Morse, Neal (October 2002)

I Will Go

In the first part of September, I had the opportunity to interview Neal Morse, the lead vocalist -- rather, the ex-lead vocalist and songwriter of the progressive rock band Spock's Beard. With the announcement of his departure from his band, it became clear to me why, in part, this interview was never finished (the other part was their in-store appearances here in the Los Angeles area in the middle of the month).

The background on Spock's Beard is fairly well known, having debuted on the scene in 1995 with The Light. Beware Of Darkness followed shortly thereafter, in 1996, but it wasn't really until The Kindness Of Strangers (1997) that the band's profile became really prominent. Two more albums followed, Day For Night (1999) and V (2000) (in among no fewer than 4 live releases and one rarities release). Each album showed the band trying something a little different from the album before, yet staying true to the sound that first pricked listener's ears. 2002 sees the release of Snow, an ambitious 2-CD concept album. Ambitious in scope, at least, as the core Spock's Beard sound is very much in evidence. I asked Neal what prompted the theme, as on the surface it rang awfully familiar - the film Powder and Heinlein's novel Stranger In A Strange Land (a deeper reading brings to mind also the Christ story, which was among my follow up questions, ... this now has, of course, resonance outside of the concept itself). To the question of influences, Neal responded: "Yeah, I think those were influences. I was never particularly 'into' either one of those things but, I remember when I was thinking about what to call the album -- I mean, I knew it was going to be a character's name like 'Tommy' or 'Annie Hall' or whatever; for some reason I thought of 'Snow'. I'd actually say to myself when I was trying out titles 'Spock's Beard - Bob,' you know, so when I tried 'Spock's Beard - Snow' I actually had a little physical reaction. Like, something in me said, 'that's it!' So then it was, Snow. Hmmmmm .... How could that make any sense? Then, I got the idea that it could be a nickname for someone, and then the idea of him being an albino came."

An interview published at the Spock's Beard site, revealed that the songs had come first, then the theme built around them to tie them all together. I asked Neal whether he found that more difficult, as the songs were already established, or had he changed the songs to fit the theme. "It was an interesting process. It's like I had some songs, 'Wind At My Back' and 'Solitary Soul' and the framework for the 'Overture' and others, all in all about 60 minutes of demos that ran together, and I flew out to LA about this time last year to cut down what was there and add more, and all we did was add. That's when it became obvious to me that it was going to have to be a double. Then the story came to fit with what was already there. But then the story brought out the rest of the music. Songs like 'I'm The Guy,' 'Freak Boy' and 'I Will Go' all came after the story."

As Neal mentions in his press release announcing his departure, one of the oft asked questions of the band was, "when are you going on tour?" Admittedly, I asked him this question myself, saying, "I'm guessing SB will play live dates supporting Snow ... do you plan to play the whole suite live, or use the Cliff Notes promo version as your setlist guide? Or haven't you even thought that far yet?"

"We're still trying to sort that out. I think the whole thing will be too long. No room for anything else. Probably some kind of abbreviated version."

Of course we know now why he couldn't be more specific. The interview didn't really go much further than that, as these were my initial round of questions -- schedules at both ends meant this was done via email. But I did ask a few more questions, outside the scope of the album:

Who has been an influence on you that people wouldn't expect you to say?

Groucho Marx.

Other than Transatlantic, and SB, who would you love to be able to work with if given the chance?

Groucho Marx. Oh wait, he's dead....how about Peter Gabriel? He's kind of good... :)

If the musician thing weren't working out so well, what would you be doing instead?

A dental hygenist. Seriously, a teacher, I guess.

What will Morse end up doing? Even he doesn't really know himself, yet. As he says in his statement (as published at the Radiant Records site): "I'm exploring right now, and I'm not sure. You'll [the fans] be the first to know!! Of that you can be sure. My wife and I will continue to run Radiant Records and Latter Rain Records, (the Spock's site will be the band's of course) and I'm going to take some time and see what's next."

What's next for a post-Morse Spock's Beard? The band are already working on material for a new album, and drummer Nick D'Virgilio will take over lead vocal duties.

[See also Marcelo's interview with Morse from February 2002, and Keith's and Steph's from November 2003 -ed.]

Discography:
Spock's Beard:
The Light (1991/1995)
Beware of Darkness (1995)
Official Live Bootleg (1996)
The Kindness of Strangers (1997)
From The Vault - 1995-1998 (1998)
The Beard Is Out There Live (1995)
Day For Night (1999)
Live At The Whiskey and NEARfest (1999)
Don't Try This At Home (2000)
V (2000)
Don't Try This @ Home Either! (2000)
There And Here (2001)
Snow (2002)

Neal Morse/Neal Morse Band: Neal Morse (1999)
Merry Christmas From The Morse Family (2000)
It's Not Too Late (2001)
Testimony (2003)
One (2004)
Lead Me Lord (Worship Sessions Volume One) (2005)
? (2005)
God Won't Give Up (2005)
Worship Sessions Volume II: Send The Fire (2006)
One Demos (2007)
Sola Scriptura (2007)
Songs from the Highway (2007)
?: Live (2007)
Sing It High (a collection of singles) (2007)
Worship Sessions Volume III: Secret Place (2008)
Lifeline (2008)
Worship Sessions Volume IV: The River (2009)
So Many Roads Live In Europe (3 CD Digibook) (2009)
Mighty To Save (Worship Sessions 2010) (2010)
Testimony Two (2011)

Testimony 2 - Live in Los Angeles (3CD/2DVD) (2011)
Testimony, The Book (2011)
Momentum (2012)
Songs From November (2014)
The Grand Experiment (2015)

Testimony Live (DVD) (2004)
Sola Scriptura And Beyond (DVD) (2008)
Testimony 2 - Live in Los Angeles (3CD/2DVD, 2011) Transatlantic:
SMPTe (2000)
Live In America (2001) Bridge Across Forever (2001)
Bridge Across Forever - Special Edition (2001)
Neal Morse - The Transatlantic Demos (2003)
SMPTe - Roine Stolt Mixes (2003) Live In Europe (2003)
The Whirlwind (2010)
More Is Never Enough (3CD/2DVD) (2011)
Kaleidoscope (2014)

Live In America (DVD) (2001)
Whirld Tour 2010 - Live At Shepherd's Bush Empire (DVD) (2010) Building A Bridge (DVD) (2002)
Live In Europe (DVD) (2003)
The Official Live Bootleg DVD (DVD) (2010)
Whirld Tour 2010 (DVD) (2010)
More Is Never Enough (2DVD/3CD) (2011)
KaLIVEoscope (2DVDs+3CDs+BR, 3CD+DVD, BR) (2014)

Others:
Neal Morse and Nick D'Virgilio - Two Separate Gorillas - Live In Europe (2000)
Morse Portnoy George - Cover To Cover (2006)
Morse Portnoy George - Cover 2 Cover (2012)
Flying Colors - Flying Colors (2012)
Flying Colors - Live In Europe (2013)
Flying Colors - Second Nature (2014)