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Jon Bastable is Fragile's bass player, here he reveals how the magic of Yes almost eluded him and how "The Heart of the Sunrise" made all the difference....

 

Rush And Geddy Lee, early inspiration.

In the early 1980's I was introduced to the Canadian progressive rock trio Rush. Inspired by the music I went about learning many of Geddy Lee's bass lines on a red Rickenbacker 4001 which I bought in 1981. A year later saw the formation of my own band "Citadel" whose performances included the overture from Rush's classic album 2112. In 1983 I joined another band called "Hazzard Profile" whose members were influenced by no less than Gong, Yes, Bill Bruford and King Crimson. The drummer had been tought by Pierre Moerlen from Gong and the guitarist by Alan Holdsworth and it was here that I got my first taste of Yes music. The drummer wanted to do a Yes cover (Parallels) and as I didn't know any Yes he lent me "Going for the One". The main thing that I noticed about the album was the great bass lines and bass sounds that Chris Squire came out with. The stupid thing is that we never did play the song because we couldn't match the guitar or vocal parts!

I didn't think much more about Yes until 1989 when the infamous "ABWH" album came out and I bought it on a whim. I liked it but missed Chris Squire's bass and backing vocals. However, it was this album that led me to buy the accompanying video which has a version of "Heart of the Sunrise". This opened a door for me and is still my favourite Yes track. The live video has Jeff Rollin playing bass though so I still did not see the whole potential of the band. I then bought some "Best Of" Yes albums and every studio album since "ABWH" and of course "Going for the One" (How on earth did I miss "Awaken" the first time round?).

Chris Squire - The Heart of the Sunrise

Jon live with trusty Rickenbacker

I then met Steve Carney (vocalist for Fragile) in 1992 and he has been into Yes in a big way since he was born. Steve persuaded me to go and see Yes at the Hammersmith Odeon during the "Open Your Eyes" tour in 1998. it was a great occasion and the force of the performance hit me in the face like a sledgehammer! I had seen Rush live three times in the early 80's but that was nothing compared to this! The highlight was of course "Heart of the Sunrise". Chris Squire's ability to shine on stage is most evident in this song. It was on the way home that Steve and I asked the question "Could we do that?". The answer as we now all know is - Yes!   Jon

Jon hasn't always been the bass-playing God that currently struts the stage with Fragile. Jon's past has included other moments of fame, rather different but nonetheless remarkable as the following pictures show . . .

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