Derek Sherinian

After a rather extended cab journey from Manhattan, where the driver tried his best to find all the main traffic tail-backs, I finally arrived at Derek’s apartment. With his various music industry awards proudly displayed on his wall; not only Dream Theater, don’t forget this man has also played on very successful Kiss and Alice Cooper albums that have picked up awards as well. Another fine memento is the large picture of a packed Times Square in New York, where Alice Cooper along with a very long-haired Mr. Sherinian, was doing a shoot. Derek opened a bottle Chianti and we began.

So, we’re one year on after you getting the keys hot-seat, how has last year been for you?

Since my induction to the band, when I first got in, it was very stressful. I had to learn all of the material, the set, in such a small amount of time. But once I felt comfortable with the set it was fine. It has been very gratifying, I’ve really enjoyed playing with the guys, and my level of musicianship has definitely increased a few notches since I joined, and that is the most important thing to me. So I am very happy about that.

Before you were officially given the role, did you feel an uneasiness, being that the guys were the main focus of things?

Well, no. You have to understand that to playing with Alice Cooper, his whole band was put up on the side and never got any attention, and I was out there at first doing my job; it was clearly understood that I wasn’t a permanent band member when I first joined it, I was just doing my role, and the whole time I was just doing the best possible job that I could, and hoping that they would recognise my abilities and want me to be a member of the band.

How are you finding writing and recording new material from scratch with the other guys for the first time?

I think it’s really great, I really respect the open-mindedness that each member has In the band. They’re not set in any specific ways, they’re very open to trying and experimenting with a bunch of different kinds of music, and sounds. I think we’ve been coming up with some really fresh stuff, which is very good.

Will you be contributing any lyrics on the new album?

Yes I will, though I will be the first to admit that it is not my forte, but I’m going to give it a shot. I’ll only submit them if I feel that they are strong. I am not going to write lyrics just for the sake of writing lyrics so people go: ‘Oh Derek wrote a lyric!’

‘Anna Lee,’ a working title for a piece you’ve written. Is there a story or inspiration behind that’?

Actually James wrote all the lyrics. It’s actually a pretty intense story, and I should leave it to him to describe it. but I wrote all the music. Actually John Petrucci helped me on a couple of chords.

Did you have a specific lyrical direction that you’d like it take’?

No. And I’ll be really honest with you, I’m the type of person when I hear music the first thing I hear is the groove and the beat, and a lot of times I just don’t really listen to the lyric. It’s more the music for me. So I didn’t have a particular vision. I knew that the music was intense, and it called for an intense lyric whether it was about a woman, or anything, it needed some intensity.

You are also playing a new prototype Korg keyboard.

Yes, I’ve signed a big endorsement deal with Korg synthesisers, and they have come out with some killer new keyboards which they have sent to me, and I am going to be using exclusively live, and on this next record. The sounds on it are just incredible, and I’ve definitely started implementing the keyboards in our sound, and it’ll be all over the next album.

Mike just said that some of the sounds you’re getting out of that new keyboard were amazing.

Yeah. it’s great. it just makes me want to play great. It’s very new sounding, I really feel they are going to help me make a strong mark this year.

You were also voted 4th in the Burrnn (Japanese magazine) readers’ poll! You must be pretty pleased with that?

And that was before those new keyboards! To be honest, I know that it’s very politically correct to say that those polls are very superficial, and that it is just a popularity contest, but I think that anyone that places in the poll’s is lying if they say that it is not important to them, arid I really want to thank all the Japanese fans. What was sweet about placing fourth was that it was off of playing other people’s material, that wasn’t off of stuff I wrote, just my interpretation of other people’s stuff, so I really can’t wait ‘til the next record to see what happens.

Hopefully now, with the new material you are writing with the guys, this whole problem that some people still have with the Kevin Moore thing, will finally die away.

You know what, I’ve said this a lot in other interviews, but whenever an original member leaves a band, people get tripped out, and it is understandable. When David Lee Roth left Van Halen and Sammy Hagar came in, I couldn’t stand it, but the bottom line is I’m here and I’m gonna lay down some shit for the next record and hopefully you’ll like it, and if you don’t, (laughing) that’s too bad! Also what was nice with the Burrnn poll was that I beat Kevin, he came in sixth, and Japan is his strongest area, so I was pleased with that.

You did the Alice Cooper South American tour last year. Was it good to join up with Alice again?

It’s great, we did four shows, and playing with Alice is very comfortable obviously because I’ve played so many shows with him, and he’s just a sweetheart of a guy. And I would like to do some stuff with him in the future; Alice gave me my first break in the business, so it was like I would play with him for sentimental reasons if nothing else.

He puts on a great show and some of those stunts he does, they are simply amazing.

Yeah. It’s different than with Dream Theater, because it’s all about the music above all, but with Alice it’s more of a theatrical presentation. I love doing the intimate shows with of Dream Theater, but at the same time I love doing sold out soccer stadiums! That’s really important to me, and I know it’s going to be a while until Dream Theater is doing that full time, and I hope sooner than later, but occasionally, if schedules don’t conflict and I’m available to go play a couple of exotic shows with Alice, I would love to do it

I’ve got a video of the show in Buenos Aires you did with Alice, and you got your little solo slot as well, it was broadcast on Argentinian TV.

You’ve seen that? I haven’t seen that. You have a copy? Please send me a copy of it.

What sort of stuff are you listening to at the moment, who interests you?

I’ve been trying to listen to a lot of Nine Inch Nails, keyboard sounds and industrial stuff. I’m not totally into it, but I keep an open ear to it. I’m listening to a band called the Yellow Jackets; that’s like a jazz funk fusion group which has this keyboard player Russell Ferrante, and I used to study with him years ago when I live in Los Angeles, and he is just an incredible keyboard player. I’ve been listening to a lot of Howard Stern, he’s great.

The new material, would it be true to say that it is going to be more melodic sounding nearer to Images And Words than Awake?

It’s really hard to label it because, I think it’s very extreme, I know for a fact we’re trying to write some stuff that’s more progressive than anything that has ever been recorded, period! Let alone for Dream Theater, but for anyone. We really want to get deep.

That’s a bold statement.

Hey, we want to try it. I think we’re capable of giving it a shot. But at the same time, we want to write songs that will get played on the radio, and this is a whole big debate, it goes into the whole Metallica thing, you had the original Metallica fans that when they put out the Sandman record, they said that they sold out blah blah blah. But the fact of the matter is, what fans have to understand is, is that it’s a very cool thing having a major label record deal, because when you start playing on independent labels, your music isn’t as accessible. The bottom line is, if we were to just put out an album of all songs like Metropolis, we wouldn’t have a record deal, and we wouldn’t be able to concentrate like we can now. So, to a certain extent, we have to write some tunes that people might accuse us of selling out.

It’s not as though you are consciously pitching at that area though is it?

Well, I guess in a sense. It’s not like we’re trying to write Bon Jovi tunes. But at the same time..... I like to call it trimming the fat. Getting rid of all the superfluity if you will. Which I think Dream Theater in the past is severely guilty of, and I don’t mind saying that One of my functions in the band has been trimming the fat a lot of times where there’s sections that are written that aren’t really pertinent to the song, that is there just for the sake of being there.

That’s probably one criticism, mainly from journalists, is what they see as over-indulgence.

I think it takes as much creativity and cleverness and cunning, to write a brilliantly written five minute song as it does writing a twenty-three minute opus. If I can add anything to the sound it will just be compact, intense, yet not babbling.

I’m looking forward to hearing the new material.

Well, I promise you the keyboards will be a lot more heavier. There’s a lot more distorted Hammond sound – more Deep Purple influence, and these new Korg’s just sound incredible for the solos, and you’ll hear a whole different feel. I’m not using any of the prog/old 70’s/Gentle Giant/Lucky Man/Keith Emerson sounds, I’m not interested in that, let all the other new prog bands do that. I’m going for something completely new.

Any thoughts yourself who you would like to produce the new album?

I think the band would love to have Trevor Horn – that’s the name that’s been coming up the most. But now that he won the Grammy I think he’s probably inaccessible to us. But Trevor, if you’re reading this, come on baby we love ya!

A bunch of names have come up, who knows. I think a lot of these guys arc overpriced, they’re good a ordering Chinese food, and don’t deserve the money they get paid, so, I just hope the person we get just helps us out and doesn’t just cost us money.

Would you yourself like to get into producing either yourselves or other people?

I would like to someday. If you think about it, there are not a lot of bands that have produce themselves that have done good. You need an outside ear, especially with us, because we have a problem in agreeing on anything. We need that outside ear or else we’d end up like killing each other.

Anything you’d like to say to the newly relaunched Dream Theater International Fan Club members?

I hope that you enjoy the next record, cos we’re putting a lot of time into it, let me know what you think. See you on the road!