Former Spock’s Beard frontman turned successful solo artist Neal Morse has been part of the prog world since the 90s. He’s enjoyed myriad creative outlets including Flying Colors and Transatlantic, as well as his Morsefest weekender. His NMB just released concept album L.I.F.T. – but as he tells Prog, there was a time when he lost all hope and found himself in a world of pain.
You formed Spock’s Beard with your older brother, Alan, in 1992. Was there a healthy competition between you?
Healthy and unhealthy! We could be really mean to each other. Al smashed up his bass on the floor once when me and Nick D’Virgilio [original Spock’s Beard drummer] were teasing him.
Article continues belowInitially Al was on bass and I was on guitar. But then Al decided he wanted to kick my butt on guitar – and by God, he did. I played with a pick and he played with his fingers; I told him he’d never become a great lead guitarist that way, but he proved me wrong.
Al would play at parties and blow people’s minds, doing Eddie Van Halen stuff before Eddie appeared and became known for it. After that I became the utility keyboards and second-guitar guy in bands, which I still am today. It’s worked well for me as a songwriter.
There were some storms to weather before Spock's Beard scored a deal with Metal Blade Records.
I'd begun to feel it wasn't going to happen for us. I was angry and pretty depressed and I was disillusioned with the music business. Why write more songs that nobody was going to hear?
I was also realising that there was a whole world of musicians who felt that way; it was like The Grinch had stolen Christmas from us or something. Forgive me for getting emotional – there was a lot of pain to do with my music not getting heard around that time. My love for music, this thing that was so precious to me, was beginning to die, and that really troubled me.
How did you manage to move beyond that?
I went on this self-development, course, The Landmark Forum.
Even back then you were searching for something?
I was, but I didn't know it. I only tried it because my brother and friends were hassling me about it. One of the course’s suggestions was to focus on your life’s high points. All of mine were musical, of course – singing in the opera Amahl And The Night Visitors when I was 9; my older brothers taking me to see Black Sabbath opening for Grand Funk Railroad; seeing the classic Yes line-up with Bruford, Wakeman, Anderson, Squire and Howe.
The course also suggested you do things with no “in-order-to” – so you’re not chasing a career or worrying about what people are going to think. So that was what I did: I started writing music without worrying. Iit led to this creative breakthrough
Indeed. The title track of Spock’s Beard’s 1995 debut The Light is a 15-minute suite in eight sections. Pretty bold.
I wrote that song right out of that course. That one and Go The Way You Go. I'd been feeling desperate, then I got a fax from Metal Blade saying they'd license our records.
L.I.F.T. is on sale now.
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