May 22 - 2007

Production Company MusicAndVideo.tv Releases Two New Songs From Steve Walsh MusicAndVideo.tv announces the release of two new songs from Kansas lead singer Steve Walsh. The tracks will be released as hi quality MP3s without DRM. Players include Joel Kosche from Collective Soul, David Ragsdale from Kansas and studio veteran drummer Joe Franco. Somers, NY (Billboard Publicity Wire) May 22, 2007 – Production company MusicAndVideo.tv today released two brand new songs from Kansas lead singer and keyboardist Steve Walsh. The two songs, Dark Day and Faule Dr Roane represent the latest creative output from the legendary Walsh and an all-star collection of players. Both tracks have been encoded to deliver the highest quality MP3 available and will also be available as a standard quality MP3. MusicAndVideo.tv elected to forego any Digital Rights Management (DRM) scheme and put their efforts into providing a very high quality product complete with artwork and liner notes that will be emailed to all purchasers of the two song bundle. “We wanted to make sure to provide Steve’s fans with the highest quality product possible and make available all of the ‘trimmings’ that we used to enjoy with LPs and CDs” notes Producer/Engineer Jim Roberts. “Combining one of the most recognizable voices in rock and roll with a fresh new sound, makes this an important edition to the Steve Walsh catalog.” says Executive Producer Larry Stock. Joel Kosche, lead guitarist for multi-platinum recording artist Collective Soul, played guitar and bass. Studio veteran and double bass drum technique pioneer, Joe Franco, handled the drumming and Kansas violinist David Ragsdale was tapped to add the violin parts. Premium quality MP3s of Dark Day and Faule Dr Roane with exclusive artwork are available for purchase via the company website, www.musicandvideo.tv. The songs will also be available worldwide via iTunes, Sony Connect, Napster and Rhapsody in July 2007. Walsh wrote Dark Day while watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina unfold on television. A portion of the profits from Dark Day will be donated to the Louisiana Association of Student Nurses. The healthcare infrastructure in the New Orleans has a significant shortage of nursing staff. Today’s student nurses are part of the team that will rebuild the infrastructure for the future. About MusicAndVideo.tv MusicAndVideo.tv is a New York-based production company that provides high quality music production services via their own recording facility and a group of experienced songwriters, producers and engineers.

Now available at Muse-Wrapped Records:

Steve`s new Solo-Album "Shadowman"

6/05
We-meaning Kansas, are returning from our trip to Europe right now. We stayed in some of the best places that one could stay in while we were there, and for the most part, the travel, which can be arduous, was smooth. I make a note of the travel, because we joke about being paid for the traveling we do, and the gigs, we do for free. Unfortunately, the tickets to see us aren't so cheap in Europe. It's just one of those unavoidable things. I had some rough spots on keyboards when we arrived in Berlin on June 6. My head was not in the game that night, but I recovered the next night when I found the "stupid switch" that was preventing me from controlling my synths. In Spain, one of them overheated, and Chad Singer on our crew, did an excellent job of negotiating the situation-bringing the keyboard back to life half way through one of the hottest indoor gigs I've ever played. The crowd applauded him, and that surprised me. The whole crew did their best to make all the gigs the best they could be. I found jogging a bit challenging due to the meandering streets and confusing signs. But I'm sure when people come to America, they encounter similar alienating circumstances. I was never sure where I would end up, since I would just take off from the hotel, and hope the street was long enough and straight enough for me to find my way back. Most of the clothes I packed were for the purpose of getting out of my room and enjoying the scenery. And I can't remember ever seeing the sun more often in Europe. I understand that it was unseasonably warm, and that's OK with me while I run. There were a couple of times when I was wishing I could turn the air conditioner in my hotel room on "stun", but as I said, for the most part our accomodations were very nice. However it does puzzle me why most of the showers only have half a door on them, allowing water to accumulate on the bathroom floors. There was a drain on the floor, but why they didn't skip the drain and put a whole door on the shower is really beyond me. My favorite gig was Milan, Italy. When we arrived, we were met by dozens of fans who had our cd's and albums and pictures to sign. They were all very polite, and I hope I signed everyone's. Absolutely no one asked me to sign a blank piece of white paper-which always bothers me. And some just wanted to shake my hand-which is my favorite. We were there with STYX, and the promoter wanted us to close the show. It didn't make sense to us, since we aren't set up to close-with any elaborate production, and STYX is, so we went on first. But very early on in our set, it was apparent to me that the people who were in the audience were there to see us as much as anyone else. I also met some people who already had my newest cd-Shadowman. That was cool. I can't say I'll ever be gone from my family for four weeks ever again. I know it's a curse to say "never", but if ever we come back to Europe, I will not be there a month. There are important things I do for my family, and I'm always afraid something won't get done unless I do it-like cleaning out our cat's litter box. The very last gig we played was in Greece. That was the nicest hotel of them all, and seeing the ruins was spectacular. But as I said earlier, we sometimes run into travel situations that are confounding, and trying to get from Athens to Paris to meet our Atlanta flight came to be impossible-thanks to OLYMPIC AIRLINES. I will NEVER travel on that airline again, and I suggest nothing less for anyone in the world. They're not the only airline that flies to Athens, so please choose one that cares about their reputation. But we're finally on our way back home now, and although yesterday was wasted in the airport in Greece, tonight I'll be sleeping in my own bed. That is, after I take a shower to scrub off the fowl stench of whoever it is sitting in back of me with a rotten egg crammed up their woops-a-daisy. I know that sounds like I'm jealous, but believe me, when I think about it, I've done some serious damage to the ozone layer myself back in my double cheeseburger days. I'm just all out of ammo at the moment. Anyway, thanks for coming to see us to anyone who came and is reading this. I'm sitting here trying to pass the 10 hour flight back, and thought I'd jot down a couple of notes. steve

Steve Walsh "Shadowman"
is preparing for its release on July 5, 2005

Steve's new solo album "Shadowman" is currently prepraring for its release. The title-track is now available on Muse- Wrapped Records at:

http://downloads.muse-wrapped.com/Album.aspx?id=716

Check out www.kansasband.com for your pre-order.

The Art of Unhappiness by James Poniewozik
Many things make people think artists are wierd-the odd hours, the nonconformity, the clove cigarettes. But the wierdest may be this: artists' only job is to explore emotions, and yet they choose to focus on the ones that feel lousy. Art today can give you anomie, no problem. Bittersweetness? You got it. Tristesse? what size you want that in? But great art, as defined by those in the great-art-defining business is almost never about simple, unironic happiness. This wasn't always so. The earliest forms of art, like painting and music, are those best suited for expressing joy. But somewhere in the 19th century, more artists began seeing happiness as insipid, phony, or worst of all, boring-in Tolstoy's words, "All happy families are alike." We went from Wordsworth's daffodils to Baudelaire's flowers of evil. In the 20th century, classical music became more atonal, visual art more unsettling. Artists who focused on making their audiences feel good, from Usher to Thomas Kinkade, were labeled "pop." Sure, there have been exceptions (say, Matisse's The Dance), but it would not be a stretch to say that for the past century or so, serious art has been at war with happiness. In 1824, Beethoven completed the "Ode to Joy." In 1962, novelist Anthony Burgess used it in A Clockwork Orange as the favorite piece of his ultraviolent antihero. If someone titles an art movie Happiness, it's a good bet that it will be-as the 1998 Todd Sollondz film was-about deeply unhappy people, including a telephone pervert and a pedophile. You could argue that art became more skeptical of happiness because modern times have seen such misery. But it's not as if earlier times didn't know perpetual war, disaster and the massacre of innocents. The reason, in fact, may be just the opposite: there's too much damn happiness in the world today. After all, what is the one modern form of expression almost completely dedicated to depicting happiness? ADVERTISING. The rise of anti-happy art almost exactly tracks the emergence of mass media, and with it, a commercial culture in which happiness is not just an ideal but an ideology. People in earlier eras were surrounded by reminders of misery. They worked gruelingly, lived with few protections and died young. In the West, before mass communication and literacy, the most powerful mass medium was the church, which reminded worshippers that their souls were in peril and that they would someday be meat for worms. On top of all this, they did not exactly need their art to be a bummer too. Today, the messages your average Westerner is bombarded with are not religious but commercial, and relentlessly happy. Fast food eaters, news anchors, text messengers, all smiling smiling, smiling, except for that guy who keeps losing loans to Ditech. Our magazines feature beaming celebrities and happy families in perfect homes. (Tolstoy clearly never edited a shelter mag.) And since these messages have an agenda-to pry our wallets from our pockets-they make the very idea of happiness seem bogus. "Celebrate!" commanded the ads for the arthritis drug Celebrex, before we found out it could increase the risk of heart attacks. It gets exhausting, this constant goad to joy. If you're not smiling-after we made all those wonderful pills and cell-phone plans!-what's wrong with you? Not to smile is unAmerican. You can pick out the Americans in a crowd of tourists by their reflexive grins. The U.S. enshrined in its founding document the right to the pursuit of happiness. So we pursued it and-at least as commerce defines it-we caught it. Now, like the dog that chased and finally caught the car, we don't know what the hell to do with it. We feel vaguely dissatisfied though we have what we should want, vaguely guilty for wanting it, vaguely angry because it didn't come as advertised. People tsk-tsked over last month's study in which women reported being happier having sex or watching TV than playing with their kids. But why shouldn't they? This is how the market defines happiness. Happiness is feeling good. Kids, those who exist outside ads, make you feel bad-exhausted, frustrated, bored and poor. Then they move away and break your heart. What we forget-what our economy depends on us forgetting-is that happiness is more than pleasure sans pain. The things that bring the greates joy carry the greatest potential for loss and disappointment. Today, surrounded by promises of easy happiness, we need someone to tell us that it is O.K. not to be happy, that sadness makes happiness deeper. As the wine-connoisseur movie Sideways tells us, it is the kiss of decay and mortality that makes grape juice into Pinot Noir. We need art to tell us, as religion once did, Memento mori : remember that you will die, that everything ends, and that happiness comes not in denying this but in living with it. It's a message even more bitter than clove cigarettes, yet, somehow, a breath of fresh air. Steve

Steve will come up with a new release in the middle of 2005. The details will be available on this site in a couple of month!

Steve and Kansas will play Europe and Germany in June 2005. Please pick up the exact tour-dates on www.kansasband.com

12/04
I highly recommend The Polar Express in 3D at IMAX theatres. It's been a long time since I saw a 3D movie, and the medium has come a long way. Granted, being attached to Robert Zemekis, Steven Speilberg and Tom Hanks doesn't hurt either. It was my daughter's 3rd time seeing the movie in the last month, but she certainly gleened a lot of new feelings watching the 3D version. Seriously, the snow flakes appeared as if they were falling right into our laps. The faces still haven't gone the distance in this new form of animation, but it didn't distract me. The effect was more like a great book that had come to life. I don't even know if they meant the people in the movie to appear real. I think the last movie I saw in 3D was Andy Warhol's Frankenstein. I saw it with Rich who only has one eye. When I flinched because of movie blood apparently squirting in my face, or a bat which looked as if it was flying right towards my head, I would glance at Rich, and he just shrugged his shoulders(like "yeah,whatever"). I guess he wouldn't appreciate the 3D in Polar Express either, but all of you out there with 2 eyes should see it even if you don't have kids. I quit doing interviews earlier this year because there were no more answers I thought were pertinent. The more I talked the less I said. I mean, I'm not an interesting person, in person even when I'm tryin to be. I'm not gonna compete with those who in my opinion have subverted rock music. Too much shuck and jive. I love music, and am presently working with Joel Kosche(guitarist for Collective Soul), and Joe Franco(a great drummer from New York), as well as Shawn Grove and Matt Still who are mixing my tracks. Shawn just did Collective Soul's new cd, and Matt just did Elton John's. Working with talented people like that is fantastic. But the whole "what's your favorite color" type of interviews for me have come to an end. There are just too many of them one could do, and not enough pertinent questions that call for thoughtful answers. Don't get me wrong. Nobody at Time magazine is knocking on my door either. I've quit entertaining my delusions of grandeur, and am thankful for my friend Trent Gardner giving me this set of songs to do. I was flying to a gig last week when I opened the SkyMall magazine. It's really thick this time of year. But in it I saw something I had to have. It was one of those revolving color wheels meant to light up chrome Xmas trees. It changes primary colors as it goes around a lightbulb, and the tree-theoretically is suppose to glow in a new color about every 15 seconds. As a child in the 50's, I remember going over to my friend Rodney's house on Xmas eve to exchange gifts. We're about the same age and have remained close thru the years. Rodney's parents had one of those chrome trees with the color wheel, and I just thought it was fantastic. I'd sit there and just stare at it. My family always had a tree, but never a chrome one. It remains one of my most vivid memories. So I bought this SkyMall color wheel, and my in-laws gave us a chrome tree. Man, I couldn't wait to set it up. It was gonna be my childhood revisited. It was gonna be just as cool as it ever was. I waited for this color wheel to arrive the way the kid in A Christmas Story waits by the mailbox for his little orphan Annie secret decoder ring. And it arrived last night. And I set that stuff up in a big hurry. And you know what. It didn't look a thing like I remember. It was depressing and cold. Works great and all, but I came to realize at that moment that childhood is meant for children and mine was surely gone. No child will ever realize how special that time is until they're adults trying to recapture a little bit of it. But I caught a glimpse of a note on the table my daughter had written to Santa with all the typical misspellings of a 5 year old just learning how to sound out words. I had to laugh a little, and when I glanced up, the glow was somewhat restored to the chrome tree sitting alone in a corner of the room. I walked over to it and somehow, it didn't look so bad after all. Hey, maybe my daughter will like it. Merry Xmas. Steve

9/11
It's a sad day here and everywhere in America. Certain times in life we remember where we were when an event took place, and we strain to think of how it was when we first encountered the rush of emotion contained in a moment. As I watch the news, it's hard to put the context together-the mourning of tragedy, and the continuing conflict in a land we barely recognized not long ago. It seems so trivial to celebrate anything. I feel sorry for kids whose birthday falls on this day. They surely will be confused and kids have enough to be confused about in this world without this disruption to their innocence. The sun is shining here, as it was on that morning. But somewhere a parent is crying. There's no answer to their grief. There is only fond memory. I wish it was raining. Steve

Matteo Filippini's Moonstone Project
Originally the Moonstone project started in 1996 only as a musical divertissement. Matteo started to work on some songs in 1997 and next year released "Waves Of Mind", his first demotape. The work (completely home recorded...not so well to be honest!) was a mixture of his musical influences: from the Rainbow oriented hard rocker "The Stranger" to the 70s prog rock on "Lilith" or "Touching The Sky" to the acoustic/folk atmospheres on "Butterfly" or "The Dance Of Woods"...As a bonus the cd will feature guest appearances of a bunch of true Rock Legends: Ian "Groove Machine"Paice (Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Gary Moore, Paul Mc Cartney....) , Steve Walsh (Kansas), Glenn "The Voice Of Rock" Hughes (Trapeze, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, HTP..), Graham Bonnet (Rainbow, Impellitteri, Alcatrazz, Michael Shenker Group), James Christian (House Of Lords) and Tony Franklin (Firm, Whitesnake, Blue Murder & a million others!). Steve will sing on "The City Of Light", a powerful mid-tempo written by Matteo Filippini & Chris Catena!

Book Report
I'm sitting here in coach seated right in front of a kid sleeping with his earphones on and in back of a couple of weighty 50 somethings who both have their chairbacks in such a position as to cause my computer to be somewhere in the neighborhood of my Adam's Apple, and my knees tucked just below my chin. My ass hurts. This is my world. We have traveled to a gig in Ohio(which besides being in the boonies, was really great), and then on to Denver to play in a pavillion(a big expensive tent). Strangely enough, it's the same pavillion that we played in Boston with YES. Denver got in on a "tent" sale I guess. We visited backstage with Larry Baird who was our symphony director on ALWAYS NEVER THE SAME. He indicated that a great bit of his work has tapered off since the NY tragedy. Said he'd been working a lot with 3 DOG NIGHT and that he enjoyed it. I pointed out however that it was really just 2 DOG NIGHT now that Chuck Negron is gone, thinking I was being clever..Larry half-smiled and looked at the ceiling for a moment, and drolly said in an overly measured amount of restrain, how everybody seems to say that a lot. I shut up. Earlier that afternoon, I went running as I have done a lot lately to maintain some sort of control over what little I am able to control nowadays, and afterwards in my room, decided to eat something, when all of a sudden the right side of my face started itching from the inside-like I had inhaled some sort of invisible pepper. Sneezing, blowing, the works. Nothing helped except leaving the hotel room. The symptoms subsided on the way to the gig, and it made me wonder what kind of "essence" I was being penetrated by in room 309. Once we got onstage, I was releived to be able to remember all the words to what I was surely convinced I would forget. I've been in that situation before-the kind of panic before a gig when you can't seem to remember what it is you've done for a living for the past 30 years. It's very scarry not to be able to put the second line of a song with the first-or worse yet, not remember the first one. So you mumble and bumble your way through it thinking you're fooling everybody with your new take on familiar turf, but return to reality when you glance across the stage at the rest of the band, and they're all staring at you like "what the hell's wrong with you now...I thought you QUIT doing drugs!!!" That's when the old familiar flopsweat starts seeping down from your pits all the way to your socks, and your knees start buckling a little and you discover that you're really tired all of a sudden-and all you want to do-all you HAVE to do, is remember that next line before your jig is up. As Seinfeld says "IT WAS A BAD JIG TO BEGIN WITH!!" Right now I'm wondering what's in these airplane seats to make my ass hurt so bad. Turns out I'm wrong about those seatbacks being prostrate. It's just the size of the space that they expect a person like myself to have to live in for the trip. As the guy squawks the gate numbers over the intercom of connecting flights I'm wondering why the Atlanta A concourse is always "ALPHA", B is BRAVO, C is CHARLIE, D is DELTA, E is-come to think of it I forget what E is, and T is TANGO.. I could think of a lot more interesting words to associate the A B C D E and T concourses with, than the words the flight attendants use. We get to watch Frasier in flight and I remember how Kelsey Grammar came to our gig once in Las Vegas. He seemed nice enough, but was surrounded by this bevy of bimbos who did all the talking. Later that night as he was driving back to LA in his Dodge Viper, he totaled it and was found to have coke in his system. I'll bet the "bims" had twice what he had. Read a book that is fascinating. It's called "LULLABY" and was written by Chuck Palahniuk. For anyone who doesn't know who that is, he wrote "FIGHT CLUB" which was later made into a movie."LULLABY is just as fantastic as "FIGHT CLUB", and I won't say anything more about it except that when I read it it was like I was watching a movie. When a book is that visual, it's impossible for me to put it down. I read his last book, "CHOKE" twice in a row. And I'm going to read it again as soon as I read "LULLABY" again. I'm not in the practice of reading a lot, but when I read something again, I begin to pick out certain nuances that I inadvertantly pass over the first time. Like when you listen to a song again, and notice how it is that the drums sound different on the chorus than in the verse-that kind of nuance. Traveling to LA on the 5th of OCT to attend the premiere of our DVD at the AES show on the 6th at the TC Electronic booth. It hits the stands on the 8th. I hope Compendia does a number advertising this effort. I feel they're excited about it, but we'll see. Steve

Explorers Club - "Raising The Mammoth"

The Explorers Club on this Expedition is: Drums: Terry Bozzio Bass: John Myung Guitar: Kerry Livgren Guitar: Marty Friedman Guitar: Gary Wehrkamp Keyboards: Trent Gardner Keyboards: Mark Robertson Vocals: Steve Walsh Vocals: James LaBrie Additional Guitar: Jeff Curtis Additional Bass: Hal 'Stringfellow' Imbrie Produced By Trent Gardner Mixed By Terry Brown "The idea of the Explorers Club project is to have a different concept each time," explains Gardner, "a way for me to write for other musicians and to kind of go outside the bounds of the stuff I do with Magellan. I don't really anticipate any Explorers Club projects to be similar to each other. Raising The Mammoth is so much different from Age Of Impact in terms of some of the emphases with more ensemble stuff and more keyboard solos. There are definitely longer stretches of music. It's really a format for me to have carte blanche on whatever I want to do. And I see the personnel evolving each time as the music requires." Offering a bit of commentary on the shade and hue of the tracks themselves, Trent opines that "without sounding too cliché, the first one 'Passage To Paralysis' is the heavier, more epic-sounding one. 'Broad Decay', to me is more of a Pink Floyd-ish and simple, straight-ahead thing to feature Steve. It's almost like a progressive rock ballad but it's got a little bit of r+b too. With 'Vertebrates', I was looking for something that was more organic, something that maybe evoked a bit of old Genesis, but was pretty simple and definitely more acoustic-sounding, with an instrumental contrast where you had a big chunk where it was just vocals and simpler instrumentation. This stuff will wear on you after awhile if it's just blaring all the time. I wanted to have some way to have the album breathe a little bit. And the last piece 'Gigantipithicus', which is the longer one, 20+ minutes, that one is just your typical progressive rock band not knowing when to stop (laughs)." Indeed, as befits the mild warnings from Gardner, each track really is synergistic to the whole, none sounding hurried, but each sounding a little uneasy, eccentric, isolated, alone, part of a prog reality that existed perhaps within the oeuvre of bands from other countries (France, Italy, not the music, just the emotional effect), or on obscure British rarities. Certainly one feels the impending and inviting doom of a Van Der Graaf Generator, a real sense of impassioned thespian mission and vision, especially within the slight but sustaining shiver of 'Broad Decay'. You don't hear pathos delivered through such benign toolings too often anymore. It doesn't kill you with a beating. It applies an intravenous overdose while smiling and disseminating bits of small talk. Steve Walsh is a big part of that song's formula, as well as opener 'passage To Paralysis'. "Steve put in a lot of work on these and really took it very seriously which was greatly appreciated," muses Gardner. "He added some interesting things. On 'Broad Decay', I thought he did a great job there, pulling everything he could out of those lyrics. There are also some technical things he added which were great, just little studio tricks, cross-fades and little embellishments you can do. He's got a great guy he works with, David Manion, who helped engineer his vocal parts. And actually without David, it would have been hard to get Steve's performance represented, because he did a lot of tracking and a lot of layering, that sort of thing." "The second I heard where these songs were going, I knew that Steve was the guy for the first two tunes," continues Trent. "I just knew they worked. I knew he had the vocal chops to do this stuff. And having worked with him on his solo album, I knew how easy he was to work and what he could pull off. Steve is a very open-minded guy. It's just amazing. I would send him a guide vocal part where I'm singing all these things and he's so open to hearing that. But at the same time he'll put the Steve Walsh signature on it, adding those little things that only he does. He's so professional! He's really just no concern. I have no problems with him at all." And in the musical department, Trent and his Club found a new way to bridge physical distances and get everything just right. "On this one we did an extra layer, actually charting it out. We hired someone to transcribe good huge chunks of this thing so that the musicians could see what I had in mind specifically. And that really helped the project long. It's something I never really have done on a regular basis and definitely not to this extent; having a transcription of the music. It really helped speed up the recording process." Working with monster (mammoth) drum legend Terry Bozzio was, as usual, a snap, both Trent and Terry being consummate professionals. But as we've perhaps only subtly revealed, this is more of a keyboard album. As a result, it's no surprise that two of Trent's favourite moments on the album are keyboard-oriented. "One of my favourite deals is actually the beginning of the album where it's almost classical but super dissonant; I think that comes from the ELP thing. It reminds me of something off of Brain Salad Surgery; or Magellan on acid, I don't know (laughs). It's just, 'What the hell is he thinking!?' (laughs). I just decided to go as far outside the pale as possible and just not worry about the length of the tunes or anything like that; just let go; no boundaries. So that was one of my favourite keyboard moments. The other keyboard moment I like is at the end of 'Vertebrates', where the drums come back in. That keyboard solo there was actually Mark Robertson, and gosh, it's great because every few measures he changes keyboard sounds and it builds there really nicely. He steps through what must be eight or nine keyboard patches. It's just killer. He switches from violin to piano to different electronic-type patches but it's done in a logical way." And where can we hear ex-Megadeth fret-burner Marty Friedman? "He's all over the thing. For example, pretty much all the guitar leads, that's Marty. But actually, the stuff that is a little more Queen-like, some of that is Gary Wehrkamp from Shadow Gallery. But Gary's focus on the album was rhythm guitar parts. But occasionally he'll add a three or four-part guitar harmony or something to fill up the guitar end of things. He did a great job of doing that. I think it complemented Marty well. Marty likes to play a lot of his leads in harmony and he does the really fast deals. I'm not sure how he does it, but he does it in harmony, which is great. But Gary's contribution was definitely vital. Kerry Livgren's main contribution is on 'Broad Decay'; you'll hear these little tasteful guitar fills that happen there on that piece. And on 'Vertebrates' you'll hear a little bit of acoustic work that he did. He added some subtlety to it that was definitely needed." Vision, firepower, an appreciation and deep knowledge of art rock history... these are the ingredients that have made Explorers Club - and indeed all of Trent Gardner's diverse, elegantly constructed records - such deep listening experiences for the discerning, thinking man's rock fan. Assembling an army of musicians such as those documented above to carry out the Explorers Club material is the back half of what makes a project like Raising The Mammoth such an immense success. Now it's out of his hands and into yours, Trent sending us off with this last sage-like bit of advice to his fans and prospective fans: "Buy multiple copies of this thing. But then again, I always say that (laughs)."
For release in August 2002.

From MagnaCarta.

In addition to finishing up the ambitious "Leonardo" project and the fourth Magellan album, Trent Gardner is working on material for a new Explorers Club project. Special guests include drummer Terry Bozzio, Dream Theater bassist John Myung, Kerry Livgren (Kansas), Gary Wehrkamp (Shadow Gallery), Mark Robertson (Cairo), Marty Friedman (Megadeath), Steve Walsh (Kansas) and James LaBrie (Dream Theater) Terry Brown will be mixing the album. Dave McKean has designed an incredible package for this 2nd Explorers Club release. For release in early 2002.

"10 Questions - 10 Answers"
A short Interview with Steve

Why did you choose the word "Glossolalia" for the title of your latest solo project?

Glossolalia means "speaking in tongues" and I thought it was appropriate after taking into consideration the many subjects my cd speaks to.

"Glossolalia" got excellent reviews. Are you still satisfied with your work on it?

The work I did on Glossolalia will never be finished in my head. After a while you must release it to satisfy contractual agreements, but as it is with the songs we play in Kansas, they are truly never etched in stone. If they were to be, they would become dated and lose their interpretation.

Can we hope for another solo-project from Steve Walsh?

I am always writing, and someday hope to release another collection.

Together with Kansas, you returned for a tour in Germany this spring after 7 years. What were your impressions of this tour and about your fans in Germany?

People who came to see us in Germany were very intensely interested in us and that I took as a compliment. The venues were very interesting to play, and the promoters were very accomodating. As always the gigs were the focal point of our trip to Germany. Finding the light switch in hotel rooms was not usually simple, but the people in Germany were helpful to us.

With the exception of the fact that the Germans are driving very fast on very small highways, which moment of your recent tour remains with you the most?

It was also the first time I heard of a group called "RAMMSTEIN" which I now consider one of my favorites.


Do you think that there are categorical differences about touring in the U.S., in Germany or in Japan?

The cultures of Germany and Japan are of course, vastly different, but in the end, people are people, and those who came to see us shared a common bond.

Is there a chance for coming back to Germany in 2002?

I hope we come back to Germany very soon.


Since the release of this website in December 2000, many, many fans have sent a message to you via the section "Heart Attack." The people love you and your music. Would you like to say some words to them?

I wish all of the people in Germany a lot of good will, and hope we don't take so long coming back to play.

Are you satisfied with this Steve Walsh Fanpage?;-)

The fanpage is flattering, and I thank you, Ferdi.. (I thank you too, Steve:-))

Are there any plans to create and to release an official Steve Walsh Page?

As far as I'm concerned, this is my official web page.

Kansas song on Christmas Album

Kansas have contributed an original track - "The Light" to The December People - "Sounds Like Christmas" album. Check out Steve Walsh's vocal contributions to "We Three Kings" and "Angels We Have Heard On High/Christmas Lullaby"; as well. The December People rearrange familiar carols, showing us how they may sound if performed by the likes of Kansas, Genesis, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Yes among others. Also features Kerry's nephew, Jake Livgren on vocals for the Kansasesque 'Up On The Housetop/Deck The Halls'. Kansas' touring line-up consists of drummer Phil Ehart, singer Steve Walsh, violinist Robby Steinhardt, guitarist Rich Williams, and bassist Billy Greer. In a reply to a question concerning whether Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope will tour with the band, Ehart said, "Though they play on 'Somewhere to Elsewhere,' Kerry and Dave will not be touring with the band. But there's always a chance that these guys might drop by, just like Kerry did in Kansas City recently." Look for updates on Kansas tourdates on the Kansas website.
For release October 23 2001.

The songs: 
The Kid Could Play 
Only the Brave 
Missy 
Surrender 
When Love Is Dying 
No Man's Land 
Every Time It Rains 
Home 
Forsaken 
Prisoner of Love 
Broken Home 

The players:
   Richard Williams – Guitar on "Missy",
"Every Time It Rains" & "No Man's Land" 
                     Steve Morse – Guitar on "Every Time It Rains" & "No Man's Land" 
                     Phil Ehart – Drums on "Every Time It Rains" & "No Man's Land" 
                    Steve Walsh – Keys on "Every Time It Rains" & "No Man's Land" 
                     David Manion – Keys on all remaining tracks 
                     Chet Wynd – Drums on all remaining tracks 
                     Igor Len – Keys on "Broken Home" 
                     Terry Brock – Backing vocals 
                     Mike Slamer – Acoustic and Electric Guitars 
                     Billy Greer – Bass, Acoustic Guitar and Lead Vocals 
                     Produced, engineered and mixed by Mike Slamer

Another Trent Gardner project which will include quite a few guest appearances by the rest of the Magna Carta staple of artists with special guest vocalists. This is a musical piece based on the life and times of Leonardo DaVinci. James LaBrie (Dream Theater, Mullmuzzler) will be singing the role of Leonardo. Featuring the Instrumental talents of (so far) Jeremy Colson & Steve & Pat Reyes (of Dali's Dilemma), Josh Pincus (Ice Age), Chris Shryack (Under The Sun - vocals), Steve Walsh (Kansas - vocals). With many more to be added.  Artwork has been designed by Dave McKean. For release July 2001.