Nick D'Virgilio (NDV)
Who doesn’t know Nick D’Virgilio (NDV)?
He’s got a musical CV that’s a mile long. “Throughout my career, I always seemed to have 10 things going on at once. That’s the life of a working musician.” To try to summarize is incredibly difficult, but here goes.
Growing up in Southern California, NDV started banging on his mother’s pots and pans, leading to his parents buying him a starter drum kit at age 4. He got his first real kit at age 5. He began going to his brother’s band rehearsals when he was 6 or 7 years old. It was then that he knew he was “hooked on music”. He listened to rock acts Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Phil Collins, Rush, David Bowie, and Deep Purple as well as “fusion jazz, Latin music, and anything funky”. He learned guitar, trumpet and eventually “every brass instrument in the school band”.
He joined his first band at age 15. After high school, he attended the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles where he studied singing and songwriting while playing in several bands, including The Neighborhood and Susie and the Knockouts, and taking every gig he could get as a working musician.
Sometime in 1990 or 1991, NDV would meet Neal and Alan Morse at a blues jam. Together, they would become Spock’s Beard and soon be joined by Dave Meros and Ryo Okumoto. Their first album would be released in 1995. That line-up would release 6 albums before Neal’s departure in 2002. NDV would then assume frontman/lead signer responsibilities for 4 more albums before leaving the band in 2011.
Back tracking a bit, NDV’s big break would come when he met Kevin Gilbert in 1994. He was asked to play The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway at Progfest with Gilbert, Dave Kerzner, Stan Cotey, and Dan Hancock. Following that performance, he joined Kevin’s bands THUD and Kaviar. During that period, he learned recording techniques from and performed with Gilbert. Following Gilbert’s death in 1996, NDV would release Gilbert’s rock opera The Shaming of the True in 2000.
It was through Kaviar bandmate Brian MacLeod that NDV would land his first major tour with Tears for Fears in 1995. He would continue with the band until 2010 and would contribute to Roland Orzibal’s Tomcats Screaming Outside in 2001.
During that first tour with Tears for Fears, NDV learned that Phil Collins had left Genesis. He went to the band’s offices, left them a copy of Spock’s Beard’s The Light and hoped for the best. Six months later, he would get the call to audition for the band who he “listened to their music literally every day”. He got the gig and was one of the drummers on Calling All Stations.
Just in case all of this wasn’t enough, NDV spent nearly 5 years on the road with Cirque de Soleil’s TOTEM as drummer, singer, and assistant bandleader. In 2014, he left the circus to become a drum ambassador at Sweetwater Studios (and turned down the opportunity to tour with Steven Wilson). He remains with Sweetwater to this day.
During Spock’s Beard's 1998 European tour, NDV met Rob Aubrey. After working together on a variety of projects, Rob recommended NDV to Big Big Train. He recorded with them on 2007’s The Difference Machine and 2009’s The Underfall Yard. Soon thereafter, he was asked to become a permanent member of the band, both in the studio and on the road when the band began doing live shows in 2015. He remains with the band on drums, occasional guitar, and vocals.
Did we mention The Fringe and UniKuE? Did we mention touring with Steve Hackett and Mr Big?
Besides all of his work with the bands mentioned above, NDV has also been a solo artist, releasing Karma in 2001, Pieces in 2011, and Invisible in 2020. He has also released 2 albums as D’Virgilio, Mores & Jennings - 2022’s Troika and 2023’s Sophomore.
Whew! We are tired just typing all that!
