Chris Braide is an internationally renowned producer who’s worked with major artists such as Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera and Lana Del Rey and, in his downtime, he moves into his side project which is making albums with prog icon Geoff Downes (Yes/Asia). Over the past fifteen years, despite living on different continents, they’ve recorded six albums, including a ‘live’ set, and their latest album, Trauma, has just been released. From the outside, they seem like a most unlikely pairing and Chris took a little time out from a busy schedule to talk about his work with Geoff Downes, how it all came about and why they record together…
RAMzine: Yourself and Geoff come from very different musical worlds so how did you actually link up?
Braide: I was a founder member of a band called The Producers, and we were rehearsing for a reunion Buggles concert, for a supper club, and we met there and got on really well. I told him, ‘I’m moving to America in a couple of months, it’d be great to see you out there.’ This was around the time of Yes‘ Fly From Here album, and this is what led to the first DBA album.
RAMzine: With what you have going, and Geoff Downes having Yes and Asia, you both must have to sacrifice a lot to make music together.
Braide: Yeah, it’s not easy. I mean, this album took a period of years and was recorded in various different places, because I’m busy, he’s busy…
RAMzine: Geoff in particular has been busy… Trauma is the third new album he’s been involved with in 2026, Aurora with Yes and he has Asia‘s new one, Indigo, out next month.
Braide: That’s right, yeah, he does. But Trauma was on the boil for about four years. It started life in London, then it went to LA, then back here to Gloucestershire… it really has been all around the houses. But it needed all this time to cook away and become the album it now is. At the age I am now [Chris is 53] I can’t just knock something out in six weeks. I mean, what for? I’d much rather something took time.
RAMzine: What is it about Geoff Downes as a musician which made you want to record with him?
Braide: I wouldn’t put any album out if I didn’t believe in it, because you have to stand by it, and Trauma‘s up there with the best we’ve done, as a fan of music. For the past fifteen years, Geoff and I have had a very strong friendship, I like what he does and he likes my stuff, and we wouldn’t put out any old crap. It’s easier when you have a connection with someone. We haven’t run out of ideas yet so, as long as this is the case, then why not do it?
RAMzine: Have you ever thought of maybe making DBA a more regular project rather than just the occasional album every other year or so?
Braide: No, not really. The album’s so intricate, there’s so much in it and I don’t think I could possibly make something else like in another six months, there’s no way. You have to go and live life and have experiences, especially with this one, but I think with all the albums it’s the same, especially the last three. For me, personally, I wouldn’t want them to sound manufactured, if you know what I mean.
RAMzine: You mentioned experiences. On Trauma, were tracks like ‘I Wish I’d Known’ and ‘Wonderland’ written from personal feelings, as they’re both quite emotional?
Braide: Yeah, everything I write is from personal experience, I couldn’t do it any other way. I’m not one of those writers who can just conjure up a scenario. Great writers like Elvis Costello can write about other people, and Marc Almond‘s great at writing observational lyrics, whereas my style of writing tends to be more personal, bit more like a diary kind of thing or maybe autobiographical, loosely I mean, not all of it is about me, or scenarios I’ve found myself in, but, yeah, a lot of what I write is personal.
RAMzine: ‘Wonderland’ in particular sounds like it comes from very personal experience.
Braide: Yeah, I think so, yeah. I’m kind of fascinated by the idea that you can leave somewhere, like your origins… it’s hard to explain, it’s almost like a form of survivor’s guilt. I grew up in a small northern town and ended up on the road as a musician, travelling here, there and everywhere, and I got far away from where I started, and you forget about some things, but it’s still important to me and I hope the people I left behind, if you like, they found their wonderland as well… though I’m not sure anyone ever does, really, and that’s why I keep searching… the older I get, the more I realise how important my roots are to me.
RAMzine: Would DBA be a better known band if you did the occasional ‘live’ gig?
Braide: I’m sure it would, yeah, I’m sure it would, but I’m quite philosophical about it. If people want to buy the record, then great, but I don’t lose sleep over it. I’m kind of a strange fish because I don’t actually need the validation of an audience, I never have done, I do music in its purest form. I do it because I can’t not do it, and if people buy it, then it’s almost like ‘Wow’… but I like to think I have a kind of innocence about my relationship to music, and not wanting it tarnished by the business, though there have been times when I’ve been pulling my hair out. So, yeah, I suppose if we toured endlessly, we might, but that’s not me, and it’s not the life I saw myself having. Also if I was touring all the time, I wouldn’t get to make these records, and you can’t be good at all things. I can do ‘live’ stuff, and I’ve enjoyed it…
RAMzine: There’s been one ‘live’ album, hasn’t there?
Braide: Yeah [Live In England, 2019], we did four shows, they were fun and I enjoyed them, but I prefer being in the studio. We’d have to sell a lot more albums to justify all the touring, you know what I’m saying? If you wanna sell records, you’ve really gotta tour a lot, though every DBA album has sold progressively more than the previous one. Geoff and I have this idea about DBA being a band waiting to be discovered, it does work, it just takes a long time.
RAMzine: Given how closely you and Geoff work together, could it be said you’re the musical soulmate Geoff hasn’t had since John Wetton? (John sadly died in 2017)
Braide: It’s a nice idea, yeah, but I’d never say I’ve taken the place of John Wetton because he can never be replaced, but definitely Geoff and I have a kind of kindred spirit between us. Maybe it’s because we’re both northerners, and we laugh at the same things.
RAMzine: So, would it be true to say you’re happy keeping DBA a ‘creative comfort zone’?
Braide: Yeah, I think so, yeah… I mean, Trauma took four years to make and I couldn’t do another one next week. It’s like a painting, isn’t it? You don’t rush a painting, do you? You take time and when it’s finished, it’s finished. Making music’s always been a bit like that with me. DBA‘s my creative outlet, a big canvas and a pot of paint.
