Man, it's been a minute since I've been on here. Sorry.
If you know me, you know I'm a huge prog rock fan. I'm totally geeking out over my new vinyl copy of Dream Theater's Images and Words album. Well, this weekend I got to hear some new prog excellence: Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep from my favorite prog band, Spock's Beard. It is amazing! You have to hear it.
Haven't heard of Spock's Beard? Apart from having an awesome name, here's what you should know: They're heavily inspired by classic '70s prog, but definitely have a modern edge. Whereas some proggers seem to have random shred sections just because they can, The Beard build everything around great songs first, and then go insane with the bad-assed bad-assedness.
I'm not really great at describing the music to let you know what you'll hear. (I should probably get that figured out so I can tell people what I sound like.) Plus, when I played it, I had know idea what I was going to hear next, and I loved it. So no track by track this time. It comes out in April for people who didn't contribute to the crowd funding campaign. You need to put this in your ears.
Here is the connection to me. (I know that's what you really care about, right? :) ) Spock's Beard's long time touring drummer, Jimmy Keegan, just became their full time drummer. He lives here in Vegas. I originally saw him when he played with Yellow Brick Road, a big deal cover band in town. He played the most musical, engaging drum solo I'd ever heard. And I've seen Rush five times, and Dream Theater 3x. His wife, the amazing vocalist Pascale Elia, performs regularly at a local club, and I went to see her. Jimmy was there, and I introduced myself. He ended up sitting and talking with me for almost two hours. Talking about our kids' schools, and how he happened to marry the only female who ever showed up at a prog rock show. Just the coolest, nicest guy. He's a fourth-degree badass on the drums. All-around awesome.
Spock's Beard don't need me to tell you how great they are. I just love this band, and I love you, and want you to hear them. Get Brief Nocturnes and Dreamless Sleep. I also can't recommend their previous album X enough. Or all of them, really.