Enter The Dream Theater

Progressive rock has pretty much been a dead issue since its 70’s heyday, when bands like Yes and ELP ruled airwaves and arenas. Somebody forgot to tell the guys in Dream Theater. That’s evident on the New York five piece’s second album, Images and Words, with its prescription of textured keyboards, epic-length tunes, intricate instrumental excursions and mystical lyrics. Dream Theater, however, adds a unique spin to the tried-and-true progressive-rock formula: thunderous grooves and Promethean guitar riffs straight out of the heavy-metal manual.

“Where we grew up, the big bands were Yes, The [Dixie] Dregs, Rush, ELP, Frank Zappa and s*** like that,” explains 25-year-old guitarist John Petrucci, who’s from Long Island, New York. “But at the same time we listened to thrash and metal bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica and Anthrax.”

Petrucci, along with bassist John Myung and keyboardist Kevin Moore, grew up in the town of Kings Park. “We went to high school; we went to proms together and everything,” Petrucci chuckles. After graduation, Petrucci and Myung attended Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Meeting up with drummer Mike Portnoy (a fellow Long Islander and progressive-rock enthusiast), the band formed, subsequently drafting old buddy Moore. In its seven-year existence, the outfit’s shed a lot of excess baggage: a name, Majesty; a record label, Mechanic (for which the group recorded its first album, When Dream and Day Unite); and an assembly line of singers before finding Torontonian James LaBrie.

Images and Words was released with little fanfare last July, but the buzz grew steadily louder as the song “Pull Me Under” started topping radio-request lists. “It surprised the s*** out of us, actually!” says Petrucci. “We thought maybe a couple of songs on the album have radio potential, but ‘Pull Me Under’ was way too heavy and long [original version: eight-plus minutes; radio-edit version: six-plus minutes]. What’s happening is even if people hear it once, they’re calling up and saying, ‘What the hell is that?!’”

As you’d expect from a band with intricate arrangements, Dream Theater puts in a lot of rehearsal time. “Everybody always makes fun of us: ‘Don’t you guys ever stop practicing?’” Petrucci laughs. “When we were recording the album, the mentality was, ‘Well, this is going to be on CD forever.’ I was practicing nine hours a day and so was everybody else. I just say, ‘Aren’t all bands like this?’”

—Mordechai Kleidermacher