He’s the voice behind the songs that made Kansas famous. We’re talking songs like Carry On Wayward Son, Dust In The Wind and Point Of No Return.
He also plays keyboards for the band that has sold 30 million albums.
Kansas is once again on the road in support of their latest CD and DVD titled
‘Device - Voice - Drum’.
Top American writer Gary James talks to Steve Walsh.
GJ: Steve, I hear your new DVD is doing well. What made you decide to release a DVD?
SW: Well, we have never done one. We felt we could improve on the ones we had seen by other groups. To be truthful, it seems that most people are putting out DVDs to exploit the new DVD market, trying to make money. What we wanted to do, essentially, is something artistic. We shot it on film rather than videotape. We’ve done video tape projects like ‘Live At the Whiskey’ and we were very dissatisfied with the outcome.
GJ: And to promote the DVD you’re going out on the road, first in the mid-west?
SW: We are going on the road in the mid-west. I think we’re starting out in Florida.
GJ: Do you still do in-store appearances?
We’ll do whatever we’re asked to do. We don’t go out to every shopping mall. If someone has a special request and they feel it can provide a proper venue for us then, yeah, I suppose we’ll show up.
GJ: What keeps you going, especially as you’ve done it all before?
SW: I have to make money. That’s the bottom line. If I was rich, no, I wouldn’t do it. I like appearing live and believe me that is the reason why we still make music. We’re all 50-plus. Touring is a young man’s game. So it’s not like I jump up and down and say whoopee everytime we get tour dates like I used to. It’s a job now. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to be able to do it cause I can’t do anything else.
GJ: When a Kansas tour is being put together, what goes into the decisions of what cities to play? Is it the radio airplay? The routing of the tour?
SW: You know, I wish I could say we consider all those things but, to tell you the truth, we go where we get paid. We fondly refer to it as our 'Dartboard Tour' because it’s just close your eyes and throw the dart - wherever it lands on the map...
GJ: Are you able to write on the road?
SW: Yeah. Especially if we’re on an extended tour. There are all kinds of new devices and software available that allow you to do that. Mainly it’s getting from Point A to Point B. That’s what takes up most of the day. We travel now by ‘plane. Travelling by bus bred a lot of bad habits with the guys in the band and especially with me. These habits die hard. You had a lot of time on your hands, just watching a movie for the fifteenth time in a row. It’s kinda like being in a box of sardines.
GJ: When you were playing in bars, did you ever dream you would be part of a touring, recording act?
SW: Yeah, I figured that’s where it was going to end up. The guys that finally ended up being Kansas were very determined and that’s all you really need. In life everybody gets what they want really, in my opinion. If you really want something, you’re gonna get it - in America at least.
GJ: The Tony Robbins philosophy?
SW: Yeah, I suppose.
GJ: Your first album sold 100,000 copies. If you were starting out today would this figure have been enough to keep the record label happy?
SW: 100,000 sales these days is magnificent. Nobody buys CDs anymore. They all copy ‘em. The only people who buy them are 35-plus. Youngsters don’t buy them. It’s terrible. It’s what’s happening to the music industry. It’s the record companies fault, because who’s copying DVD’s? There is a software program on the Internet somewhere to copy DVDs, but it’s a pain in the ass. Nobody is looking at copyright protection for CDs - what they have can be busted. And CDs cost too damn much. They’re making a fortune for the record companies.
A record company will take an act and put some money into it. If the act takes off, great! The record company looks like heroes. they throw more money at it and promotion and it takes off like crazy.
If you want success, you’re gonna have to get out and work really hard for it.
My fondest memory is a Bell person in a hotel, a young guy who was a musician, wanted to know my advice. I said: OK, quit your job, say goodbye to your family and forget every friend you’ve got except the ones that you’re working with. Concentrate on your career and nothing else. You’ll know within 2 years if you’re gonna make it all, but give it 2 years. Live like a hermit. Forget everything else. Well, he looked at me like I was crazy! But that’s really what you have to do. You have to really swallow some crap before you come out the other end and figure out whether it’s gonna work or not. There’s just no other way to do it.
GJ: Tell me some of the groups that Kansas opened for in the ‘70s?
SW: We did Queen, Mott The Hoople. hell, we did everybody.
GJ: How were you treated by these people?
SW: Real good. Queen and Mott The Hoople were fantastic. Real nice people. Freddie Mercury was an asshole. He was a prima donna. Diva if you will. That’s about having an ego bigger than you are talented, bigger than you deserve.
GJ: If you had not been part of a successful rock group, what would you have done?
SW: All performing artists are very, very insecure. Why the hell else would we stand up on a stage and spout out, and think we deserve the audience’s applause if there wasn’t some sort of insecurity? I’m incredibly fortunate to still be doing this.
Interview © 2003
Gary James, Story Of The Stars
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