Billy Greer – Metal Express Radio

KANSAS (Live)

November 7, 2023 Scott Jeslis

Television outlets are pretty good at covering mainstream bands, and artists, with impressive longevity including The Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Paul McCartney, to name a few, and rightly so. One that seems to escape some attention is the progressive rock band Kansas the “garage band” from Topeka who released their debut album in 1974 and have since gone on to sell more than 30 million albums worldwide. The band is proudly celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2023 and the fans are showing their appreciation! What started out as a tour of 50 select North American cities has now been extended into next year due to “brisk ticket sales and numerous sellouts”. On this night they played to a nearly sold-out crowd at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) in Durham North Carolina. In this day and age there are so many beloved bands from yesteryear reuniting and touring or splitting into two groups due to irreconcilable differences. Many of those only contain one original member. Thankfully, Kansas is still touring in this day and age with three long-standing members, two of them original; Billy Greer (bass), Richard Williams (guitar), and Phil Ehart (drums). After 50+ years gone are those days of band members running around the stage and striking Herculian poses. Given the median age of the crowd in attendance, it wasn’t missed and didn’t seem to have a negative effect on the crowd’s reception. Everyone was too busy reveling in a two-hour performance of Kansas’ hits, classics, and some deep cuts. Tonight’s setlist almost played out like The Best Of Kansas album released in 1984. The expected favorites were in attendance as well as some surprises. Regardless of anyone’s age, the band can still play with fire and precision. During the “progressive rock interludes” within massive songs like …READ MORE

Interview with Billy Greer (Kansas/Seventh Key)

January 20, 2014 Mick Burgess

It’s been 9 years since their last album but with Seventh Key’s I Will Survive just released it’s been well worth the wait. Billy Greer, the current bassist with Kansas and lead singer with Seventh Key chatted to Mick Burgess. Your latest album I Will Survive has just been released. Are you pleased with the reaction so far? I’m really pleased with it. We’ve been getting good reviews and the comments across social media have been really positive. Melodicrock.com gave us 99 out of 100 which is great. It’s incredibly been 9 years since your last studio album, The Raging Fire. Why such a gap? In 2005 we did a live CD and DVD that took a while to prepare and mix and we let that run its course so technically it’s been just over seven years since we worked on a project together. We actually started work on this album in 2008 it just took us a long time to do it. We’ve both been busy with other things too. Mike Slamer has done a couple of mixing projects and I’ve been busy touring with Kansas. Kansas is my bread and butter so I have to work around my touring schedule with Kansas. I had to wait until I had a period of 7 or 8 days when I could jump on a plane and head over to Los Angeles to work with Mike. I live on the east coast at Savannah Georgia so there’s 2500 miles between us. It’s a good jump for us to get together. We recorded the lion’s share at his home studio. I also put a band together with Phil and Rich from Kansas called Native Window and that took a couple of months of my time so we’ve been on with other things …READ MORE

SEVENTH KEY – Live In Atlanta

November 7, 2005 Metal-Katie

Granted, on first glance this release does not have a lot going for it. Seventh who(?), and not another live album, are the first obvious thoughts. Well, at least it’s not mentioning orchestrations on the cover. After digging a bit deeper and seeing that this is a solo project from Billy Greer, the bass player from Kansas, it starts getting interesting. The specialness does not stop there. This whole show was the one and only show Seventh Key has ever played and it was performed in front of invitation only crowd. The rest of who weren’t there are now given a chance to experience the band live as well. If the modest crowd cheering at the end of the songs were mixed away, this could pass as a studio album … that’s how clear the sound is. The only giveaways that this is a live recording are the aforementioned cheers, a couple of introductions done by Greer, and the few differences in song arrangements. On paper, that may not sound so good, but when listened to in your stereo, all those little details actually make this whole release more appealing, and somehow add a warm and welcoming quality to the whole production. Like you’re witnessing something special, which indeed you are. Seventh Key has released two studio albums so far, and on this live release, they play tracks from both of those. The show starts with the up-tempo “The Sun Will Rise,” which will have you thinking that you must have just missed the opening of their show, since no band starts off this geared up. That is followed up by the single from their newest album The Raging Fire, called “An Ocean Away,” which benefits from the first of the too few introductions from Greer. By now, you have …READ MORE

SEVENTH KEY – The Raging Fire

February 9, 2004 Guest Writer

Seventh Key is the band Billy Greer heads when Kansas isn’t consuming his time. It’s amazing that a guy with a voice like this isn’t the lead singer of his “bigger” band, but hey, Steve Walsh is Steve Walsh. Anyway, The Raging Fire is Seventh Key’s second album, but while the first CD was full of unpublished Kansas material and songs written by other musicians, Greer and Mike Slamer (who also produced the album and played keys and guitar) wrote all original music on this go around. Like their label mates On The Rise, Seventh Key offers an infectious blend of pop melodies and hard rock. While you may find parts of songs that sound like Kansas, it doesn’t last. Seventh Key is its own animal, for the most part. Since Greer also plays bass and wrote all the songs, it is a pleasure hearing the bass be an integral part of each song. “Always From the Heart” is an uplifting hard rock song that starts with intricate acoustic guitar and Greer’s haunting voice. After the intro, the song picks up, and the message of this song is to never give up, lay it on the line, never be afraid to reach for your dreams. “Happy go lucky” describes the song as well. While most of their songs are of this element, upbeat and happy, “You Cross the Line” is a moodier song. The song is tremendously slow, at the beginning, showcasing Greer’s utterly effortless vocals. While “Always From the Heart” has more individual guitar notes moving the song along, riffs are used here. For those who don’t like “dated” music, never fear; this doesn’t sound like 1970s or ‘80s rock. The title song, “The Raging Fire,” is another slower track. They do have a tendency to begin their songs …READ MORE