Few bands make it to 50 years, and even fewer still put out vital, career-defining music while touring regularly. Kansas is one of those bands. To celebrate their 50th anniversary, Kansas has released a career-spanning compilation called Another Fork In The Road – 50 Years of Kansas and will be hitting the road for a massive US tour. Vocalist Ronnie Platt recently took some time to talk about all of it.
Please press the PLAY icon for the MisplacedStraws Conversation with Ronnie Platt –
On how he joined Kansas – I first got hooked up by being a fan my entire life, and it was kind of like a pre-requisite to any cover band that I was in my entire life. If I’m gonna sing, we gotta do some Kansas. So just a huge fan my entire life, and then kind of strange, from ’87 to ’90, I had a band called Drama, and the drummer’s son has ended up being Phil Ehart’s drum tech. So there’s a little bit of connection there, and then of course, in 2007, I became the lead singer of Shooting Star from 2007 to 2011, and we did some work with Kansas, we did a couple of shows. So there was a little elbow rubbing there Then it really is a wild story how a very good friend of mine, Dina, messaged me one day and said, “Did you see this?” And it was the announcement of Steve (Walsh)’s retirement. The band was in the middle of a tour, and at least me, I automatically thought that they had been working with someone for a while, they’re in the middle of a tour, I’m sure they’re gonna seamlessly make a transition from Steve to the new singer, little did I know that was going to be me. Just on a whim, I contacted Rich (Williams) through Facebook and said, “Rich, Ronnie Platt from Shooting Star. Give me some consideration”. That’s all I wrote. And the very next day, I heard from Rich, I was just about to walk out the door, check my messages and hear. “It’s Rich Williams, if you get this within the next hour and a half, we’re about to go on stage in Houston, give me a call”. I call Rich kind of like freaking out. I’m like, okay. Is this real? The next day, talk to Phil, which was a Friday, Monday, they flew me down to meet with them in Atlanta, and they were very, very upfront, “You’re not coming to audition, we’ve seen you sing, we know you could sing your butt off, we just wanna know if you’re a nice guy, if you’re gonna get along with everyone in the band”. If you’ve watched the documentary Hired Gun, you know how important it is. I came back to Chicago four hours later, next day I’m in my truck delivering corrugated in the beautiful streets of Chicago, and open up my email and there’s the magical email, Phil Ehart, “Congrats. You got the job, the band is pumped”, and it’s been 1000 miles an hour ever since. 1;00
On fan reaction when he replaced Steve Walsh – That’s where I am so fortunate. But one of the unfortunate things is right before my first gig, I happened to catch “Behind the Music” with Styx, and they were interviewing Lawrence (Gowen), and he was talking about how he was with the band a year, and the audience still wasn’t too fond to him. And I’m like, Oh my God, “I’m taking Steve’s place”. And I’ve always said that the Kansas fan is the intense listener, Kansas isn’t the kind of music you just throw on for background music at a party. Most Kansas fans, they listen to the music and they listen intently, and you’re getting into the music because that’s what the music commands. Here I’m like, “Oh my God, what am I doing?” Just from day one I said to myself, “If I went half of the fans over, I’m gonna count my blessings”, and always have your nay-sayers and you’re die-hard. But right now, in my eyes, I would say I’ve won 90% of the Kansas fans over. Thank God for that. The success of the band in the last 8 1/2 years has shown that. 4:27
On if the newer members ever suggest songs the band hasn’t played in a long time – I’ve been saying that to Phil forever, I suggest songs, and what a good problem to have. To have such a massive library of music to pull from you, and these are not three-minute-long Beatles songs. We’re working on one song now that’s a little on the long side, and I’m gonna give it away on the new tour, but when you’re doing songs that are seven, eight, nine minutes long, good God, that’s really something. But the joke I’ve always said is I could never make the set list stuff because our show would be five hours long, and that’s the honest-to-God truth. I look through the anthology of Kansas and it’s like, I see so many songs that I would love to do that I still haven’t done with the band and we’ve pretty much have mixed it up over the time that I’ve been in the band, we’ve tried to mix it up and do some of the deep cut stuff, and doing Leftoverture in its entirety was great and Point of Know Return in its entirety is great, but the wild thing too, the perspective is this massive library of music to choose from in here I get in the band and we still do two more studio albums to add to that library. That’s pretty intense. 6:35
On if the band picked the songs on the new compilation – No, we actually had (record label) Inside Out, make the choices there because, God, I mean, everybody has their, and I’m talking about just within the band, everybody has their favorite songs. It’s really a push-and-pull thing because some guys like this song. But let me tell you, I love them all, but I have some ones that are just extreme favorites that are different from maybe Billy’s extreme favorites or Tom (Brislin)’s. So it’s good that we had Inside Out, make that choice and really try to grasp a concept of the history of the band and just going through all the songs through time, from the very first album to now. 8:41
On if he has one song he would want to pick to play live – My goodness, just now, 10 songs went through my mind. I love everything on Absence. Leftoverture, did that in its entirety. Point we did. I wouldn’t mind visiting “Lamplight Symphony” again, what a great tune. A great story, very dynamic music. The joke is it’s asking someone, which one is your favorite kid? I mean, that is the greatest parallel of all time, it’s like, “Hey, Ron, What’s your favorite Kansas Song?” “So I’m not a “”Wayward Son”? Yeah. But there are 20 more on the same level”. It’s hard, it’s 9:52
On if he was surprised by any song on the compilation – I’m sitting here and I’m looking at the CD, just thinking, You talk about how did they pick the songs, and the one that stands out to me, again, I mean, the stuff of Absence, I really love because it’s classic Kansas sound with a new energy. With a new life. So that really stands out for me on the album, not that I’m the one singing it, but it really shows the progression of the band, and as you listen to the music and the different band members over the course of time, and how the music has changed accordingly. 11:45
On the Absence of Presence record – It’s so great to play “Throwing Mountains” like we have for quite a while now, and just to see the anticipation in the faces of the audience when we’re playing that song, as much as when we play “Fire with Fire” or “Miracles out of Nowhere” there’s an excitement. You could feel the excitement, and it only goes to show that there are so many hardcore Kansas fans that have followed the band forever. It’s pretty flattering. 13:09
On if there is a period in Kansas’ history that is most in his vocal wheelhouse – Well, I have to say it’s the Leftoverture/Point of Know Return, coming back back to back. 76-77 was the release of those. Of course, back then, “Wayward Son” was on the radio, you couldn’t escape it on the radio, and it was really about the time when I was really getting into bands, a very young teenager at that point, and discovering what I was able to do vocally. I was able to sing the Kansas stuff. It came to me kinda easy, and I gravitated towards that, and that was like the two big albums. Then getting so familiar with those and falling in love with not only Kansas but progressive music, but with Kansas going back and buying the earlier albums and that made an impact, and of course, Steve being a vocal idol of mine. But then to have the band go through the transition when John (Elefante) was singing. John, what voice, again, in my vocal wheelhouse, and I’ve picked singers in my life that, or at least the singers that I like, I’m fortunate that it was kind of like my physical make-up to emulate these singers, and I’ve always said, i like AC/DC, but I sing that for 10 minutes and my voice has gone for the week. My body isn’t made for that, so it really is that that Leftoverture/Point of Know Return that really was like a catalyst for me that really making me fall in love with programs of music, which I’ve always been, of course, a huge Kansas. Yes, Genesis, Rush, I’m a prog rocker. Outside of that, What singer doesn’t appreciate Steve Perry. But it really is that time period of Leftoverture/Point of Know Return that stands out for me. 14:42
On the possibility of former members showing up on the tour – I think that’s always a possibility, Not to say that he is, but whenever we play around Kansas or Topeka, Kerry (Livgren) still lives there and Kerry’s usually around when we play there and what a treat that is. Robbie (Steinhardt) joined as on stage when he was still with us, joined us on stage quite a few times. I know Dave Hope is down in Florida. He hasn’t joined us on stage, but I’ll come and hang out with us as a couple of times. So it’s cool that everyone is still in the Kansas family. Is that in the book? Is that planned that anyone’s gonna join us? No, no, I think that’s a spur of the moment thing I Kerry is sitting in his farmhouse, “Hey, Kansas is playing, I think I’ll play some guitar”. 17:36
On if Kansas should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – Don’t get me started, and nothing to do with me, or even this version of the band. When I was a teenager, and going to Greg George’s music store and Elmerst, Illinois and all that, the guitar teachers had their little room, It was on every guitar teacher’s curriculum to learn “Dust in the Wind”. Because it taught you finger picking, it taught you how to coordinate your hands, where have you not heard that song? The radio, the dentist office, the grocery store. Everywhere you’ve heard “Dust in the Wind”, “Wayward Son”, in many markets, I’ve been told “”Wayward Son” is only number two to “Stairway to Heaven”. Talk about a band that has inspired musicians. Anyone could come up and learn three chords on a guitar pretty quick. When you start getting into a Kansas level of musicianship, it really is head and shoulders above a lot of music, and that inspires a lot of musicians. Isn’t that how a lot of people get into the Rock Hall Hall of Fame? Neal Peart talks about his acceptance speech, he quoted Bob Dylan about inspiring and inspiration, and that’s really what music does. Isn’t Kansas right up there? In my eyes, it is, just the musicianship. Garth Brooks attributes Kansas, partially at least, to getting him involved in the music business. What else do you have to do, stand on your head and light off flares? It’s tough. Not taking away anything from who’s in the Hall of Fame, but there’s just been times when I’ve seen who’s being inducted, and I’m like, “And Kansas isn’t?” Okay, in kinda loses its validity a little bit with me. 19:08
On new music – If it’s one thing I learned about this band, you never know what’s on the horizon. Funny story, when I first met with Phil and Rich, and in that first meeting in Atlanta, the day before I got the job, Phil says to me, “Yeah. We’re probably gonna do between 45 and 60 shows a year’, and I’m like, “Okay, that’s great, I can handle that”. My first full year of Kansas, 2015, we did 98 shows, and then we recorded The Prelude Implicit, went right on the road and did 99 shows the next year. So then to do a new studio album was something I never expected to do a second one, to do two live albums, four albums we’ve put out to since I’ve been in the band, so there is no telling what is gonna come up for Kansas, the ball just keeps rolling. 22:03
