Dream Theater – Perfection And Power

Back in 1985, guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung and drummer Mike Portnoy met at Boston’s Berklee College Of Music. They got a hold of keyboardist Kevin Moore, who was attending Fredonia School Of Music, found a singer, and started a band. After a name change, a couple of vocalists and a critically acclaimed debut album, this core of musicians known collectively as Dream Theater recruited Canadian born vocalist James LaBrie and, with producer David Prater of Firehouse fame at the boards, created an album that is already hailed by many as a modern rock masterpiece. Images And Words has shook the music world since it’s release several months ago. It has the musical stylings of earlier prog-rockers like Kansas, King Crimson and ELP, combined with the crunch of Metallica and Judas Priest and the power orchestrations of Rush and Queensryche. All this sown together by five excellent musicians makes for a very powerful combination. The albums third single has been released, and they have just returned from a tour in Europe, and will be hitting the U.S. trail next, including a stop at Milwaukee’s Summerfest. For a look inside this new rock force, here’s a talk with one of the geniuses behind the curtain, drummer Mike Portnoy.

Do you feel that Dream Theater’s style is totally unique compared to any band today?

Yes and no. In one respect, we, like any band want to feel like we’re doing something original, and what we’re doing, from our hearts is original, but nobody can deny their influences. Every band is influenced by their surroundings. We’ll be the first to admit that our music comes from, not just the five of us, but a wide, wide variety of different types of music. I mean you’ve got your classic rock, your heavy metal, your jazz, your thrash, it’s all got it’s place when you try to go in different directions, as well as to appeal to all the different styles we do.

If you had to name just two bands that were influential and represent the opposite ends of Dream Theater’s musical spectrum, who would they be?

The ones that are constantly getting tagged on us are Yes and Metallica, along with Rush and Queensryche. But Yes and Metallica are two of the biggest ones, obviously two different kinds of music. There’s also influences, like on one hand you’ve got Pantera, Anthrax and Megadeth, and on the other end you’ve got U2 and Peter Gabriel, then on the other end you’ve got jazz like Chick Corea, then you’ve got Red Hot Chili Peppers, it’s really a little bit of everything.

Do you think that attending Berklee influenced your musicianship in any way that influenced the formation of Dream Theater’s style?

Absolutely. The first year the band met was at Berklee in 1985, and that had a tremendous impact on our musical direction. We were surrounded by incredible musicians while out there, and we got together, started writing together and really took on that musician sort of angle. When you’re in a music school and there’s so many incredible musicians everywhere, it takes your musical expectations to the furthest potential.

It’s three years between the release of your debut and Images And Words, and a lot happened in that time. Do you consider yourselves perfectionists, and did the events of these three years help build Images And Words into an album that is as close to perfection as possible?

Definitely, we’re very meticulous people. The reason there was such a long break in between albums was we made all these changes in the band. Our singer, our label and a lot of internal things like our lawyers, our manager, stuff like that. If you want it done right, it takes time. When it comes to the songwriting we’re very meticulous, tearing everything apart, every single measure of music is all thought out and orchestrated. We really didn’t want to make any moves until we felt they were absolutely perfect. We made a lot of mistakes the first time around and, no matter how long it took, we were going to make sure we made the right decisions this time.

What qualities did James LaBrie have that made you choose him over all the other vocalists that auditioned?

When James came around, we knew exactly what we were looking for. We had heard so many vocalists who had good qualities, but were also lacking in certain areas. We needed a powerful voice, with a wide range, a very diverse voice that could do all the different styles we do. That was very important, along with his whole attitude, and how he worked with us, could we deal with him for the next twenty years. Also one thing that it was hard for us to find in a singer was musical direction, because a lot of singers have a commercial background, and could they make it in a band playing ten minute songs. James had all the qualities we were looking for.

What did producer David Prater add to the album?

He added a clearness, a separation and a balance between instruments. But it’s also what he took away. It’s really easy for us to get carried away, with the arrangements, and overplay sometimes, and it’s real important to have that objective listener, someone who lays back, listens and polishes it down a bit. Not to the point where you’re selling out or taking away from the musicianship.

Do you feel that Dream Theater has created a new category of music and that other bands may soon follow in your path playing similar styles?

I don’t know if we’ve created a new style of music, if anything we’ve taken an old style of music that’s been dead for ten or fifteen years, I don’t wanna say dead, but it’s been overlooked by modern musicians. We’re doing it because we enjoy doing what we’re doing, and hopefully it will open doors for other bands.