Rock In A Prog Place: Dream Theater’s Collective Consciousness

With their label’s support, the band’s members continue to churn out innumerable side projects—and keep their core family intact.

By Bryan Reesman

Perhaps the most successful progressive band of the ‘90s, the ambitious metal quintet Dream Theater has amassed a dedicated following worldwide with such efforts as the recent “Once In A Livetime” and the gold-certified 1992 release “Images And Words.” While mainstream pop and rock have become progressively more simplified, the band has kept alive the spirit of challenging rock music. Recently, band members past and present began unleashing a deluge of side projects, as if single-handedly attempting to resurrect the spirit of progressive rock from the mainstream graveyard.

“We’ve been trying to do that now for 14 years, or at least the 10 that we’ve been in the public eye,” agrees drummer Mike Portnoy. “That’s always been the responsibility of ours, to carry on while the other bands aren’t. There actually are a lot of bands on the progressive scene; just not many of them have the profile that Dream Theater has been fortunate enough to have.” It’s also given them the ability to work outside of the band, giving rise to such projects as Liquid Tension Experiment, Mullmuzzler and Platypus.

Was this sudden burst of creativity on everyone’s part a coincidence? “I think it was two-fold,” Portnoy explains. “The Liquid Tension thing that John [Petrucci] and I did was the very first venture outside of the security of our family name. Once John and I did it, there were two sides of the coin. The first side was inside Dream Theater; the other guys felt that ‘If they can go out and do something, I want to go out and do something.’ On the other side, there was Magna Carta saying, ‘Let’s try to get the other guys to do some stuff as well.’”

Started With A Rush

Dream Theater and Magna Carta Records have teamed up for most of these side projects. Magna Carta president Peter Morticelli had contact with the band years prior to this situation, and he had an “innate feeling that whatever good would happen to Dream Theater would trickle down to the Magna Carta fold” and the progressive underground. After Portnoy’s involvement with the label’s Rush tribute record, the seeds were sown for what eventually became Liquid Tension Experiment, a dynamic, metallic-fusion ensemble comprised of Portnoy, guitarist John Petrucci and two non-band members, bassist Tony Levin and keyboardist Jordan Rudess. It was a perfect venture for Magna Carta, which was willing to take a chance on something a major label might have vacillated on.

Liquid Tension Experiment was the first Dream Theater side project to see the light of day, and its eponymously titled debut came out last year, while a sequel, “Liquid Tension Experiment 2,” is due this month. According to Portnoy, “The two Liquid Tension albums will serve as a little taste of what the next Dream Theater line-up will bring.” Ironically, Liquid Tension, which played a few live dates this past winter, may dissolve now that Rudess is in the main band, since three quarters of LTE now comprises three-fifths of Dream Theater.

Portnoy himself has been involved with other projects. He coordinated and played on half of Magna Carta’s Rush tribute album, “Working Man,” performed with other Dream Theater members on the label’s ELP tribute record and is currently forming a band he plans to record with later this month. This new entity (which will not record for Magna Carta) tentatively features members from Spock’s Beard, the Flower Kings and Marillion, “players I really admire and respect for carrying the progressive-rock flag.” says Portnoy.

Roaring Silencer

Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie also has his own side project, Mullmuzzler, which began life last October. The band’s name stems from the synthesis of its two root words “mull” (“to ponder”) and “muzzler” (“to gag or silence one”). “Basically, it means to silence an individual’s thought before being expressed in any manner,” says LaBrie.

The Mullmuzzler album evolved in an unusual way—through tapes swapped via mail. LaBrie says FedEx, e-mail and phone were instrumental in the creation of the album, although the group recorded as a unit in California, with LaBrie laying down vocals in Toronto. The singer produced the album and co-wrote many of the tunes. His bandmates include Mike Mangini (drums), Mike Keneally (guitar, currently playing with Steve Vai), Bryan Beller (bass) and Matt Guillory (keyboards). While it contains some progressive elements, as well as East Indian and Zeppelin tones, says LaBrie, “It’s a really cool hard-rock album.” “Keep It To Yourself” is due Aug. 24.

Another notable Dream Theater side project is “When Push Comes To Shove” (released through Velvel), the recent debut from Platypus, which includes guitarist/singer Ty Tabor (from King’s X), drummer Rod Morgenstein (ex-Dixie Dregs), bassist John Myung (Dream Theater) and keyboardist Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater). It’s an engaging brew of ‘70s rock given a progressive twist. Despite the fact that the record came out in January, the band has already begun work on a second album.

Arrival Of Planet X

Former Dream Theater members have been actively pursuing their own projects as well. Original keyboardist Kevin Moore, who recently played on Fates Warning’s “A Pleasant Shade Of Grey,” has a new band called Chroma Key. It includes two members of Fates Warning: bassist Joey Vera and drummer Mark Zonder. “Dead Air For Radios,” released through Moore’s own label Fight Evil Records, came out last April.

Ex-keyboardist Sherinian has a solo project of his own, “Planet X,” due July 13. “My album is the result of a partnership with [drummer] Virgil Donati,” explains Sherinian. “The two of us wrote an album based on all of our influences. It’s very progressive and very jazz-fusion at the same time.” This summer, Sherinian plans to start writing a second album in hopes of obtaining a deal for his band, turning the whole project into Planet X and not just a Sherinian solo affair.

The keyboardist just started playing in L.A. with Planet X. He wants to combine rock showmanship with progressive musicianship. “Why can’t you have a band where the musicians totally wail and also have a show behind it?” he ponders. “Not only do I want the playing to be great, I want there to be something to look at during the show.” Sherinian knows something about putting on a show. Prior to playing with Dream Theater, he toured on Kiss’ 1992 “Revenge” tour and spent five years on the road with Alice Cooper. At the same time, he does not pander to pop tastes. “I realized after playing [for] so many years that you become more successful when you just play what’s in your heart, whatever it is. It’s the truth,” he says.

Another truth is that this music has an audience. Along with Queensryche in the ‘80s, Dream Theater in the ‘90s has helped keep the progressive flame burning in the mainstream. In fact, quite a healthy scene has sprung up Stateside, with numerous labels mining a talented playing field of artists. The Laser’s Edge has White Willow and Scott McGill and a metal imprint called Sensory, which features Clockwork, Divided Multitude, Mind’s Eye and Gordian Knot, on whose album bassist John Myung guests on two tracks. Metal Blade has Spock’s Beard, and Magna Carta has Shadow Gallery, Cairo, Enchant, Magellan, Dali’s Dilemma, Ice Age and Tiles.

Magna Carta has also expressed an interest in working side projects for other major artists. “We’re just trying to give opportunities for players in bands to make music that their labels couldn’t justify making,” states Morticelli. A good example is their recent Terry Bozzio/Tony Levin/Steve Stevens collaborative album “Black Light Syndrome.”

As of this moment, though, it’s definitely going to be a Dream Theater summer. But could there be such a thing as too many side-projects? “I don’t think we’ve gotten to that point where it’s too many,” comments LaBrie, adding, “If, after the next album and world tour, we all go back and do this again, it could be a little much. At this point, everybody wanted to do their thing, and it just seemed like everybody was doing it around the same time.”

Dream Theater fans should not fear that the band is dissolving, for, despite all the upcoming projects, its new album—currently under way—is slated for an October release via Elektra, and the band is pumped up about it. “I think people are going to be really excited, because where we’re taking it at this point is really refreshing,” states LaBrie, who believes this record will further expand the group’s fan base.

“We are making what will hopefully be the ultimate progressive album for the new millennium,” declares Portnoy. “We’re trying to take this music to a whole other standard with this record.”

Then perhaps they can indulge in some much-needed sleep.