The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

Dream Theater is a band based on perfection. They were formed at the Berklee College of Music trying to emulate their musical heros, Rush. Before long, though, they were opening up to new musical styles of their own. They experimented with merging the art rock sounds of the mid-70’s with elements of modern heavy metal. Their debut recording was released in 1989 on Mechanic/MCA label. Three years later, they have a new vocalist (James LaBrie), a new label (Atco), and a new record (Images and Words). The new record continues their musical exploration into a mixture of metal, art rock, and even elements of jazz. The eight songs on Images and Words encompass nearly an hour’s worth of music and have such art-rocksy titles as “Metropolis Part I: The Miracle And The Sleeper” and “Surrounded (The Longest Night).” But don’t be frightened away by the titles. The music is metal at its base, and the touch of producer David Prater (Firehouse) can be felt throughout. Music Revue spoke with drummer Mike Portnoy about the band and their new release.

As Dream Theater was formed at the Berklee College of Music, how much of an influence has this formal training had on the band?

Mike Portnoy: Well, it’s definitely helped. We don’t base ourselves around being music students, but it definitely helps. You know, the three of us went there because throughout high school we had been studying our own individual instruments, and Berklee was just the perfect way to continue our musical education. I think that the thing I got most out of it was actually the environment.

Yeah, it’s interesting how bands like Metallica, Rush and yourselves have taken the heavy metal sound and added the musicianship of mid-70’s art rock.

Portnoy: Right. To us, the attraction of all that old art rock or progressive rock, Pink Floyd included, was the musicianship and the arrangement and all the instrumental sections. So as musicians, I’m sure people like Metallica, and most bands who are serious about their instruments probably enjoy that stuff the most. That stuff was the perfect background to step out and challenge ourselves musically.

I read that you auditioned 200 people for a new lead vocalist before deciding on James LaBrie.

Portnoy: Well, we didn’t actually physically audition them. We got 200 tapes. We physically auditioned about 25 of them.

Do you consider yourselves perfectionists?

Portnoy: Absolutely. That’s probably one o the best and one of the worst things about this band. We’re absolutely meticulous perfectionists when it comes to anything. And that’s great because every person in this band has an equal say when it comes to anything like making a decision or writing the music. We all write the music together. But sometimes it’s a set back. Like when we were looking for a singer, we had to find someone who was absolutely perfect and the four or us had to agree that he was perfect. And that was next to impossible. We came really close to just giving up. But I guess the key was perseverance. We just believed in ourselves and our music and stuck to our guns and said. “No matter how long this is gonna take we’re gonna sit through this and get through this bullshit.” And luckily it all came around.