Flying Colors_______
It’s been five long years, but the prog supergroup are finally back with their third album.
The US supergroup are back! Five years after their last record, Flying Colors have released their third album, Third Degree. Casey McPherson, Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy talk expanding their sound, the setbacks of supergroupdom and their rigorous songwriting process.
Some things are worth the wait. The American supergroup that features a who’s who of prog, with the bandmembers’ CVs boasting everyone from Dream Theater to Spock’s Beard, have finally released their appositely titled Third Degree, and it is a superb listen from start to finish. The first single released from the album, More, bears a significant Muse influence, but the album features arguably the band’s most diverse material to date, from the glorious, uplifting ballad You Are Not Alone to the jazzy Geronimo and the jaunty Love Letter. For keyboardist
Neal Morse, it shows a significant evolution in the band’s sound.
“Our first album was more pop-oriented,” he explains. “Third Degree is a little more intense and has some soaring, intense, darker melodic sensibilities. But Love Letter brings a bouncing Beach Boys lightness and Last Train Home takes you on a different journey as well. The juxtaposition of the light and dark is maybe a little more extreme this time, which is great.”
Drummer Mike Portnoy sees things a little differently: “The songs are in a similar direction as the first two albums – we’ve just expanded on it a little more. We’re more mature as people and also more familiar with each other and the process.”
From Portnoy’s perspective, the key change within the band is how the dynamic has developed.
“When we made the first album [Flying Colors] in 2011, it was like a blind date,” he says. “Neal and I had worked together, and Steve Morse [guitarist] and Dave LaRue [bassist] had worked together, but it was the first time the five of us had all worked together. The first album was an experiment. The second album was a reaction to that experiment, because we had played some shows together. But here we are, eight years after the first album and we now have eight years’ familiarity of dealing with each other, writing music and spending time together.”
Portnoy describes Flying Colors generally, and Third Degree specifically, as “a giant melting pot. You have extremes from dark songs like More to poppy Beach Boys/Beatles ones like Love Letter. And then there are prog epics like Crawl and really soaring, melodic, emotional songs like You Are Not Alone. Any one song does not really give the full picture of what this band is about.”
Indeed, after releasing More as the debut single, the band were keen to show off other material from the album to showcase its variety.
“We knew coming out of the gate with
More was going to give one impression, so we followed up with You Are Not Alone just to show there is a huge balance on this album,”
“The whole idea of putting these five people together was these five specific people. That’s the beauty of Flying Colors.”
Mike Portnoy
Portnoy continues. “You really need to experience the whole album to get the true range of the band.”
Geronimo and Love Letter in particular broaden the Flying Colors sonic palette, and the band are unapologetic about potentially challenging their audience. “We always just write and play from the heart,” says Morse. “Paul McCartney always said, ‘The first thing you have to do is try to create something that really pleases you. Then you hope and trust that other people are going to love it as well.’”
“I just hope and trust Mike likes it!” vocalist Casey McPherson interjects.
“And if I don’t, believe me, you’ll know!” Portnoy laughs. “And we’ll keep working on it ’til we all do.”
“That gives me a lot of confidence,” McPherson muses. “Mike really helps me to feel comfortable throwing in off-the-wall creative ideas. Because I don’t have to wonder if we’re going to regret it later.”
According to Morse, Portnoy’s enthusiasm frequently carries the day. “Mike tends to know very early on what’s working and what isn’t. We’ve all learned to lean on that and trust him when we’re confused.”
What is undeniable is the accessibility of Third Degree. Portnoy sells the album as featuring “plenty of ear candy”, which Morse in turn contends is largely organic.
“The original concept of Flying Colors was to make something that was more song-oriented,” he explains, “but which still had progressive elements and a high degree of musicality. When we were looking at singers we considered different rock singers with high ranges. Then Mike threw Casey’s hat in the ring. I thought having him would be cool because it’d be really soulful and a little more modern. He brings this vibe to Flying Colors that’s really unique.”
Indeed, much of the band’s distinctiveness derives from their singer, whose emotionally charged voice is a highlight of Third Degree. “Vocally I worked a bit differently this time; I sang through a vintage vocal chain to give it a more 70s feel,” McPherson explains. “Also lyrically, there’s a lot of tragedy and hope in this record, which I really love. The Loss Inside is about that depth of feeling where you are grieving and there seems to be no end in sight. Then Crawl talks about how going through the hard stuff is part of learning how to enjoy the beautiful stuff and how we get there. And You Are Not Alone encompasses a lot of that too. I tend to focus on the dark stuff a lot! But Neal always helps me see the light to some degree.”
Third Degree’s writing sessions first took place in December 2016. According to Portnoy, while McPherson and both Neal and guitarist Steve Morse (unrelated) present vast numbers of writing ideas, Flying Colors operate very democratically, and subject each song to an exhaustive review process during its writing and arrangement. “Neal, Casey and Steve come in with a million ideas, but none of them end up unchanged. Once we do end up with the final song, it’s taken a while to get there.”
The band emerged from their initial writing session with seven songs, but felt that they needed more material. It took a further two
“Our first album was more pop-oriented. Third Degree is a little more intense and has some really soaring, darker melodic sensibilities.”
Neal Morse
years before conflicting schedules eased to allow reconvening chez Portnoy. There, the quintet reviewed what they had previously written, and to their collective surprise, chose not to revise those songs.
“Since Flying Colors very actively changes things when we get together generally, I had assumed that when we got back together at Mike’s house and listened through we’d do that. Get a coffee, lose a chorus; take a conference call, lose a song!” Morse jokes. “I was shocked when we listened to the older stuff and everyone was like, ‘That’s cool. Let’s move on.’”
Instead, focus shifted to composing three further songs, namely album opener The Loss Inside, centrepiece Last Train Home and bonus track Waiting For The Sun.
Having originally intended to cap the album at an hour, the band assembled almost 80 minutes of material. “We accepted it was going to have to be longer than 60 minutes because everybody had favourites,” Portnoy explains.
The nine-minute Waiting For The Sun wasn’t yet fully realised, and to allow more time for its development it was moved to the bonus disc, where it features alongside five different versions of songs on the main album.
The elephant in the room is that five-year gap between their second album, Second Nature, and Third Degree. While all five members of the band juggle myriad bands, it’s Steve Morse’s commitments to Deep Purple that place the greatest restriction on the time available for Flying Colors.
“It’s hard for Steve to know his availability six months in advance,” Portnoy says. “We started making this record in December 2016 and intended a quicker turnaround. When we felt we were a few songs short, we just put everything back on the shelf. And lo and behold, it took two more years before we could complete the writing process.
“None of us would choose for that to be the case in the future. We wish we could do more than just nine or 10 shows per cycle.
But that’s just the reality of our situation as it is now. Maybe in the future, if time opens up, if Deep Purple ever finally retire, all five of us would love to be more active, not only in terms of studio records but also in terms of touring.”
Flying Colors have had an unchanged lineup since the beginning. And while there have been scheduling challenges and limitations, Portnoy is adamant that he would not change the personnel. He reveals to Prog that, on occasion, when Deep Purple obligations have rendered the guitarist unavailable,
Steve has suggested they should recruit a substitute – but Portnoy has refused.
“This is the line-up,” Portnoy states stridently. “It’s not like we’re a full-time band. The whole idea of putting these five people together was these five specific people. That’s the beauty of Flying Colors. I honestly think that if any of the five of us were unable to do it, I wouldn’t see the point in doing the band.”
With crammed individual diaries, once again Flying Colors’ live appearances to promote Third Degree are limited. At the end of August the band performed their first full show in five years at Neal Morse’s Morsefest in Tennessee, and they are currently on tour in the States. Four European dates are scheduled for December before the band conclude a short touring cycle for Third Degree on Cruise To The Edge in March 2020.
McPherson, Morse and Portnoy all admit some frustration about the paucity of Flying Colors live shows. “We wish it were different,” Portnoy sighs. “But these shows wouldn’t be happening at all if Steve hadn’t so kindly offered himself on Deep Purple’s days off in certain cities where we could make it happen. Even these 10 shows we’re doing were incredibly difficult to pull off. It’s disappointing because we know there are fans all around the world that would love to see this band play live.”
As on their two previous tours, the band plan to film a live DVD, which may offer some solace to those who don’t have the opportunity to attend a show.
While no concrete plans exist for the band beyond March next year and it’s never likely to represent a full-time commitment for any of its members, all concerned are determined that Flying Colors will continue.
“I do this band because I love it and it’s special to all of us,” says McPherson. “We recognise the chemistry that you can’t manufacture. Because it’s not our main bread and butter we really appreciate every single show, every single day we write together. It’s not work. So for that, I’m very grateful.”
Third Degree is out now via Music Theories. Visit www.flyingcolorsmusic.com for more information.