By Mark Kadzielawa

Native Window is a side project. It is a new band made up of rock veterans. All of them happen to come from a similar background and the same band. This is the instrumental part of the engine known as Kansas. Namely it’s Phil Ehart on drums, David Ragsdale on violin, Richard Williams on guitar, and Billy Greer on bass and vocals.
The band just released their self-titled debut album. The record is truly a testament to how talented these players are, and a revelation in the vocal department. Billy Greer, who plays bass, and is a second voice in Kansas, truly shines here. It is almost unbelievable how distinct the vocals sound. The music itself is filled with melodic hooks, and sing-along choruses. It is difficult to put this album down, and the more you listen to it, the more you realize how individual this band sounds. At first the Kansas comparisons are fair, but with each listen the Kansas shadow simply fades away.
Native Window has an incredible potential not only as side project, but as a band that can live and breathe on its own. The quality of the players in this band has been known for years, there is no surprise here. It’s the quality of the songwriting that elevates Native Window beyond the norm. The bar is set very high, but the potential presented here will only leave you wondering what else is there to come. Native Window is by far the most accessible satellite project that came out of the Kansas camp, and there were many fine ones.
The ever-patient drummer, Phil Ehart, shares his thoughts and impressions on making this project from the scratch. Ehart goes on to explain the logistics behind Native Window, and all the other little facts that make this band so successful.

The original idea of Native Window, how far does that go back?
Phil Ehart: Well, it’s a good question. It probably goes back a couple of years ago. We would be sitting back stage, as Kansas, and listening to the opening band playing. We would often say they just aren’t very good, are they? We would joke around that we got to form our own opening band, and go out under another name. We would play, change our clothes, and then come out as Kansas. Also, we would wear mustaches and hats, so nobody would recognize us. We were just joking, and it was a kind of thing that was not serious. All of a sudden we thought what if this was not a joke, what if we really did it. What if the four of us formed a band, and came out with some new material. What would it sound like? So we did. It was also because there was no new material coming out of the writers for Kansas. It’s been years since there was anything new, so we thought what do we got to loose. If it doesn’t work, we’ll just stop and not do it. But as soon we got in the studio and started playing, we thought, this is pretty cool. It’s not Kansas, and it’s not supposed to be, but it’s a whole different entity. So, we’re pretty happy with it.
How much time passed since the idea was passed around until the completion of the project?
I think probably about a year and a half for recording, and two years since the inception of the idea. We were trying to figure it out as to how we were going to do it, getting the material together, and all that. I mean it wasn’t the solid two years. We’d be touring with Kansas then we come off the road, and go to the studio, then go back on the road again. I think we recorded in about two to three months.
I think the fact that you knew all the players very well going into the project was a big plus. There were no personality clashes, or any adjustment periods.
That’s a stud observation on your part. That’s something we took for granted. We had made many records with four of us involved. We knew we could just go in and work on it at ease. We did have the experience.
The majority of Kansas material was mostly done by two writers who are not featured in Native Window, what was it like to undertake the task of writing the material?
It was pretty scary. I mean we all had been involved in writing songs, it’s not like we never done it before. We’ve written a lot of parts, been involved in the arrangements, and production. We knew how the process worked. We were involved in lyric writing as well as coming up with song titles, album designs, and stage productions. We knew the drill, but this wasn’t Kansas, and that was the challenge. If we gonna take off the Kansas suit, and put on a Native Window suit, what does that suit look like? Are we gonna be embarrassed or what? So, we actually had a couple of outside songs first. The opening track on the album is called Money. That was a track I had heard a number of years before. I said look the band who wrote this song no longer exists, they broke up, let’s take this song in the studio, and let’s bang it around. We wanted to know what it would sound like, so we did, and it sounded great. We thought it was pretty cool. So then we started to write our own songs. We collaborated with other writers on some songs. It was really fun. We just had a blast. There were no pre-conceived notions. Nothing had to be lofty or moody, or deep. Everything was what we wanted it to be. It was an adjustment. I was definitely like putting on different pair of shoes.
Steve Rawls seems to popping on many songwriting credits, can you introduce the man?
Steve Rawls is the producer of the album. He was kind of like a fifth member. He co-owns Real 2 Reel Studios where we recorded. We had worked with Steve on some Kansas stuff before, so he was a friend. We just asked him to join us and produce the record which he did. If you look at the inside of the record there is a picture of all of us sitting in a circle. The guy with the bold head is Steve, and that’s how we actually worked out the songs. If the song sounded good on acoustic guitars then we brought out the electric equipment, and took it from there. The album was actually meant to be a little bit more acoustic, but by about third or fourth song it started taking the turn to be more electric. It has a little bit of both. That’s who Steve is.
The biggest surprise of the record is of course Billy Greer, and his outstanding vocals.
Billy always had a great voice. He always sang in Steve’s shadow in Kansas. When Robbie (Steinhart) was in the band, he was actually the third vocalist. He’s always had a great voice, and we knew if we were gonna do this we wanted him to sing. The rest of us did all the background vocals, which is something we had never done before. We had sang backgrounds on records before, but it was very basic ooos and ahhhs. We really had to step up. We were wondering what that’s gonna sound like? We felt it turned out very well. With Billy singing the lead, and us singing the background, it really gave it a whole non-Kansas sound. When you listen to this, and say this is not Kansas, that’s probably the biggest complement you can give us. We strived very hard to not be Kansas. We already had that we wanted to create something different.
In my review of the record, I called Billy the secret weapon of Native Window.
I call him the MVP, you know the most valuable player. He really did a good job. He sang in a lot of styles that he never sang before. There is a lot of lower register that he never sang before, and he just did a great job.
How did you go about having this album released?
We got three ways of getting it out there. Of course it’s been on I-Tunes for a month or so. We got it on CD which is distributed on MRI/ Sony/RED. We also have it available on vinyl which is sold through our website. So you can download it, buy a CD in a store, or order a special edition vinyl. It will be for sale at our shows, so it’s available pretty much any way you want to get it.
What would you say are some of your favorite cuts?
Well, the opening track, Money, is really cool. I really like the next cut which is called Still, and I really like Blood in The Water. I think it’s a great song. I kind of like them all, but Blood in The Water really jumps at me as does Still and Money. Those three really turned out right.
My personal favorite is The Way You Haunt Me.
Well, that’s a lot of people’s favorite. I think it would probably be in my top five too, easily. The record company just flipped out over this song, and we’ve had a lot of people really like it. On our first practice we just looked over our crew, and they go, what’s the name of that song? So, we told them, and they go we cannot get that songs out of our heads. A lot of people had mentioned that song, they really have.
How about the beginning of An Ocean Away sounds awfully like Macarena, what do you think?
(Laughter)Macarena…I like that.
You mean no one ever told you this yet?
I have not heard that comment, but I like that. I definitely mention this to the guys, I’m sure this will get their attention.
How are the Kansas’ writers feeling about you completing Native Window on your own?
I went and talked to Steve (Walsh) before we started doing it. I just said you need to know that we are going to do this side project, so you didn’t hear about it from somebody else. He said great, I’ve done solo projects before and I know they are difficult to pull off, and he wished us the best. Kerry (Livgren) left the band 25 years ago, that’s a quarter of a century. I mean we talk occasionally, but we’re not really plugged into each other musical lives. We’re friends more than anything else. I don’t really know what they think. If they like it fine, but if they don’t that’s fine too. It doesn’t really affect our lives that much.

What about the fans’ reactions? I’m sure the Kansas fans will be the first ones to embrace it, but I’m positive Native Window will spread beyond that fan base.
I do too. The Kansas fans are very different. There are some fans that like anything and everything that we do. There are fans the like some of the stuff that we do. And then there are the fans who only like the old stuff. They like the band that was back in the 70s. They wish that band would get back together and record another Leftoverture. Well, that isn’t gonna ever happen. We had some Kansas fans tell us how much they like it. And I‘ve had a couple Kansas fans tell me they didn’t like it, and that’s fine too. This would be true with any music fans. Some people are really gonna like this, and some aren’t gonna care for it. But I think you’re right, this will go beyond Kansas fans. There will be people who will just actually like Native Window.
The best thing about Native Window is that it can easily co-exist with Kansas.
I think it can. Kansas is our number one priority, and nobody is quitting the band or anything. This is a side project, and we hope it does well. Kansas is our main focus, but we had a lot of fun making this record. We just had an absolute blast. I think you can hear it in the tracks. You can definitely look at the album cover, and see the goofy picture of Richard (Williams) with fake teeth. That’s kind of the spirit of this record. It’s a lot more light-hearted. It’s a fun record.
The name Native Window is a very interesting choice.
It is, isn’t it? It is an interesting name. It was really hard to find a name for a band. I mean to find one that wasn’t taken. We had scores of them written down, but every time we put it in Google, it popped up there was a band on My Space by that name. It was really hard to find the name that hasn’t been taken. I actually got the name from Windows Vista program. In computer terms, it means where you start out. When you turn on your computer, the first window that you start out from is your native window. That’s where you begin. And I thought, native window that’s pretty cool. Some people had said the name reminds them of the eye which is the window to the soul. So on our album cover is a drawing of an eye. Everybody kid of has a different interpretation of what it means, and that’s pretty cool. Of course this is Native Window starting out since it is our first release. Everyone attaches their own meaning to it. But it’s really the first two words that came along that were not taken and everybody likes.
How do you plan to take this release out on the road?
Well, it’s just the four of us. We set up in front of Kansas. We have a different drum set, and we are wearing different clothes on stage than we wear with Kansas. When we come out, we’re totally different band. We play for 30 minutes, and the come off stage, dry off, change our clothes, and come out as Kansas.
So did you ever expect that little joke you were making to turn into reality?
Yeah. I’m kind of the eternal optimist here when it comes to this band. I think the talent that Kansas has is great. I didn’t think anyone would have any trouble doing anything if they really wanted to do it. I knew that we had 4/5th of Kansas. This is what I knew as I was going into this. I knew I had four great players. I knew I had a great voice with Billy Greer, and I knew we could probably come up with couple of songs to see what we sounded like. That’s when we sat back and said this is really cool. So, we decided to work on it, and see how far we can take it. And we took it all the way. It’s a pleasant surprise, but at the same time it’s not that big of a surprise. We were pretty much loaded with talent. We were able to pull it off. What surprises me is that it’s little bit more commercial than I thought it would be. It’s got a lot of sing along songs, big choruses and a lot of melody. Some songs like Surrender, that’s just a pop song really. The Way You Haunt Me is an extremely radio friendly song. We’ll see what happens.

Links:
http://www.nativewindow.com/
http://www.myspace.com/nativewindow