I just read that major news are going to be dropped Sept. 7th.
What could it be?
New Spock's Beard album with Neal?
I doubt it. The way Ted Leonard has been talking lately it sounds like SB may be done. He also made it sound like Pattern Seeking Animals hasn't taken off, either. He said that this next Transatlantic tour may be the "last big cool thing I get to do" at least in part because taking time off from his day job has gotten more difficult.
To be fair, we've been in an 18-month pandemic, so Pattern-Seeking Animals hasn't really had a chance to play live, which I would assume might help them gain a bit more notoriety. They'll be playing their first live shows after releasing three studio albums within 3 years, which seems a bit unusual for a rock band these days, but they couldn't help it. I think they'll do alright once they can start touring and playing a few gigs, but if their day jobs are getting in the way, maybe they won't do any more gigs than SB could in the last decade or so.
Honestly, if SB is done for, I would hope they have the decency to announce it and just say "Well, it was fun, but we can logically carry on as a band", especially with Ted and Dave in P-SA, and Ryo working with many different groups and doing his own solo album now, it seems like the Beard are moving off into separate directions. If all we ever get is what we have, with their 13 album discography, I'd be fine with that. I didn't think Noise Floor was too bad (I liked it more than The Oblivion Particle), and if that's their last album ever, I'm okay with that, which makes the closing song "Beginnings" feel a bit more appropriate as an ending, especially since it was the only song on Noise Floor to feature any vocals from NDV (in addition to Ted and Al). The end of SB has led to some new beginnings, and at the very least, we've gotten P-SA from some of them, and their first two albums have become two of my favorites over the last few years and I eagerly await their third album next year!
-Marc.