A Q&A With Mannheim Steamroller’s Chip Davis

The first thing we noticed about Davis is that he’s as folksy in real life as he is on stage.  Reached at his home in Omaha, Neb., Davis hardly sounds like a person who has million-selling albums and sold-out tours to his credit.   The former advertising professional who also co-wrote the 1975 hit song “Convoy“ comes across as a friendly, down-home kind of guy who just happens to have his own studio as well as the industry’s largest independent record label, American Gramaphone.

Mannheim Steamroller’s latest album, 30/40 celebrates the 30th anniversary of Davis’s first Christmas record and the 40th anniversy of the first release in his Fresh Aire series.  30/40 is available as a 16-track CD but audiofiles will want to check out the 30/40 Ultimate Collection featuring 50 tracks and the special limited edition 30/40 Dougle Disc Vinyl Set. The album is also a family affair with Davis‘ daughter Elyse singing on “Greensleeves.”

Although Davis no longer tours with Mannheim Steamroller, he’s still involved with every aspect of the music, from composing to recording to performing live.  And he’s just as passionate about his creation today as he was four decades ago. 

The labels weren’t interested when you wanted to make that first album.  Promoters weren’t initially interested when you first wanted to tour and no one wanted your Christmas album.  Are you the kind of person who doesn’t take no for an answer?

Yeah. … I wanted to do a Christmas album. So I did.  What happened when I started Fresh Aire was that it hit the hi-fi stores.  That’s where it started [but] regular retail didn’t want it.  It started selling so well that regular retail finally did want it. … Several areas along my way I was turned down, and Christmas was certainly one of them. I went ahead and did it, anyway.  I was doing self-distribution. … I think, all in all, over its lifespan we sold 9 million.

Why do you think people keep coming back to your concerts and buy the albums year after year?

My thought is the Christmas season is a family event and my concerts are, obviously, very family friendly.  When mom and dad brought their kids to the first Christmas concert back in 1984, those kids are now the moms and dads.  When Mannheim Steamroller is in your market, you go to that like you did with your mom and dad.  Now they could be grandmas and grandpas.  So you’ve got three generations sitting there together.  I’ve seen that from the stage many times.  I think that has a lot to do with the longevity, the fact that it’s a very family friendly thing. … It’s like “The Nutcracker.”

Did the first concert tour attract as wide an audience?

I started touring [in 1974] with Fresh Aire. … [On] enough material because [on] the audiophile records, you could only get about 30 minutes [of music].  Essentially [with the first Christmas album], I only had a second half of a concert.  [The tour] was Fresh Aire first half, Christmas second half.  People started really liking the Christmas [half] and I started writing more of that.  That’s how it evolved.  This 30/40 release is a combination of Christmas and Fresh Aire.  That’s the way the concerts were when I first started.

What was the creation process like for you at that time?

I was writing on 24-stave paper with a Scripto charcoal colored pencil.  A lot of times I work things out on a piano.  But in that stage in my life … if I heard something in my head, I could write it on paper and figure out the orchestration as I went.  That’s how I started.  Sometimes I would check it on the piano.  Now I check it on Pro Tools.  A lot of it I write almost [in] a stream of consciousness.  But it started with pen and paper so I could actually see it.  I’m a classically trained musician and that’s the way I thought.  As time progressed and technology changed, I was able to go along with the technology.  Now I work with an engineer while I’m writing.  It’s sort of a stream of consciousness. I go straight from my brain to the keyboard.  I’ll say, “Dave, get me a really cool percussion.  I hear a really cool rhythm and I want to lay down a foundation.”  I might start with that. … You kind of build it like a construction guy builds a house.  Lay the foundation, then you start doing the framework, then the siding goes on and the roof goes on.  The roof, I think, is like the strings, horns and that kind of stuff.

When hearing a melody for the first time, whether it’s a sound in your head or something played on TV or radio, can you immediately picture the notation in your mind?

Sometimes but not always.  Sometimes I hear a set of changes in, maybe, a film score and I’m like,” Man, that’s really cool.  It sounds like it’s a flat six to a four going to a one-chord and then a five-chord.”  I’ll start figuring out what the chord structure is.

Back when I was in college, I smoked.  I quit that 30 years ago.  But in college I would take a Marlboro pack and write down the chord changes on it.

Is creating Mannheim Steamroller music a visual experience?  Do you see images in your mind to go with the music?

Quite often. … I wrote a piece on Fresh Aire V called “Escape From the Atmosphere” and I pictured a rocket taking off, then releasing from gravity and traveling through space.  I wrote a film score of that from what my picture of it was.  I don’t do that on everything but there are pieces where I do use that technique.

I’m guessing that first tour back in the ’70s attracted an audience that was already into that era’s progressive rock scene – fans of bands such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Moody Blues and Yes.  During those first few tours did you ever detect the scent of marijuana wafting up from the audience while you were playing?

Oh, yeah.  There could be a cloud of smoke outside … the theatre.  My guys never did any of that. …  The audience, definitely. Playing the old Paramount in Seattle, the curtains hanging on the side, they smelled.  You could tell who’d been smoking in there.

Who were some of your favorite bands?

All-time favorites would be Supertramp, Journey, some of those type of bands, probably ‘70s, ‘80s.  I got to meet Journey last year.  That was pretty cool.

Do you receive a lot of requests from bands wanting to play with Mannheim Steamroller?

Not so much anymore.  I‘m out here in Omaha, Neb., and I’m pretty hard to find.  There were more [acts] pitching me to be on the label.  There was one time I had almost 10 artists on the label.  I had the group America and I had John Denver.  I did an album with him, and a handful of people like that.  Those were pretty cool experiences.  We recorded here, released it, worked on their tours.  Those kind of artists were fun to work with.

We have morel mushrooms out here.  They’re an incredible taste treat.  There’s a short window of maybe two weeks when they grow. … You cut them in half and then dunk them in egg and cracker crumbs and sauté them in butter.  Holy moley!  The reason I’m telling you that is because John Denver would try to come out in the spring and we’d go mushroom hunting.

What makes for a great Mannheim Steamroller musician?

Versatility.  They gotta be able to play more than just their principle instrument.  I’ve got a violinist in one of the bands named Jeff Yang who goes from violin to recorders.  He covers my recorder parts that I did on the original albums. Becky Kia is the violinist in the other band. [She] plays percussion instruments when she’s not playing the violin.  Everybody plays several different instruments.  The keyboardist switches from electronic keyboards to harpsichord to acoustic piano. … It bounces around.

How many musicians per touring group?

About six.  We hire a local orchestra in each town.  We do track support, too.  Synthesizer tracks you can’t do … you have to have all patches preset.  That stuff is tracked.

How do you coordinate with local orchestras?

We send the parts and rehearsal teams about two weeks in advance so that the players can get familiar with the shows.  We have a rehearsal CD so they can hear the music and what it’s going to be like.

Will you appear at all on this tour?

I have gone out and made guest appearances. … I have a video that welcomes the crowd where I’m sitting on a drum platform with a Univ. of Michigan sweatshirt on. If I’m in the market, as soon as that video runs I’ll walk out on the stage.  I did that in Sarasota and got a standing ovation.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was like, “I have some fans here.”

How many trucks does it take to move Mannheim Steamroller?

This is a two-truck, two-bus show. We have had as many as nine [vehicles] when we played arenas.  I wanted to take it back to a more intimate setting so we’re playing 3,000-4,000 seats instead of 25,000.

Will you ever completely retire and let someone else helm Mannheim?

I’m sort of doing that right now.  I don’t go out and play all the shows.  I make little guest appearances.  But I still write all the music.

Considering your history with Christmas albums, do you have an opinion as to why, when it comes to other people’s Christmas albums, some succeed while others fail?

I don’t know the answer to that, exactly. … I think if someone is making a Christmas album because they heard that we made really successful albums, and they’re doing it just to do it and it doesn’t have the spirit of Christmas in it, somehow that bleeds through the notes.

Any thoughts about Trans-Siberian Orchestra which is another big Christmas tour?

Their music, the way they do it, is so rock ’n’ roll … it doesn’t have the classical orientation that my stuff has and it doesn’t relate, necessarily, to the roots of Christmas.  Mine has a more historical flair to it.

You had a successful career in advertising and you had a No. 1 hit with “Convoy.”  Is Mannheim the best gig ever?

I wouldn’t trade this for anything.  I love doing it.  I have my own studio, my own staff that knows how I do it. It’s a machine and when I kick into gear, whether it’s in the studio or on the road, they know what’s coming.  It takes very little effort so it becomes a lot of fun.  Everybody loves the gig.  It’s not year-round where we’re playing, like, 9,000 gigs where everyone is worn out and mad at each other.  It never gets to that.

With two touring companies, here are the upcoming shows for The 30th Anniversary Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Tour:

Dec. 1 – Winston-Salem, N.C., Lawrence Joel Vet. Mem. Coliseum
Dec. 2 – Madison, Wis., Overture Center For The Arts
Dec. 2 – Durham, N,C., DPAC – Durham Performing Arts Center
Dec. 3 – Bethlehem, Pa., Sands Bethlehem Event Center
Dec. 3 – East Lansing, Mich., Wharton Center For Performing Arts
Dec. 4 – South Bend, Ind., Morris Performing Arts Center
Dec. 5 – Fort Wayne, Ind., Embassy Theatre
Dec. 5 – Rama, Ontario, Casino Rama Entertainment Centre
Dec. 6 – Rama, Ontario, Casino Rama Entertainment Centre
Dec. 6 – Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S. Cellular Center
Dec. 7 – Detroit, Mich., Fox Theatre
Dec. 7 – Minneapolis, Minn., The Orpheum Theatre
Dec. 9 – Orono, Maine, Collins Center For The Arts
Dec. 9 – St. Louis, Mo., Fabulous Fox Theatre
Dec. 10 – St. Louis, Mo., Fabulous Fox Theatre
Dec. 10 – Augusta, Maine, Augusta Civic Center
Dec. 11 – Paducah, Ky., Carson Center
Dec. 11 – Stamford, Conn., The Palace Theatre
Dec. 12 – Waterbury, Conn., Palace Theater
Dec. 12 – Joliet, Ill., Rialto Square Theatre
Dec. 13 – Normal, Ill., Braden Auditorium
Dec. 13 – North Bethesda, Md., Music Center At Strathmore
Dec. 14 – Milwaukee, Wis., Riverside Theatre
Dec, 14 – Richmond, Va., Altria Theater
Dec. 16 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Benedum Center
Dec. 16 – Bowling Green, Ky., Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center
Dec. 17 – Rochester, N.Y., Auditorium Theatre
Dec. 17 – Muncie, Ind., Emens Auditorium
Dec. 18 – New Philadelphia, Ohio, Performing Arts Center @ Kent State University Tuscarawas
Dec. 18 – Dubuque, Iowa, Five Flags Center
Dec. 19 – Cleveland, Ohio, State Theatre
Dec. 19 – Des Moines, IA  Des Moines Civic Center
Dec. 20 – Rosemont, Ill., Rosemont Theatre
Dec. 20 – Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines Civic Center
Dec. 21 – Wichita, Kan., Century II Perf. Arts & Conv. Ctr.
Dec. 21 – Columbus, Ohio, Palace Theatre
Dec. 22 – Omaha, Neb., Orpheum Theater
Dec. 22 – Knoxville, Tenn., Tennessee Theatre
Dec. 23 – Birmingham, Ala., BJCC Concert Hall
Dec. 23 – Omaha, Neb., Orpheum Theater
Dec. 26 – Tempe, Ariz., Gammage Auditorium
Dec. 26 – Austin, Texas, Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater
Dec. 27 – Tucson, Ariz., Centennial Hall
Dec. 27 – Houston, Texas, Jones Hall For The Performing Arts
Dec. 28 – Dallas, Texas, The Music Hall At Fair Park
Dec. 28 – San Diego, Calif., San Diego Civic Theatre

For more information, please visit Mannheim Steamroller’s website, Facebook page and Twitter feed.