Lying Awake in the Shadows of Images and Words

An Interview with Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater

by Paul Gargano

Just how important is education to a musician? While many will tell you they “just started to play,” and others will describe their first band as a high school dirge-ensemble that got together and played Zeppelin covers in a dirty basement, very few choose to formally pursue their instruments as a path of higher education.

But for Dream Theater, who formed at The Berklee College of Music, in Boston, MA, education means more than the confines of classroom walls.

“Everything at a music school, especially Berklee, is music-oriented,” drummer Mike Portnoy explained in a recent interview. “You’re constantly being consumed into this whole world of music and everybody around you is striving to be the best that they can, so it really inspires you.”

While the school provided a motivational setting in which Dream Theater could unite, the demands of learning in the classroom, in addition to the homework and projects, became overwhelming for the young collection of aspiring musicians.

“The three of us had just met,” Portnoy said of himself, guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung. “We had this real great chemistry musically and we were practicing six hours a night, so after awhile it was impossible to do both – to be able to maintain our curriculum and be able to focus on what we wanted to do career-wise. That’s what prompted us to get up and pursue the band after a year.”

Though graduation became secondary to the success of Dream Theater, it takes only a quick listen to any of the band’s three releases to realize that their education is an ongoing process. On Awake, the band’s follow-up to their East/West breakthrough Images and Words, their stunning musicianship radiates throughout tracks that range from the frenzied ‘6:00’ to the quieter, acoustic texture of ‘The Silent Man.’ Of particular note is the band’s uncanny ability to conjure an orchestral effect with their music. Even their lyrics assume a life of their own, with vocalist James LaBrie pushing notes with a precision that leaves little room for rival.

The magic of Dream Theater is their artistry – teaming precision and innovation to form a refreshing and invigorating final product. Keyboards are layered amidst Petrucci’s fretwork, with Portnoy and Myung providing a rhythmic bond that holds the tracks together. Kevin Moore, whose keyboards have been a trademark for Dream Theater since soon after their conception, provided the keyboards for Awake, but left the band about six weeks before its release.

“The camaraderie and the passion for the band situation wasn’t there for him like it had been in the past,” Portnoy said of Moore’s decision to leave Dream Theater. “Musically, he was going in a different direction. He really didn’t want to do the heavy progressive stuff and was heading into a more alternative or industrial sort of direction. He didn’t want to hold us back, and he didn’t want to hold himself back either.”

He left his legacy with Dream Theater, however, writing the lyrics for the band’s breakthrough single, ‘Pull Me Under,’ as well as ‘Surrounded,’ ‘6:00’ and ‘Lie’ (their latest single) and writing both the music and lyrics for ‘Space Dye Vest,’ and ‘Wait for Sleep.’ Having been with the band for almost a decade, his vacancy won’t be an easy one to fill, but the position appears to be in good hands with the addition of fellow Berklee student Derek Sherinian, whose most recent credits include Alice Cooper’s The Last Temptation and Kiss Alive III. Dream Theater hopes the Berklee connection will pay off and Sherinian will be able to find a permanent place in the band following their tour.

“It’s definitely a family,” Portnoy said of Dream Theater’s relationship on and off stage. “It’s like any band – it’s a marriage, you have to put 100 percent into it and it requires a lot of patience and understanding between the different members.”

If that compromise is evident anywhere, it’s in their music. Few bands can perform with such an artistic and sonic edge – exchanging solos, transferring leads, layering their sound and developing an uninhibited and artful result.

“I think the most important thing is to balance writing from the mind – which would be the knowledge of going to Berklee and learning your craft – with writing from your heart,” Portnoy said of his band’s progressive approach to songwriting. “There are some things that you can’t learn in a classroom – like feeling and emotion – that’s just natural. If you can combine them both, which we’re striving to do, then that’s the best of both worlds.”