Conspiracy (band)
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Conspiracy (formerly known as The Chris Squire Experiment) was a progressive rock band founded by
Chris Squire Christopher Russell Edward Squire (4March 1948 – 27June 2015) was an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes. He was the longest-serving original memb ...
(then bassist in Yes) and
Billy Sherwood William Wyman Sherwood (born March 14, 1965) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, record producer and mixing engineer. He is best known for his tenures in the English progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes as guitarist and ke ...
(formerly and subsequently of
Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talente ...
). The band released two albums: ''Conspiracy'' (2000) and ''The Unknown'' (2003), and a live DVD (2006).


History


Squire & Sherwood in Yes

In the late 1980s, Yes' original lead singer
Jon Anderson John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...
had left the group to form
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe was an English progressive rock band active from 1988 to 1990 that comprised four past members of the English progressive rock band Yes. Singer Jon Anderson left Yes as he felt increasingly constrained by their ...
with three other former Yes members. Chris Squire brought
Billy Sherwood William Wyman Sherwood (born March 14, 1965) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, record producer and mixing engineer. He is best known for his tenures in the English progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes as guitarist and ke ...
, a young musician he had met, to work with the group as a possible new lead singer. With
Trevor Rabin Trevor Charles Rabin (; born ) is a South African rock musician and composer. Born into a musical family and raised in Johannesburg, Rabin took up the piano and guitar at an early age and became a session musician, playing and producing with a va ...
also absent for a time (concentrating on his solo work), a line-up of the three remaining Yesmen—Squire, Alan White and Tony Kaye—plus Sherwood and guitarist
Bruce Gowdy Bruce Gowdy is an American guitarist, best known for his work with World Trade, and Unruly Child. Biography Gowdy was a founding member of World Trade with Billy Sherwood and Guy Allison. He later formed Unruly Child with Allison. He was also a ...
, Sherwood's bandmate in World Trade, began rehearsing together. Rabin subsequently returned to the band and demos were recorded with a line-up of Squire, White, Kaye, Rabin and Sherwood. Squire and Sherwood had formed a strong writing partnership, but Sherwood was not officially admitted to Yes and was uneasy about the idea of replacing Anderson as frontman. A reunion with Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe left no official role for Sherwood, although one Squire/Sherwood composition, "The More We Live—Let Go", was released on the Yes album ''
Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
'' (1991).


The Chris Squire Experiment

Having written a body of work, Squire and Sherwood went on a brief US tour in 1992 under the name The Chris Squire Experiment. The other musicians in the band were White on drums,
Jimmy Haun Jimmy Cary Haun is an American guitarist and composer, known for his work with the bands Yes, Air Supply, and Circa. Career Haun got his start in the music business through his childhood friend Michael Sherwood and toured with Michael's fatherâ ...
on guitar (who had played much of the guitar on ''Union''),
Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff in 1992 and M ...
on keyboards and Mark T. Williams on percussion. Further collaborative work by Squire and Sherwood cropped up: "The Evolution Song" and "Say Goodbye" appeared on ''Euphoria'', the second World Trade album while "Love Conquers All", a Yes song they had written, was released on the ''
YesYears ''Yesyears'' is the first box set by English progressive rock band Yes, released in August 1991 on Atco Records. After the group left Atco for Arista Records when they became an eight-man formation in 1990, the deal gave Atco the right to the ...
'' collection. The years passed—work continued on and off on the material while Sherwood continued to work with Yes in different capacities—when finally, in the late 1990s, a release under the Chris Squire Experiment name was announced, an album to be called ''Chemistry''. However, once again, events in the Yes camp took over when Sherwood officially joined the band in 1996. Two tracks from ''Chemistry'' ("Open Your Eyes" and "Man in the Moon") were re-worked by Yes for '' Open Your Eyes'' (1997).


Conspiracy


''Conspiracy''

The use of these two tracks from ''Chemistry'' stalled the release while Squire pondered what to do. Eventually in 2000, the ''Chemistry'' name was dropped, and ''Conspiracy'' by Chris Squire & Billy Sherwood was released. Everything that was to be on ''Chemistry'' made it to ''Conspiracy'' (presuming a song title on ''Chemistry'' of "You are the Light of My Life" became the song "Light in My Life" on ''Conspiracy''). Not wishing for the album to be seen as a re-release of existing material, the two original mixes of the ''Open Your Eyes'' tracks and an alternate version of World Trade's "Say Goodbye" were included on ''Conspiracy'', but as hidden bonus tracks. Versions of Yes's "The More We Live—Let Go" and "Love Conquers All" and World Trade's "The Evolution Song" re-titled "Watching The World" were also included on ''Conspiracy'', plus the material played on the Chris Squire Experiment tour. Squire and Sherwood share lead vocals on the album, with Squire playing most of the bass parts and Sherwood playing most of the guitar and keyboard parts, plus contributing some drumming. The name Conspiracy represented Squire and Sherwood's desire to collaborate with different musicians. The album included appearances from White, Haun and World Trade drummers
Jay Schellen Jay Schellen (born May 20, 1960) is an American drummer who is best known as a member of the hard rock band Hurricane. Schellen has also worked and currently working with a number of other heavy rock and progressive rock bands, including with A ...
and Mark T Williams. ''Conspiracy'' also included one track based on a set of jam sessions involving Squire,
Steve Stevens Steve Stevens (born Steven Bruce Schneider; May 5, 1959) is an American guitarist. He is best known as Billy Idol's guitarist and songwriting collaborator, and for his lead guitar work on the theme to ''Top Gun'' – "Top Gun Anthem" – for w ...
and
Michael Bland Michael Bland (born March 14, 1969) is an American musician best known as a drummer for Prince starting in 1989. He was with Prince during The New Power Generation era and played with him live and on albums for seven years. From 1995 to 1997, ...
called "Violet Purple Rose", consisting of a recording from the sessions with overdubs from Sherwood.


''The Unknown'' and a live DVD

The album name became a band name and Conspiracy became a fully fledged group based around Squire (bass, vocals), Sherwood (guitar, keys, vocals) and Schellen (drums). The album ''The Unknown'' was released in 2003. Guests include Haun,
Michael Sherwood Michael Sherwood (27 October 1959 – 5 November 2019) was an American keyboardist and singer. Biography Michael Sherwood was a US keyboardist and singer who came from a musical family which included his father Bobby Sherwood, who was an acto ...
(Billy's older brother) and Jordan Berliant (better known as Yes' then manager). The initial pressing of the album includes a bonus track entitled "I Could", an alternate form of the first half of the Yes track "Finally" released on ''
The Ladder A ladder is a runged climbing aid. Ladder, The Ladder, or Ladders may also refer to: Art, entertainment and media Film and television * "Ladders" (''Community''), the first episode of the sixth season of the sitcom ''Community'' * ''Ladders'', a ...
'' (1999). Many of the album lyrics refer to the events of the
9/11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
. Cover art was by Bob Cesca, who had also worked with Yes. Shortly after leaving Yes in 2000, Sherwood had planned a project called The Unknown including brother Michael, Haun, Schellen and
Jonathan Elias Jonathan Elias (born 1956) is an American composer best known for his film soundtracks. Background Elias was born in New York City in 1956. He is of Jewish-Hungarian background. Elias started playing piano at the age of six, and was composin ...
. Nothing more came of this, but the title track of the Conspiracy album was co-written with M. Sherwood and Haun and derives from those plans. Conspiracy's live lineup was assembled in 2004 with Squire (bass, vocals, guitars), B. Sherwood (guitars, keys, vocals), Schellen (drums), M. Sherwood (keys, vocals) and Scott Walton (keys). They rehearsed, but touring plans were abandoned. However, a private live show was recorded and released on DVD by 2006. Their set included Conspiracy tracks, material from ''Open Your Eyes'' and from Squire's 1975 ''
Fish Out of Water Fish out of water is an idiom used to refer to a person who is in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings. Fish out of water may also refer to: Film and television * ''Fish Out of Water'' (1993 film), a Danish film * ''Fish Out of ...
'' solo album.


After Conspiracy: band break-up and side projects

The band was looking towards a third album, but was curtailed when Squire moved from the US back to London, UK. By 2006, Sherwood was leading the project without Squire's involvement. A new album was announced and expected to include two songs written by Sherwood and Gowdy, left over from a cancelled World Trade album. Others appearing were to include former Yes members Tony Kaye,
Geoff Downes Geoffrey Downes (born 25 August 1952) is an English keyboardist who gained fame as a member of the new wave group The Buggles with Trevor Horn, the progressive rock band Yes, and the supergroup Asia. Born in Stockport, Downes moved to London ...
, and former
Gentle Giant Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of their members. All of the band members were multi-inst ...
guitarist Gary Green. (Kaye and Green have worked with Sherwood on a number of other projects.) However, in 2007, Sherwood announced that this project, called ''Psy-Op'', would be released under a different name and, while finished, will be put back so as not to compete with Sherwood, Kaye and White's then-new band,
Circa Circa is a word of Latin origin meaning 'approximately'. Circa or CIRCA may also refer to: * CIRCA (art platform), art platform based in London * Circa (band), a progressive rock supergroup * Circa (company), an American skateboard footwear com ...
. He later announced that the album was cancelled, with the material subsequently being used for other projects. In a late 2007 interview, Sherwood said, "I don’t foresee another Conspiracy record, simply because Chris lives in London and I live here in the States. I’m doing Circa now and he is doing his own thing. We have drifted apart in terms of working together simply by location/geographically more than anything. I’m enjoying playing bass a lot right now, my focus is on Circa and obviously Conspiracy is dear to my heart, but it took a turn and went into a dormant mode here so really see anything in the future right here at the moment." Squire then moved to Phoenix, Arizona. In a June 2012 interview, he said: "There are offers for us to do a third Conspiracy album. At the moment, my hands are a little full because of es_touring_and_Squackett.html" ;"title="Squackett.html" ;"title="es touring and Squackett">es touring and Squackett">Squackett.html" ;"title="es touring and Squackett">es touring and Squackett. In a late 2012 interview, Sherwood said: "I have been in contact with Chris recently, he played on the Prog Collective project as well as The Supertramp Tribute I did recently. We have spoken about Conspiracy doing more in the future, we shall see..." And in a November 2012 interview, "Chris and I have spoken about it, but it comes down to schedules and at present geography. I live in LA and Chris no longer does. That alone makes the process tricky. That said you never know… we shall see." In an April 2013 Q&A for Yes's official website, YesWorld, Squire said: "There is a possibility down the road, I could do another Conspiracy album with Billy but presently I'm very tied up with my work with YES, and possibly another album with Steve Hackett". Sherwood began working more with Yes again and Squire guested on other projects by Sherwood, but no further Conspiracy work followed. With Squire's death in 2015, the future of the project remains uncertain.


Discography


Albums

* 2000: ''Conspiracy'' * 2003: ''The Unknown''


Videos

* 2006: ''Conspiracy Live''


Notes


References


External links

*Album
''Conspiracy''
an

a

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conspiracy Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 2004 1992 establishments in the United States 2004 disestablishments in the United States American progressive rock groups Inside Out Music artists Cleopatra Records artists