RIDGEFIELD - When The Newtown Bee caught up with drummer/singer/songwriter Willy Wilcox at his Las Vegas office, he was getting ready to trade the desert heat and 24-hour madness of "Sin City" for the bucolic peace of Woodstock, NY where he would be rendezvousing with three very special former band mates: Todd Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, and Roger Powell - collectively known as Utopia.Something/Anything? yielded evergreen FM radio staples like "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw The Light."Oops! Wrong Planet, Adventures in Utopia, and Oblivion, spawning hits including "Rock Love," "Set Me Free," "Mated," and "Love Is The Answer," which also became a global #1 hit for the duo England Dan and John Ford Coley.Bat Out Of Hell album - Wilcox was positioned perfectly for his segue into television writing.Mad Money, launched a major audio post production facility in Miami with clients MTV & VH1, and penned famed boxer Manny Pacquiao's ring walk music.The Road To Utopia: The Complete Recordings (1974-82). The limited edition collection with its first-time CD digipak gatefold covers features original album artwork elements, rare inner sleeve art, newly written commentary from the band, and more.The Bee's conversation with Wilcox opened, tickling his memory and spurring him to look back on that period as Utopia morphed from seven members playing protracted synth-driven to the foursome that was poised for its 21st Century encore.The Newtown Bee: Can you give us your perspective as you and a number of other players who backed Todd's original lineup morphed into the quartet that became Utopia?Willy Wilcox: Historically, I started playing with Hall and Oates, including my first-ever career project, War Babies, which was produced by Todd. At that time, I made a move to joining Utopia along with my friend John Siegler, which was a larger group of musicians. That was on their second record with Todd Rundgren's Utopia. It was never like joining the Marines to 'be all you can be' where people sort of filtered through the band and Todd's experience. But I think this new tour and the momentum behind it is an interest in the group Utopia and the body of work they produced - an assimilation of those artists and talents. That's the band that is generating the interest behind this tour.The Bee: Your a little over two weeks ahead of the tour launch?Wilcox: Yes and we're just at the point where we've been preparing individually. Our formal rehearsing is a few days away and taking place in Woodstock, New York - which I find incredibly interesting because it brings us full circle to where all this stuff started. Ludwig made me a brand new custom kit they are sending through to Woodstock a couple of days before we start and I picked out a bunch of new Sabian cymbals in LA this week, so I'm going to spend those two days setting up and getting familiar with my new drum set. Then when the rest of the band gets there we'll start going through all the vocal rehearsing, key and tempo determinations, and our production stuff together. Then it's a couple of production rehearsals and we're off to the races and our opening show on April 18 in Pennsylvania.The Bee: I saw some video of you getting the practice kit. Will the stage set be that beautiful sort of Robin's egg blue color?Wilcox: It's a beautiful turquoise blue kit with some natural wood finishes on the bass drum rim. For me the coolest thing about this entire new tour, or reinvention as I call it, is it's a return to my roots playing Ludwig drums. For most of my experience with Utopia I played Sonar (electronic) drums. So everything I'm pretty much doing is reconnecting with the soul I started with when I really endeavored to become an artist and musician and drummer. All the dreams I had as a young man, and everything I aspired to be, are tied to the drums I'm using and the colors I'm using, even the stuff I'll be wearing - they're a personal reflection of my return to my roots.The Bee: So there's no electronic drums for this tour at all?Wilcox: Yup, I have no plans at all for any electronic drums. I love it. I love the idea. I had that motorcycle set in the past that I called the 'Trapparatus.' That was some kind of invention from the period where I was dabbling in electronics. I still work with electronic drums in my studio with an alter ego that puts out a show on Facebook called Booty Camp, and I do electronic dance music. I'm very much into using midi drums to trigger lights and effects and text, and even developing an entire drumming scenario behind that. But with the short time we had to put this together, it didn't permit me to create anything like that for the [Utopia] tour.The Bee: Once it became clear that you, Todd, Kasim, and Ralph were hitting the road, you decided to created a special Instagram account, WillieOnTheRoad2Utopia. What's in it for folks who don't know about or even like Utopia's music (if that's even possible)??Wilcox: I'm so busy working on so many things, that I try to share anything I do I think people would find interesting. So this venue, to the extent Instagram gives you the time to use it, will share moments and times that show the process of getting ready to go on the road. Pivotal moments of preparation. And I'll share throughout the tour as much of a window as I can to the inside view via what I've assigned the hashtag #willyleaks.The Bee: Every parent of a young aspiring drummer should watch your video of practicing on pads. So many young people just want to go out there and buy a whole drum kit, which is like the equivalent of getting a 1200cc Harley as your first motorcycle...Wilcox: Preparation for this tour requires a lot of things, and I needed to get my hands back in shape and work on being relaxed, and work on technique. I remember when I was going to Manhattan School of Music, I was studying with a jazz guy who has since passed called Jim Blackley. And one of the things he had me doing all the time was drilling along with a metronome at 60 beats per minute, for like, hours (laughing). It was so I would become comfortable playing. It's easy to play fast, but it's much harder to play slow because there's so much space between every downbeat. What are you doing in those spaces and how you feel confident in those spaces playing strongly but slowly? It's a very different geography. And really, at the end of the day, they're only methods and procedures that are washed away in performance where you're left with your heart and your soul and your expression. These are preparations towards reacting, emoting, and sharing your emotional experience with the people who are listening.The Bee: I was talking with drummer Max Weinberg about his association with Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell, which ended when he was replaced by you. So let me pick up from there with your recollections about working on one of the top selling rock albums of all time - and arguably its most enduring single 'Two Out of Three Ain't Bad'?Wilcox: The reason I was called in - because Max was great as you know - the reason I got called in on "Two Out Of Three..." is they wanted to bring someone in who could live in that space and be comfortable on a very slow song. It just so happened that I spent a lot of time there in my past, so I know how to feel and what to feel in those slow tempos. And since I could also play fast, there were other songs I ended up playing on. There's a funny story about playing on "For Crying Out Loud." That song featured a live orchestra and I remember showing up for that session with nothing but a pair of sticks. And don't you know the percussionist on the session is the same guy I had played with on the Bette Midler tour. So we're running through the first take side by side, and I broke one of my sticks. So I had to grab one of his odd ones he had with him to finish the second take. Those were back in the days when I was young and reckless. But as it turned out they used the first take!For tickets ($110 Orchestra | $95 Mezzanine & Balcony | Meet & Greet Upgrade package $150 includes photo with Rundgren and the band and swag) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org.The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street.

Wilcox was fired up about getting out of the studio, where he works designing sound effects and mixing music for casino gaming platforms, and back up on the drum platform for few more gigs with his old friends after a 32-year "sabbatical" that ran far too long as far as fans, and apparently the band are concerned.

An advance for the tour reminded that Rundgren's Utopia formed in 1974 out of the genius multi-instrumentalist/producer's desire to explore new musical territory after four years of making solo albums. His seminal

Starting as something of a sprawling prog-rock outfit with seven members, the band's recordings ranged from extended synth experiments to four-song albums. While live Utopia shows were distinguished by ahead-of-the-curve video backdrops and computer-generated music, produced at Rundgren's groundbreaking Utopia Video Studios, the band's official bio states.

But within two years the group evolved, shedding three players and Rundgren's brand stamp, and paring down into the mainstream power-pop rock quartet that most fans still regard as the best and true incarnation of Utopia.

Before Rundgren returned to solo recording and producing, and those core four members took separate exits in 1986 - never dubbing the move as a formal dis-banding - Utopia produced eight albums including 

Although Rundgren and company were known for hiring future superstar groups like Cheap Trick and The Cars to open for Utopia tours, the band was also called upon as an opening act - for none other than the Rolling Stones in 1976 and Led Zeppelin in 1979 - before a combined audience of over 1,200,000 during festival appearances at Knebworth Castle in the UK.

Always on the cutting edge, Utopia also chalked up a long history of groundbreaking media "firsts", including:

*1978: The first interactive television concert, broadcast live over Warner/QUBE, the experimental interactive cable system in Columbus, Ohio (the home television audience chose each song in real time during the concert by voting via QUBE's 2-way operating system).

*1978: The first live nationally broadcast stereo radio rock concert (via microwave), linking 40 cities around the country.

*1982: The first live national cablecast of a rock concert (on the USA Network), simulcast in stereo to over 120 radio stations.

Wilcox was always one who straddled the worlds of creative musician and technician with ease. Following his final concerts with Utopia in '86, he continued to pursue his songwriting career.

Having written for and performed with Luther Vandross, Natalie Cole, Bette Midler, Hall & Oates, and Kylie Minogue - even lending his talent to Meat Loaf's colossal

He transitioned to senior staff composer for NBC Universal in NY for five years during which time he composed the current show theme for CNBC's

Today, Wilcox maintains a position as senior audio director at Scientific Games - the number one gaming company in the world - where he recently completed the surround sound audio production for the Michael Jackson casino game, "King Of Pop!"

Then came the call from Rundgren. The sabbatical was over and a 32-year break came to an end April 18 when Utopia launched its 2018 reunion tour - which is landing at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Monday, May 7 at 7pm.

The tour launch coincided with Friday Music's released a seven-disc box set,

Check out this 1992 clip of Utopia performing "Love Is The Answer" at a show in Tokyo, Japan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSOaLugmdSY

Get a taste of what fans will experience when Utopia hits the Ridgefield Playhouse stage in this clip from the band's 2018 reunion tour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugQif1HE0QE

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