Interviews
Neal Morse
Interview with: Neal Morse, ex Spock’s beard lead singer and keyboardist.
2004-10-25
On the 19th of October I got the chance to chat with one on of the greatest singers in the current progrock scene, ex Spock’s beard lead singer and keyboardist Neal Morse.
R: Hi Neal, how are you?
N: I’m great, how are you?
R: Great, great, where are you at?
N: Nashville Tennessee
R: home right?
N: yeah, home (laughs) and you?
R: I am talking from Israel, home
N: Israel? Oh cool.
R: You have a new album titled “one” coming out right?
N: yes, November second, yeah
R: what can we expect from the album?
N: well, it’s a concept album, we went as long as we possibly could go it’s 79 minuets and 55 seconds
R: (Laugh), yeah I read on your website that you actually counted the seconds so it would fit into a single album so you won’t have to do a double album, right?
N: (laughs) yeah , we had to squeeze it in. it’s a concept album, it’s very progressive , very prog, huh, heavier then Testimony
R: Testimony was a great album, it was very moving, especially the song ‘I am willing”, I found it very touching, it was a very emotional album, wasn’t it?
N: oh, yeah, I still get chocked up when I sing that song.
R: yeah, it’s a really great song… how did you deal with the touring on Testimony?, it was kinda of a big band, wasn’t it?
N: yeah, eight guys, I had help, people helped me, huh , you know, you get people to help, you know, the lord was there, you know.
I didn’t auditioned any players, I mainly just prayed about it, huh, you know, and people began to show up, the right people for that tour, and god, god was really working on that tour.
R: yeah, it’s great when thing work out the way you hoped for.
N: Did you get to see the testimony DVD?
R: no, actually I didn’t get to see it yet, it hasn’t arrived here in Israel, the prog. scene is just starting to get big in Israel.
N: oh really?
R: yeah, the progressive act is starting to get big here in Israel, but still haven’t got to it’s full size.
N: oh, right
R: what's the meaning of the album title, “one”?
N: oh, it’s about spiritual unity.
R: that connects with the concept of the album?
N: it’s about praying to god, “oh make us one”,
R: does the album peaks up where Testimony left?
N: humm not really, , not in my mind, it’s two separate pieces of work, it doesn’t continue on with my personal testimony. It tells the story of god and men being separated and then being brought back together. It basically tells the story of the bible, from genesis to revelation.
R: like the album by Genesis?
N: oh right yeah (laughing), I never actually heard that
R: yeah, me neither, it was released in this limited edition of 200 copies or so… do you have any plans visiting Israel, as a musician or as a private Pearson?
N: oh, I’d love to come, I don’t plan to at this point.
R: It’s a very spiritual place, very unique and interesting, you could always come and stay with us, we’ll show you around (laughing)
N: (laughing) yeah, it sounds wonderful, wonderful .
R: how was working with Mike Portnoy?
N: Oh great, Mike is always such a light, and he has a way of putting things together, of arranging parts, cutting and pasting, putting everything together, he really helped me, him and randy both, they both helped me putting on this album together, it was much more corporative then any of my solo albums, it felt more like a transatlantic album, as far as the collaboration aspect.
R: And Testimony was much more of a solo concept?
N: Yeah, Testimony I pretty much wrote, and, demoed, and then just record over the demos for the album, I had Mike overdub the drums and one by one I replaced everything .it’s really different then what we did with this album, we had the demo recordings, and then we just got together in a room and, huh, and kinda cut and paste, wrote some new parts, most of the stuff are what I originally wrote, but part of it is in different order then it was, so, huh, just kinda got together and sort it all out
R: I heard that there are 3 long epics right?
N: yeah, there are two really long epics, two 18 minuets long pieces
R: how did those come together? A few separated songs, or this one big track?
N: “The creation” really is just one big piece that goes to a lot of different places, it’s not really, like a suit of songs put together like, Definitely “The man” is more of like a suit of songs put together, somewhat like “The water”, or something from the early spock’s albums.
R: what are the future plans for this album, you know, touring and things of the sort.
N: we’re discussing it right now, I don’t know what are we going to do, we’ll see if something works out.
R: I’m gonna go back again to the Testimony album with this one, the concept of the album is actually your life, right?, that’s how I felt when I heard it, how do you feel about the waves it makes, you know, it’s out in the open air now, for everyone to listen to it, and you’ve played it live, how do you think the audience gets it?
N: it seems that the audience has really received it well, I am pleased with the way the audience received it,
R: Do you think they all got the massage you wanted to send?
N:I think a lot of them have, yeah, their hearts have been touched, you know, their life had been touched by the album, people told me “you know, I can’t figure it out, I’m just driving in my car, and I don’t even, you know, believe in god or anything really, and I was just listening to I AM WILLING and I just burst into tears.
R: yeah, it has that effect, it’s a very powerful song in my opinion, so as the song “the land of beginning again”, it’s easy to see that it is very emotional for you to.
N: yeah, I did a solo gig in Michigan, a few weeks ago, and by the time I did the testimony stuff, I did it all at the end, I did “the land of beginning again, wasted life, oh to feel him, moving in my heart, and I am willing” and I cried throughout, well, a lot of it, that was.. it still moves me.
R: how did you get writing those lyrics? Did you have a feeling, or a spiritual experience that made you sit down and write those lyrics?
N: yeah, I’m writing about what it’s like to receive the gift of the holy ghost, that’s what this is all about, about being willing to receive it first and then, “the storm before the calm” is about going through a lot of things I knew I had to let go of and start moving in my heart, and “oh to feel him”, is about to finally receive it, so yeah a lot of it flows out, you know, it flows out in a spiritual kind of way and a lot of time I have to get in there in get it out of me, you know.
R: Aren’t you afraid sometimes to be to personal to take out?
N: sometimes I wonder if people want to hear that much about,huh, that many things about me, but I didn’t know how Testimony will be received because of that.
R: How does it feel sitting down writing this album that is basically the story of your life?
N: I don’t know, I think it was really easy, much easier to write then “Snow”, because with “Snow” I had to figure out the story and make all this stuff up, and wonder if that will sound lame, or was it a good thing, on Testimony it was easy because all I had to think about, was “gee, what happens next”.
R: Now, about “Snow” , how much of “Snow” was the beginning of your own spiritual revolution, because, in a way, “Snow” has a resemblance to Jesus, they both came as saviors, and he grows up and he has those special abilities and he can and tries to help everyone, how much of that has a connection with Testimony?
N: what was happening with “Snow”, is that I was having all this, praying songs , you know, you write from the heart, and I was writing from my heart and what was coming out was lots of prayers songs, you know, things like, “Wind at my back”, “open wide the flood gates” “I will go”, “Love beyond words”, so then I was trying to figure out how to take this praying songs and making them work in a spock’s beard concept, that was kind of how “Snow” came to be.
R: and how does feel being a solo artist, because spock’s beard was a whole band, and you are kinda on your own, do you feel any safer now? You know, emotionally.
N: oh, it seems good you know, it feels good, it felt good in spock’s too, I mean, I feel like when I was in spock’s I was where I was supposed to be, you know, and being out of spock’s now feels like this where I’m suppose to be (laughs) , it’s all about being wherever you feel god wants you to be, at that time, at that point in your walk, so, this feels good.
R: about transatlantic, which I personally think has a very unique sound, and I like that project very much. can we expect a third album, Sometime?
N: oh I don’t know, I wouldn’t expect it, I wouldn’t be expecting it.
R: and some special show with spock’s beard, this one time thing?
N: it could happened, you can never know, I wouldn’t rule it out, I wouldn’t expect it to happen any time soon, I don’t know if it will ever happen, it may never happen.
R: what would you consider to be your main influences?
N: well, my primary influences, musically, is The Beatles, and prog. groups like, Yes, ELP, Crimson, Gentle giant, you know, all those guys, I don’t know, I just write from this honest place
R: and current influences?
N: oh, Christian artists like Chris Rice,.
R: this album, you’ve been working on it for like, four months?
N: actually I started writing in last November, and I didn’t actually finish it, recording it until august, august first.
R: how was the recording process?
N: it was great, actually fast, the writing process was really slow, ‘cos I was kinda stuck and I needed help and I didn’t know who to get that help from, and then Randy (George) and Mike (Portnoy) a little bit later, and it all came together, we started recording it, I think in june, so the recording process was two months.
R: well, this is pretty fast
N: yeah that’s pretty fast, it was a lot of hard work.
R: and by now the album is finished, after mastering and all, right?
N: yeah, it’s all done.
R:I heard that the guy who designed the cover was the one who did the artwork for “Snow”, and there is kind of a similar feeling to them, in snow, he is standing in this crossroad, and in the new album, this guy stands in front of this one road actually.
N: yeah, what I asked him to do was something like the prodigal son coming home, the son is returning to the shiny city in the hill kinda thing, so that’s where the cover came from.
R: that’s the feeling we can get from the album?
N: yeah, that also, that’s the basic thing that the album’s about, man leaving god, and then coming home.
R: did the writing process flowed like in the Testimony album?
N: no, I kinda got stuck on this one, it didn’t flow out like Testimony did, I got stuck on this one, Randy and Mike helped me sort it all out.
R: there is a big difference between your first two albums and Testimony and this one, they were much more, poppy.
N: yeah, they were more like regular songs, not so much as prog albums.
R: And testimony was written in an aspect as I lived it before, and the point of view was much like, “I am here now, with lord beside me, and that’s who I was then, now I’m different, and I’m waiting for you to catch up with my story, I was there, but now I know there is a whole different world”.
N: (laughs) yeah, that’s right,
R: and with this album you’re in a completely different place.
N: yeah , I definitely am, as a writer I’m still very interested in, huh, the separation of men and god, and I still write a lot about that, I’m proud I went through all of those years of being separated so I could write about it.
R: Last question. this is somewhat bizarre, I saw it on a TV show once and I wanted to ask you this, when you’ll reach the gates of heaven, what would you like god to tell you?
N: Well job done, thy good and faithful servant.
R: that’s great, thank you very much for the interview and it was great talking to you, and I want you to know how much you influenced me as a musician and as a person.
N: oh, thank you Roy, seek him, seek for with all your heart
R: Thank you very much.
N: OK , take care man
I would like to thank Neal Morse for being so kind and cooperative. thank you Neal Morse
Roy Povarchik
