think it's true that Yes can still come out with compelling new material - where other bands are playing their old stuff in concert (Tull, Genesis, the disbanded ELP) almost exclusively. Why does Yes move forward where other bands that started in that era are not? CS: We have a lot of talent within the structure of Yes. Everyone in the band has capability within certain areas within that structure. There's quite a lot where we try to develop new systems, and new ways of doing things. It's not as easy for a band, like Tull, that focuses on one person like Ian Anderson, or ELP that focuses on one person, Keith Emerson. There's more scope within Yes. RS: On composing, do you focus on basic rhyme techniques, or vowel techniques? How do you structure songs? CS: Every piece that we do, we look at differently. Wherever the music comes from within the band, the rest of us will look upon it and come up with a way of treating that. If it's something that I've composed from the beginning, then the other guys will do it for me - putting enthusiasm and hopefully a different slant. It's important that you don't get too attached to it, and let the creative juices of the other band modify it. RS: You as a soloist, when you are approaching a project, where does the inspiration come from when you're not getting input from others? CS: I've been working on that for the last year for my new album. I come up with musical moods, rhythm ideas, melody ideas, and lyrical ideas. Lyrics are always the toughest thing, to come up with something intelligent that also means something and can be motivational. I've been working hard over the last year to try to find new ways to come up with lyrics for songs. To a certain extent I've been successful with that in my new compositions, but you're gonna have to wait until it's finished to see if you like it or not. More to come from this interview soon.