Dream Theater

Just before the Fates Warning concert at Offenbach, the 10th of February. Mike Portnoy confided to Decibels Storm and as you are going to see, Mike is entirely devoted to his group.

Stephane Auzilleau: Well then, How is this tour going?

Mike Portnoy: It’s fantastic. It’s one week since the European tour has started and I feel it’s a good one. We’re playing in bigger halls than our last tour and most of our dates are sold out. We’ve a great public, they’re enthusiastic and show it.

SA: How is it going with Derek Sherinian on keyboards, who’s touring with you?

MP: Derek is going to be on keyboards full-time with Dream Theater [Note: it’s official since the 20th of February]. He’s been with us just over 4 months now and it’s going great. He’s an excellent musician with whom we get on really well, which is very important for a group. He has brought something new to the group, a new enthusiasm. It’s a change from Kevin, who, towards the end was slowing us down more than anything else. It wasn’t a very nice situation, but now we’re in the opposite situation. Now we’ve got someone who pushes us forward!!

SA: Dream Theater are almost 10 years old, did you hope for such a success when you formed the group in ‘85?

MP: Hmm... yes and no. Yes, in the fact that we hoped for success after being in the business 10 years but after having recorded 5 or 6 albums, what happened was we formed Majesty in ‘85 but we didn’t do an album before ‘89 and we went through some long and difficult phases, during which we nearly gave up. Between the first album and the moment we found James [Note: end of ‘90] was a really difficult moment for us. We were in a doubting period and we didn’t know if we were ever going to find the lead singer that we needed. Finally we really “took off” in ‘92 with the recording of Images And Words. If you consider all of that, you could say that we didn’t think we’d have such a rapid success, sell 1million records and do tours in important halls. Actually at the beginning we thought we’d become a “cult” group, with a faithful but not so plentiful public. Maybe it would have happened like that if it wasn’t for the enthusiasm raised by ‘Pull Me Under’ and the success of this title on MTV and Radio. We didn’t think success would come this way.

SA: Has the success changed something in your life? And in your musical approach?

MP: Of course!! I can’t go and collect my own pizzas anymore when I’m touring, they have to be delivered. [laughs] Your lifestyle has to change with the fact that you’ve different constraints. There is both a good and a bad side in this change, but we’re living a dream and it’s stronger than everything. We spend our time making music which is what we love the most, what more can you ask for? As for our musical approach, nothing has changed. We’ve always done what we wanted to, written and played the music that we like. We’ve just matured and now have more means to do what we want. But all in all nothing has changed, we’re still the same group.

SA: What do you appreciate the most in being a member of DT?

MP: What I like the most is that each of us are equal but that can also be what’s most disagreeable.

SA: Not so fast! You’re answering my next question!!

MP: We’re 5 in the group, therefore I represent 20%. That means that you’ve always your say in the running of things and that your opinion counts. That’s the good side. On the other hand, there are things that you’d like to do but can’t because the others don’t share your point -view. It can be frustrating sometimes but I believe that we’ve found a good balance. However sometimes I feel like pushing the others forward a bit. [laughs]

SA: What do you want to do after this tour? Record ‘A Change Of Seasons’? [Note: great piece more than 20 mins.]

MP: We don’t know yet. At the moment the situation is: if we get a good offer for a tour in the USA after this European tour, we’ll take a break between the two, during which we’ll finally record this song. If we don’t do a US tour, then we might start working straight away on a new album in which case we wouldn’t record this song, which is now almost 5 years old. [Note: latest news is that the group are going to record ‘A Change Of Seasons’ because quote Mike Portnoy at Paris “we’re fed up of fans asking after each concert when we’re going to record the song!!” [laughs]] What I’d like but at the moment it’s only an idea, is to create a festival with other groups like us, but a little less out of fashion at the moment, groups like Marillion, or the Dixie Dregs.

SA: You filmed the video for ‘The Silent Man at Munich. It’s your next single. Do you hope for a success for this title on MTV?

MP: I don’t know if this title will work. It’s difficult to tell. We thought that ‘Another Day’ was going to be a hit and it wasn’t! And we didn’t at all think that ‘Pull Me Under’ was going to be such a hit. The first single from Awake is ‘Lie’, I thought the title was in with what pleases at the moment in the USA, apparently that’s not true, personally I wouldn’t have chosen ‘The Silent Man’ as a new single, I think this song is too cool.

SA: On this tour you do some covers from groups like Metallica [‘Damaged Inc.’ instrumental version] or Deep Purple [‘Perfect Strangers’]. Can you tell me why you decided to do that rather than play other Dream Theater songs, from the first album for example?

MP: The answer is simple, Derek doesn’t know any of the songs from When Dream And Day Unite and we didn’t have time to rehearse other Dream Theater songs, other than those that we sing. We then decided to do a remake from time to time and I think the public appreciates them.

SA: I suppose then, that you had fun doing the concert with only remakes in a London Jazz club at the end of January?

MP: Yes it was really great, even though pretty stressful. We didn’t have enough time to rehearse properly. We started with ‘In The Flesh’ [Pink Floyd] during 2 dates of the Japanese tour, and we worked on some other pieces while we were there, but in the end we didn’t have enough time. Despite that we adored the concert and even more so because we had prestigious guests.

SA: What are the groups you really appreciate?

MP: There’s Jellyfish that I’ve always loved, unfortunately they’ve just split up. I also like Green Day. I don’t listen to recent groups. I re-listen to the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Marillion. Brave is my favourite ‘94 CD. I had to listen to it several times to appreciate it fully and I find it fabulous. Steve Hogarth is a really good singer.

SA: If you don’t mind, I’d like us to go over all your records together, and that way you can comment on each album. Let’s begin with the Majesty demo from ‘86.

MP: We recorded on my tape recorder. Actually we recorded the guitar, bass and drums while at Berklee. Then I brought the tape home and Kevin and Chris recorded their respective pieces. This demo wasn’t taped live, each of us taped separately. Funny isn’t it? We then did some overdubs and some special effects!

SA: The second Majesty demo [instrumental], did it ever come out officially?

MP: No, not really. At the beginning we made 1000 copies with sleeves. It was the official demo. The instrumental demo was recorded for people who asked for it and for people with who we were in contact with. It wasn’t “official”.

SA: When Dream And Day Unite

MP: It was a great experience. It was the first time we recorded in a real studio with a real producer. Thinking back I’m not fully satisfied with the result, but you’ve got to put it in context; we didn’t have much time for recording and we didn’t have the means that we have now. Having said this, I think that the songs on this album are good. I love them. We should re-record them now with James.

SA: Images And Words

MP: I don’t have very good memories of this recording. It was very trying. We were just coming out of a very difficult period. From the beginning I couldn’t get on very well with David Prater, the producer. Humanely we didn’t get along and we didn’t at all have the same idea about how to sound our music. I hate the sound of my drums on this record. Of course we had more means for this recording than When Dream And Day Unite, but, this was more difficult to realize.

SA: And at last Awake.

MP: Compared to that of Images And Words, the recording of Awake was a real pleasure. Duane and John are the nicest possible people. We adored working with them. My only regret is that this recording corresponded with the time Kevin left us. He announced his leaving 15 days before the end of the recording, but we had sensed it before then. He wasn’t as enthusiastic as before. At that time we had rented apartments beside the studio. I shared an apartment with John Petrucci, while James & John Myung shared another. Kevin had insisted on being on his own. It was a sign. But it couldn’t go on, because Kevin was slowing us down, we sensed he didn’t feel like continuing. I was the only one who stayed in the studio during the whole recording. The others came and recorded their parts and then left. I remember when John Myung was supposed to record his bass part, the television was retransmitting the reconstruction of the OJ Simpson trial. Jim Matheos [Fates Warning] was there too and we were glued in front of the TV in the studio. During this time John was waiting patiently in a corner. He was waiting for us to finish watching the cursed TV, before his recording!! But we couldn’t stop watching the TV!! [laughs] Finally, he came and watched with us! John is somebody really patient.