“That’s quite the look, Neal!” cackles Nick D’Virgilio to his buddy Neal Morse as the Zoom call kicks in.
The former Spock’s Beard and current D’Virgilio, Morse & Jennings compadres explode with laughter on first sight of each other, always a good sign, even when the interviewees already have reputations for being distinctly non-prickly. The reason for the mirth is Morse’s wide-brimmed blue hat and matching waterproof poncho. They’re joining Prog to talk about the “trio’s” (as Morse likes to call them) quickly realised second album, Sophomore. Morse has tied in a family road trip with his sister’s birthday celebration in the San Francisco Bay area, travelling from his home in Nashville. He joins us from a famous Nevada beauty spot.
“It’s morning in Lake Tahoe and I’m sitting by the campfire, dude!” he explains to D’Virgilio.
The Big Big Train drummer, meanwhile, is joining us from Sweetwater Studios in Fort Wayne,
Indiana, where he works as a session vocalist, drummer and engineer. With the pair happy to see each other and nicely warmed up, we dive straight in to tackle the strangest thing about a group with such apparently organic vocal harmony perfection: the trio have only ever been gathered together in the same place twice.
“Yeah,” says Morse, “this was all file sharing like the first [album] because of logistics, but also it’s an ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ kinda thing. I think we were all very happy with the way the first album turned out, so why not [continue in that way]? There was something kinda graceful and easy with the way it’s come together and I’m really pleased with both records.”
The second of the two occasions that they’ve all been together was quite recently, with the intention of getting the promotional gears turning, according to D’Virgilio: “We went to shoot a couple of videos in Neal’s studio in Nashville. Ross had just finished his run of dates in the States with Haken and flew down.”
Ah yes, Ross Jennings. Forming a band with two ex-Spock’s guys, especially a project with a pronounced 70s West Coast feel, one wouldn’t necessarily think of a relatively young English prog metaller as the missing ingredient. But Morse explains how Jennings was foremost in his thoughts.
“I’d just watched him in the Absolute Universe video [The Final Flight: Live At L’Olympia concert film by Morsefronted prog supergroup Transatlantic]. They’d had the idea to have us interviewed by our peers. I watched Ross interviewing [drummer] Mike Portnoy, so Ross was in my head. We’d actually been talking for weeks [about] who should be the third guy? And I didn’t know if Ross would be interested or into this kind of music at all. But I sent him an email and he was like, ‘Dude! You have no idea! I’m a huge fan of acoustic music and country and all that kind of thing.’ So it just fell into place in a beautiful way.”
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1703838123/articles/1neL25Kmz1703852275036/4770370627.jpg]
One of DMJ’s primary inspirations is Crosby, Stills & Nash. Graham Nash’s proud English tones added to that unit’s uniqueness. Did they think they needed an Englishman for DMJ’s vocal blend, or was it just a coincidence? Their reaction suggests the latter.
D’Virgilio laughs with surprise at the thought. “I guess a coincidence more than anything else, really!”
Morse looks intrigued. “Y’know, I’d never even thought about that until this moment!”
So, it seems having the same international composition as CSN wasn’t pre-planned. But perhaps the difference in pronunciation, in projection, subtly adds to DMJ’s vocal mix in a similar way, giving it the same compelling quality that it did to one of their key influences. As well as the outstanding harmonies on Sophomore, there are rockier moments. For example, Morse’s Mama sticks out as stylistically edgier.
“Yeah, sort of like the first record, I thought it’d be cool to have a little bit more of a rockier, high-energy ‘toon’,” says Morse. “Second Hand Sons was the one on the first record that had that rock edge, so that was part of the inspiration. I started off with the guitar riff and I started thinking about my mom and that opened the floodgates!”
“Basically, it’s a tribute to mothers,” adds D’Virgilio. “If you’re lucky enough to have a great relationship with your mom, as I...
The former Spock’s Beard and current D’Virgilio, Morse & Jennings compadres explode with laughter on first sight of each other, always a good sign, even when the interviewees already have reputations for being distinctly non-prickly. The reason for the mirth is Morse’s wide-brimmed blue hat and matching waterproof poncho. They’re joining Prog to talk about the “trio’s” (as Morse likes to call them) quickly realised second album, Sophomore. Morse has tied in a family road trip with his sister’s birthday celebration in the San Francisco Bay area, travelling from his home in Nashville. He joins us from a famous Nevada beauty spot.
“It’s morning in Lake Tahoe and I’m sitting by the campfire, dude!” he explains to D’Virgilio.
The Big Big Train drummer, meanwhile, is joining us from Sweetwater Studios in Fort Wayne,
Indiana, where he works as a session vocalist, drummer and engineer. With the pair happy to see each other and nicely warmed up, we dive straight in to tackle the strangest thing about a group with such apparently organic vocal harmony perfection: the trio have only ever been gathered together in the same place twice.
“Yeah,” says Morse, “this was all file sharing like the first [album] because of logistics, but also it’s an ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ kinda thing. I think we were all very happy with the way the first album turned out, so why not [continue in that way]? There was something kinda graceful and easy with the way it’s come together and I’m really pleased with both records.”
The second of the two occasions that they’ve all been together was quite recently, with the intention of getting the promotional gears turning, according to D’Virgilio: “We went to shoot a couple of videos in Neal’s studio in Nashville. Ross had just finished his run of dates in the States with Haken and flew down.”
Ah yes, Ross Jennings. Forming a band with two ex-Spock’s guys, especially a project with a pronounced 70s West Coast feel, one wouldn’t necessarily think of a relatively young English prog metaller as the missing ingredient. But Morse explains how Jennings was foremost in his thoughts.
“I’d just watched him in the Absolute Universe video [The Final Flight: Live At L’Olympia concert film by Morsefronted prog supergroup Transatlantic]. They’d had the idea to have us interviewed by our peers. I watched Ross interviewing [drummer] Mike Portnoy, so Ross was in my head. We’d actually been talking for weeks [about] who should be the third guy? And I didn’t know if Ross would be interested or into this kind of music at all. But I sent him an email and he was like, ‘Dude! You have no idea! I’m a huge fan of acoustic music and country and all that kind of thing.’ So it just fell into place in a beautiful way.”
[https://cdn.magzter.com/1625747790/1703838123/articles/1neL25Kmz1703852275036/4770370627.jpg]
One of DMJ’s primary inspirations is Crosby, Stills & Nash. Graham Nash’s proud English tones added to that unit’s uniqueness. Did they think they needed an Englishman for DMJ’s vocal blend, or was it just a coincidence? Their reaction suggests the latter.
D’Virgilio laughs with surprise at the thought. “I guess a coincidence more than anything else, really!”
Morse looks intrigued. “Y’know, I’d never even thought about that until this moment!”
So, it seems having the same international composition as CSN wasn’t pre-planned. But perhaps the difference in pronunciation, in projection, subtly adds to DMJ’s vocal mix in a similar way, giving it the same compelling quality that it did to one of their key influences. As well as the outstanding harmonies on Sophomore, there are rockier moments. For example, Morse’s Mama sticks out as stylistically edgier.
“Yeah, sort of like the first record, I thought it’d be cool to have a little bit more of a rockier, high-energy ‘toon’,” says Morse. “Second Hand Sons was the one on the first record that had that rock edge, so that was part of the inspiration. I started off with the guitar riff and I started thinking about my mom and that opened the floodgates!”
“Basically, it’s a tribute to mothers,” adds D’Virgilio. “If you’re lucky enough to have a great relationship with your mom, as I...
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Prog (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 146