Hi all!
This Saturday, I will be interviewing John Payne of Asia. For those of you who may have stopped listening to the band in the mid-80s, John has been the vocalist since the 1992 album
Aqua. This is NOT your father's Asia. Since John Payne joined forces with Geoff Downes, the band has maintained its melodic rock roots, but has also gotten "proggier," particularly on the 1996
Arena album.
I'll be asking John about anything and everything, including the band's upcoming release
Silent Nation, and why they chose to finally break the tradition of one-word titles beginning with the letter 'A.' What makes Saturday's interview even better is that I'll be seeing the band perform live on Friday evening, so hopefully I'll get to hear a few of the new songs. If you have any specific questions you'd like me to ask, please either leave them here in this thread or email me (
michael@thedividingline.com).
If all goes well in the Lurker's studio this weekend, the interview will air Monday night on Epic Prog at 10 p.m. Pacific, 1 a.m. Eastern and hopefully Shawn will deem it worthy of archiving. As I don't intend to have Mr. Payne come to my studio (a.k.a. my bedroom) at 1 a.m. Monday night, I will be taping the interview and will play it in a "Rockline" format along with the band's music. If you're unfamiliar with Payne-era Asia, I encourage you to listen live and also to stop by the chat room. If it's too late at night for you, please feel free to join my Archive Army and listen at your leisure within the following week.
For more information on Asia, go to
www.asiaworld.org.
