Dream Theater

One of the most promising bands of last year was no doubt Majesty. Although the sound on their instrumental “rough mix” demo was poor, the highly original nature of the music and the great musicianship that it displayed convinced a lot of people (including us) that this was a band with a bright future in front of them. They’ve now got a record contract and a new name. They changed it to Dream Theater, because of legal problems with another band that had the rights to the name Majesty. Their music consists of a mixture of all sorts of influences ranging from metal, progressive rock and jazz to classical music. They’ve combined all these elements to become one of the most brilliant are progressive bands ever to appear, next to Sieges Even and Watchtower. The songs are very complex and progressive and all musicians are very talented. I can strongly advise anyone with an open mind to check out their album, when it’s released. Dream Theater’s line-up is: Mike Portnoy-d, John Petrucci-g, John Myung-b, Kevin Moore-kb and Charlie Dominici-v. Here’s the interview we did with drummer Mike Portnoy just before the release of their monumental LP.

Metal Overdose: Could you tell us something about the band’s history? When and how did you come together? Have there been any line-up changes?

Mike Portnoy: John, John and Kev all played together in various bands when they were in high school. In September of ‘85, I met John and John while we were all attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston. We spent a year together there and wrote the material on the ‘86 demo. When we returned home to New York, Kev joined up with us along with our former vocalist Chris Collins.

MO: Why did you record a demo without a vocalist?

MP: The ‘87 instrumental demo was recorded during the year that we were auditioning singers to replace Chris. Although we didn’t have a singer, we were writing a lot of new material and were progressing at a very fast rate. We recorded that demo only to document that period onto tape.

MO: Who’s the new vocalist? What kind of vocalist is he and how did you find him?

MP: Charlie Dominici joined the band in November of ‘87. We had interview over 90 vocalists before we found him. We were very picky and patient to make sure that our new singer would fit the chemistry of the band perfectly. Charlie has a very different vocal style than the typical metal singer. He has many pop and soul influences which really adds to the originality of the music. He also plays other instruments, which makes it very easy for him to understand the nature of the music we write.

MO: Who inspired you to play this kind of music and what other bands do you listen to ?

MP: We listen to so many bands and styles, that it would be ridiculous to specifically list them all. Because we are musicians, we like to be very open to anything we hear. We feel very comfortable writing in this style of music, because we try to take the writing and the playing to its fullest potential – we are trying to break any boundaries that an average band might fear breaking.

MO: How did you come up with the titles of the instrumental songs? Were they chosen with the prospect of adding lyrics in the future?

MP: The titles on the ‘87 demo were only working titles that were inspired by the moods created while writing the songs. A song like ‘Death of Spock’ which now has lyrics has nothing to do with Mr. Spock.

MO: What are your lyrics about, and where do you get your inspiration for them?

MP: The topics of the lyrics range from song to song. To sum up the lyrics on our album, the different topics are: faith, truth, death, fiction, relationships and dream. The inspiration comes from day to day situations that either bother us, make us happy or inspire us.

MO: How did you get your record deal?

MP: Because our demos were always recorded on 4-track machines, we never bothered shopping for a record deal. We wanted to wait until we had a proper sounding quality recording to represent us. It turns out that we got our record deal through a friend of ours, Chuck Lenihan from the Crumbsuckers, who told Steve Sinclair, head of Mechanic Records, all about us and got him very curious to hear us. Steve contacted me and came down to a rehearsal and flipped out! And here we are!

MO: What are the titles for the songs on the album? Which ones were already on one of your demos?

MP: The album consists of four songs chosen from the ‘87 demo and four songs written since then. The four from the ‘87 demo are: ‘Afterlife’, ‘The Killing Hand’, ‘Ytse Jam’ (instrumental) and ‘The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun’ (formerly ‘Death of Spock’). The titles of the four new ones are ‘A Fortune in Lies’, ‘Light Fuse and Get Away’, ‘Only a Matter of Time’ and ‘Status Seeker’, which was just remixed by Terry Brown to be released as the first single.

MO: How has your music developed since the recording of the rough mix demo?

MP: The new songs are still very long and complex in arrangement, but are more mature in terms of songwriting. They are also some of the most progressive and heaviest songs we’ve ever written.

MO: What do you think of the new stream in heavy metal of progressive, technical music with bands like Sieges Even and Watchtower? Will it become an important asset to heavy metal?

MP: I hope so! It’s great to hear metal bands who obviously put a lot of time and effort into their songwriting and musicianship. Although we haven’t heard Sieges Even yet – hopefully we will soon – we really respect what bands such as Watchtower, Fates Warning, King Diamond, Mekong Delta, the Crumbsuckers are doing. I hope this style of music starts to become more and more recognized and appreciated.

MO: Do you think that your music will also appeal to people with other musical tastes than heavy metal? (eg: jazz)

MP: Definitely! I think that our music has a little bit of something that will appeal to everybody whether they listen to metal, jazz, classical or mainstream rock or even Norwegian folk music!

MO: Have you done any live gigs, and if so what kind of audience did you attract and how did it respond?

MP: Right now, we’ve been spending a lot of time playing out live and tightening up our show so it will be ready to go on the road when the album is released. The crowd response has been overwhelming and very encouraging. All different sorts of listeners seem to be showing up to our shows.

MO: How is life in what is supposed to be the one of the busiest places on earth (NYC)?

MP: Just as you described it: busy!

MO: How is the New York music scene? Are there any bands that play a similar kind of music to yours?

MP: The New York scene is great. There are always plenty of clubs to go to, bands to see and things to do. However, I would not consider too many of the local bands as up to par as the scene itself. There are mostly either poser bands or untalented thrash bands. The only bands from this area that we really enjoy are the Crumbsuckers, Hittman and Ludichrist.

MO: Have you got a message for all those open minded people here in Europe ?

MP: Well, thank you very much for the support. We really appreciate it and it is very encouraging. Our debut LP, When Dream and Day Unite, will be available in February of ‘89, and we hope to see you on tour soon after.