Chris Squire and "The Fish"

[Thudstaff]

So I wait tables in a luxury hotel and had the pleasure of serving Chris Squire and his lovely wife. Protocol dictates that I don't bother or intrude on his privacy or pesker him with needless questions. I've served quite a few "stars" and it's usually not a big deal to me. But as a bass player, I was excited to have a chance to interact with the dude. As the meal progressed and a bottle of wine later I mustered the strength to ask him a technical question. All I could think was, "How many friggen bass tracks are on "The Fish"? He really had to work to remember so far back as he verbally counted off. Apparently it was recorded on a sixteen track deck and he didn't mention bouncing. He said it was something like twelve bass tracks. I think the drums were minimally mic'd. My guess is that a few tracks were bounced somewhere. Long story short, this is just another one of those "brush with greatness" stories. Chris was incredibly nice and funny, can navigate a baby stroller with the best of them, and his down-to-earth wife was cool as well. I guess the info I got from Squire could easily be had through a Google search but it's way cooler to hear from the fish's mouth. If you could visit with Chris Squire and you had to ask him one question (as a bass player), what would it be?

 

[tangentmusic]

"Direct from the Fish's Mouth" Indeed! Very cool.
I had the opportunity of meeting Mr.Squire on one of the first dates of Yes' Magnification/ Symphonic Tour in Reno NV. He was asking ME questions. "How did the (local Reno) symphony sound?" "Could you hear them?" "How was the mix?" ect.
He was concerned about how the playing with local orchestras would work out.
He was very down to Earth & approachable. There were tons of things I would have liked to ask him, but he was more concerned about how the show they just played went down.