Spock's Beard Is Back For 'v' On Metal Blade After Transatlantic Trip

Spock's Beard hopes that five is its lucky number.

Since its inception in 1992, the Los Angeles-based quintet has built a steady following in the progressive rock world, but singer/songwriter Neal Morse looks for the group to break through with its fifth album, "V" (Five), to be released Aug. 22 by Metal Blade Records.

Morse recently joined forces with Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, Marillion bassist Pete Trewavas, and Flower Kings guitarist Roine Stolt in a group called TransAtlantic, whose "SMPT:e" was issued on Radiant/Metal Blade earlier this year. He says the project's influence carried over into "V," resulting in the most experimental—and most difficult, he believes—Spock's Beard recording sessions to date.

"I was a bit inspired by the spontaneous quality of the TransAtlantic album," he says of "V." "I thought it might be cool to leave more things to chance with this one. We've never worked that way before."

The end result, Morse says, features more collaboration among the group's members than past Spock's Beard albums, as well as further- developed instrumental passages, one of the progressive style's cornerstones. Still, Morse says, the band was not held back by any limitations of the genre.

"Progressive rock is supposed to be about not having a box, but it's definitely its own box," he says. "But part of the Spock's Beard game plan is if we all decide we like it, we're going to do it."

To that end, while the album features two "epic"-length songs, it also contains four of standard length, such as "Revelation," which is likely to be the focus track.

"It's kind of a different thing for us to do a 'straight' rock, Soundgarden-y song," Morse says. "It was really fun doing that."

Another enjoyable moment for Morse, who cites Yes and early Genesis as his biggest influences, is the song "Thoughts II," which contains a pair of offbeat lyrical curveballs. "Prog has a tendency to get a bit lofty, [so] I think it's nice to have elements of humor on progressive records," he says.

In addition to his involvement with TransAtlantic, Morse, whose music is published by Big Hatter Music (Warner/Chappell), released a solo album last year and is currently working on material for another. Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel believes Morse's proficiency—and particularly his involvement with TransAtlantic—will help Spock's Beard gain additional listeners.

"It certainly helps quite a bit, because a lot of people are buying ["SMPT:e"] that maybe don't know who Spock's Beard is," he says. "We've had a lot of success with that record, and having [Morse] on there, singing and writing, helps. I think if people get into TransAtlantic, the next thing they should get into will be Spock's Beard."

Slagel, who says Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos exposed him to the group in the mid-'90s, believes Spock's Beard has the potential to reach fans of several genres. "Even though they're definitely a progressive band, their appeal bleeds over into the metal market," he says, adding that the label will focus its marketing efforts accordingly.

Spock's Beard, booked by the Derek Kemp Agency and managed by Jim Pitulski, will tour America with progressive hard-rock mainstays Dream Theater for three weeks in August before going to Europe in October. Morse will also perform at September's annual Progfest in Los Angeles with both Spock's Beard and TransAtlantic, which he says is not a one-off project.

"We're already talking about when we can get together to work on the next one," he says.