Enter Sandmen: Dream Theater

The ‘70s saw the rise of Prog Rock kings Rush. Now the ‘90s have a new Progressive Metal phenomenon, Dream Theater. Heavily influenced by the aforementioned giants, Dream Theater produce fast, furious and fantastically complex compositions. Gareth Smith assesses why they alone are reviving the Prog Rock genre.

So what are the prime ingredients for a good Progressive Rock band? Well, something more than competent musicianship is a must; secondly a bottomless pit of strong tunes with a multitude of time changes; and last, perhaps some arty (and, dare we say it, just a touch pretentious) lyrics. Dream Theater more than fulfill these requirements, thus setting them among the biggest rising Rock/Metal acts of the moment.

The first incarnation of Dream Theater began in September ‘85 when John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), Mike Portnoy (drums) and Kevin Moore (keyboards) put together a band titled Majesty. All the group cite Rush as a major influence, so much so that the name Majesty was indirectly inspired by a Rush song. The story behind this is a little obscure, but here’s how it goes. When the unnamed band were queueing for tickets to Rush’s ‘Power Windows ‘ tour, others in the line were playing the Canadian band’s tapes. Listening to the end section of Bastille Day Mike Portnoy commented on how ‘majestic’ this section of the song sounded. Pondering on what had just been said the guys thought what a great name ‘Majesty ‘ would be for a band. And that was that. When they managed to get their first efforts onto tape these became known as ‘The Majesty Demos’. Their singer at that time, Chris Collins, put vocals on the eight very progressive sounding tracks and, by March ‘86, ‘The Majesty Demos’ were finally finished. Demand was high for these tapes and 1,000 copies sold within six months – not bad for what was at that time a very underground band. CD bootlegs of these demos are still available today and even now they sell well.

In November ‘86 Majesty parted with Collins and, after auditioning nearly 100 applicants for the vacant position, eventually settled (a year later) on Charlie Dominici. With this lineup they signed to Mechanic Records and in early ‘88 headed for Kajem Studios outside Philadelphia to record their debut LP. Titled ‘When Dream And Day Unite’ it paved the way for future success. However, there was one small problem to overcome before recording and distributing the debut album. Another band had already copyrighted the name Majesty, so the hunt was on for a new moniker. The group played gigs under the names Glasser, M1, Magus and Pancake House before Mike Portnoy’s father suggested the name of a California cinema complex; and so the name Dream Theater was born.

The next hiccup in their plans was singer Dominici. He was fired from the band because he didn’t share DT’s progressive plans. It wasn’t until late 1991 that they finally found Canadian vocalist Kevin James LaBrie, from the band Winter Rose. He performed fantastically in the audition and suited the songs perfectly. But there was a price to his joining the band; he was forced to drop the ‘Kevin’ to avoid confusion with Kevin Moore, the band’s keyboard player – after all, two Johns in one band was bad enough!

East West Records, then ATCO, signed Dream Theater and in 1992 they released their second album ‘Images And Words’, a musical tour de force which spawned for the band the label ‘Progressive Metal’. Now they were ready to take the world by storm.

Individually, Dream Theater are all fantastic musicians. Much of this has to do with their schooling in music (the original members met at Berklee), but also to the dedication which each player gives to his respective instrument. John Petrucci is a guitarist extraor-dinaire. Sure he is quick, but his solos are also rich in melody and phrasing. Interestingly enough he breaks his guitar influences into two sections; the Steves and the Als. The Steves are Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Steve Vai and Stevie Ray Vaughan, while the Als are Alex Lifeson, Al DiMeola and Allan Holdsworth. Bass player John Myung’s idols are Steve Harris and Geddy Lee.

Dream Theater have been firmly landed with the Progressive Metal label, something they largely welcome although it causes some frustration. The similarities between their writing and that of other Prog Rock bands are great, as much of Dream Theater’s work revolves around lofty, theatrical lyrics, supported by Art-Rock compositions which can be eight or even 12 minutes long – not unlike the early works of Rush and King Crimson. Whatever their label, the band claim that they are just doing what comes naturally to them. Since the release of ‘Images And Words’ Dream Theater have moved away from playing small gigs to the larger, 2,000 seater arenas.

Bands whose music is as complex as this sometimes find it hard to replicate their studio sound when playing live, but DT have a comprehensive range of equipment and the necessary talents to see them through. John Petrucci’s gear is covered in this month’s ‘Face The Rack!’ but it is interesting to note that the other John (Myung) has an equally comprehensive rig. He uses MESA/Boogie amps and speakers and owns a TriAxis preamp (modified for bass) which has presets that dial up a great range of tonal variations, simulating many, many amps. This feeds two Strategy 500 power amps and one Bass 400+ power amp. One Strategy drives two 8x10 cabinets; the other powers two Powerhouse cabinets (each containing four 10” and one 15” speaker), while the 400+ drives another Powerhouse. John shifted from his Spector NS-2 bass which he used to record ‘Images And Words’ to a six string Tobias Basic 6. When playing he shuns the use of a pick, preferring the fingerstyle technique.

With ‘Images And Words’ under their belts the band began a hectic tour schedule. In the following year they recorded and released a live EP ‘Live At The Marquee’ before settling down in 1994 to record their third studio LP ‘Awake’. This new album marked a slightly different approach; the music was heavier and if anything more progressive. Some of their fans weren’t keen on this new direction and the ‘Awake’ album also signalled another change in personnel, as long time member Kevin Moore left the band, the excuse being a tried a trusted one in the Rock world – ‘musical differences’. Listening to ‘Awake’, Kevin’s use of samples on 6.00 and Space Dye Vest show his obvious preference towards the Techno and Industrial scene, something which came as a shock to fans and band members alike. James LaBrie commented on the split: “Kevin decided to leave so that he could pursue a new musical direction; one which would not have been possible for him to explore with Dream Theater.” For his own part, Kevin had this to say on his decision: “Musically, I think my approach to writing has changed a lot in the past several years. It came to a point where my views were so different from the rest of the band that we were having trouble relating to each other’s ideas. At the same time, I was finding a great deal of fulfillment writing and recording my own material. Eventually, this became more important to me than anything else. Finally I came to the decision that I needed to concentrate on my own creative identity, and that a split would be the best thing for both the band and myself. I truly believe that Dream Theater have a lot more to offer the music world and I have deep respect for each of them as musicians and people. I wish them all the best.”

The band were now in a tricky situation. They had finished recording ‘Awake’ and were now ready to go out on tour – but they didn’t have a keyboard player! This was temporarily solved by Jordan Rudess; he had played with Jan Hammer and Dixie Dreggs and stood in for Dream Theater at one show where they were debuting new material. Since then Derek Sherinian, formerly of Kiss and Alice Cooper, has been covering keyboard duties on the ‘Awake’ tour. Whether this move will become permanent is as yet unknown.

So what does the future hold for Dream Theater? At the time of writing they are on tour, with rumours surfacing that John Petrucci may soon release a solo album. Other live material may become available and of course the band need to find a full time replacement for Kevin Moore. Whatever the future holds, be assured that Dream Theater’s music will continue to inspire and delight lovers of complex and challenging music. Enjoy Guthrie’s Under A Glass Moon transcription and my ‘Face The Rack!’ with John Petrucci’s guitar tech, Mark Snyder.

FOOTNOTE: If this month’s Dream Theater track has left you hungry for more of their tunes, fear not. Rumour has it that there are plans for a book of transcriptions. If you can’t wait that long and if you’re hooked up to the World Wide Web (the Internet) then make your way to Dream Theater’s home page or any of the other FTP musical sites and you will find numerous DT song transcriptions.

Thanks to Neil Elliot from the Dream Theater fanzine Images And Words for all his assistance in this article.