Atlantic City Weekly

For years many Americans might have word-associated a certain Midwestern state more than anything else with the classic flick the Wizard of Oz, but that all changed when the band Kansas materialized on the music scene in the 1970s.

The band quickly became an integral part of the progressive-rock movement, following up its self-titled debut album of 1974 with Song for America and Masque (both in 1975), Leftoverture (1976) and Point of Know Return (1977), all of which were big sellers that begat chart-topping hits like “Carry On Wayward Son,” “Dust in the Wind” and the title track “Point of Know Return.” All, and others, are still staples on classic-rock stations, and “Carry On” is also featured on the video games Guitar Hero II and Rock Band II. Kansas would go on to produce 14 studio, six live and seven compilation albums. Last year, in tandem with the band’s 35th anniversary, it produced a live DVD called There’s Know Place Like Home that was recorded with the 50-piece Washburn University (Topeka, Kansas) Orchestra. Such a success was that venture that earlier this year the band launched its Collegiate Symphony Tour, performing concerts with collegiate bands and donating all the proceeds back to the respective schools’ music departments.

Kansas (which has actually been based in Atlanta for much of its recent history) is comprised of guitarist Rich Williams, violinist David Ragsdale, keyboardist Steve Walsh, bassist Billy Greer and drummer Phil Ehart, and will perform at the Borgata Event Center this Friday, Aug. 13, along with fellow 1970s prog-rock phenoms Styx (“Lady,” “Come Sail Away,” “Babe,” “The Best of Times,” “Mr. Roboto”) and Foreigner (“Feels Like the First Time,” “Cold as Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision,” “Blue Morning Blue Day,” “Head Games,” “Dirty White Boy”). The show starts 8pm and tickets are $75, $85 and $95.
Atlantic City Weekly recently spoke with Kansas' Williams by phone.

What a cool idea collaborating with collegiate orchestras. Was the band pleased with how the commemorative DVD came out?
It came out very good. We had a few days where we worked with [the Washburn U. Orchestra] a few days ahead, and did a dress rehearsal with them the night before the show, so by the time we actually filmed it everybody was prepared. We went the day before and worked with their conductor, and basically said “Let’s just play a song,” and we did Down the Road [off Song for America, and the last of 19 tracks on the DVD]. There was no audience when we recorded it. Basically it was just a sound check.
Last year was our 35th year and we did the tour with a symphony to commemorate it, but it just so happened to be at 35 years. If it had been at 33 years we would still have done it anyway. It just makes it a bit more interesting, it seems, when you do things in five-year increments.

Like any band that’s been around a long time Kansas has undergone personnel changes, but has the group stayed pretty active as a touring band that entire time?
We had a period back in the ’80s, a couple of years there, where we didn’t do anything. It sort of got to the point where we didn’t know who we were anymore, and it was hard to field a team, so to speak. People had kind of gone off doing other things and the record company didn’t care, booking agents didn’t care — the message seemed to be “You guys have to find something else to do.” We didn’t give it up, but we kind of started to believe them after a while and sat idle. Then we got an offer to go to Germany for two weeks from a German promoter and decided to give it a try. It was very successful and we came back and did one impromptu show in Atlanta, where we’re based out of, and that sold out in minutes. We thought, “This is pretty cool — what if we just put a couple of gigs together just for laughs?” And that’s when we realized that our fan base was grossly underestimated by management, record companies, agencies, everybody. And we’ve been managing ourselves ever since and playing more each year. We’ll be doing, I think, 80 dates this year. This is the busiest year I’ve ever had.

What are the crowds like at the shows? Are you finding you’re crossing multiple generations now?
Oh definitely. There’s a lot of kids in the crowd. Guitar Hero II and Garage Band has really gone far to change the face of crowds a lot. We have songs on Guitar Hero II, and Garage Band has brought whole families to the shows — families who became familiar with some of our music by [using the software to] play the songs together at home.

Do you still enjoy touring after all these years?
Absolutely. Managing ourselves makes it a lot easier to do what we want. We said a long time ago, to do this we have to keep it fun. Although the United in Rock tour [a series of regular stops that Kansas did with Styx and Foreigner] was a great time, it’s not the way we usually like do things, because it meant being gone for two and three weeks at a time in a tour bus, which is a bit of a grind. For a couple of months it’s not bad, but for some groups that’s what they do all the time and that’s not how we prefer to tour. This coming weekend is pretty typical of our routine, which is to leave on a Friday and come home on a Sunday. We just do that throughout the year.

At some tour stops you’re by yourself as a band, at others [such as the Borgata show] you’re with other groups — how do you determine what set lists you’re going to be playing from show to show?
There’s certain stuff we always play, the songs that have stood the test of time. This year has been quite a different year. One day we might be playing with a symphony and there’s a set we play geared for that, the next night we might be playing with Foreigner and Styx and that’s a shorter set designed for a different audience. If it’s just us as a band, it’ll be a slightly different set. We change it up quite a bit.
We’ve performed many times with Styx and Foreigner — they’re both excellent bands — but after you’ve seen each others’ acts a few times you just want to get on down the road. The crew needs to rest, the drivers have their schedules to keep. It’s not for everybody, but if you love doing it, it’s not that big a deal. For some people it’s an impossible lifestyle, but I love it.