by MATTHEW HAYS

KC (aka Harry Wayne Casey) of KC and the Sunshine Band sounds exhausted on the other end of the line. He's been doing interviews, he explains "since 8 this morning!" It's all part of the disco bandwagon he's on, part of a North America nostalgia tour he's headlining that brings him to Montreal this week.

KC co-wrote and sang a gaggle of unforgettable '70s tunes, including "I'm Your Boogie Man," "Keep It Comin' Love," "Boogie Shoes" and "Shake Your Booty." Though he originally didn't see his music as disco, he's since embraced the label, welcoming the post-disco-backlash revival of the past decade and a half. The Mirror spoke to KC about anti-disco sentiment, his new book and unwelcome changes in the music biz.

Mirror: I can't believe I'm talking to KC of KC and the Sunshine Band! I love your music!

KC: Thank you.

M: I mean, really!

KC: Thank you.

M: At the tail end of the disco craze, were you surprised at the level of hatred of disco? It was pretty extreme.

KC: I was surprised. The people who were really angry about it didn't like it from the beginning. They didn't like R&B music. They were hard rockers, so they just didn't like anything but hard rock.

M: They had those record smashings and everything though. It was really over the top.

KC: The guy who organized that admitted it was a publicity stunt. He told me later it kind of back… back… what's the word I'm looking for?

M: Backfired?

KC: Backfired, that's it. It went way beyond what he thought it was going to be. It was really just people who didn't like pop R&B music anyway. I guess it looked like it hurt it, but all they did was change it and call it punk music. And the clubs were just as packed. If not even more. They haven't stopped making these clubs and people have not stopped going to them.

Coffee now, sex later

M: I read your book, That's the Way I Like It. You don't talk that much about your sex life. When I read David Cassidy's autobiography, C'mon, Get Happy, he talks all about having a rock 'n' roll cock and having sex with thousands of women.

KC: This was supposed to be a coffee table book and it wasn't supposed to talk about everything in my life. That book is yet to come. It was supposed to be a book about the photos with a time line about the photos. It wasn't a tell-all book.

M: So we'll hear about your sexcapades later?

KC: Eventually, before I die, I'll write my book.

M: Is there anything in the business today that you see that you really don't like?

KC: I feel sorry for a lot of the young talent who's out there today. When I was starting out they used to spend time developing young artists. If your first album didn't make it, if your second didn't make it, they'd still spend time working on your third. Today, if your first album does well and then your second does badly, they drop you. It's become such a corporate world, now the artists are just part of the machinery. It's sad.

M: You were huge in the '70s, but you didn't enter rehab until '95. What took you so long?

KC: I don't know. I retired and I lost it. I went crazy. It was just something I did, it was the wrong thing to do, it wasn't a smart move with the drugs. I was tired, I didn't want to work anymore, I didn't want to be told when to smile, when to laugh, when to feel good, when not to feel good. I didn't want to be a part of it anymore. I wanted to be Harry Wayne Casey for a minute.

KC and the Sunshine Band will perform as part of Get Up 'N Dance, featuring the Village People, Martha Wash, Bonnie and June Pointer, The Trammps, Thelma Houston, Anita Ward and Maxine Nightingale at the Bell Centre this Saturday, Aug. 23, 8pm, $65 Info: 790-1245

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