In a new conversation with MusicRadar, Steve Howe talked about what is challenging for musicians on live shows.
“A performer can really beat themselves up. If they did something wrong, that’s rather apparent, that is dreadful,” the guitarist said. “You can spend days trying to forget it, because just that one moment.”
He continued, “That happens often. It’s not never. That happens periodically with something you do, you come off and feel hurt. But yeah, you have to remember – and one does – that this is live performance and you don’t know what’s going to happen when the show starts.”
“All sorts of things can distract you. What we want to do is the most electrifying shows that we can, but then again we are not robots. We won’t be the same as the other show. I think that’s why most people come to shows – it’s to see what happens!” Howe also shared.
In other news, members of Yes are being sued over a song from their 2021 album ‘The Quest.’ Riz Story, also known as Rudolph Zahler, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles. He claims that Howe and lead singer Jon Davison copied his song ‘Reunion’ for their track ‘Dare To Know’ and added their own lyrics.
Zahler says he wrote ‘Reunion’ in 1981 when he was 15, and although it was never released as a single, it was used in the 2014 movie ‘A Winter Rose,’ and he later copyrighted it.
Zahler claims that in 2022, he found out his music was used in ‘Dare To Know.’ He says he never gave Yes permission to use it and argues that the band broke his copyright by performing the song and promoting it.
The filing said, “Mr. Davison decided to just ‘steal’ Mr. Zahler’s song ‘Reunion’ for the album, rather than getting Mr. Zahler’s permission,” adding that Davison and Howe ‘decided to add lyrics to the music, affix the name ‘Dare to Know’ to the song and attribute sole songwriting credit to Mr. Howe.”
Zahler says Howe learned about ‘Reunion’ through his connection with Davison, who met Howe in 1990. Zahler claims Davison once asked him for help writing songs for Yes but later ‘stole’ his song ‘Reunion’ and gave credit to Howe. Zahler is suing for damages and wants to stop Yes from using the song and have him credited as the sole songwriter.