|
Past Issues:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27
BACK
Spock’s
Beard
Unleashing A Snowstorm
By Liam Savage
It’s been a busy year for the talented bunch of musicians that
call themselves Spock’s Beard. First, the prog-rock heavyweights
worked diligently on their awe-inspiring latest album, the double-disc
concept record Snow. Then shortly after its release to much critical
praise and fan excitement, frontman Neal Morse decided it was time
to leave the band that he’d helped establish as one of the
leaders of the new-school of progressive rock. "I'm sorry to
say that the rumours are true, I am leaving Spock's Beard for parts
unknown," read Morse’s statement. "I feel that
God wants me to do something else, and I'm not sure why exactly,
but it's a feeling I've had for a while. I've been hoping it would
change, but it hasn't, and so I'm quitting. I want you all to know
that I've given it careful consideration, thought and prayer, and
it's with great sadness that I make this announcement."
Fans and critics were shocked. Morse’s devotion to Christianity
had been public knowledge for some time, but most people didn’t
see that as being anything that would have factored into a musical
departure. But moving past that, the remaining members are moving
past the alarming news and are getting their band back in order.
The Beard will live on! Talking with drummer Nick D'Virgilio about
the current state of his, and the band’s, musical life, he
revealed his thoughts on Neal’s monumental decision.
"We took it hard with the initial impact of the whole thing,
and as time wore on, we accepted what was happening. Like I said,
at the beginning there were some hard feelings. I was pissed off
for a bit, that’s for sure, and I can’t really speak for
anyone else, but everyone went through some emotional ups and downs
with the whole thing. But you have to do what you wanna do, and
life doesn’t last forever, and all those clichés, so
it is what it is, and it’s fine. We had a ton of fun together
and none of us wanted it to end, that’s for sure. But Neal
had to do what was best for him, and that’s totally fine."
Obviously the band had some thinking to do about the state of the
band and where they were headed after Neal’s departure. People
must have been asking the obvious questions about continuing the
band without Neal, and whether the music would change without their
main contributor. Would retiring Spock’s Beard and starting
over be a good idea?
"I think all of us were up for at least trying to keep it going.
I think some of the stuff we’ve written so far is definitely
in that same realm, maybe a little heavier and more rock-oriented,
but it’s still in that same vein. We’d like to continue
the band. We worked hard to get it to where we have it, and I’d
like to see if we can keep it going. I think the thought of calling
our band a different name wasn’t even thought about."
What will the new material sound like?
"I mean we’re going to be starting from a different space
now, so I don’t know. I’m personally trying to go in with
the mindset that we’re going to make the best record we can.
It’s gonna be different, and it’s not going to be the
same without Neal in the band, so we just have to do what we do
and hopefully something good will turn out. I’m pretty confident
that we’ll do something pretty good, so we’ll have to
kind of wait and see and not have any preconceived notions. I don’t
want to set ourselves up for some kind of failure. We’re just
gonna go with it and see what happens."
With most of the focus of the band in the last couple of months
being on Morse’s departure, it’s important to focus attention
on the latest album, Snow. The monstrous new album is not just the
band’s first attempt at making a double record, but it’s
also their first concept album. D'Virgilio explains the story of
Snow. <br><br>
"It’s about this guy who grows up in the middle of nowhere,
and has this gift from his early childhood of being able to see
into peoples minds and see what’s ailing them mentally, physically,
and all that kind of stuff. He has these powers to heal them, so
he takes off from home to move to the big city and to try and help
people. In doing that, he encounters a bunch of pitfalls and high-notes
and all of the above, and kinda ends up losing it himself for a
while and going through a whole bunch of stuff, and in the end he
finds the real meaning of peace, love and happiness." That
explanation only serves as a brief overview of the interesting story
that enthrals the listener, along with the same musical exuberance
that has been a staple of the Spock’s Beard sound since their
1995 debut, The Light.
I wondered what made the band decide to write this story.
"Well, I mean the story mostly was Neal—not totally, but
it was mostly Neal. We kinda made a turn left and right a little
bit, but I think a lot of it might be personal to Neal as to what
he’s going through and some of the things he’s done, but
I think most of the root of the story was Neal’s idea."
But the story of Snow was not the only monstrous task to handle.
The actual task of recording the album took on a different process
as opposed to past Beard albums, not to mention the realization
of spending more time on an album that’s twice the size of
any of their other releases.
"Yeah, we did spend more time all through the record mixing
and recording. Usually we go and rehearse for a while and then go
in and record, but this time we went into the studio and started
going for it. We wrote a lot of stuff together as a band in the
studio, you know, from riffs to full songs. So it did take more
time, but it was worth it. I don’t think it was intended to
be a double record at the beginning. It just kinda kept building."
The praise for the latest album has come in spades by the press
and their fanbase. Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy compared it
to other prog-rock classics like The Who’s Tommy and Genesis’s
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. When you have praise from a legendary
musical figure such as Portnoy, you can’t help but be flattered.
Many a band will be remembered for that one specific album in their
career that touched a collective audience and will usually find
people drawing comparisons to their new material and the one true
standout of their collection. Does Nick see this as the album that
people will remember the band for most?
"I don’t know. I think everyone’s different and I
mean, it’s a pretty big record. A lot of people thought our
last record was going to be our biggest thing. There’s a lot
of talented guys in this band, so hopefully we can just keep making
great music and each record will build on the one beforehand".
As an extra treat for their hardcore fanbase, the band decided to
release a limited 3-CD version of Snow, which contains a bonus disc
of demos, Snow outtakes, and a Yes cover, along with a four-page
booklet detailing the story of Snow, and stickers for their last
three albums. "It’s a special thing," says Nick,
"and fans get a little bit extra so it’s all worth it
in the end. And it was a lot of fun recording that Yes cover."
The extras will please their devout and dedicated fanbase, which
has stood by the band in the wake of what’s happened in the
last couple of months. The dedication and support by their followers
on the band’s official Internet message board, and the worldwide
fanbase, is nothing short of incredible. "We’re totally
blessed. It’s all good. We’ve got great fans all over
the place, and that’s why we want to keep going. We’re
lucky that we have so many people that like our music, and it’s
a blessing to be able to do this. So we just want to keep it going
for as long as we can."
Getting into the scope of the band’s sound, it’d be easy
to put them into a simple category such as progressive rock, due
to their retro sound fused with their own modern-day approach to
detailed songwriting. But is fitting the band into one category
limiting what the band is capable of? Do they see songs like "All
On a Sunday" (from their 2000 release, V) as being more accessible
to a non-prog crowd?
"It’s hard to answer that to be honest with you. I personally
don’t really care for all the titles because it kind of pigeonholes
you into only doing one kind of music, and when you want to appeal
to different people other than people who are prog fans, it can
be hard because they see that title and say ‘Oh, I won’t
like this because it’s that,’ but you know I’m not
denying the fact that we’re a prog band. I’m just hoping
that other people get into it too. I think it’s very accessible
music, and I definitely know prog has a bunch or elements as far
as prog-metal and old-style prog, and I think Spock’s Beard
has a lot of straight-ahead rock and pop tunes."
Closing out the conversation, I ask Nick about what the future holds
for the new Spock’s Beard. Obviously a tour for Snow is not
going to happen with the current state of the band, but will there
be new material shortly that will warrant a tour and ultimately
satisfy the fans drooling for another live taste of the band?
"We’re gonna try to go into the studio pretty much next
month and start recording, and hopefully put out a new record. We
want to release something new and go out, and I’m sure we’ll
play a lot of Snow. But we wanna try and go out on the road sometime
next spring. I mean, we would’ve wanted to be on the road already
for Snow, but without Neal there you can’t really do the whole
thing and it’d be a little strange, so we’re just waiting
to get something new to put out and then hit the road."
The next few months will be a trying time for the band, but will
also serve as a new start and be a new opportunity to silence any
people who think that Spock’s Beard without Neal Morse is going
to end in failure. The new era for the band is upon us, and this
writer, although hesitant, will gladly welcome the era with open
arms.
|
