July 2010

Bobby talks about his collaboration with Billy Sherwood and new his band YOSO

How did the idea for Yoso come about?

While I was recording with Billy Sherwood (as I often do some vocals on his Production Projects), I got an offer to do a tour,.... but at that moment, I was not in a band. Billy and I talked about using some of the guys he was playing with at the time, ....one of them being Tony Kaye. As it turned out, we ended up putting a band together, but instead of touring, we decided to record a CD. The way it all got started was, Billy recorded the first basic track and gave me a copy of it to write lyrics to. We sort of fell into a rhythm with that pattern, and before we knew it, we had done a whole CD. It was a lot of fun, and it's even more fun to play it live.

Had you known each other well before getting together as Yoso?

I met Billy over 25 years ago when he came to LA with a band called "Logic". I thought they were a great band, and apparently I was correct, because David Paich and Jeff Porcaro ended up producing their album. Tony, I had seen with Yes, of course, but I had never had the pleasure of meeting him in person.

How were the songs for the album written?

I actually answered that question before I read this, however, I'll embellish a bit on my answer.
Since Billy plays every instrument, he could record "whole basic tracks" to the demos of the songs, so that I could get an idea of what the lyrics should be like. He was coming up with ideas so fast, it was difficult to keep up with his writing and recording. Lyrics, if they have any merit, usually take a little time to put together, but Billy was cranking out those demos at lightening speed. It was all great fun and the process seemed to work very well.

How did you decide which Toto and Yes songs to perform live?

Some of those choices were very easy one's, because we tried to stay within the bounds of the bigger Hit Songs from each band, .....plus, we wanted to play material that someone in the band had actually played or sung on. As for the Toto material, we tried to pick songs that I had originally sung on, or co-written, and for the Yes material, Tony was on most of those songs. The really hard choices were picking out the songs from the Yoso CD for the set.

Is this a one-off or are there plans for a follow-up?

Actually, since the CD has been finished for quite a while, Billy and I have already started the 2nd CD for Yoso. As soon as we're able, we'll continue to finish the CD and move ahead.

Will Yoso be touring? If so, are there plans to come to the UK?

Funny you should ask that, because our manager and our agent are in the UK as we speak. I know there are plans for Europe, but I most assuredly would like to play in The UK as soon as we possibly can. I've always loved playing in The UK, and this would be the perfect band to bring there.

What other projects are the members involved in at the moment?

I can't speak for all of the other guys, but I'm almost finished with my new Solo CD. I've written the songs over a 25 year period, and it's going to be a great CD. Also, Billy has a new Solo CD out, and I'm sure he's working on another. Sometimes, you can't just bottle all of that emotion up inside of you. It must be let out in the form of new music.
Thanks for the great questions, and be watching for the "Elements" CD by Yoso...............Bobby