Uniting Dream And Day

Pat Prince investigates the exciting sound of Dream Theater with drummer Mike Portnoy

I’ve always been a huge fan of the progressive rock movement back in the ‘70s, from Jethro Tell to Kansas, to Yes and Rush, to ELP. In my opinion, there just isn’t enough young bands trying to tackle this particular, musically elaborate genre nowadays. It seems that the youthful band of today would rather proceed down the easy road of trends and fads, than to stick by the less popular forms of music that they might truly feel more comfortable doing and be more artistical with.

Well, out of Long Island, New York comes a band that finally fits this need of mine. Aptly titled Dream Theater, this band has the ability to fill the aforementioned gap. Five excellent musicians: Charlie Dominici (vocals), Mike Portnoy (drums), Kevin Moor (keyboards), John Myung (bass) and John Petrucci (guitars), that spray vivid musical colour with their melodic charm, moody atmosphere, and florescent character, while taking the original ‘70s progressive rock sound and overlaying a metal background to the all round feel. Yes, this is a band that offers something that I think is lacking in the whole music spectrum today: Progressive Rock.

This find of mine has actually been around for quite a few years, gigging around the New York area under the name of Majesty. They also had a demo out a few years back with a different singer (the songs on the demo have been shelved too). But eventually they had to change the name Majesty due to trademark problems. The decision of a new name was a hard one, luckily they found another name to describe the band’s precise characteristics, as my interview subject, Mike Portnoy, explains: “Changing the name Majesty was really a drag, because we had that name for years – we spent a lot of time with that name. It was like having a baby, raising it for three years, giving everything you can for the baby, then all of a sudden someone comes along and says you can’t have that baby anymore. It really, really sucked! We chose the name Majesty from the start because it matched the mood we gave off. The reason we had to give up the name was because of some guy owning the trademark rights to it in Las Vegas.”

It seemed like a blessing in disguise though, only because I think the name Dream Theater described the band better than Majesty did. In fact, I think the name Dream Theater is one of the best names for a band ever!!! How did you come up with the idea for such a name?! “Well, our music is so dramatic,” continues Portnoy, “and Dream Theater just fit. It’s a name we all chose to pick.” [Yet before choosing the name Dream Theater, the band almost went with the name Glasser, but changed their minds at the last moment.] “The combination was just right. The word Dream is very open to almost anything, in our case it’s open to many different styles of music. The word Theater is also open, open towards our live show.”

Does your moniker tie in with the title of your soon to be released debut LP (due out in February) titled When Dream And Day Unite? “In a way. The title of the album is actually a line from one of our songs, ‘Only A Matter Of Time’, and it’s all about having faith in yourself and knowing that if you follow your dreams and do have faith in your dreams, they will come true. It can also be taken two ways. One is describing how dreams can come true and the other in a surrealistic sense where dreams and day actually unite and anything can happen. So it’s got a few meanings to it. The cover will have a guy just waking up from a dream and there’s a branding iron held up above him about to brand him. On the brand is a strange looking symbol, which is a symbol we’re using to incorporate into the band, and it casts a shadow over him. It’s actually a photograph that was painted over so it has a strange effect to it.”

OOOO.K. (??!!), but do all the band’s lyrics tie in with this concept? “No, they are really different in each song. Some tying into the concept, but in different ways. Other songs are fictional stories. We try to have a positive view in every song. And they’re not lyrics that are straight-ahead written, they’ll definitely make you think.”

Will the band ever expand onto different subject? Maybe something with social or political value, instead of just the fantasy trip? “We could. Right now we’re not involved with that, even though a lot of bands are. There are certain things that bug us, and I’m sure one day they will turn up in our lyrics.”

Quite a few critics have compared the band to sounding just like Rush, but I disagree. I think Dream Theater sounds more like that of a band like Kansas. A heavier version of older Kansas and brilliant albums like Point Of Know Return or Leftoverture. “Kansas is absolutely one of our influences,” admits the drummer. “I’m glad you didn’t say Rush, I don’t think we sound like them. We’re getting compared to Rush all the time though. But we’re into all those ‘70s progressive bands, which there’s hardly anything like that around now. We really want to bring that feel back. We’re really into doing that, but with a modernised sound.”

Do you think you fit in on a metal label like Mechanic whose roster seems to be predominantly thrash, like Vio-lence and Voivod? “It’s actually turning into a diverse label now. They have basically always had thrash bands, but now they are signing other kinds of metal. They’re even signing a glam band from LA soon.” [Oh boy, just what we need, another Los Angeles glam band.] “I think it’s good that the label is trying to sign a whole bunch of different metal bands. I think it’s really cool that the label isn’t strictly one kind of metal anymore. It’s kinda weird being on the same label as Vio-lence and Voivod. But I think Mechanic is a really good independent metal label.”

I agree. Besides promoting violent puke bags (the Vio-lence EP), which actually consists of Campbell’s soup, Mechanic is an extraordinary label that recognises real talent when they see it, obviously, they signed Dream Theater! They also seem like straight forward and honest people which is hard to find in this screwy music industry. But I really don’t consider Dream Theater metal and Mechanic is primarily a label that promotes metal bands. Or have they evolved beyond metal as well? “But in a certain sense we can be considered metal,” says Portnoy, “some of our songs even have a thrash edge to them. [?!?!] So I would say we are definitely a metal band and we do fit on Mechanic. We do have a lot of different influences like jazz, psychedelic, and of course ‘70s progressive rock. We also do want to go beyond just being metal. But we’re very influenced by metal and I think it’s very obvious in our sound, especially when we play live.”

Speaking of playing live, is the band going to support on an arena tour soon or will it be the continuation of playing small clubs? Personally I think the band goes beyond the small club atmosphere. Progressive type bands need an impressive stage presentation to match with the dramatic music, and obviously you can’t capture that situation in just a night club. “We’d rather do it that way and we’re going through good booking agents right now trying to decide who we’re gonna support. To get on an arena support tour would be great exposure and we definitely can use the room to rightly represent our music the correct way. But at the same time, right now we’re playing clubs.”

I hope Dream Theater gets out to those arenas like they deserve, and presents a captivating show of modern progressive rock. Like I said before, today’s scene needs more young progressive rock like this to carry on a classy tradition. All the right elements are there. Dream Theater just has to pull through, then they could finally make their musical dreams come true!