Hold the Bread with David Gates

Lisa Ferguson

Friday, Aug. 14, 1998 | 9:54 a.m.

It's the musical equivalent of an open-face sandwich: David Gates without Bread.

More than 20 years since the 1970's pop band -- "If," "It Don't Matter To Me," "Make it With You," "Baby I'm-A Want You" -- officially disbanded, Gates, its lead singer/guitarist/songwriter, continues to tour -- these days backed by a 32-piece orchestra.

So much for going solo. "I've got plenty of guys back there," Gates, who also runs a 3,700-acre Northern California cattle ranch, says. He and the orchestra perform Bread's greatest hits Saturday at the Flamingo Hilton.

"I like to work with string sections and orchestras, if I can get 'em," Gates says. He has performed with orchestras as far away as New Zealand, as well as in his hometown of Tulsa, Okla., earlier this year.

The symphonic sounds add "an element and a quality" to Bread's music, he says, "that makes it kind of romantic.

"If you listen to 'If' on the record, there was maybe 14 strings. Now, you're going to hear a larger section; it's going to sound a little bigger and richer," he explains. "I would say it's more of an embellishment rather than a big change."

Which is good, since Gates -- who claims he hasn't grown weary of playing the same songs for two decades -- doesn't care to fiddle with Bread's classics.

"I figure if tomorrow, I get hit by a truck, tonight is the last time I'm going to get to sing my song, so sing it good," he says. "The other thing is (in) the audience, there are people out there that have probably never heard me sing this song live. They've heard the record, so I don't want to let them down.

"There's a sort of pride, I guess you'd call it, in making sure that the song you wrote is performed to the best of your abilities so that you don't demean it in people's minds and they're disappointed in what they've heard. If you write the song, you especially feel that way -- you don't want to let the song down."

"If," is a good example. He calls the thoughtful 1971 hit a "miracle," having penned it in little more than an hour.

"I sat down at 9:30 (p.m.) at the kitchen table ... and I started the (melody) on the guitar," he explains. "And then this (lyric), 'If a picture paints a thousand words,' started coming out ... and my pencil was flying trying to keep up with the ideas as fast as they'd come along with the melody. I was done by like 11 (and) I had an extra verse."

Usually, though, "I really work hard on the lyrics," Gates says, "and I hope they look good standing alone without the music."

Those lyrics and their accompanying music provided the soundtrack for countless relationships during the '70s.

"I'm always kind of surprised that people have taken (a song's meaning) quite as deep as they have," he says. "I didn't plan or scheme for it, but if that's the way it reached people, I'm just really proud it went that far."

Tickets to Gates' 8 p.m. performance are $30, $35 and $40. Call the box office at 733-3333.