continued from page 20
do feel like part of that family. It’s a great
feeling.
IE: Why did it take so long to get Kansas
back in the studio?
RP: I just think that they had a couple of
members that were just tapped out creatively. Nothing against Steve - you gotta
give Steve an endurance award for being
with the band for 40 years on and off- but I
understand when you do something for
such a long time that you’re enthusiasm
might not be there like it was at first. But
that only brings me to throwing kudos to
Phil and Rich, who after doing this for 43
years, still have a desire to ambitiously
want to add to such an amazing library of
music. The rest of us are thanking them for
it that’s for sure, especially myself and
Dave Manion, who came on at the same
time as me and I affectionately call “Mr.
Lightning Fingers,” and then of course Zak
Rizvi, who’s an amazing guitar player,
writer and producer.
IE: Did you personally feel any pressure
going into the sessions since they were your
first with Kansas?
RP: Imagine what’s in the back of my mind
thinking “okay, I’m writing lyrics for a band
Kerry Livgren wrote lyrics for.” No pressure
there! (laughter). I was in the studio and I
was about to cut my first vocal track and
Phil walks into the studio room, puts his
hand on my shoulder and says “now look, I
want you to relax, I want you to enjoy yourself and have fun with this. Do the best job
you can and just totally put out of your
mind that 2.1 million Kansas fans are waiting for this right now.” Gee, thanks Phil!
IE: Besides making up for lost time, Kansas
also has a history as widespread as its progressive origins to the MTV-era. To what
extent did you try to incorporate all of
those elements while still crafting the
record you guys wanted to make?
RP: I really feel like we hit the target on all
those marks. Take “The Voyage Of Eight
Eighteen,” which is an intense multi-part,
multi-dynamic song that is just the stereotypical, classic Kansas song. It has so many
parts and is the epitome of prog rock. There
are a couple songs like that, but then you’ve
got a couple songs that are almost heavy
metal guitar-sounding, then you’ve got a
couple darker, more moody songs that have
very intense subjects. Then you’ve got what
I consider radio-friendly songs, like “The
Unsung Heroes” or “With This Heart.” This
album has many dimensions and it’s reflective of all the different phases that Kansas
has gone through. But on the flipside of
that, it’s not like we really had that focus
when we were writing these songs. It just
happened to turn out that way. When you
have the insane talent of the members of
this band combined with having pent up
creativity for years and years, each song
starts to take on a life of its own and it starts
to build its own path, so it’s really amazing
how many different avenues we’ve traveled
with this record.
IE: Did you intend to have a new record
timed with the 40th anniversary of
Leftoverture?
RP: I don’t think so. I think it just happened
that way. When David and I joined the
band, I don’t think Phil and Rich even anticipated a new album, but they discovered
the new enthusiasm and it became infectious. It just seemed to accidentally fall into
place with Leftoverture celebrating its 40th
anniversary, along with a new album. And
boy, what a treat for Kansas fans to be able
to incorporate everything into the new
show. You’re gonna get a show that spans
43 years of Kansas, from the first album all
the way up to The Prelude Implicit. Good
timing for me don’t you think?
IE: In your opinion, what are the elements
that have allowed Leftoverture to endure
for all these years?
RP: I think back to my perspective of listening to Leftoverture back then and the music
just seemed so rich, so deep, so multifaceted with so many parts, yet the parts
also had a cohesiveness. You’d go from such
extreme dynamics, yet they were adjacent
to one another without losing a feel or a
mood. To me that was just mesmerizing and
it’s just stuck with me. God, a song like
“The Wall” is timeless. When I listen to the
studio version of that, it’s as thought-provoking to me now as it was 40 years ago.
And of course “Carry On Wayward Son”
continues getting played to this very
day…Just in the time I’ve been in the band,
I’ve started to see younger and younger
people at our shows. And that makes me
feel so good to know that this music can
grab the attention of some younger music
lovers because it’s really inspiring and
deep. It’s nice to witness that, and as the
band calls it, “job security.”
PETE BERWICK
Kansas appears at the Copernicus Center,
Chicago, on Friday, November 4.
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