Categories
Episodes

Who were Cinema? Dave Watkinson and Jon Dee tell the story… 418

Produced by Jeffrey Crecelius, Wayne Hall, Preston Frazier and Bill Govier

Dave and Jon
Dave and Jon meet up before attending the Cinema rehearsal

You’ll be amazed by the story we are told by Jon Dee and Dave Watkinson this week. They were the only people beyond the inner circle of the band to hear Cinema in their original format, shortly before the band morphed into the Yes of 90125.

We had such a brilliant time hearing all about it this week!

  • Who were Cinema?
  • How did Jon and Dave come to be there at a rehearsal?
  • How and why did the band change their name to Yes?

Listen to the episode and let us know what you think!

If you would like to support the Yes Music Podcast financially and also have access to exclusive activity and opportunities, there is a special page you can use to sign up and 2019 is the time to join us:

Become a Patron!


Show notes and links:

Photos from this amazing event and the issue of Yes Music magazine where the story was first broken:

YMP Patrons:

Producers:

  • Jeffrey Crecelius
  • Preston Frazier
  • Bill Govier and
  • Wayne Hall

Patrons:

Aaron Steelman
Dave Owen
Mark James Lang
Paul Tomei
Joost Maglev
David Heyden
Martin Kjellberg
Paul Wilson
Bob Martilotta
Lind
Michael O’Connor
Peter Hearnden
Brian Sullivan
David Pannell
Miguel Falcão
Lobate Scarp
Chris Bandini
David Watkinson
Neal Kaforey
Rachel Hadaway
Craig Estenes
Dem
Paul Hailes
Mark ‘Zarkol’ Baggs
Doug Curran
Robert Nasir
Fergus Cubbage
Scott Colombo
Fred Barringer
Scott Smith
Geoff Bailie
Simon Barrow
Geoffrey Mason
Stephen Lambe
Guy R DeRome
Steve Dill
Henrik Antonsson
Steve Perry
Hogne Bø Pettersen
Steve Rode
IanNB
Steve Scott
Jamie McQuinn
Steven Roehr
Ken Fuller
Terence Sadler
Michael Handerhan
Tim Stannard
Jim
Todd Dudley
John Cowan
Tony Handley
John Holden
Joseph Cottrell
John Parry
Keith Hoisington
John Thomson
William Hayes
Barry Gorsky

Robert and David

Please subscribe!

If you are still listening to the podcast on the website, please consider subscribing so you don’t risk missing anything:

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe on Google Podcasts

Subscribe on Android
Listen on Stitcher

Theme music

The music I use is the last movement of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. This has been used as introduction music at many Yes concerts. My theme music is not take from a live concert – I put it together from the following two creative commons sources: thanvannispen and archive.org

11 replies on “Who were Cinema? Dave Watkinson and Jon Dee tell the story… 418”

Really enjoyed the Ice/Cinema discussion with the always wonderful Jon Dee and Mr David “Warriors” Watkinson. Some amazing memories Gentlemen. Here’s hoping that a full length Cinema version of 90125 surfaces down the track.

Trevor’s relationship with Mutt Lange goes back to the 1970s, they are both from South Africa, and the sessions referred to took place there, when Trevor was in his late teens and early 20s. It’s never been conclusively stated, but I don’t believe Trevor played on any of the Def Leppard albums which Mutt produced at that time.

Excellent show all! It’s great to hear Jon Dee, who I hadn’t heard on a podcast before.

Regarding Def Leppard, Tony Kaye plays keyboards on the ‘Pyromania’ album, he told me back in the 80s. It’s very hard to make out most of his playing as he’s mostly doubling guitar lines.

With Yes backstage in ’84 on the 90125 tour, I was given a 60 minute audiotape of Ice/Cinema demos, which includes “Time.” I had talked to Trevor and Chris in ’82 and ’83 for my radio shows about their new band and had asked to hear some of the music. I still have the tape. Haven’t played it in many years.

Hi Doug,

It would be great to digitally transfer these songs off your tape.

I have done this with a lot of old tapes from my old recording sessions. It’s really important to have these old tapes professionally “cooked” before you play them again after such a long time.

“Cooking” them helps to reduce the risk of the tape getting mangled and it improves the audio quality (this is NOT cooking the tapes in a normal oven by the way!!).

I have used a great company in London who specialise in this technique and I would be happy to help do the transfer.

You might have the only remaining copy of ‘Time’ on that tape. Would be great to make sure it’s preserved for history in digital form!

Best regards,

Jon

I was lucky I didn’t need to cook my tapes as even if 50 years old it depends on how well they play. I know a london studio also and I still have a few things to do, if I want to invest again, this time it’s a gamble if anything on them.

D

Excellent show, all! Great to hear Jon Dee, who I’ve never heard on a podcast.

Regarding Tony & Def Leppard, he plays keyboards on the ‘Pyromania’ album. He’s mostly doubling guitar lines, he told me in the 80s.

Regarding Ice/Cinema, backstage in ’84 on the ‘90125’ tour, I was given a 60 minutes audiotape of demos. I had talked in ’82 & ’83 to Chris & Trevor for my radio shows about their new band, and said I would love to hear the music. The tape includes “Time.” I still have it, but haven’t played it in many years.

I saw Trevor with Rabbitt in 76 / 77 in South Africa – so the Cinema development is the most fascinating story and this interview is like discovering gold – Thank you – A few mostly successful producers and musicians form the 70s came from South Africa – namely Mutt – Kevin Shirley – Manfred Mann – Anton Fig – Cinema in London 1982 – what an exciting time it must have been – Trevor was already living in LA – not sure if he relocated to live in London for this period of rehearsal and recording Thanks once again

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 300 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.