Spock’s Beard member Nick D’Virgilio recently released a new album, “Rewiring Genesis: A Tribute to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway ” on ProgRock Records.  USA Progressive Music had a chance to ask him a few questions to get his take on the different projects he has been working on lately.

By Eduard Antoniu

USA Progressive Music: So how did you develop your own playing style and then apply it to what you do with Spock's Beard?

Nick D’Virgilio: I think that just came over time. Just from playing all different kinds of music with a bunch of different bands in a bunch of different situations. The style just grew on its own. In [Spock’s Beard] I try to use my “style” to play for the song. We kind of go through a lot of different feels and I try to just let it flow.

USAProgMusic: How have you adapted to being Spock’s Beard frontman from being behind the drum kit before that?

Nick: I feel I have adapted pretty well. I have been singing for about as long as I have been drumming so I wasn’t afraid to sing. I just needed time get my stage chops together and feel as confident in front as I do behind the kit and now I am totally comfortable doing both.

USAProgMusic: What was it like working with Gary Wehrkamp, D.C. Cooper, and Kurt Barabas on Amaran’s Plight?  Do you foresee yourself doing more projects with them, or similar projects with other “supergroups”?

Nick: It was great but we never actually worked together. I was sent the tracks and I recorded them with Rich Mouser. Luckily the guys liked what I did with their music and I feel really honored that they would trust my playing like that. It was great fun. I dig the music and it was good to go a different direction then what I normally do.Anytime there is a chance to play with other great players I will go for it. That is what keeps music so fresh and fun for me. 

USAProgMusic: What made you decide to do a remake of Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway?

Nick : Mark and I recorded “The Colony of Slippermen” at his studio in Nashville while I was there for another session. That song turned out so well we thought it would a fun challenge to try the whole thing. Or we are just a little crazy. I think it is a bit of both.

USAProgMusic: Now that you took The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway to a different level, do you see this rendition of the album becoming a musical ...on Broadway?

Nick: That would be awesome. I am keeping my fingers crossed. If it doesn’t then at the very least we have the recording.

USAProgMusic:  Would you allow the use of this The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway rendition as a soundtrack to a "Lamb…" movie?

Nick: Of course! But I imagine if there was a Lamb... movie then it would use the original. But one can hope.

USAProgMusic: The renditions of the title track and of "The Carpet Crawlers" seem to get an infusion of the live treatment done by the band to these two songs (e.g., on the "Seconds Out" or "The Way We Walk" live albums). Was this deliberate?

Nick: To be honest I never thought of that when we did those 2 songs.

USAProgMusic: On your official web site you say there were no synthesizers on this rendition of the album, as far as you know. Yet not even on the rendition of "The Waiting Room"? Not even a theremin?

Nick: You have good ears! Yes, there is Theremin but I never thought of that as a synth but I guess it is. Just without a keyboard. So other than that there are no synths.

Nick: I have another side project started with fellow drummer Thomas Lang and yes there will be more Spock’s Beard. We are in the beginning stages of making a new CD that will hopefully be completed in the first half of next year.

USA Progressive Music staff Matt Kastner & Jill Hughes also contributed to this story.