ProgBeat: SPOCK’S BEARD X
SPOCK’S BEARD is one of these bands that’s kind of two-faced. Chronologically a split is obvious: You have the Neal Morse-era stuff on one side and then the post-Neal “new” SPOCK’S on the other. But less visible is the divide between their reputation as a prog-rock go-to guy, their cult renown, and where they actually are financially. In the symphonic prog circuit, these guys are huge. Back when Neal was involved they only got bigger and bigger with every record, capping out with V and Snow before he high-tailed it for greener solo pastures in 2002. That’s when Nick had to come out from behind his drums to become the band’s new frontman, and they had to start all over.
Their first Nick-lead release, Feel Euphoria was patchy, an almost-tangible sense of identity crisis spilling over it in stylistic rainbows like the tipped-over paint can on its front cover. And though their next two quickly secured and established their new sound–the fact stil remains: Neither solo Neal nor “new” SPOCK’S have been as commercially successful apart as they were together. And not only that, coupled with music piracy Nick’s SPOCK’S barely makes enough from CD sales to pay off its initial expenses. The BEARD may seem like a prog-rock staple, but really these guys are struggling.
That’s why this news about their upcoming album (which is already written and ready for production) is so interesting. Well, maybe interesting isn’t the right word. This news, it’s either really brave or really desperate.
Here’s an excerpt about it from SPOCKSBEARD.com:
“We’ve decided to go commando on this one… lean, mean and without record label support. We have been free agents since the release of our last CD and after lots of deliberation have decided to release our next CD independently rather than re-sign with InsideOut or shop other labels
There have been a lot of great suggestions relating to this topic by the members of our forum, and the one that made a lot of sense to us was to take pre-orders for our not-yet-recorded CD similar to the approach that Marillion has taken in the past.
We will organize a retail store distribution deal at some point in the future, but the initial release will be an independent limited edition offering of only 5,000 CDs.
Release date depends on how quickly the CD is “financed” by pre-orders, but our initial goal is to have the CD finished and the pre-orders filled by the end of this year or early 2010.”
What’s cool for the band is the freedom they’ll have, for the fan the fact that they’ll get the CD a full month before anyone else, stores, critics, anyone. What’s scary is, well, the freedom, and the ploys they’re using to market this thing, gimmicks like having the name of anyone who buys the $200 Special Edition put into the album as a lyric. They’ll be put into a “vocal section,” probably one of the band’s signature vocal harmonies. So they probably won’t even sound like names, just parts. But still. Come on…
Obviously self-producing and self-everything else is risky, but what both worries and excites me about all this is how much like a last-ditch effort it seems. In a pretty illuminating interview with bassist Dave Meros, where he talks about Neal’s departure as well as the band’s financial woes and his lost patience with the “big symphonic thing,” he really doesn’t pull any punches about wanting to finally make some money with the band. He comes right out with it, in fact, saying that he wants “anything more successful than what we’ve been doing,” when asked what direction he’d like the band to be headed.
So my question: If this pre-order plan doesn’t work, if the band can’t make profit with a label and can’t survive without one, when does SPOCK’S BEARD, at least the way we know it, stop making sense?
Now I’m not saying that Al, Nick and Ryo will hang it up and become bankers if X doesn’t pan out–they’re all accomplished and renown enough in their respective fields to probably be okay. But you’ve got to figure that at some point comfort and security start weighing in over creativity and chasing the dream. If Meros is already sick of “big” prog and their newer records have already been going the way of more traditional rock (which, by the way, I’m fine with, feeling that they’ve really found an identity in it), how far away is pop from rock? And when does touring with bands more mainstream, being guest musicians or making side-projects start to look more logical in a five-year plan?
But those are the black clouds. The silver lining is the backed-into-a-corner angle. Look at DREAM THEATER, who in a similar situation a decade ago made Scenes from a Memory when it was do or die. Sometimes magic happens when you want it bad enough.
Personally, I don’t want to be a downer and, really, I do think SPOCK’S has enough loyal fans to keep them around for a while–but I just don’t see this group of guys surpassing what they accomplished with Octane in 2005. And I’m not really sure what that means.
What I’d love to see, though, what I think would put the band back on top and creatively reinvigorate everyone involved is another Neal Morse collaboration. With the now-established direction “new” SPOCK’s has taken and the old familiarity of Neal at the helm–man, talk about magic…
Pre-orders are available now for X. Keep the BEARD alive.
That ridiculously epic Ryo shot at the top is from Christopher A. Petro on Flickr.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 10:35 pm and is filed under music, prog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
