Neal Morse left Spock’s Beard in 2002 after the release of the album « Snow ». Ever since, he dedicates himself to God and evokes his belief and his intellectual pilgrimage in all his musical projects. Everyone remembers for instance the striking anecdote of his daughter’s miraculous recovery, which he tells in Testimony live. When a journalist asks him if he intends to write about something else than religion one day, he answers with humour: « I’ll pray for it to happen! »
A frustrating departure for the fans, since Snow, which the great majority of them consider Spock’s Beard masterwork, was never played live by his parent line-up.
We spoke to Neal Morse on the 20th of April, in order to discuss his new album Testimony 2, but also the questions relating to Spock’s Beard and Snow. On his next album to be released in May, members of Spock’s Beard (Nick D’Virgilio, Alan Morse and Dave Meros) will make an appearance on the title Time Changer, « a kind of audio reformation of Spock’s Beard on that song », as he tells us.
But there’s even better. During the next summer festivals, Neal Morse and Spock’s Beard will be meeting and playing together on stage for a few songs. As to Snow, Morse keeps hoping. An admittedly slim hope, but still: « we spoke about it, we haven’t had the time to do it because of busy timetables. We talked about playing it together and to film it to release a DVD… but we haven’t found the time yet. »
Finally, to our question on his eventual return in the band Spock’s Beard, he gives a vague but an open answer: « We’ll see! I’ll meet them this summer; we’ll see what comes out of it. »
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One can only hope that they find their way back to the Snow lineup. Would love to see them live some day.
Craig Kerley
Not Otherwise Specified (NOS)
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