SPILL FEATURE: FIVE MEMBERS WORKING TOGETHER IN HARMONY – A CONVERSATION WITH JON DAVISON OF YES

FIVE MEMBERS WORKING TOGETHER IN HARMONY

A CONVERSATION WITH JON DAVISON OF YES

Yes formed in London in 1968 with their debut album Yes being released one year later. The original line-up of Yes was the founding members Jon Anderson (vocals, guitar, percussion), Chris Squire (bass), Bill Bruford (drums), Tony Kaye (keyboards), and Peter Banks (guitars). Now, some 58 years later, Yes is still a functioning rock group. Of course, members have changed over the years, but they are still going strong and have just released their 24th studio album, Aurora. Aurora is the second Yes album featuring the lineup of Jon Davison (lead vocals, acoustic guitars), Steve Howe (guitars banjo guitar, mandolin, autoharp and vocals), Geoff Downes (organ, synthesizers, piano, keyboards, Minimoog, celeste), Billy Sherwood (bass guitar, vocals), and Jay Schellen (drums and percussion). The first album featuring this line-up was 2023’s Mirror to the Sky.

I recently had the opportunity to speak to lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jon Davison about life and the new Yes album, Aurora. Davison, while celebrating the release of a new Yes album, is still mourning the loss of his father-in-law, John Lodge (vocalist, writer and bassist of The Moody Blues), whom the world lost on October 10, 2025. Not only is Davison married to his daughter, Emily, but he is part of Lodge’s band.

“I’m hanging in there; life is quite something right now. I am still reeling from the loss of my father-in-law, John Lodge. As much as there is pain to heal, which is natural and grief to go through, there is also anticipation to carry on the love he always had and shared. And we are going to honour him greatly in the coming months with some celebrations of life concerts. That will be really special. As busy as we are, it is positive. We are healing and moving towards properly celebrating his legacy. While I am learning his bass parts, I feel he is really close to me and guiding me, and it is quite touching really.”

As noted, Aurora is the first Yes album in three years and is much more of a band effort with the band contributing to the writing. “I’ve got these fantastic four other musicians, and Steve [Howe] being the producer. He is so focused on what kind of album he wanted to create. We are a really good team. The relationship of a band is unique. When we are on tour, we are just on work mode most of the time. We travel individually and we enjoy the time on stage but that is unspoken enjoyment. It is the kinetic exchange of music. You don’t get to hang out as friends as much as you would like. But when it gets time to go into the studio, there are more intimate moments of getting to know one and another. I think that is what is making these albums better and better. I think they are revealing the symbiotic relationships we can have musically but also as people. We get to know one another, get comfortable and get creative with one another.”

The new album, Aurora, carries Yes on their journey into the spiritual and natural world, Davison agrees. “That theme of spirit and nature dancing together has always been a consistent theme throughout the years for Yes. I think the visual element of Roger Dean has also encouraged that. Spiritual music and an otherworldly, beautiful nature that is depicted through his artwork.”

PURCHASE AURORA

The name, Yes, itself is very positive, a simple word, Yes. “Peter Banks, original guitarist, came up with the name Yes. And I remember seeing this interview on YouTube of John Lennon telling fondly how he met Yoko Ono. He went to her show at an art gallery, and she had an interactive exhibit, which was a ladder, which took you to the ceiling. There was a tiny box with a piece of paper, and you had to climb all the way up there, and it said ‘Yes’. That is all it said. And he knew then and there that he had to meet her. And he said, in his own words, ‘if it had something like ‘rip-off’ he would have been out of there. I feel that the spirit of John Lennon has carried over to the spirit of Yes, in so many ways. Look at the third album, there is a nod to “Give Peace A Chance” and Alan [White] having come from John Lennon (he played drums on “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” and Live Peace in Toronto). And later we did a cover of  “Imagine” on the 2019 Royal Affair tour. There is a lot of continuity there and I feel that the name Yes is a nod to John Lennon.”

Stepping into a key role for the band Yes as he has done since 2012, Davison does have a strong sense of not only continuing the band but also being respectful of the band’s past. “I do feel a responsibility, but not from an emotional standpoint. It is not from the position that there is a pressure. I have a moral responsibility and a love for the music that I want to honour. I want to honour the legacy of Jon Anderson, primarily because I am the singer, and for all of them. I have always been a fan and because I am naturally drawn to the spirituality and those things I share with Steve and Jon, I have an innate ability to relate, and that has given me the edge to fit into the band and help propel the band alongside that sense of responsibility. Alongside the sense that there is a certain expectation I need to meet. But that is more of just a rational thing. The emotional side that primarily fuels what I do is more instinctive and I attribute it to my spirituality and being a major fan of the band.”

“Once Steve said he wanted to produce, and he had a connection with the record company, Inside Out, that will back us, Thomas Waber, is a Yes fan and very supportive and supportive of Steve being producer said, ‘make great Yes records!’. With Steve in that chair, as producer, and the quest was underway, it felt so healing during the COVID period. It went off so well, no roadblocks or hiccups, the creativity was flowing and happening and when The Quest was over, I said ‘what do we do now’ and he said, ‘why stop?’ And we jumped right into the next album. Just keep it going, the creative flow. We jumped into Mirror to the Sky. Actually, some of the themes of the title track of “Mirror to the Sky” were things Steve and I were working on at his home studio during the Heaven and Earth period. It was the same at Mirror to the Sky, and we decided to carry on. Of course, we have touring responsibilities that interrupt us temporarily, but the spirit of staying creative is continuing. Hopefully we can jump right into the next album when we are ready.”

The band took its time with Aurora presenting it in the manner they wanted. “I recall as we were in the final chapters of mixing. We had more time with this album. Sometimes the first mix is not quite right, so we do a second and we were all involved in the mix. The entire band had a say as to what we wanted to say with the album. That lends itself to a more diverse sound because the music is more nurtured than ever before. I will make a point about Jay because he jumped into the sessions, somewhat belatedly from Mirror to the Sky because Alan was still with us and we were hoping he would be part of that album. But that, sadly, was not to be. So, Jay jumped in midway through and rallied quickly. Whereas this album he was there from the beginning and formulated his parts. I just love his drumming on the album.”

Quite frankly, with Aurora the band seems to be playing as a band. This is not a few members with people filling in, but, as with any lineup with Yes, a band that is working and creating together. “That is one of the highest compliments we could get. That is what we want to give people, and that is what people have come to hope for and expect with Yes music. Because it has always been about the five members working together in harmony but each one being their own accomplished artist in their own right. There is always room for expression from each instrument.”

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Photo Credit: Gottlieb Bros