Yes Signs New Record Deal, Album Due Next Year

Legendary prog-rock band Yes has signed to a new worldwide recording deal with Frontiers Records, based out of Italy. The group will be recording their first new studio album in nearly a decade, following 2001’s Magnification. According to the release, fans can expect a release date in 2011, sometime before summer.

The current Yes band members include founding bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Oliver Wakeman and singer Benoit David. Wakeman and David are new to the band, filling in for Rick Wakeman (Oliver’s father), and vocalist Jon Anderson.

Squire suggests the new band needs to be documented through the new album.

“Having the two new guys in the line-up has inspired the impetus behind the need for Yes to return to the studio,” he says. Guitarist Steve Howe agrees. “The new lineup has shown that we can operate well as a touring band, so now to expand that to recording would broaden our repertoire and the inclusion of Oliver and Benoit on new recordings will show a new leaf in Yes music’s continuing development.”