British progressive rock-meets-symphonic band Yes has remained consistent in making their impact in the music world for nearly 50 years.

That is nearly five decades of playing a lot of the same songs they have been rocking since the early 1970s. And although the Grammy Award-winning band has seen a blend of veteran and new musicians, its last-standing early member Steve Howe says the music still feels fresh to him.

Even former original drummer Bill Bruford does not understand why the iconic guitarist, who has seen success playing in other well-known bands and as a solo artist, continues to perform with Yes.

“Bill often asks me how do I keep playing Yes songs. He says, ‘Doesn’t it make you go mad?’” Howe said.

Bruford’s question is one to ponder when it comes to artists who play the same songs for decades. But Howe’s answer to this question is one that every fan wants to hear:

“I tell him ‘No, it doesn’t.’ We’ve refreshed this music. We’ve stimulated it. We’ve accurately learned things that people used to not bother to do. We’ve even accurately looked at Bill’s drumming too, even though he’s not in the band, we said ‘We’ve got to have this.’ So, it’s for the love of the music that I’m still in.”

Currently on the The Album Series Tour, which will make a stop at the National Grove of Anaheim on Friday, the band will perform its 1980 album “Drama” for the first time in its entirety, followed by sides one and four of its 1973 double album “Tales from Topographic Oceans.” Yes will also throw in some of its greatest hits throughout the show.

Howe said playing a selection of albums in their entirety has been a success in past tours, because their audience knows what to expect.

“It allows people to get in tune with the music before they even arrive. We try to stay as close as possible to the record; of course we do extended solos and endings here and there, we’re not just sitting there like studio musicians, but we’re bringing the records to life,” said Howe.

Yes. founded in 1968 by Jon Anderson and the late Chris Squire, and joined by Howe in 1970, has sold nearly 40 million albums, with iconic songs such as “Roundabout,” “Starship Trooper,” “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” “I’ve Seen All Good People” and more.

Joining Howe on stage will be lead singer Jon Davison (a Laguna Beach resident), bassist Billy Sherwood, drummer Jay Schellen and keyboardist Geoff Downes.

“We endorse the idea that our fans want to hear the album played exactly how it sounds and meticulously check through things,” Howe said. “Geoff and I get together on the guitar and keyboards and play through the chords, Billy gets on the bass and second vocals. If you’re not meticulous, don’t try this.

“In the 1970s, we used to just go out and play this stuff not as closely to the record, because we felt like we didn’t have to. Now we don’t feel like we have to, but we want to.”

Howe has performed with such bands as Syndicats, Tomorrow, and Asia, as well as released nearly 20 solo albums. For as long as the influential musician has been successful in the music world, he said he is doing “all the wrong things to be a rockstar.”

The longtime vegetarian has been married to his wife Janet since 1968, and together they have four kids and two grandchildren.

“I haven’t gone out of my way to be commercial. I’m much too good at being a regular human being,” said Howe, “I’m not some sort of crazy animal or follow the clichés of having the right clothes, right haircut, or the right places to go after the show. I just passed a lot of stuff by, and thought ‘I don’t need that’ or ‘I don’t want that’ or ‘that’s baggage.’ So I’ve kind of enjoyed my simplistic life so much, I wouldn’t give that up for anything.”

This sober and modest mindset goes for the rest of the band as well, as Howe said he would not play with anyone that does not have a clear head before hitting the stage.

“I look at Yes like an orchestra, and no matter what band you are in or what artist you are, you should walk out there like a classical musician. When you perform out of your bloody mind, you are rubbish, you lost the plot, you made mistakes, you didn’t live up to the fans’ expectations because you were having a good time for yourself, not the audience,” said Howe.

Although Yes is placed in the progressive rock category, Howe has introduced a variety of guitar styles when he joined the band, including his solo-acoustic song “Clap” which is featured on 1970’s “The Yes Album.” Giving credit to country jazz artist Chet Atkins as “the single most inspiration” he’s had, Howe said he does not like to stay with one genre when it comes to his melodies.

“I was a guitar freak who wanted to be a new kind of guitarist. Chet Atkins follows a lot of paths all at the same time; he’s a bit country and has rock pop tunes and classical guitar, the intricacies of what he does is just astounding. So I wanted to bring that into the rock that I do,” Howe said.

“I really wanted to take the guitar into new places. I did blues in the early ’60s and psychedelia; I did all that and wanted to leave that alone. Yes was a great band because we didn’t want any clichés, or irrelevant clichés from different forms of music; we wanted to create a new art rock or symphonic rock, ‘soft rock’ is what I like to call it, but it didn’t catch on.”

Contact the writer: jmoe@ocregister.com