In 2021 Arc Of Life presented themselves as the latest offshoot from Yes, featuring Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen. Their self-titled debut album gained the attention of the main band’s fans – but the feedback wasn’t all positive. Bassist Sherwood told Prog how he felt about it, while setting his focus on what would become their second record, which has been their last work to date.
Arc Of Life broadens Billy Sherwood’s partnership with Jon Davison beyond the confines of Yes. Their self-titled album came about when the pair began writing together on the Yestival US tour in August 2017. “It started in the back of a tour bus,” Sherwood recalls. “We had this beautiful bus we lived on for that tour. When we felt like writing we had my studio in the back, with various guitars and keyboards lying around.”
The duo started work with no specific goal in mind, but their thinking swiftly evolved. “Jon and I were just writing for fun at first. As the songs were coming together, it was clear that they weren’t for Yes. We thought that there was more to it and we should make it a band.”
Recruiting a line-up proved simple. Jay Schellen was “the obvious choice” as drummer given his lengthy history with Sherwood, and he’s also recently done a lot on stage with Yes, deputising for Alan White. And keyboardist Dave Kerzner is a longstanding friend. “Dave and I have been threatening to do something together forever,” Sherwood says.
The least familiar name is guitarist Jimmy Haun, who played alongside Sherwood in Lodgic in the early 80s, and later in Circa. He’s best known to Yes fans for appearing on 1991 album Union. He’s also a big name in the world of corporate jingles; he wrote the Yahoo “yodel.”
The writing for Arc Of Life was almost exclusively driven by Sherwood and Davison. Performances were mainly obtained by filesharing, with the five members spread across California, Utah, Florida and the UK. It fell to Sherwood – with considerable time at home in LA during 2020 – to marshal the final stages.
For the most part, the album’s MO is four- or five-minute songs likely to hold greatest appeal to fans of the 90125 / Big Generator / Talk era of Yes, featuring Trevor Rabin, rather than those whose holy grail is 70s catalogue. A rehash of Relayer it is most certainly not – although towards the Locked Down and Therefore We Are run to 20 minutes combined, and hint at a more progressive direction the band may explore in future.
“We wanted to show that even though we’re in this straight-ahead lane of pop as the album starts, it’s got some proggy components,” Sherwood explains. “The record flowers into this other thing and flows quite well. I wanted that feeling of ramping up by the end. It affords the band the opportunity to go in any direction it wants as we build a different record that’s just as interesting – but in a new way.”
When Phil Collins joined Brand X I wasn’t expecting it to sound like Genesis
Arc Of Life has been available for several weeks, receiving mixed reactions. While Prog’s review was very enthusiastic (“a fresh-sounding collection, high on songcraft and imbued with a subtle complexity”), other verdicts have been less positive, with some caustic castigations appearing on social media.
Sherwood is largely phlegmatic about negative commentary. “I stay true to what I believe in, and that’s where it starts and ends,” he says. “You put out an album and hope people like it like what you do. I’m happy with the end product. The rest is just opinions.”
Yes fans are far from reticent about voicing theirs. “They certainly are!” he says. “It’s been inherent in the Yes fanbase for so long. No matter what you do, you’re always measured against this Yes yardstick. It’s funny when people comment, ‘This isn’t Yes!’ Where did we say this was Yes? Arc Of Life is not Yes – it’s a new band.
“Yes’ DNA follows individuals around just by proxy of being involved with the band. But I grew up listening to Genesis. When Phil Collins joined Brand X I wasn’t expecting it to sound like Genesis.”
He, Davison and Schellen are undoubtedly known most for their respective roles in Yes. “It’s akin to being typecast,” he reflects. “Before I’d even met anyone in Yes, people said my first records had a Yes vibe, so I’m used to it. After all these years being in the band, out band and back in it, it comes with the territory. There are worse things to be compared to!”
The strong opinions of the band’s fans reflect the passion they generate – and Sherwood shares that passion himself. “People hold Yes very dearly. Some have an open mind; others don’t. My job is only to do what I believe is right. Back in the day, if you didn’t like a record you wouldn’t write a letter and pass it around everyone – you’d simply move on. But now there are all these armchair generals. It’s some people’s life work to upset other people’s apple carts. I don’t subscribe to that.”
He puts his lengthy career down in part to not paying attention to adverse comments. He professes to have a thick skin, but admits he does occasionally get irked. “But that’s the nature of where we are. Sometimes I fall prey to it, grab my computer and say, ‘Oh, really?’”
None of which will limit his ambitions for Arc Of Life existing alongside Yes and his other musical endeavours. “There’s definitely a second album in our future and hopefully more – we’re all committed to this band.”
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