KANSAS lead guitarist Rich Williams is featured in a new interview with Metal Express Radio's Mick Burgess. The pair chat about Williams' new NATIVE WINDOW album, the new Kansas DVD and his future plans. An excerpt is avaiable below.

Q: You’ve recently released your debut album by Native Window. How’s the reaction been so far?

Williams: "It’s been very positive. It’s very tough to have a new record by a new band heard even riding on the coattails of Kansas. Radio isn’t going to play it so it’s only going to be heard by word of mouth but so far it’s been great."

Q: Was the fact that Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh were not really interested in writing new Kansas music the catalyst to developing Native Window?

Williams: "That was definitely one of the reasons. Although they didn’t show any interest in writing new Kansas material, the rest of us found that hard to accept. We wanted to do something new. We thought it would be an opportunity for us to do something different. The only rule we had was that if it started to be like Kansas then we’d have to change that. It can’t be Kansas but it could be anything else. That’s where we started from.

Q: How was the vibe in the studio?

Williams: "It was great. We just got into the studio and sat around in a circle with acoustic guitars and acoustic violin and just started throwing ideas against the wall. We tried everything, there were no bad ideas. Steve Rawls our Producer was in there with us throwing ideas in there too. We threw out the rule book and just wanted to see what happened."

Go to this location for the complete interview.