Jeff Downs celebrates the anniversary of Yes and Asia | music | entertainment

Keyboard therapist Jeff Downs recalls, “There was a circular platform in the center of the plaza, with round curtains around it.” “We were smuggled through a trap door. Then the lights come on and the audience suddenly sees five characters appearing inside. It was very effective.”

“Unfortunately, on this occasion, the curtain did not open and we had no choice but to crawl under it… which didn’t look very pretty and spoiled the whole picture.

“It was a fitting moment at Stonehenge,” he laughs, referring to the satirical rock movie Spinal Tap. “We had a lot of those.”

Stockport-born Jeff replaced Rick Wakeman earlier in 1980; Trevor “Mad Professor” Horn – His partner from the new wave pop band The Buggles has taken over from John Anderson.

This didn’t sit well with Yes hardcore fans.

“There was some resentment toward us being intrusive,” Jeff, 69, told me. “It was even worse for Trevor, as John Anderson was very respectful. For die-hard audiences, it was like Arthur Daly becoming Pope.

“But Trevor defied the attack and did a good job. I was the fourth keyboardist, so it wasn’t too bad for me.”

The musical duo was joined by guitarist Steve Howe, guitarist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White, who died last month at the age of 72.

“He was an outstanding guy, and he was one of the best people – loyal, passionate, and caring,” says Jeff. “And despite living for many years in Seattle, he never lost Jordi’s wit, wit, and irony.”

The Buggles share management with Yes and the musical marriage made sense; Horne’s voice was similar to Anderson and they brought proven songwriting and production skills.

Their subsequent album Drama, released in August 1980, shot straight into the top three. “Its power has transformed people,” Jeff says, although global sales have been below par.

Downs and Howe are on the current Yes list with Jay Shellen (drums), John Davison (vocals), and Billy Sherwood (bass). But in 1981, when Horn quit to pursue his highly successful career as a producer, Yes (briefly) called it a day.

Jeff and Steve formed the Super Band Asia with vocalist and King Crimson bassist John Wetton and drummer Carl Palmer of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

“We were a very real band,” says Jeff. “We trained hard before we even went to the studio.”

It paid off. Their 1982 self-titled debut album went multi-platinum, selling over 10 million copies and topping US charts for nine weeks.

A US tour of Asia was booked prior to the album’s release. “We used to fill the 2,000-seat college parties every night, and everywhere was packed. But after going, we went from 2,000 to 20,000 stadiums.

Snowball grew very fast. I remember being in a limo with John listening to the radio. Asia came, so we turned our stops and had every single one of them play with us. It was a meteorite.”

Love them Japan. “We did the ‘Asia in Asia’ tour and it was like Beatlemania – amazing, there were fans everywhere. I remember girls raining us kites, and I had a wrapper full of origami.”

But Asia also had Spinal Tap moments. “At a party, the keyboard stand started to fall apart,” Jeff laughs. “He was pulling away more and more from me…my ways were tying them together while I was playing.”

Their 1983 show in Budokan, Tokyo—previously available only on VHS—has just been released as a deluxe set.

After they hit the US Top 5 hit, Heat Of The Moment, Asia filmed the follow-up video, Only Time Will Tell, with Godley & Creme directing.

“John Wheaton showed up with a bit of a chin beard and filmed a number of scenes, but for some unknown reason at lunchtime decided to shave.”

“Godley & Dim Cream! John’s face no longer matches the footage taken earlier, so they had the makeup girl cut his strands of hair, cut it into small pieces, and re-glue the bits of hair on his face for continuity.”

“He was a little upset because he was itchy like hell, but everyone except John found it very funny.”

For Jeff, Asia was a new experience. “We started at the top,” he says. “We’ve all been successful, but it was a different kind of pressure, we started with a multi-million selling album, so the expectations were huge.

“We were also very wealthy, so we didn’t have that young yearning. We weren’t in a transit truck going up the M1, we were going to the studio in Porsche and Bentley.”

A far cry from Jeff’s humble beginnings. “My dad was a church organist and my mom played piano a lot. I was six when I started piano lessons, then organ lessons. I started in bands when I was 13 and got a taste of rock and roll. I had my first Hammond organ in 16. “

After school he attended Leeds College of Music and formed a jazz fusion band which is French.

“I was in Caravan, Procol Harem, Soft Machine and of course yes – Close To The Edge was every student’s favourite at the time, so ironically fifty years later I am on the Yes tour to celebrate it.”

After graduation, he moved to London and began working on the regular course. “I was writing radio jingles initially, which helped you hone in on communicating ideas in a short window.

“I made jingles for anything that came in, cars, nappies—you name it, I did it.”

In 1975, he became the musical director of the Wombles touring show. “I didn’t have to wear the big suit. Mike Pat’s music was really good; the arrangements are great.”

Trevor Horn met on audition, and hit thirty other musicians to play keyboards with pop star Tina Charles – Horne’s girlfriend at the time. “He assigned me the job because I showed up with the Moog synthesizer!”

They supported her live and started producing her recordings.

Their breakthrough as The Buggles came in 1979 with the hit video Killed The Radio Star – a number one song that would become the first song to be played on MTV.

“It was a very powerful song. It wasn’t a scattered pop, it had depth; it had substance, which the guys noticed in ‘Yes’.”

In addition to recording and touring with Asia for over thirty years, Downes has released solo albums, formed the Downes Braide Society with Novello Award-winning pianist and collaborator Sia Chris Braide, toured and recorded with John Wetton at Icon and worked with a host of stars including Mike Oldfield The Thomson Twins.

He also played on Kate Bush’s 1981 album Dreaming, adding stabbing horns to Kate’s Sat In Your Lap.