Neal Morse is one of the great progressive rock maestros this world has to offer, and if I may heap even more praise, is truly one of the great pure songwriters around. Whether he is constructing a 4-minute pop rock song or a 30-min prog epic, the man is simply the king of melody. It has been about a decade and a half since Neal left the prog rock band Spock’s Beard, a unique almost stand-alone band in the prog rock genre, which Neal helped form with his brother Alan Morse about 25 years ago. A little over a year ago the band reunited to perform their great 2-disc progressive rock opus titled Snow in its entirety. This one-off concert event had been on the back burner for years, and at Morsefest 2016, the idea finally became a reality. This incredible one-night performance is sure to stir up a range of emotions for long time Spock’s Beard fans, as well as provide closure for fans who were dying to see the band perform the Snow tracks live with Neal. Metal Exiles had the honor of talking with Neal Morse about the momentous performance of Snow Live, while also taking a bit of an inside look at the album itself.
An Interview with Neal Morse
By Michael Knowles
Metal Exiles: How did the idea of performing Snow in its entirety finally come together?
Neal Morse: Well you know we’ve been talking about it for several years, I think Nick first brought it up like 4 or 5 years before, and it never seemed like the right time. You know when you are in a season from one album, it seems sort of strange to throw in just a concert about some album you did a long time ago. You know most of the time I’m in the middle of something and the other guys have been too, you know they would have a new Spock’s album or what have you. This time it just seemed like it all came together you know, everybody had the time, the desire, so the stars aligned, and we finally played the Snow album from start to finish.
Metal Exiles: Could you talk about the emotions you were feeling on this night, I believe you said before that this was not the easiest performance for you?
Neal: Yea you know even just kind of going through it, listening and preparing was challenging, because it was just a painful time, when I was writing the album I was always feeling like God wanted me to do something else and you know quit the band. And so, you could imagine it was difficult and so there’s that and then the material itself, especially the second half is gut wrenching. What happens with the guy in the story, being rejected and just kind of going manic. On the night I was somehow, I don’t know I was able to really get in that place. I had a few frustrating moments in the first half for me personally, you know I made some real clunkers in the piano solo, that I fixed, I fixed those for the DVD, but anyone who was there that night knows that you know I made some mistakes on that, I’m just being totally honest. And I was just frustrated with myself, and I think I used that frustration to really get into pieces like “I’m Dying,” and it helped me in some way. How I would put it is God used it for good, to help me to put it across in a better way than I would have had everything just been rosy.
Metal Exiles: Can you discuss the rehearsal process for this momentous performance, couldn’t have been easy to prepare for this?
Neal: Well pretty normal for Morsefest you know, usually everybody is preparing separately and then we come together, and we usually have about 3 days to get ready, hopefully 4 but I believe that week for some reason we couldn’t start till Tuesday. Somebody couldn’t get here till Monday night, so we didn’t start playing together, I think we only had Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to get Snow to get Snow together. And then Thursday night was the rehearsal for Storytellers which is what we did Friday night, and then Saturday night was Snow of course, but yea you know you just have to do a lot of preparation beforehand so you’re all pretty well ready to play it when you get together, and that was the case this time, yea everyone really did their homework it was pretty great.
Metal Exiles: I think many fans would agree that Snow is when Spock’s Beard hit its peak, how would you rank the album amongst the rest of your great catalogue?
Neal: You know I like Snow, but it wouldn’t be on my top 10 personally, my favorite Spock’s Beard albums would probably be, if I was going to pick 1 to listen to I usually gravitate towards Beware of Darkness and also I really like the V album, but I haven’t listened to the V album in a long time. I don’t know I just have my preferences, but you know all the Spock’s Beard albums have great stuff on them.
Metal Exiles: It seems like Snow may have provided a musical road map for Similitude of a Dream, is that the case at all?
Neal: No not really, the one thing I did notice playing both those albums fairly close to one another, is that they’re both very song oriented. Yea they’re more song oriented than some of my other things. I think that’s one of the reasons people like them so well. There’s a lot of good choruses you know that really work and that you can sing along to.
Metal Exiles: Snow really has some intricate melodies and a big range of styles, I’d imagine as a vocalist especially, that it’s not the easiest album to perform live and in the studio?
Neal: You know it was difficult composing Snow, it’s been a long time now but I remember just really having a hard time putting it together. One of the things was I was resisting it being a double and I wasn’t even sure I wanted it to be a concept record. Sometimes works of art, they just have a life of their own, they have something that they want to be, and Snow just wanted to be what it became and it took me a long time to discover it.
Metal Exiles: How did the story come together, what served as your inspiration?
Neal: Well 9/11 happened, I was in LA to record the album with Spock’s, it wasn’t coming together, and I remember thinking well maybe if we get together and we start working on it will just happen, and we did that, and it didn’t really just happen like it still wasn’t really coming together, plus Nick was like super sick and couldn’t be involved or record, and so I decided well I guess I’ll just fly home. That was on Monday night and I thought well, and my wife said why don’t you fly home tonight, and I thought I’ll just go home in the morning I already have a hotel booked, and then the next morning was September 11th 2001 and you know the planes went into the twin towers and all the airports all over the country and all over the world were closed for days and days. They had a moratorium on car rental returns, so I prayed about it and left, drove out to the desert that late morning I think and started home. And something about driving through the desert in that condition, I don’t know I was just thinking about the whole idea, and that’s when the kind of the whole concept came to me.
Metal Exiles: Is there a Christian message at all in Snow?
Neal: Well yea I think there is, first of all a lot of the songs that were coming out of me were based on my experiences with the Holy Spirit, about healing and seeing things and you know feeling the love of God. You know “Open Wide the Flood Gates” you know “Wind at my Back” and “I Will Go” was based on a talk I heard in church from the book of Ruth, where you go I will go. So, the challenge was that I would take a lot of these Christian songs and make them work for a Spock’s Beard album, that was kind of my challenge, and so yea a lot of it was inspired by Christian things and you know love will be your ministry, about him feeling called, feeling the call of God to do this ministry and to do what he’s doing. Also, kind of being afraid to do it but then doing it, then of course getting full of himself and falling terribly, and then waking up in the hospital with his friends around him, then they touch him, and he has a vision, and he’s healed.
Metal Exiles: It seems to me that you are able to find the words and melodies that invoke so much emotion, I’m always very emotionally moved by your albums, do you feel that the Holy Spirit working through you as you write music?
Neal: Oh sure, that’s what I’m praying for, I’m you know I’m asking God to use me for and you know trying to access that stuff, that place that is so difficult to define. You know that spiritual place at the center of us all that either we know about, or we don’t know about but somehow music can still kind of access that place. And yea you know I pray for it, I don’t know how to do it I just try to do what I’m inspired to do and hope it touches others.
Metal Exiles: How do your live releases sound so good? In most live releases something is compromised in the mix, but with your live releases especially with Snow live, it’s near the quality of a studio album.
Neal: Rich Mouser (laughs), yea he’s great, he really went the extra mile, he loves the Snow album as much as anyone else. So, yea he really went the extra mile and made it sound extraordinarily good and also the guys who filmed the concert are doing it as a labor of love also, and I feel like they did an above and beyond extraordinary performance also.
Metal Exiles: How involved were you in the overall production process and editing?
Neal: They would send me stuff, and I would make a few notes, I try to stay out of that end. If you get people that are really really good sometimes it’s best to just stay out of their way and let them do their thing.
Metal Exiles: Of course you stayed close with your brother, but did you keep in contact with the other members of Spock’s Beard over the years after you left?
Neal: Somewhat, we don’t talk all the time or anything but we stay in touch.
Metal Exiles: I always wondered as a Spock’s Beard fan why it took as long as it did for you to form a band with your brother?
Neal: Oh we were in bands for years, they just didn’t have any success. We were in bands off and on, we were in bands together when we were teenagers, we were in bands together in the 80’s when we were in our 20’s, he wasn’t in my singer/songwriter band. Then we were in this rock what would you call it, I don’t know almost partly punk band kind of thing called Somebody’s in the early 90’s, so yea me and Al have been playing together all our lives.
Metal Exiles: Do you see the possibility of collaborating with your brother in the future, not necessarily with Spock’s Beard, but as a separate musical entity?
Neal: We’ve worked on quite a few things, I worked on his solo album, his fusion album which is really cool, and we collaborated on some stuff for the album Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep.
Metal Exiles: You’re working on a new singer/songwriter album, can you talk about that a little bit, and will this be a Christian themed record?
Neal: Actually it’s not, it’s kind of slice of life stuff and it’s me being on tour, me walking around Manchester and writing about what I’m seeing, it’s me waking up in the morning in Paris to a text that a friend of a friend had died, and that triggered a really heart felt song. It’s normal songs, it’s not a progressive rock album, it’s an album that you might like, but your wife probably will like
BUY Snow Live on DVD
BUY Snow Live On CD
BUY Snow Live on Vinyl
An Interview with Neal Morse
By Michael Knowles
Metal Exiles: How did the idea of performing Snow in its entirety finally come together?
Neal Morse: Well you know we’ve been talking about it for several years, I think Nick first brought it up like 4 or 5 years before, and it never seemed like the right time. You know when you are in a season from one album, it seems sort of strange to throw in just a concert about some album you did a long time ago. You know most of the time I’m in the middle of something and the other guys have been too, you know they would have a new Spock’s album or what have you. This time it just seemed like it all came together you know, everybody had the time, the desire, so the stars aligned, and we finally played the Snow album from start to finish.
Metal Exiles: Could you talk about the emotions you were feeling on this night, I believe you said before that this was not the easiest performance for you?
Neal: Yea you know even just kind of going through it, listening and preparing was challenging, because it was just a painful time, when I was writing the album I was always feeling like God wanted me to do something else and you know quit the band. And so, you could imagine it was difficult and so there’s that and then the material itself, especially the second half is gut wrenching. What happens with the guy in the story, being rejected and just kind of going manic. On the night I was somehow, I don’t know I was able to really get in that place. I had a few frustrating moments in the first half for me personally, you know I made some real clunkers in the piano solo, that I fixed, I fixed those for the DVD, but anyone who was there that night knows that you know I made some mistakes on that, I’m just being totally honest. And I was just frustrated with myself, and I think I used that frustration to really get into pieces like “I’m Dying,” and it helped me in some way. How I would put it is God used it for good, to help me to put it across in a better way than I would have had everything just been rosy.
Metal Exiles: Can you discuss the rehearsal process for this momentous performance, couldn’t have been easy to prepare for this?
Neal: Well pretty normal for Morsefest you know, usually everybody is preparing separately and then we come together, and we usually have about 3 days to get ready, hopefully 4 but I believe that week for some reason we couldn’t start till Tuesday. Somebody couldn’t get here till Monday night, so we didn’t start playing together, I think we only had Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to get Snow to get Snow together. And then Thursday night was the rehearsal for Storytellers which is what we did Friday night, and then Saturday night was Snow of course, but yea you know you just have to do a lot of preparation beforehand so you’re all pretty well ready to play it when you get together, and that was the case this time, yea everyone really did their homework it was pretty great.
Metal Exiles: I think many fans would agree that Snow is when Spock’s Beard hit its peak, how would you rank the album amongst the rest of your great catalogue?
Neal: You know I like Snow, but it wouldn’t be on my top 10 personally, my favorite Spock’s Beard albums would probably be, if I was going to pick 1 to listen to I usually gravitate towards Beware of Darkness and also I really like the V album, but I haven’t listened to the V album in a long time. I don’t know I just have my preferences, but you know all the Spock’s Beard albums have great stuff on them.
Metal Exiles: It seems like Snow may have provided a musical road map for Similitude of a Dream, is that the case at all?
Neal: No not really, the one thing I did notice playing both those albums fairly close to one another, is that they’re both very song oriented. Yea they’re more song oriented than some of my other things. I think that’s one of the reasons people like them so well. There’s a lot of good choruses you know that really work and that you can sing along to.
Metal Exiles: Snow really has some intricate melodies and a big range of styles, I’d imagine as a vocalist especially, that it’s not the easiest album to perform live and in the studio?
Neal: You know it was difficult composing Snow, it’s been a long time now but I remember just really having a hard time putting it together. One of the things was I was resisting it being a double and I wasn’t even sure I wanted it to be a concept record. Sometimes works of art, they just have a life of their own, they have something that they want to be, and Snow just wanted to be what it became and it took me a long time to discover it.
Metal Exiles: How did the story come together, what served as your inspiration?
Neal: Well 9/11 happened, I was in LA to record the album with Spock’s, it wasn’t coming together, and I remember thinking well maybe if we get together and we start working on it will just happen, and we did that, and it didn’t really just happen like it still wasn’t really coming together, plus Nick was like super sick and couldn’t be involved or record, and so I decided well I guess I’ll just fly home. That was on Monday night and I thought well, and my wife said why don’t you fly home tonight, and I thought I’ll just go home in the morning I already have a hotel booked, and then the next morning was September 11th 2001 and you know the planes went into the twin towers and all the airports all over the country and all over the world were closed for days and days. They had a moratorium on car rental returns, so I prayed about it and left, drove out to the desert that late morning I think and started home. And something about driving through the desert in that condition, I don’t know I was just thinking about the whole idea, and that’s when the kind of the whole concept came to me.
Metal Exiles: Is there a Christian message at all in Snow?
Neal: Well yea I think there is, first of all a lot of the songs that were coming out of me were based on my experiences with the Holy Spirit, about healing and seeing things and you know feeling the love of God. You know “Open Wide the Flood Gates” you know “Wind at my Back” and “I Will Go” was based on a talk I heard in church from the book of Ruth, where you go I will go. So, the challenge was that I would take a lot of these Christian songs and make them work for a Spock’s Beard album, that was kind of my challenge, and so yea a lot of it was inspired by Christian things and you know love will be your ministry, about him feeling called, feeling the call of God to do this ministry and to do what he’s doing. Also, kind of being afraid to do it but then doing it, then of course getting full of himself and falling terribly, and then waking up in the hospital with his friends around him, then they touch him, and he has a vision, and he’s healed.
Metal Exiles: It seems to me that you are able to find the words and melodies that invoke so much emotion, I’m always very emotionally moved by your albums, do you feel that the Holy Spirit working through you as you write music?
Neal: Oh sure, that’s what I’m praying for, I’m you know I’m asking God to use me for and you know trying to access that stuff, that place that is so difficult to define. You know that spiritual place at the center of us all that either we know about, or we don’t know about but somehow music can still kind of access that place. And yea you know I pray for it, I don’t know how to do it I just try to do what I’m inspired to do and hope it touches others.
Metal Exiles: How do your live releases sound so good? In most live releases something is compromised in the mix, but with your live releases especially with Snow live, it’s near the quality of a studio album.
Neal: Rich Mouser (laughs), yea he’s great, he really went the extra mile, he loves the Snow album as much as anyone else. So, yea he really went the extra mile and made it sound extraordinarily good and also the guys who filmed the concert are doing it as a labor of love also, and I feel like they did an above and beyond extraordinary performance also.
Metal Exiles: How involved were you in the overall production process and editing?
Neal: They would send me stuff, and I would make a few notes, I try to stay out of that end. If you get people that are really really good sometimes it’s best to just stay out of their way and let them do their thing.
Metal Exiles: Of course you stayed close with your brother, but did you keep in contact with the other members of Spock’s Beard over the years after you left?
Neal: Somewhat, we don’t talk all the time or anything but we stay in touch.
Metal Exiles: I always wondered as a Spock’s Beard fan why it took as long as it did for you to form a band with your brother?
Neal: Oh we were in bands for years, they just didn’t have any success. We were in bands off and on, we were in bands together when we were teenagers, we were in bands together in the 80’s when we were in our 20’s, he wasn’t in my singer/songwriter band. Then we were in this rock what would you call it, I don’t know almost partly punk band kind of thing called Somebody’s in the early 90’s, so yea me and Al have been playing together all our lives.
Metal Exiles: Do you see the possibility of collaborating with your brother in the future, not necessarily with Spock’s Beard, but as a separate musical entity?
Neal: We’ve worked on quite a few things, I worked on his solo album, his fusion album which is really cool, and we collaborated on some stuff for the album Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep.
Metal Exiles: You’re working on a new singer/songwriter album, can you talk about that a little bit, and will this be a Christian themed record?
Neal: Actually it’s not, it’s kind of slice of life stuff and it’s me being on tour, me walking around Manchester and writing about what I’m seeing, it’s me waking up in the morning in Paris to a text that a friend of a friend had died, and that triggered a really heart felt song. It’s normal songs, it’s not a progressive rock album, it’s an album that you might like, but your wife probably will like
BUY Snow Live on DVD
BUY Snow Live On CD
BUY Snow Live on Vinyl