Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/producer Billy Sherwood maintains membership in a bunch of bands, including Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Yes (starting in the 1990s) and the multi-platinum Asia (after the passing of John Wetton in 2017), but whenever the right combination of players comes along, he always makes room on the roster for another.

Enter Arc Of Life, a freshly formed supergroup that also features fellow Yes-men Jon Davison on lead vocals and Jay Schellen behind the drums, keyboardist Dave Kerzner (formerly from Sound Of Contact with Phil Collins’ son Simon Collins) and guitarist Jimmy Haun (as heard on Yes’ “Union” and throughout much of the like-minded Circa’s shelf-life).

The longtime pals just dropped a self-titled album that echoes their collective pasts but ultimately lands in its own adventurous lane, which Sherwood explains for Chicago Concert Reviews while giving respective updates on the “Roundabout” and “Heat Of The Moment” heavyweights, alongside pivotal periods with Lodgic, World Trade and growing up around showbiz royalty.

How did everyone come together to form Arc Of Life?

Billy Sherwood: It started with me and Jon just having some fun writing a few songs in the back of the bus on a Yes tour in 2017. Before you knew it, we had several songs in front of us that sounded like a higher, band-type level, so we started discussing the concept of starting a band. We called in Jay, Jimmy, and Dave, and off we go. The record took about two years to make between 2017 and 2019. There were times when we were getting together to cut vocals. I was getting together with Jay to cut tracks, and Jimmy and Dave did it more remotely because of their geography. That’s how the whole thing shaped up.

What does the group’s name represent and why simply a self-titled project?

Sherwood: The debut records usually always are [self-titled]. It’s better if you don’t get too complicated. People can remember something about it, so that was the main reason for calling it “Arc Of Life.” The name of the band itself came as a thought. I was just staring off my balcony, looking out into the valleys below. I started thinking about life, how interesting it is and how everything has an arc, like the arc of a career, the arc of a day and the arc of a life. I started thinking “huh, Arc Of Life,” so I ran it by the guys and that seemed to be the one we wanted to go with as a consensus within the band.

To what degree, if any, does Yes factor into your sound?

Sherwood: I think the DNA comes by proxy of who we are and what we’re doing presently, so that always drifts into the equation, but we weren’t really thinking about Yes. It was more about something new. We were just trying to explore different avenues of what we do, and first and foremost, making it fresh and exciting for ourselves. If you’re pleasing yourself in that way, hopefully others will get it as well. It really was just a matter of us finding what we were looking for inside the music, which for me was a combination of a simplicity, a complexity and a melodic sense, but an instrumental sort of hauntingness about it. All those things to make the right combination of a record and I think we somehow magically found it…I like how the record’s paced. It starts kind of simple and flowers into this much more complex thing by the end. It’s like going to a movie. The plot’s just unfolding before your eyes and reaching a very interesting ending, so it’s the same thing sonically.

What’s on your minds in terms of themes and lyrics throughout the album?

Sherwood: It’s not really a concept record per sey, but all the songs do link together in a way that make it interesting as a whole. The song, “Talking With Siri,” comes to mind. We all know who Siri is and that song came about in a very funny way. I was coming home from a gig after a Yes show and I had been in hospitality maybe too long [laughs]. I got back to my room and asked Siri to set the alarm at 7:30. She said, “your alarm’s set.” I said, “thank you,” and she said, “you’re welcome.” Before I knew it, I was in this silly back and forth with my phone talking to this AI [artificial intelligence]. As soon as I started doing this, I started imagining this song in my head, so I kept talking to get ideas about what this AI was thinking about and put it all into song form. It paid off because it’s a really interesting song on the record.

“Life Has A Way” is basically a positive message on just never giving up and keeping on. Adapt, overcome, make the best of life and life will find a way. It’s a little tongue and cheeky, sort of a nod to evolution, and the idea of expansion as a human being, living your life, letting life happen and not getting so hung up about it that you can’t move forward. Just keep going forward.

A lot of this was taken care of before lockdown. We had recorded everything already, but it’s funny how coincidentally many of the songs relate to what we’re going through. “Until Further Notice” and “Locked Down” both have a strange, unique, coincidental relationship to what’s going on right now, which is absolutely crazy.

Do you foresee Arc Of Life to be a one-off or permanent?

Sherwood: It’s an ongoing thing. We’re committed to another album already. We have the TKO agency ready to book us and the same management company as Yes. We’ve got all the boxes checked to get on with it and make it happen. We’re just waiting for the world to open up again.

Have any previous performances around Chicago stuck with you?

Sherwood: They all start blurring and merging into one [laughs] because there’s so many gigs. What I remember more than the actual gigs themselves is the town and the people. Chicago is always such a cool place to go, roam around, and mix and mingle a little bit. It’s one of my favorite stops, that’s for sure. If I had to pick one gig that’s the most mind-blowing to think about, it was when Yes played Madison Square Garden in 1994. I thought that was pretty outstanding and amazing.

Can you take us inside your first tenure with Yes throughout the 1990s?

Sherwood: I started behind the scenes. They wanted me to be the lead singer when Jon Anderson was in Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe and I was in a band called World Trade. [Gentle Giant singer/multi-instrumentalist turned record executive] Derek Shulman introduced me to [Yes bassist] Chris [Squire]. The idea was to have me be the lead singer and replace Jon in the band at that time. Everyone thought it was a great idea except for me. I knew it was not something that I wanted to do, so I passed and fell back into songwriting and production mode. I was involved with the “Union” album with “The More We Live,” then “Love Conquers All” with the box set “Yesyears” and I thought that was it. Then I got a call after the “Union” Tour was finished that they’re putting the “90125” line-up back together and they’re gonna tour. Would I like to come out with them as a multi-instrumentalist on stage? So I did and that was my first tour with Yes. When that was finished, they broke up basically at LAX [Los Angeles International Airport] when we got off the plane [laughs], so I thought, “well, that’s the end of that!”

Then not too long after that, I got a call to mix the first “Keys To Ascension” record at my studio in Van Nuys. I guess the guys had such an easy time working with me that they asked me to produce the second “Keys” record, which I did. After that, [keyboardist] Rick Wakeman left the band with just weeks before a tour. The band basically breaks up in my studio, literally, and I watched it happen. That’s when I turned to Chris and said, “I can’t watch my favorite band just disintegrate. We’ve got to take some action.” “What do you want to do?” “Let’s start writing some songs and see what happens.” That’s becomes “Open Your Eyes,” which had simpler songs on it. Quite frankly, it was done that way on purpose because they’d just done “Keys” with all these epic, long pieces. Chris and I thought, “let’s write some shorter tunes and see if we can get one of these on the radio. That would help the band” [laughs]. So we did and the song, “Open Your Eyes,” did quite well at radio. The band got nice little thrusters added to it, propelling it forward, which was the goal. Then we go into “The Ladder,” etc, etc. [The classic line-up reunited in 2002].

How about returning in the 2010s?

Sherwood: I never imagined in a million years that I would ever replace Chris. I always thought that he would be the last man standing. As it turns out, he’s been gone for six years, unfortunately. This last entry point was very, very difficult, emotional and crazy from the beginning. The first year or so was really rough and then it became a little bit easier because the fans were so endearing, warm, helpful and supportive. My whole thought was, “God, as much as Chris believed in me and wanted me to do this, if I go out there and it tanks, it will all be my fault” [laughs]. There was a lot of pressure involved when I went out there the first time, but got it together and seemed to preserve, let’s say.

What was it like when you joined Asia and how is everything now?

Sherwood: It’s another case of a hero and friend of mine falling. Never in a million years would I have ever expected that, but when I got the call to come do it, of course I said, “yes, I’m in,” because John was such a special soul. I’m honored that both of these two amazing, giant musician heroes of mine have done what they’ve done [passing the torch], much to my surprise. It’s an honor, its humbling, it’s emotional and it’s exciting. It’s a lot of things out there when you’re doing it.

I think when I first jumped into Asia, it was a timing issue cause they didn’t want to lose the Journey tour that they were on, so I jumped in and did my thing. At the end of the day, I think my vocals might not have suited what they were really looking for in terms of someone sounding like John Wetton. I don’t sound like John Wetton, and I think to a certain degree, that was a factor in the decision making process [to find a new singer]. Obviously, I’m still in the band playing bass and quite happy to cause Ron [“Bumblefoot” Thal, formerly of Guns N’ Roses and currently in Sons Of Apollo] does a great job. His voice was more suited for that than mine. I sound like me after all these years [laughs]. Unfortunately, I guess, that was the problem.

Will there be new music from Yes or Asia at some point?

Sherwood: I’m not sure what’s going on with Asia on that front. I know Yes has been batting around ideas, so I think it’s destiny to have a new album. We’ll just have to be patient, and wait and see.

Which of your other groups helped get you to where you are today?

Sherwood: Well, my parents, [Bing Crosby guitarist/Judy Garland bandleader Bobby Sherwood and singer/drummer Phyllis Sherwood], being really hard working musicians was a good example of seeing, “wow, okay, wait, this is a business these people are in,” so understanding that as a child was important.

Making my first record, [Lodgic’s “Nomadic Sands” in 1985], produced by the guys in Toto was a ginormous education on multiple fronts in terms of understanding the business, lawyers, managers and agents, how it all works, how interconnected everything is and how important politics are as you go through this business. I was the newbie at that point in Lodgic. I got a quick education in the music business and it was something that I still carry with me today. The words that [original Toto keyboard players] David Paich and Steve Porcaro, and [producer] Greg Ladanyi put it in my head back then still resonate with how to proceed going forward, which is, “keep your head on straight, respect people and do the best you can. Don’t get an ego or let your head get too crazy.”

In what ways might your folks’ and godfather Milton Berle’s backgrounds in the golden era of showbiz rubbed off on you?

Sherwood: Back in that day, there was no YouTube and there wasn’t this oversaturation of things, so iconic musicians of the day were revered as almost gods. And here was my dad, hanging and doing a movie with Frank Sinatra, which was epic, so I just remember thinking, “this is a very special life that my dad and my mom have knowing all these people and working in that arena. How cool would that be if I could do something like that?” I didn’t know at the time that life would evolve to where we are, but I knew early on this is what I want to do. And then once I saw Yes live in 1977, when I was 12, I sat in the audience watching Chris Squire going, “that is exactly what I want to do” [laughs]. I pursued my career trying to get my own signature identity and sound going, but still being inspired by the greats, like Chris, John, Paul McCartney and those type of guys.

Tell us a bit about World Trade, who were also an important part of your arc.

Sherwood: That was an important record for many reasons. I took all the lessons and knowledge from the first band and amplified it with World Trade and [guitarist/co-writer] Bruce Gowdy’s help. We wrote four songs and got one of the biggest record deals around at the time [that resulted in 1989’s self-titled debut]. We made great songs and I’m still very proud of that record. A lot of people still enjoy listening to it, like it came out yesterday. It was an important step in my career, and also, it’s just a great group of guys: [drummer] Mark Williams, [keyboardist] Guy Allison, myself and Bruce. When you make a band, you form this band of brothers and you have that family that is that band. If you have another band with different people, you have the same thing, but you have these pockets of family on that level and World Trade is definitely one of those. When we got an offer to make another album, [2017’s “Unify”], it was a no brainer. It was like, “yeah, let’s go for it.”

From your lengthy solo career, which releases truly define you?

Sherwood: I’m very proud of the “Citizen” series because the concept of being able to write about history is interesting and fun, plus all the people who were involved in the first one [including artist/producer Alan Parsons, longtime Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse, Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess, Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist Jerry Goodman and many Yes members]. I pretty much did the second one by myself, but that’s a great outlet for some creativity in a unique way where I’m targeting certain people in history.

And then the Prog Collective, of course, is another series of progressive records that I’ve made with guest artists. I’m very proud of that and that affords me to write in a way where I’m thinking about their wheelhouse, so that’s fun…I have a new Prog Collective album, [“Worlds On Hold,” featuring Todd Rundgren, former Queensrÿche front man Geoff Tate, ex-Deep Purple and Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner and several others], that just came out and is the third in the series.

Then for my pure solo career, I’m working right now on a new album that I’m gonna call “Pushing Into The Wind.” It’s basically ready to head over to mastering and bring it home. I just haven’t had a moment to get on that because there’s always stuff going on…I’m playing drums as a de facto band member, if you will, with a band called Days Between Stations. We’re trying to gear up to record a live DVD/Blu-ray for sale and possible stream. Then I’m working with David Paich on some stuff for his solo album, various other sessions and giving lessons, actually, as well. I’ve tried to make this time at home as valuable as possible in terms of what I’m doing with my time, as opposed to playing Xbox all day long. It’s very tempting [laughs].

You seem very committed to flying the flag of progressive rock and bridging generations of listeners. Why is that so important to you?

Sherwood: I do believe that progressive rock is where a wealth of amazing art lies for people to discover who haven’t yet, i.e. a younger generation who doesn’t know who Yes is or Genesis or Pink Floyd. They have no idea and they discover it in interesting ways. My kid, who’s 18-years-old, came to me the other day and said, “my favorite new song is [King Crimson’s] ‘21st Century Schizoid Man.’” I said, “how did you find that cause I didn’t tell you about that one?” “Oh, it’s in this favorite anime that I watch,” so they find it in weird ways, but when they find it, they’re super interested in it. If we are the guardians of that future to expand young listeners’ horizons, then so be it cause its sacred stuff. Music is just such a powerful thing and I would hate to think that much of it will be forgotten cause it’s so great. The idea is to just keep people coming back to the fountain.

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For additional information on Arc Of Life, visit Facebook.com/ArcOfLifeRockBand/.