{"id":48705,"date":"2015-03-16T20:24:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T01:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=48705"},"modified":"2015-04-04T08:54:40","modified_gmt":"2015-04-04T13:54:40","slug":"interview-with-neal-morse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/interview-with-neal-morse\/","title":{"rendered":"Neal Morse"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Christophe Pauly<\/span>
\n– Senior Photojournalist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Prior to his recent concert performance Boerderij, in Zoetermeer (Holland), Neal Morse took time to talk with Hardrock Haven’s Christophe Pauly. During the interview Morse talks about his latest solo album The Grand Experiment<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The March 6th performance was filmed and recorded for the next Neal Morse live album and video release.<\/p>\n

\"Neal<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Hi Neal! Thank you for this interview. You just released The Grand Experiment<\/em>, your eighth solo album. But this one was quite special to make. First, could you tell me how the recording sessions were like?<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: Well, for the first time, I came to the sessions without a lot of material like I normally do.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Were you afraid of this \u201cexperiment?\u201d<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: I don\u2019t know if \u201cafraid\u201d is the right word. It was an experiment. So you have to experiment and wonder how it will turn out. When you work with different groups of people, after a time, you know how much time you\u2019ll need to do a record with them (like the 10 days for the last Transatlantic). I didn\u2019t know where I was going with this group of guys. I think it\u2019s got to go well because they\u2019re amazing. But when you enter in, you don\u2019t know how it\u2019s going to turn out. Sometimes, I wondered how we were going to do it because we didn\u2019t have much time. We began a year ago without Mike and wrote 35 minutes of music then. And when Mike came in, everything began to change. And we grabbed some parts of \u201cthat,\u201d and wrote a lot of stuff in the room. And it turned out amazing. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Was it hard to make choices? To select some parts and scratch other ones?<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: Well, it was harder for me than it was for the others. Usually, I already have a lot of things that I already like, and I take less time to make selections. And this time, I was wrong. We weren\u2019t sure, so we decided to trust Mike because he\u2019s so enthusiastic during the sessions. Many times, he\u2019s like, \u201cOh no, this is awesome!\u201d And he\u2019s so enthusiast that he carry us through. Bill helped us also when we had to take some decisions, and we needed that. Because if everybody hesitates, you\u2019re not gonna make a record at all. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: When we look at the making of the records you usually do together, Mike is more of the guy who sees the \u201cBig Picture\u201d of the album.<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: Yes, definitely. Mike is the \u201cBig Picture\u201d guy. And that\u2019s why our collaborations are so good. He\u2019s the guy who will go to the big chalkboard and will write all his ideas. And I work differently because I just follow the music. And so we complement each other really well. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: This album was even better received than the others, and you got really good reviews about it.<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: Yes, it\u2019s crazy. I knew from the beginning that something was going on. The first person who heard it was Thomas Waber from Inside Out. And when he likes an album, he\u2019s like: \u201cWell, it\u2019s OK.\u201d (laughs) And this time, he sent me an email and said, \u201cI just listened to the album, and I think it\u2019s the best thing you\u2019ve done since many, many years!\u201d And I was like \u201cOh, really?\u201d When you\u2019re involved, you just don\u2019t know how the things are going to be received or how great it is. We all listen differently. So that was the first thing that told me something special was going on with this record. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: But this one sounds really different and more surprising than the others. Every time we listen to it, we find some details we haven\u2019t noted before, and that\u2019s proof of a good work. The vocals are more important, too, on this record. And we can see and feel the presence of Eric Gilette, who does an incredible job with his guitar. <\/p>\n

Neal Morse: Yes, his tone does bring a different dimension, and they all brought something interesting. I didn\u2019t work much more than any of them on this record. So it was funny for me to do it. Usually, the critics say something like \u201cNeal Morse has done it again\u201d (laughs) \u2026 Not really this time! I knew that this time, I should just back off and let those people \u201cpaint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Did you tell them that this time you would like to do an album with a larger contribution of them than before?<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: Yes, we actually discussed about it. Randy wanted to do it for years. He was always saying, “We should get together and do an album.” So it’s been thought about for a long time, but this is the first time we did it this way.<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: And it worked very well, if we look at all those positive reviews.<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: Yes, but to me, it was what the Lord wanted. He brought something unique through other people and the process. And finally, it really resonates with people. And I think that\u2019s the important thing: Having something that we all share. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: This album begins with vocals singing a message. Was it important for you to deliver a special message on this album?<\/p>\n

\"grandexperiment\"Neal Morse: I pretty much worked out the lyrics. When I was on the Flying Colors tour, I was always thinking about those lyrics. A lot of this album was also done over the Internet. And everyone contributed on the concepts. Eric brought the \u201cAlive Again\u201d concept, and Bill brought the \u201cLeaving All Behind You\u201d thing. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: The way you all put the pieces together is quite interesting.<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: Yes, and even more when you\u2019re into the process and you step back to have a look. And you say, \u201cWow, I think we did it!\u201d I remember of the final mix of \u201cWaterfall.\u201d We did many different mixes of that song because I found the chorus and lyrics weren\u2019t blending right. There was always a part that was too loud, etc. In that song, I sing the melody in the first part of the verse, then Eric sings in the second part of the verse. Bill sings the melody in the chorus. And then Eric sings it again. So the melodies move all around, and sometimesm the mixing guys don’t necessarily get that. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: And I saw that you’ve decided to do the Tweetsecret videos like Mike Portnoy. How did you get the idea of doing that?<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: I decided to do it because when looked at the app, I thought it was really cool, and I get the idea of doing that for the Inner Circle (Neal’s fan club). I wanted to shoot something and send it to them immediately. If I had to do many manipulations, like upload it somewhere, convert it, I wouldn’t probably do it because I don’t have the time. So I asked my tech staff if we could do that. And they told me we could PROBABLY do that, but it would cost something like $8,000! So I did it with Tweetsecret because I like to share all those kind of funny and crazy things that are going on. And I think people find it interesting that I share with them. I think it’s the same reason why people are on Facebook and Twitter. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: It’s a very interesting way to discover how you work on some songs. I remember the video about \u201cWaterfall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: I was in Barcelona, singing the chorus. And the lyrics were different then. And it’s funny to think about it because I just find the right four lines so quickly then. Sometimes, it just flows out. Other times, it can take months to find the right words. And it should be so simple! It needs to sound like you didn\u2019t think about it. So, \u201cWaterfall: was a tough one for me. But we finally got it. <\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven: Do you plan to do another album with the guys?<\/p>\n

Neal Morse: We\u2019ve discussed of that possibility. And my answer is: YES! We\u2019ll definitely do another one! I\u2019m not sure when. I\u2019ve done so many things last year. I don\u2019t want to overload people. So, I don\u2019t know when it will come. <\/p>\n

Visit Neal Morse online: http:\/\/www.nealmorse.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Christophe Pauly – Senior Photojournalist — Prior to his recent concert performance Boerderij, in Zoetermeer (Holland), Neal Morse took time to talk with Hardrock Haven’s Christophe Pauly. During the interview Morse talks about his […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":48707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12393],"tags":[6185,203,2932,6648,10959,9022],"class_list":{"0":"post-48705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcint2015","8":"tag-flying-colors","9":"tag-interview","10":"tag-mike-portnoy","11":"tag-neal-morse","12":"tag-the-grand-experiment","13":"tag-transatlantic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}