Originally comprised of former members of Yes (guitarist Steve Howe and keyboard player Geoffrey Downes), King Crimson (bassist/vocalist John Wetton) and ELP (drummer Carl Palmer), Asia’s aural slush puppy of soft rock and prog produced a self-titled debut that became America’s best seller of 1982.
Forty-three years later, Downes – a last link with those days – and a new line-up play three nights in which they will be performing the first three Asia albums in full, one per night, at Trading Boundaries in Sussex.
This line-up of Asia debuted at the John Wetton Tribute show in 2023.
It was a brilliant night, lots of great people including Rick Wakeman came along. Bill Bruford even stepped out of retirement to be a part of it all. It showed what a great impact John had on so many artists. It was also a trigger for going out on the road in America last summer with Martin Turner, Focus and Curved Air.
That first show as the ‘new’ Asia must have been an emotional and stressful experience for you.
It was, yeah. From my own standpoint it was great to carry on with the music that John and I wrote together all those years ago. I know that John would have been appreciative of that happening.
John’s widow Lisa believes he would have “endorsed” the band’s continuation as he “wanted the music to live on”.
That’s correct. For me, the last thing I wanted was to put Asia music into a locker and say I’ll never do that again. And now we’ve got the opportunity to get back out there again and play those first three albums, which were so significant. Of course there’s a type of keyboard warrior who noisily disagrees.
Do you take any perverse interest in such negativity?
It can be quite funny if you choose to look at it that way. Everybody’s got a voice, and some of the comments are quite amusing, but I’m long enough in the tooth to brush off that sort of thing and just keep moving. The haters won’t stop us from doing what we do.
Could you tell us about the other members of Asia 2025, starting with guitarist John Mitchell?
John was in the [solo] band of the other John [Wetton] for quite some time and they had a very good relationship. He was also a member of the Icon project that I had with John Wetton, so I’m very happy that he agreed to become a part of this new Asia.
Mitchell is also an accomplished singer. Was any thought given to him becoming the frontman?
John is a great vocalist, but when I discovered Harry that really changed the game. That’s Harry Whitley, on bass and lead vocals. Yeah. Harry is another great musician. He has a fantastic understanding of John’s voice. At the time, Harry was working on a farm in North Wales, and I thought: “He’s got all the right credentials” [laughs]. I called him up, he came on board and we had our lead singer.
How exactly did you find him?
Harry sent some Asia covers via Twitter, and they were so good they gave me a chill down my spine. People will be very impressed by him. At times you close your eyes and it’s quite eerie – he could be John. He’s only thirty. It’s good to have some young blood in the band, it brings the average age down quite a bit.
And Virgil Donati played drums with Planet X and Ring Of Fire.
John [Wetton] had worked with Virgil in UK, so there was a connection there. Carl [Palmer] was very busy with his ELP show [Welcome Back My Friends], so Virgil came in. He’s really warmed to the subtleties of the material.
Across three nights at Trading Boundaries this line-up will play the first three Asia albums.
It’ll take an enormous amount of preparation, because some of those albums were years in the making. Rattling them off will be a heck of a challenge, no doubt about it, but it’s one that we are relishing.
Are any songs yet to be performed live, maybe from Astra?
We only ever did Voice Of America from Astra, so that show will have a lot of very, very deep cuts. It wasn’t everyone’s favourite, but there’s a posse of fans that really, really loves it.
Many fans will be unable to make it to Sussex. What about recording these three shows, or taking the concept on the road?
We will definitely record the Trading Boundaries shows, and then we head straight off to Japan to do the same thing. I’d be well up for touring it in Britain – so we’re open to offers.
What’s going on with your other band, Yes?
We’ve been working on an album for the past six months. Steve [Howe, guitarist and now producer] is at the helm and I think it will be out later in the year.
Will there be any new music from Asia?
It’s being talked about. I’ve even got some stuff that I worked on with John [Wetton] many years ago, so recording that might be interesting.
Asia play Trading Boundaries on in East Sussex on April 10, 11 and 12.
