Flying Colors (band)

Flying Colors is an American supergroup composed of Mike Portnoy, Dave LaRue, Casey McPherson, Neal Morse, and Steve Morse. The band's mission, chartered by executive producer Bill Evans, is to combine complex music with accessible songwriting. Flying Colors, on Mascot Label Group, has released three studio albums, and three live albums, to commercial success and critical acclaim.

History

Formation (2008–2010)

In 2008, Evans wrote a proposal for a band that combined sophisticated music (complex composition and virtuoso performances) with accessible, mainstream songwriting. His idea was to channel the complexity through a charismatic pop singer/songwriter, keep the songs short, and use humor.

Evans approached Neal Morse (solo artist, Spock's Beard, Transatlantic, The Neal Morse Band), Dave LaRue (Dixie Dregs, Steve Morse Band, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai), Steve Morse (Steve Morse Band, Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple, Kansas), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Transatlantic), and music producer Peter Collins (Rush, Bon Jovi) about making the band a reality.

The singer/songwriter slot remained unfilled as Evans could not find a suitable candidate. He examined over 100 candidates. Portnoy suggested Casey McPherson, who at the time was signed to Disney's Hollywood Records (Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Jesse McCartney) label. McPherson's band, Alpha Rev, had recently released the album ''New Morning'', which spent 17 weeks in the Billboard Top-10 chart. Unlike most of the other artists on Hollywood Records, McPherson wrote all his own material, and played multiple instruments on his albums. His songwriting, singing, and stage personae appealed to the band and Evans. McPherson joined the still unnamed band a month before the first writing/recording session.

''Flying Colors'' and ''Live in Europe'' (2011–2012)

Prior to the primary writing/recording sessions, Neal and Steve Morse met to write, and explore their potential musical chemistry. From this session came major sections of the songs "Blue Ocean" and "Infinite Fire". The band, Evans, and Collins met for nine days at Neal Morse's house and connected studio in January 2011. Evans asked longtime Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy engineer Jerry Guidroz to record and engineer the sessions. During that time, the band members wrote the music, and some of the lyrics, for the rest of the album. Collins helped the band choose between competing song ideas, and help organize songs' structure. Portnoy also took on this role.Portnoy remained at Morse's studio after the rest of the band left, to record final drums for the album. In between their other commitments, over the next six months, recorded overdubs, and in some cases, recorded over their original parts. Several band members met two more times at Neal's studio to record vocals together. Then, Collins chose the final parts that would comprise each of the songs, working with Guidroz to create many of the album's sounds. Collins remarked that Guidroz was one of the best engineers he had ever worked with. Portnoy, Evans, and Guidroz then travelled to Electric Lady Studios to mix the album with Michael Brauer. Over five days, the entire album was mixed. Their debut studio album '' Flying Colors'' was released on March 26, 2012. It debuted at No. 9 on Billboard's Hard Rock chart, and No. 11 on the BBC
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