“KANSAS HAS A knack for distributing parts where they’re needed,” guitarist Rich Williams notes proudly, “rather than saying, ‘We’ve got to find something for everybody to do here!’ It’s just a process of getting everybody involved the right way, not stepping on toes, and serving the songs with only what they need.”
Of course, you’d expect that to be the case after 50 years, but Kansas had their game plan in good shape largely from the get-go. The group was forged in Topeka by what Williams calls “the last man standing of our peer group that wanted to continue on with a musical life rather than get a straight job.” The original six members — Williams, guitarist-keyboardist Kerry Livgren, singer-keyboardist Steve Walsh, singer-violinist Robbie Steinhardt, bassist Dave Hope and drummer Phil Ehart — had played in a variety of groups, including White Clover and the Reasons Why.
After a few false starts, this lineup formed Kansas in earnest in 1973, forging a unique blend of heavy blues-based rock and complex, progressive opuses. According to Williams, “Everybody had different influences” that included Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, the Rolling Stones (for whom Kansas opened during the summer of 1978) and the classical music of Steinhardt’s formal training. “We were tired of playing the required music you’d play in a bar. We were trying to remove the box of, ‘This is what a band does. This is what rock music is today.’ We were very inspired by what became calledmusic.’ That taught us there is no box; there are no parameters. You can sing about anything you want to. You can use any time signature, any approach you can think of, any instrumentation that appealed to us.
