Dear Guitar Hero: Richard Williams Discusses Kansas' History, Versatility and Lasting Influence

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Richard Williams. He’s played on every Kansas album since with the group’s self-titled 1974 debut. But what Guitar World readers really want to know is…

Why do you think the Seventies produced so many iconic bands? — Rich Fazio

Kansas sold out Madison Square Garden when they played there [June 28, 1978]. What do you remember about that show? — Carmine D’urso

So he got out of the limo and told some guy to stop selling them, and the guy pointed a pistol at Jeff and told him to get out of his face. The third thing that comes to mind is we wanted to record our live album, Two for the Show, at the Garden. We had the mobile recording track with us at the venue that night, but the American Federation of Musicians wanted to charge us $50,000 to use it, so we told the union we weren’t paying that sum of money and recorded the album in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

Kansas’ level of musicianship is awesome, yet you’ve channeled that virtuosity into many catchy, memorable songs. What makes the band so versatile? — Mike Sabatino

One of the great things about music is that you can sit down and play by yourself, but it’s far more joyful to hear the organic sound of people of like thought playing together. That’s what music is all about. The members of Kansas had a common direction. We were friends who stuck together and created something magical.

When all the original members were in the band, Kansas could replicate its studio recordings with great clarity and precision onstage. How did you guys pull this off so effortlessly? — Vincent Macrino

It was the mindset at the time. Onstage, we’d play our most demanding songs from our albums and pull them off. We’d record the songs as if we were playing them live.

What was it like coming from Topeka to New York City to record Kansas’ first album at the Record Plant, where John Lennon and other famous artists also happened to be recording at the time? — Lauren Glaser

It was quite an experience. I didn’t get to see John Lennon—I would’ve shit myself had I did—because we were on the graveyard shift in Studio C while the big acts were recording in a different part of the building. The studio was near Times Square, which was not cleaned up like it is today. There were drug dealers, hookers and porn everywhere. It wasn’t safe walking those streets at night.

People would approach you and say, “Wanna buy some shit?” It was terrifying. As for our first album, it was recorded, mixed and completed in three weeks. I cowrote the opening track, “Can I Tell You,” which was the song that caught [manager/producer] Don Kirshner’s attention and landed us a record deal.

Kerry Livgren was Kansas’ primary songwriter during the band’s heyday. How much input did you have on his songs? — Pete Bedrosian

It varied. Some songs were written entirely by Kerry, while others were a group effort. He has the remarkable ability to compose songs in his head in an evening; then he’d present them to the band, tell us what to play, and we’d help him arrange the parts and offer our suggestions.

Kerry was influenced by classical music, and it shows in his writing. Besides being a superb guitarist and keyboardist, Kerry is a songwriting genius. I mean, here’s a guy who was able to turn a fingerpicking exercise, “Dust in the Wind,” into one of the most popular songs of all time! There is and never has been a song like that on the radio.

“Icarus (Borne on Wings of Steel)” is one of the heaviest yet most progressive songs I’ve ever heard. What inspired it? — Sid Rosenthal

The song revolves around the whole concept of flight. Kerry was very inspired by aviation. Both he and his father flew planes. The lyrics are about the story of Icarus, and musically the song has many shifts in dynamics. Whenever a band member would bring in a song, it would go through the Kansas “meat grinder,” in that we would just chew it to pieces. Each member of the band would challenge one another. Dave [Hope, bass], in particular, was brutal. He would say things like, “That middle section sucks! Crank it up! We need something with more backbone there.” “Icarus” goes over great live. The crowd goes wild when we play it.

Can you talk about the incident that led up to you losing your right eye one Fourth of July in your early teens when a homemade bomb blew up in your face? — Gary Deleo

It was the summer between seventh and eighth grade. It was hotter than hell, and I had already blown up all my fireworks. So I took money out of my coin collection and got on my bicycle and rode to the outskirts of town to buy more fireworks. Then I went down to my basement and dumped all the powder from the firecrackers into a glass medicine bottle with a porcelain top with the intention of making a bomb that would make more of a statement than simply blowing up a bunch of firecrackers.

But when I twisted the lid shut, the friction from the threading on the bottle sparked, and the whole thing exploded and ripped me to pieces, and my parents rushed me to the hospital. I wore a prosthetic eye for a while, but I got rid of it because it wasn’t very comfortable.

What inspired you to play guitar, and who are your musical influences? — Jerry Egan

Seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 inspired me to want to be in a band. I didn’t begin playing guitar then, but that’s when I wanted to start. The guitarists in the Yardbirds had a huge influence on me—Page, Clapton and Beck contributed greatly to the development of rock guitar. And John Mayall’s Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton was mind blowing. It was an album where guitar was not a background accompaniment; it hit you right in your face. That was “Guitar 101” to me.

Photo: Neil Zlozower/Atlas Icons