Artist Profile: Dream Theater

It may sound like your typical rock and roll cliché, but the curtain of success has only recently started to open for Dream Theater. False starts, wrong singers, bad deals, the usual stories, but not the usual music from a metal band. James LaBrie – vocals, John Myung – bass, John Petrucci – guitar, Kevin Moore – keyboards and Mike Portnoy – drums call on diverse influences, ranging from progressive rock of the ‘70s, to metal. The band have now been on the road for seven months, and are currently in Europe before returning stateside in mid-May as they continue to tour in support of their EastWest Records release, Images and Words.

Mike stressed that the band is indeed metal, though they sometimes get upset at the continual references to their progressive side: “We’re constantly tagged progressive metal, which might be accurate because I guess the two most predominate sounds are progressive rock and heavy metal, but too often we’re called a progressive rock band; it gives people this stereotyped image of a band trying to relive the ‘70s or trying to be self-indulgent and write 20 minute songs. The word sometimes works as a negative for us, so I think it should be stressed more often that we’re a metal band first and foremost, but also have a lot of jazz influences. I like to think that the music is very diverse. When writing we try not to put up any boundaries or limits and just incorporate everything.” Refreshing in a metal band, isn’t it?

Shouldn’t they be playing with the N.Y. Philharmonic or something? Well, Dream Theater met at, of all places, the Berklee College of Music. Mike explained, “Some of us met when we were there in ‘85 and we just started the band. After a year or so, we decided that it was impossible to do both, because the classes were demanding and so was our music. We couldn’t give each one the proper time, so we decided to pursue the career.” The band was signed to Mechanic in ‘88, but “financially removed” themselves later to seek greener pastures. All was not in vain, for while at the label, the guys hooked up with manager Jim Pitulski (who co-manages them with Rob Shore at Round Table Management). “We actually met Jim in ‘88. He was working at Mechanic/MCA and he was also the first person there to hear our demo tape before we were signed. He was always very enthusiastic about us. Eventually he left and went to Columbia and then PolyGram, but he always kept in touch with us. When Jim left PolyGram he had some free time, and we needed somebody to help set up our record release. He volunteered to come along and give us a hand until we found somebody permanent. I don’t really even know how it happened, but he became our manager.”

The band have always had loyal supporters. Their agent, Pinnacle Entertainment’s John Dittmar, is also an old associate. “We met him when we were signed to Mechanic. He was very enthusiastic about the band and really understood our whole vision and how the band should work. Again things happened, and when it came time to look for another booking agent, he was the first person we spoke to, because we had built such an outstanding relationship with him. We got together and talked, and his attitude was perfectly in sync with ours. We needed nurturing and devotion and focus, and some time and attention. We needed to be worked and John understood that. He looked at all of our long term goals and knew that we would have to tour our asses off. He said at the beginning that that’s how we would make our mark in the music business. He was absolutely right. We’ve been on the road for seven months and the progress is obvious. It’s pretty much the result of constant touring. John works our asses off and it’s great.”

But what’s it like out there on the road? Isn’t seven months an awfully long time to be touring, even if your agent says it’s a requisite? What does it accomplish? Mike seems to be positive about most things, including the non-stop gigging: “Increased fan base is the obvious plus.... The thing I love about touring is the person-to-person contact and response to the band and to the music. You’re playing to different people every night who are responding to it and you get to meet the people. The whole live feel is something you can never get any other way than being on the road every night and playing to different audiences. That’s the most rewarding thing about it. For us it’s great because it keeps you tight and it gives us the opportunity to reach a whole lot more people than if we were just sitting at home. The results are obvious: playing for people constantly creates a buzz and people who come to see the show, seem to come see us again. It’s weird. We seem to have a fanbase that is very fanatical, sort of a Grateful Dead thing. People go to five, six, seven, eight shows in a row. All the fans have been, so fanatic at the live shows, it’s great. Ours is a metal show; a high energy contact thing. The communication back and forth, it’s a very important aspect of our show.”

They’ve been to Japan and had crazed fans mob them, “It was like the fucking Beatles!” They’ve had fans sleep in hotel lobbies waiting to meet them. Their lighting director was recently pulled out of the audience and asked to participate in a real live sex show in Amsterdam: the rock and roll life, eh? But Mike says, at the end of the day, “I thank God every night before I go to sleep. It’s a dream come true. When the record first came out I was saying, ‘If this sells like 100,000 copies and we get to tour for two months, I’ll be satisfied.’ We’ve now been on the road for seven months and the record has sold around 350,000 units. It’s all literally a dream come true, and it keeps growing and growing. Just playing live every night continues this buzz, this domino effect, and it’s great.”