{"id":483256,"date":"2019-03-11T10:42:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T16:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=804823"},"modified":"2019-03-11T10:42:33","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T16:42:33","slug":"drummer-alan-white-reflects-on-his-years-playing-with-john-lennon-and-yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/drummer-alan-white-reflects-on-his-years-playing-with-john-lennon-and-yes\/","title":{"rendered":"Drummer Alan White Reflects on His Years Playing With John Lennon and Yes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If Alan White\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 was limited to playing drums on John Lennon<\/a>\u2019s Imagine<\/em> and George Harrison\u2019s All Things Must Pass,<\/em> it would be pretty impressive. But about two years after appearing on those pivotal Beatles solo records, he was recruited by Yes<\/a> \u2014 then at the peak of their creative powers \u2014 to replace the outgoing Bill Bruford. The band has seen a ludicrous amount of lineup changes since that time, but the one constant has been White\u2019s presence behind the drum kit. These days, back issues limit his time onstage with Yes to a handful of songs a night, but he still tours with the band and hopes to play for longer periods of the show after he regains his full strength.<\/p>\n

As he prepares for a speaking engagement at the Iridium<\/a> in New York City, White phoned up Rolling Stone<\/em> to talk about his stint in John Lennon\u2019s Plastic Ono Band, his early days with Yes, their time as unlikely MTV stars in the early Eighties and the recent drama that has split the band into two competing camps.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve told this story a lot, but tell me how you first met John Lennon.
<\/strong>The first thing I heard from him was a phone call when he asked me to play Live Peace in Toronto. Basically, he called me right out of the blue. I had my own band and we all lived in the same house in London like a lot of bands did at that time. I was cooking something in the kitchen like a stew and the phone rang. It was John, but I didn\u2019t realize it then. I thought it was a friend trying to joke with me, so I put the phone down. Eventually I got a call back and he told me he was doing a gig in Toronto and was I available to play drums and can he send a car to pick me up the next morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

I said, \u201cOf course.\u201d And then there it was. The car came. I went to the airport. That\u2019s where I first met John in the VIP lounge at Heathrow. There was John and Yoko and Klaus Voormann. I was quite young, about 20, and a little bit shocked about where I was. At the same time, I seemed to be handling it like it was another day for some reason. Then he said, \u201cOh, I forgot to tell you that Eric Clapton is playing guitar.\u201d And then Eric came out of the bathroom and basically we got on the plane and rehearsed there. I had a pair of drumsticks playing the back of the seat in front of me and they were playing acoustic guitars.<\/p>\n

We got off and we went to the show. There were lots of fans following the car and all that kind of stuff. Then we arrived at the Live Peace in Toronto stage in front of 25,000 people. Then I started realizing that it was really happening. It was a pretty crazy two days for me.<\/p>\n

How did John first learn about you to call you up?<\/strong>
From what I can gather, I believe he was in a club and he saw me play, but I didn\u2019t know he was there.<\/p>\n

What are your clearest memories of the Toronto show?<\/strong>
We got to the stadium and I went out to see the crowd and who was playing and Little Richard was onstage with a huge, big band. That was quite amazing. Backstage there was people running around like Gene Vincent. It was just really surreal for a while. I remember John being very nervous since it was the first thing he\u2019d done since he left the Beatles, or was about to leave the Beatles. He was in the process at that time. Next thing I know, we went onstage. They had a drum stool and there was no drums. I went, \u201cOh, this isn\u2019t going to be good.\u201d Eric plugged his guitar in and they built a drum kit around me while I sat there. Suddenly, the sticks were thrown into my hand and John counted, \u201c1, 2, 3 \u2026\u201d And we were in the first number. It was all kind of a flash in a pan.<\/p>\n