|
Brian Draper - 11 questions |
 |
|
Name: Brian Draper |
Organisation: YesFANZ |
Country: Australia |
Age: 52 |
1 First encounter with Yes: |
| Apart from hearing Your Move on the radio in 1971, my first encounter was in March 1973 when Yes visited Australia on the Close to the Edge tour. They played two concerts in Sydney, I was at both and managed (by simply sitting in a vacant seat during intermission) to sit in the front row at the second one. |
2 Best concert by Yes: |
| The one that had the greatest impact on me was that first Sydney concert in 1973 - it converted me to being a Yesfan during the course of the opening song Siberian Khatru. |
3 Favourite album: |
| Close to the Edge. |
4 Favourite song: |
| And You And I. |
5 Yes in 5 words: |
| Uplifting, Positive, Melodic, Spiritual, Sensuous. |
6 Quote your favourite lyric and explain why: |
| Balance the thoughts that release within you ('To Be Over' - WA) |
There are always two sides to every viewpoint, extremes are invariably flawed. The lyric implies that we are able to control those internal imbalances that may be instinctive but can be modified - I like that notion. |
7 Favourite non-Yes band / artist: |
| Can't nominate just one - choose from Beatles, Genesis, Miles Davis and in more recent times Porcupine tree. |
8 How and why did you start the organisation? |
| YesFANZ was the brainchild of Bob Forbes -in 2001 he had the vision of luring Yes back to Australia (they hadn't been here since those 1973 concerts) and to organise a Yes Festival that included a 'meet and greet'. YesFANZ stands for YES F estival A ustralia N ew Z ealand. Bob contacted friends and acquaintances that liked Yes and who were committed to achieving the same goal. Steve Black established the website, I started the Newsletter and initially through connections Bob had established on his trips to see Yes in the US, we made contact with the band management, put together an invitation booklet for Yes to tour Australia and New Zealand and lobbied promoters in Australia to bring them here. As it became clear that Yes were indeed going to tour again, Bob Forbes also had the idea of inviting Roger Dean to put on an art exhibition in conjunction with the tour. He agreed without hesitation so in 2003 we found ourselves running two pre-concert YesFANZ parties (Sydney & Melbourne) that included meet and greets with Yes, Roger Dean and the support band Sebastian Hardie and assisting with the promotion of a Roger Dean exhibition in Sydney. Both were very well attended and from those parties membership of YesFANZ has grown to around 400. We were touched to hear several Yes members comment positively about these events later and how our lobbying had been instrumental in their decision to return to Australia. |
9 What is the ultimate thing to achieve with your organisation? |
| I suspect that it is going to be hard to top our achievements in 2003 but I would like to think that we can do it all again on their next tour - and try to improve on it - though that will be difficult. I suppose ultimately we would like to be ambassadors for all things Yes and spread the Yes 'gospel' as far and wide as we can in Australia and New Zealand. |
10 If there ever would be a Union II, what members should be involved? |
| All 14 official members and ex-members. |
11 A nice Yes related anecdote out of your hat please... |
| During the Yes meet and greet in Melbourne in 2003 where Yes were sitting together doing a Q&A, one fan launched into a long winded question about Tales that essentially asked why Yes had spoilt the album by including The Ancient. Everyone (fans and Yes) were getting a touch annoyed by it but Chris handled the situation with aplomb by saying 'Its very hard to have a three-sided album'. This broke everyone up with laughter. |
| Read Brians interview with Chris Squire |
 |
| Visit the YesFANZ website |
| Back to Fanomenon |