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Topic ClosedNick D'Virgilio Leaves Spock's Beard
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FunkyM View Drop Down
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Points: 134 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Nick D'Virgilio Leaves Spock's Beard
    Posted: February 11 2012 at 09:40
Wow, how did I miss this one back in November?

It is sad to see NDV leave Spock's Beard, but given the reasons, it's understandable. X was a fantastic album for him to go out on.

I am glad to see the band continue and it will be interesting to see how Ted Leonard fits in with the Beard's sound. I own copies of Tug of War  and Blink of an Eye and although I don't think I would call them exceptional works, I don't have anything against his vocals.




Edited by FunkyM - February 11 2012 at 09:40
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Points: 877 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 07 2012 at 15:39
Sad to see Nick go, but SB never was able to attrack enough concert goers to make enough to tour.
I saw SB in San Fran on Spock's Beard V tour.  AMAZING & FANTASTIC show, The Great Nothing live was
too good to put into words, but even then WITH Neal Morse they had perhaps 200 peeps in the crowd
for the only night in SF (ticket cost only 20 bucks!). Most promoters have left prog dry.  It breaks my heart.
 
Best to Nick in the future.  I hope that Neal's guesting on the new SB record brings back some of the old magic.
 
All On A Sunday, indeed. Clap
"Yeah, people are unhappy about that - but you know what, it's still Yes." - Chris Squire
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Points: 70 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 24 2011 at 07:27
Hey Roland113, I totally agree about the writing.  Many of the best tracks they've released since Neal left the band have been written by people who are not even in the band.  Now, whether or not the writing will improve from here remains to be seen, but I think having people who are going to actually perform the material doing more of the writing is always a good thing.
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Points: 3843 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 18:15
So I listened to my lone Enchant CD on the way home and I'm feeling pretty good about the new lineup.  Honestly, I think they've actually upgraded on the vocals.  I think that Ted Leonard has a similar but stronger voice than NdV and Jimmie Keegan has been doing a fine job for them on drums for years now.  

The biggest loss in my mind is the charisma of NdV and the acclaim.  Nick is such a great and prolific drummer that he will add a certain amount of respect to any project just by his presence.  It will be interesting to see who, if anyone takes on the 'virtuoso' status of the band.

My take:

Vocals:  Upgrade
Drums:  Push
Writing:  Upgrade (I mentioned this before, Nick barely wrote anything for X and it was their best in years)
Celeb Cred:  Downgrade

If they can overcome the loss of their 'star' then I think this lineup can go far.
-------someone please tell him to delete this line, he looks like a noob-------

I don't have an unnatural obsession with Disney Princesses, I have a fourteen year old daughter and coping mechanisms.
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Points: 166183 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 16:36
Jimmy should have been a full time member for years now. Tongue
 
But no surprises I suppose. Glad they repaired the lineyp so quickly. Will be interesting to see where they go from here.
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Points: 54 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 14:37
Sorry, but I do not like this choice. Jimmy on drums was the expected call. Ted from Enchant, no surprise either after he did the gig with them, but I don't like Enchant and wasn't impressed with Ted's work on their albums ... Can you say "thoroughly disappointed"?
 
But, we shall see how it works out.
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Points: 70 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 13:16
I've known about this for a while, but it was confidential (for obvious reasons).

Ted Leonard, in all honesty, is not my first choice, but I do understand why they went with him and I will look forward with an open mind to what they come up with now.

Long live the Beard
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Points: 66555 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 13:04
Ahh.  That is what it was.
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Points: 4625 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 13:02
They merged with the Tangent for a while, but it was just a touring band.
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Points: 66555 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 12:49
Originally posted by Roland113 Roland113 wrote:

Originally posted by Deathrabbit Deathrabbit wrote:

Originally posted by Roland113 Roland113 wrote:

Good news . . . copied from a Beard e-mail:




Aww, dang. Without a famous front man I don't think they'll recover.  They shoulda just called up Beardfish and fused the bands into Spock's Beardfish, lol.

Bwahahaha...Spock's Beardfish . . . love it.

Wasn't it Beardfish that announced that they were merging with another band for their next project a couple of years ago?  I am thinking that it didn't actually happen, but I may be confusing them with someone else.
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Points: 4338 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 12:41
Nick is a supreme talent in any band.  He toured with Tears for Fears as well as SB.  He played drums on a couple of tracks of Calling All Stations by Genesis.  He even sat in on the Power of Two tour from Agents of Mercy and Karmakanic in 2010 in the USA.  I happened to see the first show after  he had one day of rehearsal with them and he just nailed it.  I was also fortunate to see his Rewiring Genesis concert The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and that was just a great show as well.  If you are not familiar with that project Nick took a bunch of musicians who were not familiar with the music and gave them the charts and put this thing together.  Horns, flutes all sorts of instruments went into the production and it was a lot of fun to hear. I wish him the best of luck in his future projects. 

I saw Nick with Spock's Beard 3 times and can assure you that as long as Jimmy Keegan is there there will be no fall off from behind the kit as he has toured with them since Neal left.  Be interesting to hear his takes on the studio work as well.  Have to see how Ted works in this role.  I can see no reason why this won't work out. 


"What are you going to do when that damn thing rusts?"
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Points: 3843 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 11:35
Originally posted by Deathrabbit Deathrabbit wrote:

Originally posted by Roland113 Roland113 wrote:

Good news . . . copied from a Beard e-mail:




Aww, dang. Without a famous front man I don't think they'll recover.  They shoulda just called up Beardfish and fused the bands into Spock's Beardfish, lol.

Bwahahaha...Spock's Beardfish . . . love it.
-------someone please tell him to delete this line, he looks like a noob-------

I don't have an unnatural obsession with Disney Princesses, I have a fourteen year old daughter and coping mechanisms.
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Points: 17493 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 11:18
Clap

I'm not clapping for NdV's departure (I liked him) but for Ted Leonard's arrival. Great singer from a totally-underrated band (Enchant) who fits like a glove in SB. Now I see myself buying SB's next album again (which I wouldn't have done had they picked somebody else to replace Nick). 
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Points: 4625 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 11:00
Originally posted by Roland113 Roland113 wrote:

Good news . . . copied from a Beard e-mail:


Announcing....Spock’s Beard has a new recording and touring lineup! 

To keep bringing you the finest Prog Rock, we’ve brought on board the amazing vocalist/guitarist Ted Leonard (Enchant, Thought Chamber) and Jimmy Keegan (Santana, John Waite), who’s been our tour drummer for close to 10 years now. If you know these guys, you know they’re world class. They bring exciting new energy and creativity to the party.

We regret that Nick D’Virgilio, a founding member of the band, good friend and incredible talent is unable to continue with us due to his other commitments. Please continue to support him, check out his new solo CD “Pieces,” go see him with Cirque du Soleil and follow whatever other madness he's up to. He’s awesome. We wish him the best of luck and the success he deserves. We wouldn’t be here without NDV!

Look for a new live Spock’s Beard DVD and extensive European tour in early 2012, followed by our 11th studio release sometime in the summer. We’re energized and excited, and will be posting updates and sound samples as we progress.

Thank you for continuing to support us through the years and changes. We stay committed to bringing you the finest in Prog Rock and taking it into the future.

More info and pics at SpocksBeard.com

If you don't already, please follow us on Facebook and Twitterfor all the latest.



I am sooo glad that this is what they're going with.  I loved X and was to see more albums dominated by the Alan Morse / Dave Meros penned tunes.



Aww, dang. Without a famous front man I don't think they'll recover.  They shoulda just called up Beardfish and fused the bands into Spock's Beardfish, lol.
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Points: 3843 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2011 at 10:35
Good news . . . copied from a Beard e-mail:


Announcing....Spock’s Beard has a new recording and touring lineup! 

To keep bringing you the finest Prog Rock, we’ve brought on board the amazing vocalist/guitarist Ted Leonard (Enchant, Thought Chamber) and Jimmy Keegan (Santana, John Waite), who’s been our tour drummer for close to 10 years now. If you know these guys, you know they’re world class. They bring exciting new energy and creativity to the party.

We regret that Nick D’Virgilio, a founding member of the band, good friend and incredible talent is unable to continue with us due to his other commitments. Please continue to support him, check out his new solo CD “Pieces,” go see him with Cirque du Soleil and follow whatever other madness he's up to. He’s awesome. We wish him the best of luck and the success he deserves. We wouldn’t be here without NDV!

Look for a new live Spock’s Beard DVD and extensive European tour in early 2012, followed by our 11th studio release sometime in the summer. We’re energized and excited, and will be posting updates and sound samples as we progress.

Thank you for continuing to support us through the years and changes. We stay committed to bringing you the finest in Prog Rock and taking it into the future.

More info and pics at SpocksBeard.com

If you don't already, please follow us on Facebook and Twitterfor all the latest.



I am sooo glad that this is what they're going with.  I loved X and was to see more albums dominated by the Alan Morse / Dave Meros penned tunes.
-------someone please tell him to delete this line, he looks like a noob-------

I don't have an unnatural obsession with Disney Princesses, I have a fourteen year old daughter and coping mechanisms.
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Points: 54 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 20 2011 at 13:02
Frankly, the Beard has never 'died' contrary to some of the opinions expressed above. They have changed, developed and grown. Before Neal left, no one else contributed to the writing. After Neal's departure they truly became a more cohesive unit with the whole band writing and contributing.
 
That said,  I love the suggestion above about Neal returning and Portnoy joining on. It may be pie in the sky, but I would dearly love to see that version of Spock's Beard.
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Points: 13298 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 20 2011 at 09:59
...wait, what?
how did I miss this? Unhappy
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Points: 8543 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 20 2011 at 09:51
Originally posted by infocat infocat wrote:

Is Ray Wilson available?


LOL
I can understand your anger at me, but what did the horse I rode in on ever do to you?
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Points: 146 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 20 2011 at 09:24
I wouldn't say that Spock's Beard died when Neal Morse left.  I would say that Spock's Beard died somewhere around the time that he decided that "Snow" would be be an evangelical christian album.
sad creature nailed upon the coloured door of time
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Points: 4671 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 19 2011 at 08:36
Is Ray Wilson available?
--
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