Dave Hope - Kansas

[GaryLC]

I was listening to some of my old Kansas records yesterday...."Masque", "Left Overture", "Song For America". Dave Hope is a fantastic bassist, great sound, very articulate in his playing. Does anyone know what he's up to these days?

[brickerenator]

Stolen from Wikipedia

Today, Hope is an Anglican priest on staff at Immanuel Anglican Church, a member congregation of the Anglican Mission in America, in Destin, Florida. He is currently the head of Worship, Evangelism and Outreach. He is also bassist for the praise band The IRS

[Smokin' Toaster]

Destin is about 100 miles from me, so I thought I'd check this out. I found the Immanuel church's website and sure enough, Dave Hope is the associate pastor.

Links:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ed=0CBgQ9QEwAA

http://www.iacdestin.org/WhoWeAre/leaders.html


His playing with Kansas in the early days was superb. A brief Kansas story: I went to see Bad Company in 1976 in Mobile Alabama. Kansas, a band we had never heard of was opening for them. Kansas came out and just blew our doors off. They finished their set and the entire crowd was on it's feet ready to get them out for at least one encore, and on come the lights. In those days the lights coming up meant everyone had to suddenly become discreet about what they were doing/smoking so the crowd immediately got quiet and there was no encore. Bad Company came out and looked for all the world like they had punched a clock and were dutifully working their shift, so we left after about 3 songs. I bought the Masque album the next day and have been a Kansas fan ever since. In retrospect, I'm sure that Bad Company got tired of being out played and out performed, and were tired of their opening act getting encore(s) (and I daresay they probably weren't getting encores) so they arranged for the lights to be turned on as soon as Kansas played their last song.

[GaryLC]

Originally Posted by brickerenator

Stolen from Wikipedia

Yeah, I'm an idiot.... I lazily asked you guys, when I could have just Googled him....sorry!

Great bass player. Love Kansas.

[dave64o]

I've been a huge Kansas fan since about 1976 or so, and especially of their earlier years when Dave Hope was with them. That's going back about 25 or so years before I ever started playing bass! I love how he plays lines that counter the lead instruments without ever really sounding "busy".

Wish he could arrange to play live with them for even just a short time so I could see him one more time but that doesn't seem like it will ever happen. At least he came back to play on Somewhere To Elsewhere in 2000. But honestly, Kansas hasn't suffered much from bringing in Billy Greer. He's also a phenomenal player as well and has done a great job on vocals when Robbie Steinhart has been away from the band.


BTW - not sure how often his name pops up in people list of influences in their profiles, but he's been the first name in my list since I set up my profile.

[GtenderG]

Saw Dave Hope play with Kansas at the Spectrum (Philly)when they toured for Monolith. Great show, great time - wish I was 17 again (Well maybe for 1 weekend!). Love 'Song For America'!
As I recall he played a Fender P-Bass and a Kramer...

[Richland123]

The first time I saw Kansas was in 1975 at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. A friend of mine went to school there and got us student tickets for $3.00 each. I don't remember the opening act. Kansas was great and I was a fan ever since. They opened with Song For America. I saw them next on Nov. 24, 1976 at the War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, PA and the opening band was Ambrosia and both bands were steller. I have the ticket stubs from both shows plus all the other concerts I saw Kansas. I do have Robbie Steinhardt's autograph on a ticket stub.

[dave64o]

Originally Posted by GtenderG

Saw Dave Hope play with Kansas at the Spectrum (Philly)when they toured for Monolith. Great show, great time - wish I was 17 again (Well maybe for 1 weekend!). Love 'Song For America'!
As I recall he played a Fender P-Bass and a Kramer...

I was at that same show.

[Bob C]

Originally Posted by GtenderG

Saw Dave Hope play with Kansas at the Spectrum (Philly)when they toured for Monolith. Great show, great time - wish I was 17 again (Well maybe for 1 weekend!). Love 'Song For America'!
As I recall he played a Fender P-Bass and a Kramer...

GtenderG,

Your post, you gear list and your signature all take me back. I'm having a "parallel universe moment" right now.

When I saw Kansa in 70-something, I had never heard their music before. It was a great show. I THINK the billing was Kansas, Aerosmith and Wishbone Ash!!

I remember Dave Hope's (sunburst?) P bass too.

[bluesblaster]

You are correct sir! was at that show as well. I had heard of them but not relly heard any of there music at that time.
I still remember seeing a couple of the members walking around behind the stage before the show from where I was seated, they looked like they had just finished the chores out on the farm and had come into town to pick a few tunes, remember flannel wasnt that hip a fashion stament outside the midwest yet. But I digress.... they took the stage and opened with "song for america" and I was floored! whoa! who are these guys! and yes it was a sunburst P bass. remember phil erharts drum solo? hair flyin everywhere. Aerosmith and Wishbone Ash were good too, but Kansas should have been the headliner that evening

[KeithPas]

Finally, this guy gets some much deserved recognition!! Dave is one of my favorite players and one of biggest influences as a bassist. His lines in tunes like "Magnum Opus" and "The Spider" are extremely creative, complex and challenging parts. I was amazed to learn that most his recorded parts are played on an old P bass, no mods.

[Bob C]

bluesblaster,

Yeah, I remember Rich Williams, the guitar player was kind of a big guy who used to wear denim bibs. I think he was the one with an eye patch too. I don't remember anyone else's clothing in particular.

Anyway, I was there to see Wishbone Ash and they didn't disappoint. But Kansas was a very unexpected treat. I remember the first few songs had two keyboard players. Then eventually, Kerry Livgren switched to guitar for most of the show.

Kansas was and is a good combination of prog and good old R & R. I also saw them in 2000, I think (sans Dave Hope), leading in for Yes.

Back to Dave Hope, the subject of this thread - love his P bass sound. I'm going to spin my "Masque" LP right now!

[bstringkyle]

Dave Hope is a great bass player. Kansas has some wicked tunes.

[bluesbasshound]

My Kansas story... I grew up 30 miles from St. Joseph, Missouri, home of Steve Walsh.
When I was 17, I played in a local St. Joseph band that entered a "battle of the bands" at the Missouri Theater in downtown St. Joe. "White Clover" was another act that got involved with the showcase. My first experience hearing Steve Walsh's voice as he sang Morning Dew for their opener completely shocked & amazed me! Also, the dynamics and sheer power of the rhythm section (Hope & Erhart) was something I had never imagined could ever come from a little local bar band as they were known back then. The sight of seeing 3 really BIG guys on one side of the stage and 3 other "skinnier" guys on the other side almost made me want to tilt my head sideways to watch them! These were "farm" boys... corn-fed and raised on overalls and electric guitars! Dave in his younger days was quite amusing and a bit perverse in his dialogue on the mic, and some of the parents out in the crowd did not appreciate the more colorful phrases uttered out during their mic checking, "69 douche bags tied in a knot" poetically flowing through the air to the amusements of us fellow musicians hanging around for what would ultimately be a moment of "handing our collective asses to us" performance by the band soon to be known nationally as "Kansas"! They lost the "battle" on technicality issues, but that grinding beat up ol' sunburst P bass with rotosounds through the hot tubes of an SVT was my baptism by fire into a life of music introduced to me by one "pastor" Dave Hope!
Bless you Dave, you are one of the most under-rated, yet innovative bassists in Rock!

[jmcgliss]

+1 for Dave Hope. I first saw Kansas as an opener for Queen in Chicago, fall 1974 I think. Was a major since then.

Several years ago, Chicago featured a Kansas-Yes show in Grant Park that was very cool. Halfway through, a cold front blew in, clouds rose to 30K-40K feet high and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. Chilling!

[Jerry Ziarko]

Song For America was one of my favorite LP's from that era. I was fortunate to see them a few times during that time period. Great tunes, and wicked melodic bass lines.

[svp]

Originally Posted by GaryLC

I was listening to some of my old Kansas records yesterday...."Masque", "Left Overture", "Song For America". Dave Hope is a fantastic bassist, great sound, very articulate in his playing. Does anyone know what he's up to these days?

The effect on Dave's bass was added during the recording in the studio, he never used effect pedals live. From 1976 - 1980 his live rig was a Furman pre-amp with parametric eq, powerd by 2 Crown DC300 power amps through 2 EV B-2x15 cabs, and always a Fender P bass.

[MonetBass]

Sadly I never got to see Kansas with Dave Hope. I have seen them twice, in '95 and this month (the 14th). GREAT live band, even still. Billy Greer does a nice job. However, one of the first LPs I ever bought was Leftoverture, and man, I couldn't stop listening! Dave Hope's lines, as Dave stated, are quite melodic, almost contrapuntal (yeah, I'm a music major geek) while not interfering. An underrated bassist in an underrated band!

[snyderz]

I'll chime in with all of you old f@rts out there. Also saw them in '76 at the DAR Hall in Wash., D.C. Love those small venues. My friends saw J. Geils Band the same night at a different place, and chided me for not going with them. I chose the better show. I've seen them numerous times since, mostly at biker rallies.