519 Magazine - April 2019

By Dan and April Savoie
You’re actually in Kansas today. Are
those Kansas namesake shows a little
more wild and special than other shows?
I don’t know if it’s wilder, that’s yet to
be seen. These are my people and coming
back here to play is always something
special for all the obvious reasons. Playing
in this state is like a homecoming for me,
I’ve been based out of Atlanta, Georgia for
most of the time since the later 70s, but I
still have friends here and I still come back
whenever I can. My North Star is always
here and my compass always leads me
back here no matter where I live. Kansas
will always be home.
It’s a really interesting time for you
guys. There always seems to be an
anniversary to look back on now. So this
year’s your 45th for the first album, it’s
the 40th for Monolith and you’re touring
the 40th of Point Of Know Return. So,
you know, you’ve had a great career
when milestones like that keep coming.
That’s the truth. These last five years
have been with another building process
for us. It’s been going better than the last
20 or 30 years. It’s been a lot of fun to
be in this band playing a lot of material
we haven’t played in a very long time.
The Leftoverture 40th anniversary tour
went so much better than anticipated. We
planned on doing 15 shows, but we did
over 80 for that particular show. That why
we’re doing the Point Of Know Return
40th anniversary show. It started last year
but is going through this year and it’s also
going into next year. It’s just been booked
a lot, but that’s not the only thing - we’re
also doing just regular 90 minute shows
too, which is what we’ll be doing up there.
So it’s a really good time to be in Kansas
with a lot going on. We’re working on new
album to be released next year. We’re going
to be recorded that throughout the summer
this year.
It’s almost been 40 years since you
guys sold out to Madison Square Garden
- that must have been a thrill.
Well you would think, but we were on
a progression. We’re opening for certain
bands and then we finally broke the door
down for our first album. The shows were
gradually getting better and finally we
were at the Garden. Our manager at the
time, Budd Carr, was in the limousine on
the way to the show and he was just beside
himself. “I can’t believe Madison Square
Garden sold-out, this is incredible”, we
were like “whatever, anybody want to go
do something to eat when we’re done.”
We were a bit naive when we were
young. We were just so caught up in it that
we didn’t really realize the milestones that
we were crossing at the time - to look back
on this, yeah, that’s really amazing. But
we were a bit to green and immature to
appreciate it at the time. Now, with 45 years
on the road with this band, I can appreciate
that moment very easily, but back then
we were green didn’t know who we were
really as individuals.
What do you remember recording
that first album 45 years ago?
Not so much in the recording of it. In the
studio it was always rush, rush, rush. We
didn’t have a lot of time to record it, mix
it and be done with it because everything
was pushed along. We didn’t even use
our own equipment. Oh, no, you never
use those kind of amps in the studio they
told us. We didn’t know, so we kind of
got pushed around a bit by the engineers
and production team. But still it was all
very exciting. We learned a lot after that.
As for the recording process, at that time
we’ve never done that before, so we just
didn’t know, but the atmosphere around the
studio was some of the most memorable,
because of all the other people that were.
John Lennon had just been in the studio;
B.J. Thomas was in one of the studios
while we’re working there. There was a
common area where you sit around where
everybody would hang out. Rick Derringer
was in there, he was producing a Johnny
Winter album, and we talked with him and
some of the guys from his band. The Alice
Cooper guys were hanging around there
and so you had this organic roundtable of
these guys telling their experiences and we
were brand new to all of this, so it was a
great education
I remember that part of it a lot and I
remember “the walk” from the studio back
to our hotel. This is in New York City and
that terrible time on 42nd Street where it
was all drugs, hookers, and x-rated movie
theaters. It was a terrible area at that
time and we had to walk from the studio
through that. Coming from Topeka,
Kansas, to that, was two different worlds.
But you’re young and invincible.
Do you think there are similarities
to who you are now compared to the
young guy when you were recording
that first big album?
There are some similarities sure. I
remember why I started doing this and
that feeling is all still there. That feeling
of wanting to be in a band and wanting
to be with bunch of guys that want create
things will always be there. I still love to
go out on the road and perform.
Long before I even had an instrument,
I came to the understanding that I wanted
to do something just like this. It was very
natural for me to do. This is just what
Mark Schierholz
I was made for - to be in a band with
friends and make music.
The wide-eyed wonder of it all is not
there anymore after you’ve seen what’s
behind the curtain enough times. You
can’t look at the stage with the same
wonder. I mean the first time you went to
the circus as a little boy was something,
but once you’ve been travelling with the
circus for 30 years and working backstage
shoveling elephant shit all day, you have
a different perspective.
For me, I can’t ever be a civilian again;
this is the only life I know. I enlisted into
this life a long time ago and to go to a
party with a bunch of people is so strange
to me, because conversations are different
and I don’t like talking about me. I guess
it’s fascinating for them because life can
become humdrum, but it’s not for me.
I know people want to know
everything, but I get tired of talking
about it. That’s why other musicians
really connect with each other because
we all have the same story, it’s the same
but different. It’s like with alcoholics
anonymous you can go in there and
everyone has the same story with a
different twist and you get to have a
good laugh about it. Being a musician in
a band is very similar.
So they say that the first album is
the lifetime to you have a lifetime to
make that first album. Did it really
feel like that?
I don’t really think so. Topeka Kansas
was not a big town, but everybody I
knew played an instrument because
of the British Invasion. When that
happened, there suddenly was a garage
band on every block and everybody
wanted to be in a band, so that was kind
of normal. I’ve played in other bands
with Dave Hope, the original bass player
for Kansas. The first band I was ever
in was with Phil Ehart, who is still our
drummer today. So for six months you
would be in this band and then some
EMily Butler Photography
of the same people would be in it and
you would get some new guys and then
some of these new guys would get with
others. It was a constant evolution of
people going in and out of different but
similar bands. But as we got a little bit
older, there’s kind of a weaning process
where some people they were pretty
good at what they did, but they really
didn’t want to travel, so they liked that
Holiday Inn gig on the weekends - that
wasn’t for us.
By the time this bunch of guys got
together, some of us had played in bands
together, but the writing of that first
album really occurred in a brief period
before we record it. It wasn’t like we’d
written for 20 years and finally got an
offer. Before Kerry Livgren was in the
band we had recorded six songs on a
tape and sent it to differential record
companies. One of them landed on Don
Kirshner’s desk, and he only heard one
side of it - he never knew there was
two sides to those reel to reel tapes,
so because of that one song we wound
up with the record deal. Then Kerry
Livgren joined and we had a lot more
material. Most of the stuff was pretty
fresh, but you’re on the road touring,
then they want another record and then
another and it became quite the grind of
touring, writing and recording. Every
year something new would come out.
And it’s great to see you guys
putting out new material because
there’s a lot of bands and artists
from the 70s that are doing a
farewell tour now.
We’re not finsihed yet and you
know how farewell tours go; just ask
the Eagles. How many farewell tours
have The Who had? It started back in
the 80’s. I don’t put a lot of stock in
farewell tours. It seems like a ploy to
just raise the ticket prices. Give it about
three years and if they don’t reappear,
it might have been the farewell tour.