Dream Theater: About Excellent Prog And Secret Stuff

For weeks and weeks a veil of secrecy covered Dream Theater’s new album. Drummer Mike Portnoy himself made sure possible ‘leaks’ were plugged as soon as possible. Even the title of the new album was kept secret until the very end. According to bass player John Myung ‘it is sometimes important to only release a certain amount of information. I think it is important to have that initial excitement and not know everything before the actual album comes out. We are doing this to preserve the element of surprise’. Whatever the reason may have been, the fact remains that the band hasn’t sounded this new and fresh in years. John Myung speaks.

John, you are not really known for giving interviews.

‘Yeah, I know. They just got me doing interviews today’.

I received the new cd this morning and I find it very refreshing. Now, can you fill me in on the new album? Things have been kept very secret for quite a long time.

‘Well, it is a concept record. It is a story about a character named Nicholas who goes through a whole reincarnation experience. It starts out with him being a young man, then discovering a previous life and realizing that in his previous life he is actually a young girl that was murdered in the earlier century. That is the general essence of what the character is going through. I guess, when the record comes out and you go through the lyrics, all the details will fall into place’.

In the beginning of the record he is being hypnotized?

‘Yes. There is a point where he visits a psychotherapist and that person brings out all these memories’.

Before finishing the new record, everyone kept pretty busy with side-projects?

‘John, Mike, Jordan and Tony Levin were doing Liquid Tension Experiment. I was working with Rod Morgenstein, Ty Tabor and Derek Sherinian on this side-project called Platypus. Actually, we just recorded a second Platypus album in March. We are expecting that to come out some time soon. I think it is healthy to step outside of what you normally do. We have been a band since 1985. That is going on 14-15 years now. It is healthy to collaborate with different players. As far as finding time for it... Yes, it does get a bit crazy. The extend of Dream Theater is very demanding, time wise. But we find ways to make it happen’.

So now everyone is focused again on Dream Theater?

‘Yes, Dream Theater has always been the main priority’.

When I first listened to ‘Scenes From A Memory’, I was surprised with how heavy it sounds compared to ‘Falling Into Infinity’. Is that a reaction on how some fans described FII? Too commercial?

‘Well, there was a lot of disappointment with the last record. This record is more... you know... We wanted to write an album that we thought people were really looking forward to. It is important for us to not copy ourselves. It is important for the band to grow, but not too fast where you actually loose your fans. Maybe that is what happened with FII. Maybe the direction was going... too soft. This album is more in line with ‘Images & Words’. More in line with that type of writing. I don’t think we regressed a bit by going back. We were able to capture that type of writing but shed a new light on it’. 

The song “Metropolis Part II” is not on there, at least not in the titles. But when you listen to it, it has “Metropolis” written al over it. There are lots of riffs and lyrical parts of “Metropolis” woven into the new songs, like in “Home” and “The Dance Of Eternity”.

‘Right’. 

Are those parts of “Metropolis Part II”??

‘Well... You’ll find out once it comes out...’. 

Or maybe I didn’t get the full version of the cd then?

‘Maybe you didn’t...’.

Can you tell me more about how Jordan got involved with DT?

‘Jordan initially started working with us when Kevin left. We auditioned him and it looked like it was going to work out, but in the last minute it turned out differently. It wasn’t the right time for him to join the band. Then time progressed and we toured for FII and Derek actually became a member of the band. I guess, prior to Derek’s split, there were mixed emotions about whether or not it was really working. We decided that, since John and Mike had experience with working with Jordan in Liquid Tension Experiment, it all of a sudden became apparent that we needed to get on with what DT is all about so the change was made. Jordan is an incredible player and musician. Working with him has been amazing. His contributions on this record are very strong. There are a lot of good parts and a lot of good ideas. He is just a really wonderful person. In my mind he is one of the best keyboard players in the world right now and as a person he is a really cool guy to know. There is this one thing that I have learned from him so far. As far as being a musician and being able to be a master of your instrument so to speak, you first of all need that type of master in self control, as a person’.

Mike is always really busy with his website and the Ytsejam. Do you follow that as well?

‘No, not really. Mike really puts a lot of work into mingling with the fans and finding out what is going on. And that has been really helpful, you know. It is important to know, to a certain extend, how things come across. But I am too lazy. I don’t really make time for it, although I should maybe, once in a while. But clearly Mike is the internet guy’.

What about touring?

‘We are going to be busy with the album, obviously, until it comes out at the end of October. So we will most likely start touring some time in November. We don’t really know exactly where we are going to start yet, here in the States or in Europe’.

There is still a big difference in popularity when you compare the US to Europe. Over here you sell out pretty much every show you play, sometimes even the same venue three days in a row, as where in the US you play bars and smaller halls. Do you hope to change that with this album?

‘You are right, the touring dynamics are different. But the way we see it, DT has established a cult following that is actually pretty evenly spread out throughout the world, as far as concentration goes. There is not one particular area that seems to have a greater number of fans. It seems very equally balanced. But the thing is that the USA is such a vast territory, so huge, that the dynamics of a band working in this huge market here seem so... Well, you tend to get lost a bit’.

Speaking of touring... Dream Theater used to be pretty spontaneous with the setlist, but with the last tour it seemed to be the same for large portions of the tour. Maybe now with Jordan in the band you will return to changing the setlist around more, especially when the shows are, geographically speaking, next to each other?

‘Yeah well, we have to see. Actually on the last tour I thought we changed it quite a bit. But then again... Maybe not for Belgium. There used to be more variety, really? I’ll put a complaint letter in’. 

On the same note: all band members seem to really enjoy connecting with the audience when playing live, while James sometimes seems a little distant. How do you feel about that?

‘Well, everyone has their way of dealing with a gig. I don’t think... I don’t see it that way’.

Are there going to be any singles released off of this album?

‘Yes, there is actually the song “Home” that is going to be our first single’.

Will it be cut short then?

‘Yes, it is already been edited. Kevin Shirley edited it last month and that is going to be the first track’.

And when will it come out?

‘It will most likely be released before the cd. The goal is to have a sort of commercial prior to the release’.

What about bonus tracks?

‘Bonus tracks... Hmm, I don’t think so. You know, with this album that is hard to do. I mean, if we do have something it will be something that was left over from previous albums’. 

So there are no new demo songs laying around like last time?

‘No, there wasn’t much left over. I don’t think there are going to be any leftovers. But you never know. It could become a management thing. We really may have to do it then. We might use something from the archive then’.

Do you know the release date for Europe?

‘It should be all around the same time. I think in the US it is October 26. For Europe it should be maybe a week earlier or a week later’.

Any chance to catch the band at some summer festivals over here next year?

‘We plan on playing in Europe before the summer. We will have to see how the tour goes, you know. If it goes well, and the schedule works out, then we would love to play some festivals. Actually, we didn’t really play any festivals this summer. There was so much going on. We were in the middle of finishing up an album. It just would have been too crazy. We thought it might jeopardize the release date. We really needed the album to come out in October. But we did manage to go and play one show in Korea at the end of July. That was really cool’.