Sex, Drugs and Lies

The story of Dream Theater has two very different faces. On the one hand, there are the thousands of fans full of admiration for the intelligently constructed compositions and the extremely cool playing. They are always there when the band tours and faithfully buy every one of the albums that are published regularly. And than there’s the record company, who for a long time didn’t know what to do with the talented, but also obstinate quintet. The media have always avoided Dream Theater as well. For some time the whole story seemed to get stuck. But Dream Theater is back with a concept album (‘Scenes From a Memory’), the kind of thing the band wanted to do for years. In the meantime, even the record company seems to believe in them again completely. All’s well that ends well? Drummer Mike Portnoy however sees everything alright again.

Dream Theater of course is mostly the story of a few conservatory-students, who decided to conquer the world with their favorite music in the end of the eighties. Rush is their big model, but Dream Theater also claims influences by Yes and Metallica. The band has their great debut in 1989 with ‘When Dream and Day Unite’, but they first really hit the bull’s eye in 1992 with ‘Images and Words’. Dream Theater seems to give a rebirth to the symphonic genre, already believed to be dead, with that one bombastic record. Quickly the band builds up a great popularity on both sides of the ocean and the following CDs are doing great: ‘Live at the Marquee’ released in 1993 and ‘Change of Seasons’ released in 1995 [How could they forget Awake? -Alex]. Dream Theater expose themselves as a group of absolute musical beasts. Drummer Mike Portnoy is thus a guest likely to be seen on music-cons and workshops. Several members of Dream Theater participated in the project Liquid Tension Experiment, which published 2 CD’s. Not long ago, Singer James LaBrie also brought out his own CD and there’s much more ahead. But now of course all dedication of the musicians goes out to the brand new ‘Scenes From a Memory’, where technique, melody and emotion work together in perfect harmony. The best Dream Theater CD since ‘Images and Words’.

CONCESSIONS

The record company was, in spite of small success, hoping for more in the last years: A breakthrough to the big public, a radio or TV, who would finally show some interest in the band. But that wish never came true, and the album ‘Falling into Infinity’ from 1997 which was produced by Kevin Shirley, which sounded a bit more radio-friendly than those before, didn’t change that either.

“We have had a lot of disagreement with our record company in the last years”, says Mike Portnoy. “They were in a conflict with us and approached us with a lot of unfortunate plans. They tried to link us with big producers, begged us to come up with radio-friendly singles, and even asked us to work together with extern songwriters. I think we made a lot of concessions on ‘Falling into Infinity’. It was a CD full of singles. Of course, no one was played, and it brought us nothing.”

FREEDOM

What changed?

“I think that Elektra finally dares to see what kind of band we are: with a will of its own and a - although limited - but very faithful public. That’s the base. Whatever will happen to us later I would rather leave to chance.”

So you had all freedom this time?

“Absolutely. We could work in quiet and we let them hear something only two weeks ago. They were impressed. I myself am incredibly proud. I worked extremely hard on ‘Scenes From a Memory’, I’m just a control-freak. No aspect escapes my interest: compositions, productions and artwork - I keep an eye on everything. Step by step. Because it’s really worth the effort. This is the record we always wanted to make.”

DEPENDENT

Why didn’t you do it earlier?

“Before we reached that discussion, there lay several songs, which could not be made into logical whole. This time, I made arrangements with James (LaBrie) and John (Petrucci, guitarist) in a very early stadium. Especially during the recordings of the second LTE-CD, I brainstormed a lot over it with John. Normally, we walk into the studio with vague ideas and complete them during the recordings. This time I wanted everything finished before we went into the studio. That worked and I liked it. We were able to totally concentrate on the playing technique and the quality of the recordings. We made everything dependent to the story: music, lyrics and structure. On the wall of the studio there was a map with the red thread [See “Beartrack Studios Part 3” -Alex]. Step by step we colored it all in. It helped to work focused and not get lost ourselves. That was good for the music.”

SUPERFICIAL PASTIME

Why did you want to make a concept-album?

“That has to do with my own favorite music. ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd, ‘Misplaced Childhood’ by Marillion, ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ by Queensryche and ‘Tommy’ by The Who are my most precious records. All of them concept-albums. I love a record with a story, where the songs are in a logical connection with each other. It is music that makes you think about it and that offers more than superficial pastime. We did simply let us go, no longer thought of singles, radio and press. This is the most progressive record we ever made. At the same time, it’s the most pure Dream Theater CD.”

PINK FLOYD

Still it is at the same time the most accessible.

“I’m glad that you say that. That means that we won on two fronts: We made our dream come true without creating an inaccessible mess. Somehow I can see why you say that. A concept-album offers the listener something to hold on to. There is a red thread and certain themes come back every now and again. ‘The Wall’, ‘Misplaced Childhood’, ‘Tommy’ and ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ are not for nothing the best selling records of those bands. Although they are not explicitly the most accessible. The public always succumbs to a good story and I hope that it happens again this time.”

I did mostly notice the influence of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’. No matter whether you are regarding atmosphere, playing or structure. Especially “The Spirit Carries On” could have been written by Roger Waters.

“During the recordings, when it didn’t have a title yet, we just called that number the Pink-Floyd-tune. So I won’t deny, that that band has been a big influence. They stood as one of the first with a storyline. By them, lyrics and music were always perfectly in balance. In a time in which pop music was transitory and superficial, they dared to show their intelligence and creativity. They pretended to make music that would still have importance after decades. Often they were made fun of because of that, but in the meantime they have the affirmation of the world on their side. When you do something with that you automatically take something with you into your own music. That is inevitable. It proves one more time how influencing that brilliant band still is.”

COMPLICATED

Can you tell us something about the concept?

“Let me start by saying that it’s a rather complicated story. As a listener you won’t be able to work it out without the booklet. In general it comes down to this: In the center there’s a boy that is haunted by terrible dreams. He goes to a therapist, who hypnotizes him to look for past lives. Maybe that’s the reason for the nightmares. It seems to be so. The boy was earlier a girl, which was murdered in the twenties under cruel circumstances. With that information as a starting point he starts investigating. He discovers that she lived a wild life, in which sex, drugs and lies played a big role. Also she had an sexual relationship with two brothers. The story takes a lot of strange turns of which I don’t want to give away too much. It has several levels that become clearer only after several listens.”

How did you come to that?

“We, James, John and I sat down together and started bringing up elements. It is not based on things that we experienced ourselves or something that happened to others. It seemed to us as a fascinating story, in which the conscious and the subconscious merge. Even play a game with each other.

INTEGRAL

Both Queensryche and The Who as Pink Floyd played their concept-albums as a whole. Will you do that too?

“We’ll try to do that as often as possible. When we’re only support act, although that doesn’t happen very often anymore, then indeed there is not the time and place for it. When we are main event, we will play ‘Scenes From a Memory’ indeed integral. It would be senseless to leave certain elements out and fill them up with old songs. I can already look forward to that enormously, because it will become a gig with a splendid, thrilling structure.”

Will it be supported with several theatrical effects and extra actors?

“That would be obvious. The story is suited for that excellently, but a lot depends on budgets and real possibilities. I am actually busy looking what is possible and what isn’t.”

‘The Wall’ and ‘Tommy’ have been made into a film with a lot of success. Have you got similar plans for ‘Scenes From a Memory’?

“I would really like to do that”, is the enthusiastic reaction of the drummer. “Only that I would like to do that myself. Filming is my big passion. Even more that music. I once recorded and directed a Dream Theater home video. I would also like to make this concept-album into a movie. With that, a new dream would come true.”

SONGS

Do you sometimes still have the time to listen to other music that is published at the moment?

“Occasionally, as a matter of fact I don’t have the time for that mostly. I actually do my best to keep an eye on what is published.”

Are you always looking for well-played music, or are you also attracted by good songs?

“Both. Spock’s Beard is my favorite progressive band of the last time. Of the heavier stuff I can especially name Meshuggah. Those are naturally from a technical view two enormous groups. I love the new record of Mr. Bungle. The Band of the moment is actually Radiohead, a team of average musicians, who actually write wonderful songs. Especially the drummer of the band is quite limited, but I really don’t care about that. Not all music needs an overstock of technique. And that’s good. I don’t get a kick from that. My all-time favorite group is The Beatles, with whom my parents made me familiar with. Thanks to Ringo Starr, I started drumming. Although he too is quite limited, he is still an idol - as a person and as a musician. The most important drummers of my life are actually John Bonham of Led Zeppelin and Keith Moon of The Who. When I got to know their music, I knew for an important part how the rest of my life would look: as a drummer of a rock band.”

Robert Haagsma
Translated by Alex Gajic