For more than a decade, the NEAL MORSE BAND — now operating simply as NMB — has remained one of progressive rock’s most consistent and tightly knit forces. With their new studio album “L.I.F.T.” scheduled for release on February 27, 2026, Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Eric Gillette, Bill Hubauer and Randy George return with a record driven by vision, passion and inspiration.
Written and recorded during a time of significant change, “L.I.F.T.” captures the band’s creative chemistry at its most natural and inspired, showcasing NMB firing on all cylinders and reaffirming their place at the forefront of modern progressive rock.
Today, the band has unveiled the second single from the album, “Hurt People”, along with an accompanying music video.
Neal Morse comments: “At some point in my life, I heard the phrase ‘hurt people hurt people’, meaning that those who are doing damage to others are damaged themselves. Anyway, the phrase always stayed with me.
“When we were writing ‘L.I.F.T.’, we were at the point in the story arc where the person has his or her break in belonging, and we were working on this heavy section. Mike and Eric were playing this heavy stuff and I started singing ‘hurt people hurt people’ over what they were doing. It didn’t fully come to life until Eric sang it, (what a vocal! — not to mention guitar solo!) which didn’t happen till months later, but when it all came together, wow.”
