Kansas

Interview with Phil Ehart - 5/19/95

West Bank Stage, River Festival, Wichita, KS

Bryan Jennings, 96.3 KRZZ Wichita, KS

Transcribed by Margaret Vitalis


BJ:  Thanks alot.  Bryan Jennings live out here.  We are in the midst of getting
ready for a huge concert tonight, the silver celebration of the Wichita River
Festival.  Tonight in concert it's Kansas at the West Bank Sound Stage.  7:00 is
the concert time, and with me right now is the drummer for Kansas, Phil Ehart,
and Phil, you guys just got into town, a little worn out, but you're ready to
rock tonight?

PE:  Yeah, pretty much.  It's been a long haul from Wisconsin, but we made it in
OK, yeah.

BJ:  There ya go.  Now, I told Phil we're gonna do kind of a different interview
here.  We've got questions from their fans that wanted to ask stuff, so we're
gonna do it that way instead of me asking the questions tonight.

This question coming from Sergeant Brooks, must be on the military base here.
"Is there a particular song that's really fun for the band to perform, and on
the reverse side, a particular song that is extremely difficult to perform
live?"

PE:  Yeah, I guess it might be one in the same.  I probably speak for myself as
the drummer.  I enjoy playing "Song for America," but at the same time, it's a
very difficult song to play, you know, and we have fun with all the songs, and
that's the good thing about being in Kansas.  None of the songs are really the
same from song to song, so they all kinda work you out and keep you on your
toes.

BJ:  Exactly.  Another question.  You've been touring for over 20 years now.
How is touring now compared to back when you started--when you first hit it big?

PE:  Well, touring's always just been kinda touring.  Touring is more about the
audience than anything else, you know, as long as you have a good audience and
they have people showing up, it keeps it fun, keeps it relevant, and kinda keeps
it in front of your face as to the horse you rode in on.  So, touring is kinda
what it's about.

BJ:  There ya go.  Alright, now, how do six guys decide what to play on the real
complicated stuff?  Does the author of the song delegate the different parts, or
does it just have a core progression, and they improv over it?

PE:  Ah, it's different from song to song.  There's really no stocked answer for
that.  Some of the most difficult things that we perform are put together, you
know, over a period of weeks, sometimes months just performing them.  Other
things like "Dust in the Wind" just came together kind of instantly.  So it's
different from song to song.  The writer pretty much always has the final say,
but he'll acquiesce usually to if the band is always, you know, kinda leaning
one way, he'll kind of usually go along with the band.

BJ:  Alright, now _Freak of Nature_ came out what, last year, year before, and
do you have a schedule yet to going into the studio to begin recording a new CD?

PE:  Yeah.  _Freak of Nature_ came out in the summer of '95, and we're looking
to record in the fall of, I guess it will be in the winter of '97.  Yeah, that's
what we're on schedule to do right now.  So we'll go ahead and tour the rest of
this year and then record a new album in '97.

BJ:  Very cool.  Now here's a really neat question.  "What current musicians or
bands to Kansas members listen to nowadays?"  In other words, if we raided their
tour bus during the concert tonight, what CD's and tapes would we find?

PE:  Hmmmm.  Not much.

BJ:  New music's kinda different these days.

PE:  Well, it's not that so much.  It's when you're out here, there's really not
a lot of music played too much when you're on tour, because it's, I'd say a lot
of guys listen to probably most of the stuff when we're off the road.  But there
 is some music played, but I think most of us just follow sports more than
anything else on the road.

BJ:  OK, now this is from Dan Burris.  "One thing I really appreciate about
_Freak of Nature_ is that the songwriting contributions were made by Walsh,
Ragsdale and Livgren.  I would very much like to see that continue, and wonder,
would Steve or David ever consider co-writing a song with Kerry again if he was
willing?"

PE:  Oh yeah.  I mean, you know, the doors are always open as far as Kerry
collaborating with Kansas or vice versa.  It's just whatever someone feels like
doing.  If someone wants to collaborate, they have to take the effort to do it
and vice versa.  So the doors are always open, and the chances are always good
that those guys will collaborate.

BJ:  You guys are all busy right now.  Robby's got Steinhardt-Moon goin' on,
they've got a new CD out.  Kerry's got a new CD out on the Numavox label, so
everybody's keeping busy, having a good time with music.

PE:  Ah, well, that's kinda what we do, yeah.

BJ:  There ya have it.  7:00 tonight, West Bank Stage, it's Kansas live in
concert, from the Boeing Company.  It's a silver anniversary concert.  I wanna
thank Phil Ehart very much for doing the interview with us.  It's gonna be a
rockin' show tonight, 7:00 West Bank Stage.  What better fitting thing to do
right now, since this is a block party weekend, than playing a block of Kansas.
Let's get into it right now with "Point of Know Return" with 96.3 KRZZ.

Go back to Kansas at the Wichita River Festival
Last modified: June 1, 1996