The band Asia has had what can be described as a bit of a clusterfuck of a lineup history.  I’m going to detail it all.  It won’t be as detailed as my Black Sabbath timeline, but I’ll get everyone, and you’ll get the idea.  They announced a new album in 2026.  I’ve wanted to do this for some time.  This will cover all band member changes, and all the albums, but not all the behind the scenes shenanigans (basically why).

Other than a short time in the 80’s, they’ve never technically broken up, and from 2006 onwards, there’s been technically two Asia bands.  Will explain as the story goes along.

Albums 1/2: “Asia” & “Alpha” (1982 & 1983)

Personnel:

• John Wetton – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• Steve Howe – guitars, vocals
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

The original Asia album was something I bought back in 1982, and remember it SUPER well.  I have it on vinyl in 2026.   Despite everything else that follows on this – the original Asia album is by far the best thing the band ever did.  There’s a LOT of albums with dozens of songs, and nothing ever matched that glory.

The Alpha album was OK – not nearly as strong as the original, but still decent enough.

The foursome that was on both these albums split after the tour for the Alpha album, as Steve Howe leaves Asia.   Howe went off to do the band GTR.

Album 3: “Astra” (1985)

Personnel:

• John Wetton – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• Mandy Meyer – guitars, vocals
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

First lineup change.  Steve Howe is out, Mandy Meyer is in.  Meyer is also known for being in the Swiss metal band Krokus.  An odd choice for Asia.    The album did next to nothing, selling very poorly, and the band split after the brief tour for it.

EP 1: “Aurora” (1986)

The band was broken up, but released a four song EP.  One song (Too Late) came from the prior album (Aqua), and the other three were B sides drawn from prior albums going back to the first album hence the personnel on this, but it’s not a full on album as such and the band was inactive when this was released.

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals; producer (track 1)
• John Wetton – lead vocals, bass
• Mandy Meyer – guitar (track 1)
• Steve Howe – guitars and vocals (tracks 2–4)
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

Live Shows (1989 – 1990)

Personnel:

• John Wetton – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion
• John Young – keyboards
• Alan Darby, Holger Larisch – guitars

The band reunited for some shows in later 1989 and into 1990.   Geoff Downs was off working on another project, so he couldn’t play keys.  They brought in John Young (played with TONS of people) to play keys during this time.  Depending on when you may have seen Asia here, it had either Alan Darby or Holger Larisch on guitars.

Compilation 1: “Then and Now” (1990)

Personnel:

• John Wetton – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Geoff Downes – keyboards
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion
• Steve Lukather – guitar (track 6)
• Ron Komie – guitar (track 7)
• Scott Gorham – guitar (track 9)
• Mandy Meyer – guitar (tracks 8 & 10)
• Michael Sturgis – drums (track 9)

Then and Now was a compilation album put out in 1990.  It had an interesting concept.  Side one of the album was titled “Then” and was made up of songs pulled from the first two albums (Asia & Alpha), and side two was called “Now” and was all new tracks (songs 6-10). The personnel lineup above is just for the new tracks, I didn’t bother listing the personnel from the first side as they’re just re-using old recordings.

As John Wetton was available again, he participated in the new recordings, displacing John Young on keyboards.  They used various session musicians on guitar for this album, including Mandy Meyer who played on the last full studio album at this point as well as Steve Lukather (most well known for Toto). It’s 3/4 of OG Asia at this point, so it was a pretty high authenticity, but it still didn’t do much chart wise.

It oddly is the third best selling Asia album of all time in the United States.  It was eventually certified gold in 1998.

The band continued to tour on this into 1991 (including some famous shows in the then USSR) when John Wetton left the band after being unable to achieve any kind of major success.

Live Album 1: Live in Moscow (1991)

Personnel:

• John Wetton – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Geoff Downes – keyboards
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion
• Pat Thrall – guitar

During 1991, the band played Moscow, Russia and a live album came out of that.  The guitarist at the time was Pat Thrall.   Given I didn’t see Thrall’s name anywhere else, it could have just been for this?  Hard to say.

Album 4: “Aqua” (1992)

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• John Payne – bass, guitar, vocals
• Al Pitrelli – lead & rhythm guitar
• Steve Howe – guitar
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion
• Anthony Glyne – guitar (guest)
• Simon Phillips – drums (guest)
• Nigel Glockler – drums (guest)

With John Wetton out, Geoff Downes invites John Payne in as the new bassist.  This is a name that will appear a *LOT* in the future.   Carl Palmer has started to waver a bit.  He’s involved, but not fully.  Also original guitarist Steve Howe makes an appearance, as he was in transit between ABWH and Yes, but isn’t here full time.  Despite this being an odd transient lineup, the core of Downes & Payne stabilize for some time going forward.  The primary guitarist here is Al Pitrelli who has played with a lot of people (Alice Cooper, Megadeth, Dee Snider, & Michael Bolton amongst others).  There are some session guys on this album too, like the EP before this, but not as many.

Album 5: “Aria” (1994)

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• John Payne – bass, guitar, lead vocals
• Al Pitrelli – guitars
• Michael Sturgis – drums

For the first time in a few releases, there’s no guest musicians on this album.  Was just a band of just four guys.

The album didn’t do much of anything, but then most Asia albums of this era didn’t.   And once again, the lineup wasn’t to last into the next album.

The cover art has a visual thing I noticed – it’s the first Asia release where the font for the albums’ title matches the Asia logo that has been in use since the beginning.   We’re also still keeping with having all the studio album titles start with the letter “A”.

Album 6: “Arena” (1996)

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• John Payne – bass, guitar, lead vocals
• Michael Sturgis – drums (all but track 1)
• Aziz Ibrahim – guitar (guest)
• Elliott Randall – guitar (guest)
• Hotei Tomoyasu – lead guitar (track 1)
• Luis Jardim – percussion

Given the last album and tour didn’t do much, Downes & Payne decided to change things musically and went in a different direction than they had on prior albums.   The songs were a little longer, owing to the band’s Yes heritage, and has a Latin sound.   There was of course a mostly different lineup.   We’re back to guests on guitar when Steve Howe was unable to return due to Yes commitments.

There was no tour for this album, due to general lack of interest.

Compilation 2 & 3: “Archiva 1 & 2” (1996)

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, drum programming
• John Payne – vocals, bass, guitar

Apparently when they were working on the Arena album, the studio had a flood, and a lot of equipment was lost.  However quite a few old Asia recordings survived that.  It led to the Archiva 1 & 2 albums which comprised unused tracks spanning the last several album cycles were put on these releases.  Due to the volatile nature of the Asia lineups at this time, the only two constants on them were Downes & Payne – the rest of of the personnel was all over the place, including a few names that  didn’t appear anywhere else but did include OG Asia Steve Howe and Carl Palmer on one track each (not the same track).  There’s so many of them that I’m not going to list them here, you can check the personnel listings for Archiva 1 and Archiva 2 on Wikipedia for the full list.  These links also include all the track names and what projects they were from.

They technically were released separately (as far as I can tell), but have been packaged together in subsequent years.  The only difference in the cover arts for the individual releases were the words “Archiva 1” & “Archiva 2”.  the actual cover art is the same on all of them.

Compilation 4: “Anthology” (1997)

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, drum programming
• John Payne – vocals, bass, guitar
• John Sturgis – drums
• Elliot Randall – guitar (2–3, 9)
• Al Pitrelli – guitar (4, 7, 10, 12–13, 15)
• Steve Howe – guitar (6, 7, 13)
• Aziz Ibrahim – guitar (8–9, 11)

Another compilation from Asia (there’s a lot of them). When it was first released in Japan, John Wetton sued the band over using his material without permission.  This prompted the then Asia to re-record those songs and then the compilation had a wider release.  There was one NEW song (Different Worlds), and a cover of the GTR track “The Hunter”.

I guess they felt they needed to mine the original (best) material again, so that’s why this exists?   I wasn’t following them closely at this time, so I don’t know.

Live albums 2, 3, 4, & 5: “Live In…” (1997)

Well, we’ve done the multiple compilations – let’s do multiple live albums – all at once.   During 1997, there were four live albums released.  They have “official bootleg” on the cover art (at least for some of them).  They appear to be official live albums, but are they really bootlegs?  Hard to tell. Their names are:

• Now: Live in Nottingham
• Live in Osaka
• Live in Köln
• Live in Philadelphia

Nottingham – Recorded 23 Jun 1990 – Lineup: John Wetton / Carl Palmer / Geoffrey Downes / Pat Thrall
Osaka – Recorded ? Jun 1992 – Lineup: Geoffrey Downes / John Payne / Vinny Burns (guitar) / Trevor Thornton (drums)
Koln – Recorded 5 Oct 1994 – Geoffrey Downes / John Payne / Aziz Ibrahim (guitar) / Michael Sturgis (drums)
Philadelphia – Recorded 21 Nov 1992 – Geoffrey Downes / John Payne / Vinny Burns (guitar) / Trevor Thornton (drums) / Steve Howe (guitar)

As you can see they have a few different lineups, including a few names that I don’t think appear anywhere else besides these?   The four were released over a 9 month period in 1997 between March and November.

Asia LOVES live albums.  If you go over their complete history they have a total of FOURTY ONE live albums – yeah flippin’ 41 of them.  For brevity’s sake, I do not intend on covering them beyond here.  If you want to see the complete list, click here.

Compilation 5: “Axioms” (1999)

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, drum programming
• John Payne – vocals, bass, guitar
• ??? – beyond that

I can’t find much info about this one except that it happened.  Who’s on it – were the songs re-recorded again, was this as a label initiated project, was it the band’s idea?  No clue on this one.  Mostly a blank slate here.  It does appear to be a complication of 90’s era Asia tracks, however.

Album 7: “Rare” (1999)

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards
• John Payne – guitar, bass

That’s it for personnel.  There’s nobody else on this one.  It’s a bit of an oddity in the catalogue.  That’s because it’s not a traditional album.  It is an album of studio work, but, it’s all instrumental.  No vocals at all.  That’s because it’s music the two of them produced for two separate projects.   One was the soundtrack for a documentary film called “Salmon: Against the Tides” (by David Attenborough) and and unreleased video game.  The overall album has 22 tracks.  The first 16 of them were from the documentary, the final six were for the game that never came out.

It also breaks the naming convention of Asia albums starting with the letter “A”, but given it’s such an oddity, it can probably be overlooked.

Compilation 6: “Very Best of Asia” (2000)

The official title of this is “The Very Best of Asia: Heat of the Moment (1982-1990) – a bit wordy.

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, backing vocals
• Steve Howe – guitars, backing vocals
• John Wetton – bass, lead vocals, keyboards
• Carl Palmer – drums
• Mandy Meyer – guitar (tracks 14 – 16)
• Steve Lukather – guitar (track 17)

Yet another compilation, but this one appears to be label initiated.   It focuses mostly on the first three albums – the best period of Asia with a few other things thrown in.  Yeah, not much to see here.

They also have EIGHT more compilations.   I don’t intend on detailing all of them, because to be honest, I’m getting bored of that, but they are:

• The Collection (2000)
• The Best of Asia Live (2001)
• Anthologia – The 20th Anniversary – Geffen Years Collection (1982–1990) (2002)
• Classic Asia – Universal Masters Collection (2002)
• 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Asia (2003)
• Gold (2005)
• Definitive Collection (2006)
• Recollections (2014)

I mean really dudes?  Six of them in four years?  I know some are label projects, but still.  How many of these f’in things do you need?

Album 8: “Aura” (2001)

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards
• John Payne – guitar, bass
• see below for more.

This album goes the other way with personnel.  If the last album was Downes & Payne (who legally are the only people in Asia at this point, a point that will become important in a few years time), they brought an absolute AVALANCHE of guest stars for this album.  In some ways it feels like the Yes “Union” album – everyone on one album all at the same time.  haha. :)

Now at this point I had totally tuned out from Asia, I didn’t know this stuff happened until I looked into their history when they reunited with the original lineup.  But even then I had no idea the absolute flood of people were on this album.   I mean this is NUTS.  Payne & Downes are on everything, so I’m not counting them below – these are just the “others” on the album. A few of these names have appeared in Asia in the past.  Here goes…

Track 1: “Awake”

• Guthrie Govan – guitar
• Michael Sturgis – drums
• Luis Jardim – percussion
• David Grant’s Gospel Choir

Track 2: “Wherever You Are”

• Guthrie Govan – guitar
• Chris Slade – drums (Yeah, the guy from AC/DC)

Track 3: “Ready to Go Home”

• Guthrie Govan – guitars
• Tony Levin – bass
• Vinnie Colaiuta – drums
• Luis Jardim – percussion
• David Grant’s Gospel Choir

Track 4: “The Last Time”

• Steve Howe – guitars
• Ian Crichton – guitars
• Vinnie Colaiuta – drums
• Luis Jardim – percussion

Track 5: “Forgive Me”

• Guthrie Govan – guitars
• Michael Sturgis – drums
• Luis Jardim – percussion

Track 6: “Kings of the Day”

• Guthrie Govan – guitars
• Simon Phillips – drums
• Luis Jardim – percussion

Track 7: “On the Coldest Day in Hell”

• Guthrie Govan – guitars
• Michael Sturgis – drums

Track 8: “Free”

• Steve Howe – guitars
• Ian Crichton – guitars
• Pat Thrall – guitars
• Simon Phillips – drums

Track 9: “You’re The Stranger”

• Elliott Randall – guitars
• Guthrie Govan – guitars
• Michael Sturgis – drums
• Luis Jardim – percussion

Track 10: “The Longest Night”

• Guthrie Govan – guitars
• Vinnie Colaiuta – drums

Track 11: “Aura”

• Elliott Randall – guitars
• Michael Sturgis – drums
• Luís Jardim – percussion

Tracks 12, 13, & 14: “Under the Gun”, “Come Make My Day”, & “Hands of Time”

• Ian Crichton – guitars
• Chris Slade – drums

From what I can find Neil Lockwood had some backing vocals and Gary Lieberman played bass, but where these two show up on the album I don’t know.

Asia apparently toured in 2001 for the first time since 1994, but I can’t find who played on the tour as such.  Given Chris Slade is on this album and the next one, I have to assume he played drums on the tour.

In between this album and the next (just 3 years later) there were NINE more live albums.  Yeah, I’m already done counting those.   I thought Deep Purple had too many live albums.

One final note.  It’s the last Asia album to have a single word starting with the letter “A”.   None of the subsequent albums after this conform to that pattern.  Something I always wish they had stuck with.

 

EP 2: “Armada 1” (2002)

This was a simple three song CD released in 2002.   The first two songs are studio tracks, and the third was a live track.  It would also appear that it was a limited edition of 1,000 copies.   The liner notes say that the first two tracks (Never the Way & Innocence) were written for the Aura album sessions, but not used.  The live track (Bad Asteroid) was a live only song that they wanted to put out on an official release somewhere.  That track is solely credited to the guitarist at the time, Guthrie Govan.  The live track was recorded in Feb/Mar of 2002.

The lineup on the live track was:

• Guthrie Govan – guitar
• Geoff Downes – keyboards
• John Payne – bass
• Chris Slade – drums

Also, the fact that the EP is titled “Armada 1” implies there would be a “2” at some point, but there never was.

Live Shows 2003 & 2004

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• John Payne – guitar, bass, vocals

2003 had a quite odd live tour.  It was called “Asia Across America” and was just Downes & Payne performing acoustically.   From what I’ve read, they would play anywhere fans wanted them to play, provided a venue could be booked, and fans put up $3,000 to cover their expenses.  Most of which I presume involved travel.

This happened in 2004 as well, but I can’t find out whether the 2004 shows happened before or AFTER the studio album in 2004. I want think before, but I really can’t prove that one way or the other.

I tried to find pictures or video from this tour, but couldn’t.   If anyone happens to read this far down in the article, and was actually at one of these shows, get in touch with me.  Would love to have a few words about it.

Album 9: “Silent Nation” (2004)

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, percussion
• John Payne – guitar, bass, lead vocals
• Guthrie Govan – guitar
• Chris Slade – drums

There are also a few guests that appear on tracks, but the band was stable at this point with these four, who came together during the Aura sessions.  The guests are Kim Nielsen Parsons (bass, one track), Billy Sherwood (guitar, bass, two tracks), Ant Glynne (guitar, unknown),  Jay Schellen (drums, unknown).

This album broke with tradition on two fronts.  It’s the first formal “proper” studio album that isn’t a single word starting with the letter “A”.  There was a compilation and one album called “Rare” which also did this, but the Rare album is abornmal in the catalog as it was soundtrack work with no vocals.  Silent Nation is also the first Asia album to have a photograph on the front cover and not some artwork (usually by Roger Dean).  They do maintain the Asia logo which has been in use since the original album in 1982, however.

I’ve never heard anything from this album – I was 100% out of Asia at this point originally.  That they were still “together” (in whatever form) was totally alien to me at this point. What’s interesting is what happens after this.

The band toured this album into 2005, at which point Chris Slade left the band.   He was replaced by Jay Schellen, who was already on the periphery of the band anyway, having a minor role on the Silent Nation album.   At this point, Asia started working on a new album which was tentatively titled “Architect of Time”.   It ended up being shelved due to the big events of 2006.  The material from the Architect sessions ended up mostly coming out on an album called “Window to the Soul” in August of 2006 under a new band name – “GPS” which was an acronym made out of Govan, Payne, & Schellen.  That band continued on under another name, which brings us to….

The Asia “schism”

That brings us to the primary reason I’m writing this article.   In early 2006 Geoff Downes formally left Asia, so he could participate in a Reunion of… Asia.  Yeah, it’s a bit weird here.   You see at this point coming out of 2005 into 2006, Asia was still together (in some might argue a reduced capacity).   That version was: Downes / Payne / Govan / Schellen.   I believe (but am not 100% positive) that “legal Asia” at that point was Downes & Payne.  So when Downes left what was then “Asia”, it left Payne holding the bag as the only guy left.   Payne had been there since 1992, and was involved in everything since then.  Which is 14 years and six studio albums and a metric ton of live albums.  So John Payne was invested in the Asia name for sure.

When Geoff Downs formally left, what was left of Asia briefly continued and played some live shows with keyboardist Roy Okumoto.  They ended up forming a new band I’ve already mentioned briefly (GPS) and released a studio album primarily made up of material they were working on for the unreleased Asia album “Architect of Time”.

This is where it gets complicated.   The reunion Downes left Asia for was with the original 1982 lineup of Asia.  That being himself, John Wetton, Carl Palmer, & Steve Howe.   However, since John Payne was still active as “Asia”, the original members had to legally license the name from John Payne.  Payne, rightfully so didn’t want to surrender the name as he has spent a LOT of time touring under the Asia name, yet the original Asia guys wanted to tour as Asia as well.  Now I’ve never seen the legal agreements, nor do I think they exist in the public anywhere, but the end result of all this is that there ended up being two official versions of Asia after this.  They were:

1. “The Original Asia”. This was the official name of the reunited OG lineup.  Which was as previously mentioned Geoff Downes, John Wetton, Carl Palmer, & Steve Howe.  They did market themselves as “Asia” (and not the full name there).
2. “Asia Featuring John Payne”. This is what became of the “existing Asia”.  Payne was allowed to continue to use the Asia name, and the lineup at this point was John Payne, Guthrie Govan, Jay Schellen, & Rio Okumoto.

Both variants of the band continue to exist into 2026.  Asia has NEVER broken up in all that time, although they have had some slow points where they haven’t done much.   But other than the breakup in the late 80’s, Asia (in whatever capacity) has been active for a very long time.  Something most people don’t realize.   They just think of the first album and then never think of them again.

One interesting thing.  Asia Featuring John Payne does perform songs from the entire overall Asia catalog.  “The Original Asia” doesn’t recognize the albums with John Payne.  Whether that’s a legal distinction, I don’t know because as I’ve said the public hasn’t seen the separation agreements.  But it wouldn’t surprise me.  I know there’s been some oddball conditions in the Queensryche & Pink Floyd separation agreements, so anything’s possible.

The interesting question (and I admit this is an ungodly fiddly issue here) is which one is “Asia”?  The easy answer is the version that splintered here with the name “The Original Asia”.  It had Mk I together again, they marketed themselves as Asia.  However, the Payne variant had been carrying on for quite some time and was the “rights holder” to that point.  It’s like a bicycle.  If you replace every single part on the bike over time, is it still the same bike?   This is a sticky path into the weeds for sure, because it’s filled with emotion.  I’m sure if you ask John Payne himself, he might have a different opinion than Geoff Downes, or anyone else.

Going forward with this document, I will carry on as if “The Original Asia” is just “Asia” (as they ended up calling themselves that) is the same lineup.   I will also document “Asia Featuring John Payne”, but I’ll do that later, to segregate them.  I think if I talked about concurrent band lineup changes, it would get too confusing.  So from this point, I’ll discuss “The Original Asia” (or just “Asia”), and then at the end I’ll pick up “Asia Featuring John Payne” from this point forward.  Solely because I think it would be too confusing for the lineup page to do them at the same time.

Album 10: “Phoenix” (2008)

Personnel:

• John Wetton – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• Steve Howe – guitars, vocals
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

Mk I is back.  They actually toured for a bit in 2006 and 2007 before going into the studio to make this album.  Probably a good idea – get tighter on the road before working on new material.  In 2007 John Wetton had major heart surgery which took them off the road, but it didn’t stop them beyond the time for his recover.

While there was a ton of personnel (like a LOT) in the intervening years since this version of the group was last together (25 yrs), the band seems to have finally stabilized on a solid “proper band” lineup.  Meaning not just a couple of guys with a crap ton of guests.  There was one guest on the album – Hugh McDowell, who played cello on two songs, but that’s it.

I remember when this came out – I was excited to see OG Asia back – which I have to imagine was the desired response from the fans.  I bought Phoenix, and remember being underwhelmed.  While nobody expected they’d recreate the original Asia album again, I expected more from this.

They toured this into 2009, and apparently didn’t want to kill each other, because…..

Album 11: “Omega” (2008)

Personnel:

• John Wetton – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• Steve Howe – guitars, vocals
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

For the first time since Mk I was together in the early 80’s, two consecutive Asia albums have the same lineup.  It’s interesting to me that Mk I is the only variant to do that.  None of the other variants (in either Asia version) had the same lineup two albums in a row.

However, much like the first go around, the second album by Mk I was a bit of a letdown over the first one.  And this second time when the first album is itself a letdown, it means the second one is even worse than that.

They did tour this a bunch playing about 87 shows spanning from 2008 into 2011.

Album 12: “XXX” (2012)

Personnel:

• John Wetton – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• Steve Howe – guitars, vocals
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

For the first time EVER, Asia goes three albums in a row with the same lineup – no changes.   Also in a change, the quality of XXX was better than Omega.   I recall enjoying this album.   In fact, as I wrote this, I called up the video from the lead single from this album (Face on the Bridge), and I quite enjoyed it.  It’s not Heat of the Moment, of course – but still enjoyable.

One thing I first thought about the cover art is that it’s VERY Roger Dean.  It’s SO him.  But on first glance I thought “Hang on, it doesn’t have the actual name of the album on it”.  Then I spotted it.  In the art, there’s several fish jumping out of the water.  Their positioning spells the “XXX ” of the album title.   ZZ Top had done this same thing in 1999 when they put out a studio album for the band’s 30th anniversary.  Theirs is also called “XXX“.

The band toured this in 2013, when the streak of consecutive stuff changes.  It is also the final album with the OG lineup of Asia ever, because the following year Steve Howe retired, and then John Wetton died in 2017.

Album 13: “Gravitas” (2014)

Personnel:

• John Wetton – lead vocals, bass guitar
• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• Sam Coulson – guitars
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

Steve Howe retires from Asia formally to focus on other projects.  It was said in interviews at the time that he felt he was too squeezed for time being in both Asia & Yes at the same time, and left one to focus on the other.   That’s a little odd, as Geoff Downes was also in both for a time, and he kept going, but that’s neither here nor there.

They replaced Howe with a new guitarist, Sam Coulson.  Someone whom I had no idea who he was at the time.

This album is the final one with John Wetton due to his death three years later.  It’s also the only studio album with Coulson on it.    The album was originally called “Valyrie”, but that was changed before release.  That title lives on as the first song of the album.

Asia toured this album in 2014, but not beyond.    The band went on a three year hiatus at this point due to John Wetton having cancer and going through chemotherapy.   I’ve had my own bout with cancer, and know what it can do to you, so the time off is no problem.

Asia returns from Hiatus – briefly (2017)

Personnel:

• Billy Sherwood – bass
• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• Sam Coulson – guitars
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

In Dec 2016, apparently John Wetton had recovered enough to the point where Asia booked a tour playing with Journey in the Spring of 2017.   But pretty quickly after that, on 11 Jan 2017, a statement was issued that Wetton needed additional chemotherapy and wouldn’t be able to participate on the tour.   The band brought on noted bassist Billy Sherwood to sub for him on the dates with Journey.  At this point, Sherwood was only intended as a substitute for Wetton, with the intent of Wetton returning once he was well enough.

Except that didn’t happen.  On 31 Jan 2017, John Wetton died of his colorectal cancer.  At the time I’ve read that Asia wanted to cancel the tour with Journey, but Journey’s management didn’t want to do that and forced Asia to play with Sherwood as a replacement.  That could NOT have made for a happy tour.   I know I wouldn’t have wanted to play that if I were in Asia.

They played 45 shows on this tour, with the first being 15 Mar, and the last one being 28 Jul.   One of these shows (17 Jun) was a a dedicated homage to Wetton.

It was said at the time that they had done some writing towards another album, but that due to the death of Wetton, the band wasn’t going to be doing anything for the foreseeable future.

Return from hiatus again – briefly (2019)

Personnel:

• Billy Sherwood – bass, vocals
• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• Ron “Bumblefoot” Thai – guitar, lead vocals
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

In April 2019, it was announced that Asia would go out on “The Royal Affair Tour”.  This tour consisted of Asia, Yes, John Lodge, and Carl Palmer’s ELP Experience.   This was a Summer tour in 2019 that consisted of 26 dates – all in North America.   One of them was in Dallas, si I went to this.  It remains the only time I’ve seen any incarnation of Asia live (and the second time I saw Yes).

One interesting thing about this tour, since Yes and Asia were touring together, it meant that Steve Howe could step in and play with Asia, which he did at this show (and I think all of them).  Howe guested and played guitar on the final four songs of the Asia set.  If you click here, you can see what they played the night I saw them.

Previous guitarist Sam Coulson had left the band (on good terms), and he was replaced by Ron Thai.  He goes by the nickname “Bumblefoot” and was in Guns N Roses for several years appearing on their infamous Chinese Democracy album.

At the end of this tour, they appear to have gone into hiatus AGAIN, but I can’t find any press release or statement saying that happened.  In late 2022, a 40th anniversary tour was announced, but this time with Marc Bonilla replacing Ron Thai on guitar/vocals.  In Feb of 2023, Carl Palmer said there were no other plans for Asia to do anything the rest of the year, so back on hiatus we go again.   Bonilla never played with the band due to the cancellation.

Album 14: “Indigo” (2026)

Personnel:

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, vocals
• Harry Whitley – bass, vocals
• John Mitchell – guitar
• Virgil Donati – drums

Asia wouldn’t pop up again until 2024, but this time with a total overhaul.  Carl Palmer who was the other founding member still around decided he had enough and stepped down.  This left Geoff Downes as the only person left in the “The Original Asia” variant of Asia.  What’s interesting is that the old “The Original Asia” isn’t used in marketing at all, but it *IS* still the URL of their website: https://www.originalasia.com. I love a good legal quirk like that.

His new lineup is above. I have to say I don’t know any of these guys except Downes.  But they seem to have stabilized again.  These four are still together in 2026.  They’ve played live shows in 2024, 2025, & 2026 (not a lot, but they have played in all three years – a total of 41 across that time).

In 2025 it was announced that they signed to Frontiers Records to a multi album deal – not just a one off.  To that, it was announced that a new album would be released in 2026.   Then on the 6th of July in 2026, details about the new album were released.  In fact, this announcement was the reason I thought to write this article in the first place.

The album is called Indigo, and will be released on 6 Nov 2026.   It’s the same four guys that have been together since 2024, so that’s a nice change.  As I write this just a couple of days after the announcement, the album isn’t out yet, but the first single is.  I’ve embedded this below.  It’s obviously Geoff Downes and some guys I don’t know, but if you close your eyes and listen to it, you can hear the old Asia sound.  I will definitely get this album – it feels like “Asia 3.0” at this point, and if the music is good, that’s all I’ll care about.  The first song is a good starting point.

I would have preferred them return to the single word that starts with “A” naming convention which has been gone for some time.  I thought maybe Again, Arise, or maybe my favorite I thought of – “Avant”.   But they seem to have moved past this.

This doesn’t seem to be the end of the story for Asia.  Feels like there’s more to come.

 

As I promised, I wanted to cover all of this, so we’re gonna jump back in time to 2006.   We had the big split with Asia which resulted in John Payne being permitted to continue as Asia, but his variant is formally called “Asia featuring John Payne”.    To recap a little..

The version of Asia that existed right before the split was

• Geoff Downes – keyboards, percussion
• John Payne – guitar, bass, lead vocals
• Guthrie Govan – guitar
• Jay Schellen – drums

When Downes left to go back to the Mk I reunion, Payne replaced him with keyboardist Roy Okumoto.  The album they had been working on ended up partially on the rebranded album “Window to the Soul”.  They had renamed themselves to GPS.   They did play live a few times in 2006 and into 2007 under this configuration.

However, after this and all the legal hullabaloo with Asia had settled, the band morphed into “Asia Featuring John Payne”. The GPS name was retired.  Also Ryo Okumoto had left the band.

2007-2008

There was a live album by “Asia Featuring John Payne” in 2007.  In the US it was called “Extended Versions”, and the UK it was called “Scandinavia”.  This was technically recorded back when they were still Asia in 2005 and the lineup on that is “Downes / Payne / Govan / Schellen”, but was released under the AFJP moniker. Going forward from 2007, the Asia Featuring John Payne’s lineup was:

• John Payne – guitar, bass, lead vocals
• Guthrie Govan – guitar
• Jay Schellen – drums
• Eric Norlander – keyboards

This band played gigs through 2007 and 2008.  Not a ton more to report there about 2008.

2009-2010

In 2009, this lineup released a studio EP called “Military Man”.   It has just three studio tracks (Military Man, Long Way from Home, & Neurosaur).  Plus radio edits of the first two.   I’d never even heard of this until I researched this article.  My research for this article did however tell me that when AFJP first came into being they had a record deal for three albums, and I don’t believe that was ever fulfilled.

After Military Man was released, there was another lineup change.  Guthrie Goven left the band (after being with Payne for a time), and was replaced by Mitch Perry.  So, the new lineup was:

• John Payne – guitar, bass, lead vocals
• Mitch Perry – guitar
• Jay Schellen – drums
• Eric Norlander – keyboards

Some more shows happened in 2009 and 2010.  Setlist.fm shows just a single date in both years, but I find that info hard to believe.

2011

Some more tour dates during the summer, but yet another lineup change.  At guitar again, so in 2011, we have another lineup:

• John Payne – guitar, bass, lead vocals
• Bruce Bouillet – guitar
• Jay Schellen – drums
• Eric Norlander – keyboards

It starts getting somewhat confusing here, as there isn’t a ton of studio work here, it’s just tour, tour, tour, and the amount of information I’ve found in this time of the band is minimal. I know it’s a wild stab in the dark – but if for some reason the actual John Payne sees this, I would LOVE to get with you and talk about the timeline for AFJP.  I care about getting things right, and this info is hard to come by (all the lineup changes).  If I’m wrong, I’d love to know.

2012

After just a year, Bruce Bouilet left the band.  John Payne replaced him with two guitarists, so the band was larger now.   New lineup:

• John Payne – guitar, bass, lead vocals
• Moni Scaria – guitar
• Jeff Kollman – guitar
• Jay Schellen – drums
• Eric Norlander – keyboards

The only release I found here was a re-release of the AFJP live album from 2007 yet released under another new name –  “Live Risen Sun”.  It’s not new, it’s that same version that had previously been released under the names “Extended Versions” and “Scandinavia”.

They also released a single called “Seasons Will Change” which was said at the time was intended for a new album.

2014

In 2014, Eric Norlander left the band and was replaced by someone who had been in AFJP previously.  New lineup in 2014:

• John Payne – guitar, bass, lead vocals
• Moni Scaria – guitar
• Jeff Kollman – guitar
• Jay Schellen – drums
• Rio Okumoto – keyboards

Also this year they did release a “studio” album, but not of original material.  It was an album of covers called “Recollections: A Tribute to British Prog.  Amusingly this album’s lineup Bruce Bouillett all over it, who was gone by the time it was released.   If you want to see a full breakdown of the tracks on this, plus who plays on what, there’s a very good breakdown on the discogs page for this album.

2016

Also, in 2016, it was announced that Jay Schellen had left the band after all this time to go work with Yes, filling in for Alan White.  But I can’t find who replaced him.   Additionally Norlander said in an interview that he stopped working with the band in 2013.  Not sure how that jibes exactly with the next entry (fully).

2018

Dukes of the Orient Lineup:

• John Payne – guitar, bass, lead vocals
• Erik Norlander – keyboards

In December 2017, Jon Payne’s Facebook page said that a new “Payne/Norlander” album entitled “Dukes of the Orient” with a release date of 28 Feb 2018.  It was also said that “Dukes of the Orient” was the name of the band as well.  The previously released (in 2012) single “Seasons Will Change” ended up being rebranded and released on this album.  When asked why it is being called “Dukes of the Orient” and not “Asia Featuring John Payne”, they said “this decision as comes out of respect for the passing of John Wetton, also citing this material was written by them and not under Asia”.  Norlander saying he stopped working with the band (AFJP) in 2013 but cropping up here would be valid given there’s a second splinter band here.  He was likely referring specifically to AFJP.

The rest of the lineup on this album is made up of people in and out of AFJP over the last few years.  A compete list of all that is on the discogs page for this album, although the only two “formal” band members are Payne & Norlander.  Something John Payne seemed to like doing back when he was in actual Asia.  The formal press for this album contains the text “The two are backed by a world-renown ensemble of top musicians including Jeff Kollman, Guthrie Govan, Moni Scaria and Bruce Bouillet on guitar and Jay Schellen on drums. Payne provides bass guitar and additional lead and rhythm guitar parts to complete the audiophile production. The album was mixed on a traditional analog console to preserve and enhance the natural depth, clarity and soul of the tracks with great care taken to avoid over-compression, extreme equalization and distortion. ”

 

2020

Dukes of the Orient Lineup:

• John Payne – guitar, bass, lead vocals
• Erik Norlander – keyboards
• Frank Klepacki – Drums
• Alex Garcia – Guitars
• Eric Tewalt – Saxophone

In 2020, Dukes of the Orient put out a second album called “Freakshow”.  I admittedly never knew of this album until doing the research for this article, so I have little to say about its content.  In fact, most of what I know comes from this press release from the label announcing the album.

Both this album and the prior are what “Asia featuring John Payne” would have put out had they not decided to change their name to Dukes of the Orient following the death of Asia vocalist John Wetton.   Will there be a third?  I really don’t know, but given everything John Payne has persevered through – I suspect he’ll keep at it until he drops.

2025

Asia Featuring John Payne Lineup:

• John Payne – vocals, bass, & guitar
• Mark Cole – guitar & bass
• Walter Ino – Keyboards
• Aaron Olson – Drums

This incarnation played live on 31 Jan 2025 – an all new lineup of AFJP.  Not Dukes, but AFJP.  So it appears that since the death of Wetton, any studio work comes out under Dukes of the Orient, and live shows are “Asia Featuring John Payne”.  I have to admit I’m not the strongest on this incarnation of the band, but this appears to be the logic balancing the two bands as far as I can tell.

Later in the year, the lineup changed again.  In August of 2025, the lineup was:

• John Payne – vocals, bass, & guitar
• Francis Dunnery – guitar
• Aaron Olson – drums
• Ryo Okumoto – keyboards (returning from before)

However, that lineup did not last long.  In fact, it lasted just one show – 2 Aug 2025.   Dunnery left after one show to be replaced by Jeff Kollman who had been in AFJP before.  I’ve also seen a story saying Thomas Lang is playing drums as well?  It’s confusing as fuck, that’s for sure.   It does seem to have stabilized somewhat was the Payne / Kollman / Olson / Okumoto lineup is continuing to play shows into 2026.  There’s a someone lively discussion about them in their Facebook page.

There are also plans for another studio album which had started when Dunnery was still with them.  Allegedly the album will be called “Aviana” – which is a very Asia album title, no doubt.   Whether it still happens and under which band name?  No idea.

That’s as far as I go with “Asia Featuring John Payne / Dukes of the Orient” – I can’t find any newer info than that.  But before I sign off, there was a very lengthy interview with John Payne I read here, which is worth your time if you’ve read this far down in this article of mine.

 

The Future

Asia has absolutely a twisted history starting in 1982 going through till now.  Both in the proper variant “Asia” and the “Asia Featuring John Payne” version.  Payne’s mixed into both legacies.  There’s a lot of good music scattered through all pieces of this.

I love a good lineup story, and Asia’s is next up.  I’ve written at length elsewhere about the confusing history of Black Sabbath.  I’m probably up for tackling two other stupidly confusing bands as well – Ratt & Quiet Riot.

All of it started with a self titled album in 1982 which was a mega hit.   That album is always tied to that year because of the one line of lyric “… and now you find yourself in 82″….

Check out the new Asia album that comes out this fall titled “Indigo”.  What I’ve heard so far I enjoyed.  If AFJP releases Aviana (under their name or the Dukes name), check that out too.   That these guys are still out there rockin’ and making new music some decades later is worth supporting.

My copy of Indigo is already on pre-order.

John Payne – if that’s really you – for real – reading this.  Get in touch. I’d love to fill in a lot of holes around AFJP.