Dream Theater

I've been a fan of Dream Theater ever since their first album was released on Mechanic a few years back. The reason I bought the record, besides Mechanic having such greats as Stone and Vio-lence, was that I had been hearing great things about this New York group called Majesty who were made up of these phenomenal musicians. I thought the debut was good and then the band disappeared. Word was out that they lost their singer and their label and I thought Dream Theater was history. Suddenly last year with a new singer and new label the quintet returned to the spotlight with one of the best records of '92, Images And Words. I've seen the band a couple of times since, each time at larger and larger venues because others are noticing this superb talent. I did this interview a while back with keyboardist Kevin Moore and bassist John Myung before the band had a gold album and a hit single. Hope you still enjoy it.

You were in a scary situation after your first release. What happened or what didn't happen?

What didn't was a lot of stuff going down with a new label, we were a flagship band. We suffered because of no support from MCA. It took a lot of time – three years. We changed singers, that took a year, we had to negotiate out of that deal, that was 18 months. It cost us a lot of money and it was a long grueling process. We should have signed with Brian [Slagel – Metal Blade]. He wanted to do a one-off, instead we went with Mechanic. It was deceiving. Trixter's success has nothing to do with us. Since Mechanic was funded by MCA any project had to be approved by MCA and they didn't want to help us out. MCA wasn't putting in any effort.

What were the problems with your old singer?

We were hoping to grow together but from the beginning we knew. He was much older than us. We were hoping but the whole attitude was different. We wanted someone with a better range. Charlie is good but comes more from a pop background.

How'd you get the Atco deal?

Derek Oliver, he used to write for Kerrang!, did a review on our first album and gave it 5 Ks. He then got a job at Atco doing A+R and we kept in touch. He overlooked the whole process to find a singer. He was always there.

How did you find James LaBrie?

We were patient and we didn't want to make the same mistake. We received a couple hundred demos and auditioned a few: John Arch from Fates Warning; a fellow from Florida; Chris Cintron, who was on the verge of joining; Steve Stone from Seattle worked out for a couple of weeks. We had an all instrumental show booked and he did half the set. We've had many experiences with different singers.

Explain your writing process?

It basically happens at rehearsals. One or more guys will come up with a spark and we'll start jamming. Someone will have a progression or theme. We develop and arrange it. What I'm trying to say is, it's a group writing process. It's a lot of fun.

What about the lyrics?

They are done after. Somebody will say, “I have a really good idea,” and they'll write the song. We have a song called ‘A Change of Seasons’ that we wrote around the time of ‘Metropolis.’ It's a 20-minute conceptual piece. It's a journey through the spectrum of the Dream Theater sound. A conceptual piece like The Wall or Operation: Mindcrime. It's a piece we intended on using but the day we entered the studio Atco called and said we should save it for the next record. Otherwise it would have been an 80-minute record. Maybe we'll put it out as an EP.

What is meant by the title Images And Words?

It's taken from the lyrics of ‘Wait for Sleep’. It sums up the whole of what an album really is. What different forms of media are. Images the music provides and words. Instead of being pompous and arrogant calling it Kingdom of Lost Survivors. The title evokes Dream Theater. There are benefits to being a band with equal say. We're five people with very strong opinions. We don't make a decision until all five are happy. Sometimes it causes problems but with the LP title all five of us were completely happy.

What happened when you had to change your name and why Dream Theater?

“Majesty” was federally trademarked. We're always asked about the ‘M’ on the first album. We already had done the artwork before we changed the name so we decided to keep it. A reminder of our roots.

Why did you decide to use producer David Prater?

He didn't get involved in the arrangements or lyrics but he helped get the vocals or solo instrumental parts to become the focal point. He made it easier to listen to and he gets great sounds. He made it so the voicing between the guitar and keyboards don't clash. A lot of people say, “Isn't it hard to work with David?” who did the two Firehouse albums, but he did Santana, too. He comes from a progressive background so in reality he was a perfect match.

Any last words?

The first time around we didn't have the right tools. We reached rock bottom and hope to never go there again. You can't really predict your success but you can narrow your margin of failure.