Fueling the Flame Story by Will Romano Photos by Alex Solca When frontman and main songwriter Neal Morse left Spock’s Beard in 2002, drummer Nick D’Virgilio assumed the lead role, pulling triple duty as singer, drummer, and guitarist for studio efforts and stage performances. Not wanting to sing from behind the kit during the progressive rock band’s live gigs, D’Virgilio called upon Jimmy Keegan, someone with a similar drumming style who could also handle backing vocals and Spock’s stew of odd meters.   Inviting another multi-instrumentalist into the ranks added considerable depth and dimension to the band’s shows, and for years Spock’s functioned well with Keegan acting solely as touring drummer. That is until 2011, when D’Virgilio was offered a full-time position with Cirque du Soleil’s production of Totem, a theatrical and acrobatic interpretation of human evolution. Some observers predicated the death of Spock’s Beard without D’Virgilio, recalling the uncertainty […]

March 2016 Issue