Asia Featuring John Payne

Asia Featuring John Payne
2011-2012 lineup. Left to right: Jay Schellen, Erik Norlander, John Payne, Bruce Bouillet. Photo provided by BIS Management.
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles
Genres	Progressive rock, hard rock
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Devgel, Sony Music Japan, Voiceprint, InsideOut Records
Associated acts	GPS, Asia
Website	johnpayneasia.com
Members	John Payne Jeffrey Kollman Moni Scaria Ryo Okumoto
Past members	Erik Norlander Guthrie Govan Mitch Perry Bruce Bouillet Jay Schellen

Asia Featuring John Payne are a rock group formed in 2007 following a schism in the then line-up of Asia. The band is a continuation of singer and bassist John Payne's career as the band's frontman, which lasted from 1991 until 2006, when Asia's original 1982 lineup reunited.

Asia are a supergroup formed in 1981 by John Wetton (formerly of King Crimson and UK), Steve Howe (formerly of Yes), Carl Palmer (formerly of Emerson, Lake & Palmer) and Geoff Downes (formerly of Yes and The Buggles). The group had a successful career with their eponymous debut album, released in March 1982, receiving considerable commercial success, spending nine weeks at number one in the US album chart and selling over 4 million copies in the US alone. Wetton and Downes became the core songwriters in the band. Howe had left before the band released their third album, while Wetton later left the band in 1991.

In 1991 Downes invited John Payne to join a new lineup of the band, and together they enlisted new musicians to the band. The first album with this line-up was Aqua, released in 1992. In addition to Downes and Payne, the album featured guest appearances by Palmer and a returning Howe. Palmer, committed to an ELP reunion, was able to play on just three songs and left the band before touring. The live shows also featured Howe (whose presence was heavily promoted) who took the stage after the fifth song. Howe did not continue with the band after Aqua.

Downes and Payne continued as Asia, releasing multiple albums, but they struggled to maintain a stable line-up around them. 2001's Aura featured multiple guitarists, including another guest appearance from Howe and a new player Guthrie Govan. Among the drummers on the album was Chris Slade, who had briefly worked with the band in 1999. A stable touring line-up now emerged of Payne, Downes, Govan and Slade. This line-up went on to release Silent Nation in 2004. In August 2005, Slade left the group to be replaced by Jay Schellen (who had helped on some writing sessions for Silent Nation). After a short period of further touring, the new band started work on an album, tentatively entitled Architect of Time, which was originally planned for release in 2006.