From: borella@cs.ucdavis.edu (Mike Borella)
Newsgroups: alt.music.progressive
Subject: Kurt Rongey Interview (long)
Date: 16 Nov 1992 13:22:55 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


I set up a phone interview with Kurt Rongey, an up and coming virtuouso
keyboardist from the mid-western US.  I had intended a structured sort
of interview, but we ended up just BSing for an hour and a half.  I caught
half an hour on tape and it does make a reasonable interview and a somewhat
interesting discussion.  Kurt is not only a progressive rock musician, but
also a fan who has a lot of ideas about where the progressive genre is
heading.

Background.  Kurt Rongey is 25 and released "Book in Hand" last year - an
excellent debut album.  He plays keyboards, drums, and sings lead vocals.
"Book in Hand" was a one-man band sort of project and displays his 
compositional skill quite eloquently.  He is finishing up his second release,
"That Was Propaganda" which should be out by early January.

The rest speaks for itself.

-Mike Borella
 borella@cs.ucdavis.edu

PS: If you have any comments or questions on Kurt's ideas or music, I'd be
    interested in hearing them.

-----------

INTERVIEW WITH KURT RONGEY - 11/15/92

MB: From the bio you sent me I noticed that you played in a bunch of bands as
a teenager.  What influenced you to start on music that soon?

KR: Well, I had been in high school bands and such and I had piano lessons when
I was young.  I always naturally liked music.  I started on drums in sixth
grade and some time after that bought Rush's "Moving Pictures" and became a
complete Neil Peart freak.  I tried to emulate everything he did.  I used to
sit for hours at a time with tapes in my walkman, just playing along.  A little
while after that I got into the whole progressive rock scene.  I got into it
kind of young because my brother was about seven years older than me and he was
getting Kansas albums.  I remember I heard "Leftoverture" probably when I was
about 10 and somehow liked it.  After I got "Moving Pictures" I got into the
whole thing, started buying Genesis albums and such, and decided to take up
keyboards again and start piano lessons with a serious teacher.  I can't
remember what year, but around then I started playing in a band called The
Choice.  We did a few Rush songs - I was actually a drummer in that band before
switching to keyboards - after that we did some Yes, Roundabout and Tempus
Fugit and some things like that.  We actually wrote some of our own material
which was pretty progressive.

MB: What would you say The Choice sounded like in comparison to the bands you
were listening to?

KR: Its hard to say.  It was kind of a mish-mash.  There was still a lot of
regular rock and pop influence in there because, inevitably, not everyone was
into the old progressive rock thing.  We were a five piece and we all liked
Saga a lot at the time.  Actually, a lot of our arrangements were probably
pretty similar to that, but with more emphasis on complex rhythm.  

MB: So that was when you were in high school?

KR: Uh-huh.  It went on into my college years.

MB: So then you studied Piano and Composition at Texas Christian University?

KR: uh-huh

MB: When I think about all these progressive musicians I really don't know what
kind of background they have, musically.  Do you find that having the degree
has helped you?

KR: Well, that really depends.  I was getting pretty pretentious about my
ideas on rock music early in high school.  I started listening to a lot of
classical music.  I eventually got into the stuff of the early twentieth
century, and later the avant-garde stuff since World War II.  In any case,
since high school, when I was listening to a lot of classical music, I was
thinking that all of these things could be done on rock instruments and you
really haven't heard a rock band do things like that - the kind of
sophistication, subtlety and delicacy that you hear in a lot of classical
music.  Even the art-rock never quite seemed to touch it.  Eventually I
found stuff like Gentle Giant and such that got pretty close.  Basically, the
conclusion I came to is that I wanted to have full classical training, except
that I wanted to apply it to rock.  So I went out and got a degree in
Composition and Piano.  Piano more as a way to support composition because its
easier to be a composer and sketch things out and really work things out if you
can do it on a piano.  I really wanted to bring that level of classical
training to rock music, but I didn't want it to sound like classical rock like
ELO or even ELP.  I wanted it to be a bit more sophisticated than that.  I'm
not sure that that comes through so well on "Book in Hand".  I'm starting to
think of "Book in Hand" as an immature work, but that's inevitable.  

MB: One of the things I noticed first about the title track of "Book in Hand"
is the use of counterpoint.  When I heard that I started thinking of Gentle
Giant and Gryphon.  

KR: I feel that counterpoint classes in college helped me, but a lot of it
probably was influenced by Gentle Giant because they were my all time favorite
band at that time.  I don't think there's any limitations to rock instruments
on what can be performed on them.  I don't think there should be.  I think a
rock instrumentalist should live up to the standards of the best classical
and jazz instrumentalists.  

MB: The copyright on "Book in Hand" is 1991 but I'd never heard of it or seen
it reviewed before the middle of this year.  Was it actually available before
then?  

KR: It was pretty much released in November of last year.  I sent it out
immediately to about 50 places.  The problem was I didn't have any resources.
I was, and still am, doing it completely out of my apartment.  I sent it out to
all these places and gradually I kept getting more addresses to send it to.
But one thing I found was that the progressive rock press is very slow on these
things, mostly because a lot of them are just quarterlies or bi-yearlies.  I'd
send it out and six months later I'd get something from somebody saying that
they're going to review it in the next issue.  I've always wondered why it
takes everybody so long but that's just the facts.  When you don't have the
big, major label support and you don't have the money for an advertising blitz,
you can only hope that you get a response from these places.  But it's
invariably taken them a very long time.  When I put out my next album a lot of
people probably won't hear about it until six or ten months afterwards. 

MB: What is was the hardest thing about doing an independent release besides
the distribution?

KR: The distribution was it.  When you put something out on your own label you
can't count on it getting into retail stores on a wide basis.  You can get into
a few locally and a few people like Steve Roberts of ZNR and Steven Brown of
Global do distribute to retail stores but not of a big basis.  The whole
thing's mail order and that's one of the big problems with the progressive rock
scene right now and with releasing something on an independent label that's
really progressive rock.  You're trying to reach these people that are
progressive rock fans that can't just walk into a store and see it and a lot
aren't willing to put a check in the mail and buy something they haven't heard.
That's probably the main thing.  You're doing it inevitably through a
mail order basis.  People are buying it on an act of faith.  It's sad.  I've
had airplay on a couple dozen radio stations in the US, but they're mostly
small college stations.  Some of them are these little 10 watt things that
can't even reach across the road.  Thats the most difficult thing.  The major
labels have a monopoly on it because they can afford the advertising, and
they're paying radio stations to play the singles to get them in the public
spotlight.  The small independent labels can't do that.  What I'm hoping
though, over the next few releases, the people who buy them and listen to them
and like them will get to trust your company, trust your judgement.  They would
buy anything being put out by your company at any time because they would trust
you.  You're not going to get that kind of wide spread exposure.

MB: The obvious advantage of being independent is that you get complete
freedom in writing your own music.  Did you find this more important than
making any money or getting any sort of fame out of this?

KR: I wouldn't mind being rich, but I've got another job and I can support
myself while writing this sort of music.  But its possible to make a decent
amount of money by selling three or four thousand copies of a CD.  If I were
able to do that with a CD, I'd be making a pretty decent salary, as good as a
lawyer even, because there's no overhead.  There's no middle man - you're
receiving the entire profits.  Then I could move on without having to worry
about selling 80,000 or 100,000 copies.  I think that's what's really good
about the independent label music.  People can make the music they want and not
worry about a huge loss.  I've lost a little money, maybe $500.  But that's
the most satisfying $500 I've ever spent.

MB: It looks like the independent music scene is more conducive to this sort of
thing these days.  Ten years ago, before we had all these independent labels,
it was hard for some to put something out on their own.  They'd have to borrow
thousands and thousands of dollars.

KR: Everything has decentralized in the music industry and that's really nice.
Things aren't dependent on major labels or major recording studios.  As
technology advances, stuff gets cheaper, recording gets cheaper.  You can get
an 8-track digital deck in your home for $4000 right now.  So the cost of
producing a quality, professional product are getting lower and lower.  You
could almost do it as a leisure time sort of activity.  Then you could be more
creative and original not having to worry about $80 an hour recording studios
or being picked up by one of the five major record labels that control the
entire music industry.

MB: When you recorded "Book in Hand," did you have your own studio?

KR: Some of it was done on a quarter-inch 8-track deck I had, so I did sort of
do it in my home studio.  "Black Wedge," "A Glance," "Dark" and "Long, Dark
Corridor" were done on that 8-track.  But a lot of it was done in London.  I
was working at a very good studio there.  I was doing a lot of avant-garde,
experimental and electronic stuff, but I was able to add a few more keyboard
tracks to these old recordings.  When I had a chance I put together the other
material.  "Book in Hand" and "Lines" were recorded in London and the rest were
touched up.  It wasn't recorded all at one time.  The recording spanned a year
and a half.

MB: There's a reprise in "Book in Hand" [the last track] going back to the
theme of the first track, "Lines."  Was it meant as a conceptual sort of
reprise?  Was there a theme to the lyrics as well?

KR: Not exactly...no, not really on those two pieces.  There's the thematic
thing, but a lot of that album works on two levels.  The lyrics are on a
completely different level than the music in some parts.  In that particular
case, I actually wrote "Lines" and "Book in Hand" as one long track but it
developed into two separate things.  They don't have any kind of conceptual
connection in the way of any narrative value.  But I've always been fond of
that sort of thing.  The Enid would have recurring themes between albums.
Those sort of thematic relationships have always been very exciting to me.
Stretches back to Wagner, I guess.  There's more of that on my new album.
It's all connected in some way or another.

MB: While we're on the subject of the new album, why not tell us a little about
it?

KR: As I said, its a concept album.  It'll be a lot longer than that one [Book
in Hand].  Over an hour is its current state.  Its about the Soviet Union, and
well, what isn't the Soviet Union any more.  Various social changes and the
ideology behind communism.  The whole social picture.  Self denial.  I was
trying to delve as deep into that from the human side of that whole crisis as I
could.  It starts off with "St. Petersburg," which is the longest track - about
17 minutes.  Its divided into four parts; the first is called "St. Petersburg,"
the second is "Petragrad," the third is called "Leningrad," and the fourth part
is sort of "St. Petersburg Part B."  As you may know, St. Petersburg has had
its name changed several times by several political forces.  I thought that
was representative of the whole idea - the big search for human identity that
has taken place in the Soviet Union.  

MB: Where would you place it musically in comparison to "Book in Hand?"

KR: Generally its a lot more complex and I think its better integrated.  Like I
said, the "Book in Hand" stuff was recorded at various times and none of the
tracks have much connection to each other.  This has been one big conception.

MB: How long have you spent writing it?

KR: St. Petersburg was the first thing to come together and I started that
shortly after the coup, which was August of last year.  I've only started
recording things in the last few months.  I got a lot of new equipment.  One of
the hottest keyboards around, the Kurzweil K2000.  

MB: For the keyboard-o-philes, could you talk a little about the equipment you
use?

KR: All the tracks written on the 8-track were primarily one keyboard, the
Roland JX8P which isn't a big expensive flash keyboard, but I got all I could
out of it.  I tried to get the most out of that and the one drum machine I had.
Once I got to the studio in London, I used a Korg M1 and a Yamaha TG55, and a
wonderful thing called a Yamaha DX1. 

MB: On "Book in Hand," how much of the drumming is from a drum machine and how
much do you play?

KR: On three tracks are the real drums.  On "Long, Dark Corridor," "A Glance,"
which is a very simple drum pattern, and the tune "Indefensive Emblem" there's
real drums.

MB: And you played everything on the album yourself, except for the part on one
track where Bill Pohl plays guitars?

KR: Yeah.  I've been in several bands and tried to do progressive rock.  If
everybody's not into it, you're not going to get anything done.  I had such a
hard time just getting something recorded in these other bands.  Just getting
everybody together to rehearse, record and such just doesn't work if
everybody's not into it.  "Book in Hand" essentially is after I'd given up.
I really wanted to get something down on tape, some progressive rock.  I
figured the best way to do it was by myself.  

MB: Do you have plans of getting a band together and playing your stuff live,
or even touring?

KR: I intend to do that sometime this year.  I intended to do it earlier.  All
the stuff is perfectly playable, with a good drummer, good bassist, and a good
guitarist, which Bill Pohl definitely is.  But there's no point if I haven't
got enough exposure by that time to draw a crowd.  

MB: A while ago I heard a rumor about a progressive rock festival in LA.  It
never happened, but there was a lot of talk about it.

KR: In the next few years I think its inevitable that there's going to be an
increase of interest in progressive rock.  Just because of the way, if nothing
else, history swings on a pendulum.  Five years ago people were into the
sixties, now people are into the seventies.  There's this big re-examination in
culture of everything that happened in the seventies.  You see all these guys
trying to look like they're from the seventies on MTV and such.  What's being
accented now is the tacky disco phase and to some extent the hard rock phase.
Eventually people are going to figure out that progressive rock happened in the
seventies and progressive rock was one of the most important things, musically,
of the seventies.  The biggest money making acts were Yes and ELP.  

MB:  Most people don't know that ELP's first three albums were #1 in Great
Britain.  

KR: Exactly.  Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II just came out.  Its an all
instrumental album - not a great album, probably not as good as the first
Tubular Bells - and it shot directly to the top of the British charts.  It
entered at #2.  There's still an interest in it [prog rock].  But back to the
point of having a progressive rock festival: there's a few bands, some of the
them are getting exposure.  Dream Theater doesn't really count because they're
firmly in the metal arena - not a "regular" progressive rock band.  But there
are some bands that have a chance of getting some kind of exposure.  Djam Karet
has gotten some exposure.  I don't know if you've ever heard of Magellan.  Some
people like them, some people hate them.  I happen to like them quite a bit.
The instrumental playing is excellent.  I think Frank Gardner's an excellent
musician.  They're getting wide distribution on a label called Roadrunner.
They've been distributed by Sony Music in Japan and had some success over
there.  And that's where Dream Theater's success has been.  If any band could
get some decent exposure in the press, something like that would be a good
idea.  I'd love to see Echolyn up on stage somewhere.  

MB: Of all these new progressive bands in the US, or even around the world,
what are the ones that you think really stand out?  Who's taking progressive
rock into the nineties?

KR: Taking progressive rock into the nineties is a difficult thing because even
the best bands seem to have this backlash quality to them.  I absolutely love
Echolyn.  Magellan to a point.  I think they have the stuff that progressive
rock fans would really like if they heard.  There's a band called Isildur's
Bane from Sweden.  They just put out a new album; a double record set.  They're
mostly instrumental.  I don't think the future is in instrumental prog.  I've
always had more of a liking for vocals.  As far as taking it into the future, I
don't know of that many acts that are.  Some of the US bands have the best
chance of all.  The band Thinking Plague is brilliant but not likely to gain
popularity because they're so extreme.  In Britain we've got Jadis, a very nice
band but they're not that forward looking.  Ezra Winston is a fantastic band -
Ancient Afternoons is a beautiful album - just gorgeous.  There are some good
bands out of Canada.  Miriodor is one of them.  Mostly instrumental, like
Univers Zero in a good mood.  But I don't think that instrumental stuff is
going to have any sort of wide spread commercial success, although that's never
been my way of judging things.  Its going to be a good vocal band with a really
good singer that has something to say, backed up by a band that can make the
music of the future, as Yes did with "Gates of Delirium."  I love the
instrumental bands, but they have a specialized sort of audience.  When a band
with a really good singer, that is vocally based, is doing some progressive
rock, I think that's the answer.    


Newsgroups: alt.music.progressive