And Now For Something Completely Different...

How do you follow a concept album such as Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory? Certainly NOT with another one according to John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy who, with the rest of Dream Theater, are in the studio writing something completely different and taking their time about it.

John explains: “We don't plan on playing anywhere this year because, at this point, our focus is the next Dream Theater CD, but you never know, we may pop up somewhere. We are using BearTracks Studio again, self-producing with Doug Oberkircher as engineer and Kevin Shirley will possibly mix the album.” New techniques from a few sessions with musicians from Brazil and Africa may also be included. “It's an idea of mine to add some spices to our rack. We all go into the studio with musical starting points but it is more inspiring to record everything for real and skip the demo part.”

Mike adds: “I don't think we will be as secretive this time! The ‘veil of secrecy’ was difficult to enforce and a big tie to the record company’s hands. We want to have an element of surprise when the album comes out, but there will be semi-regular updates on the Internet. Dream Theater will never make the same album twice and, if ever we start to, there will be no interest for me in carrying on.”

The fact that their record company let them make a concept album at the end of the prog-hating 1990s must be regarded as a rare achievement in itself, although Dream Theater threatened to split up after Falling Into Infinity, if the baton of creative control was not passed to them.

Mike comments: “I was going to quit at the end of the Falling Into Infinity tour. While making that album our hands were forced and we had to play by record company rules. The people at the label were all new, had nothing to do with our previous development and no idea of how to work with us. They wanted hit singles so Kevin Shirley was brought in, although we ended up really liking him and have since used his talents again! At the time we tried to be open-minded thinking maybe they were right and it would work but, a year later down the road, I was getting very frustrated with the way the industry was controlling our lives and career. This created a lot of tension and led to control problems and fights with other band members, who are perhaps more influenced by the powers that be. I was ready to leave at that stage but stuck it out and, when we came to record Scenes, we made the keyboard player change which breathed new life into the band. On the political side we went to our management and insisted they tell the label we would make the next album our way, or the band was finished. Luckily they saw the light, let us make a whole thing without hearing a single note and help produce it, resulting in, I think, the ultimate Dream Theater album. It put us back on the map with the fans. We found it was therapeutic to make our music our way and it revived the band internally. I just wish it had been that way all along because I wanted Falling Into Infinity to be a double CD using all the material we wrote, without changes made by outside writers, producers or record company people. We were willing to try anything once but, ultimately, were in a vulnerable situation deep in the shitty side of the music business.”

John adds: “It was difficult. There was a lot going on behind the scenes with ex-managers, lawsuits and finance, making it difficult to carry on with a happy face. There were also tensions with Derek. Jordan has made a great contribution with his playing and writing; he fits right in. Making a concept album, doing things our way and having success too have all boosted our morale.”

It may have been a bad time for Dream Theater but many fine side-projects resulted and one of them, Liquid Tension Experiment, was the spring that finally catapulted Jordan Rudess into the picture. Petrucci and Portnoy have differing views on writing outside the band collective.

John offers that “it's fun to do something different and I think everybody is happy who gets that opportunity. I would definitely like to do another album with Jordan. His persona is such that he just loves to play.” The live CD An Evening With John Petrucci And Jordan Rudess, which is only available via Petrucci's website, is full of amazing instrumentals. “The music was written while we were on the road and performed once only. The album is available from my own record label, Sound Mind Music, which Rena (my wife) takes care of.”

Mike thinks that “it was a good way of venting my frustrations musically and creatively. I had 100% artistic control over Liquid Tension Experiment and was able to do whatever with whomever I wanted. It opened up a whole new world with Jordan and those two albums are really significant in Dream Theater’s history: they provided a link between two ‘eras’ and were the metamorphosis of the band.”

His Transatlantic project has just released a live CD on Radiant Records and the second studio album is available soon.

When asked about Platypus they both say “the platypus is an extinct mammal! John [Myung] has been working on another side-project with Ty [Tabor] and Rod [Morgenstein]”.

The recent NAMM show provided a platform for both musicians. John played a piece written when he first used a Yamaha hard disk recorder. “I was told there was a learning curve to these things – and there was, so I called it ‘Curve’!”

Mike and Transatlantic played some originals plus a storming cover of Pink Floyd's ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’. “I actually wanted to cover ‘Echoes’ [ed. from Meddle] but I thought it may be too obscure. I always loved The Wall and Obscured By Clouds and would definitely accept the right offer for Dream Theater to score a film.” John adds: “If it came along! We have always said that it is something we want to do when the time is right.”

Mike donned his film director’s cap for the soon-to-be-released Scenes From New York DVD/VHS project, “and it nearly killed me! I've been working on it now for a long time (actually much longer than I wanted to) but it was an awesome gig and thoroughly enjoyable, even though I collapsed from exhaustion for a few hours afterwards and was taken to the hospital! Three to four hours on stage playing was the least of it for me. I was totally wrapped up in the whole production, the video/audio recording and directing. It was an exhausting experience but creatively, I think it is everything I could hope for in a Dream Theater presentation.”

What will Dream Theater be doing in ten years time? “Probably background vocals and production for our kids’ bands; mine play already!” quips Portnoy. “I hope we are still able to do this with the great following that we have; even more crossover and many new fans along the way.”