Listening Quiz – Ear In The Now Frontier

Dream Theater’s latest trek through the US with Fates Warning and Queensrÿche was for us the ultimate opportunity to interview all three drummers (Mike Portnoy, Nick D’Virgilio from Spock’s Beard who’d replaced Fates Warning’s Mark Zonder for the time being on this tour, and Queensrÿche’s Scott Rockenfield) of today’s leading prog-bands at the same time. Some might disagree whether Queensrÿche still belongs within this category, but it is beyond doubt that the 80’s Queensrÿche had a huge influence on Dream Theater’s early sound and the prog-scene in general. So, there we sat (Erik and Denis) in the dressing room of Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center with Mike Portnoy, Nick D’Virgilio and Scott Rockenfield a few hours before the shows started. Back home we compiled a CD with a variety of bands and music for these guys to listen to and now it was up to them to comment on the tracks. Needless to say, Mike knew almost alt... Unfortunately, Scott Rockenfield had to leave during the “listening session” due to some other commitments, so his comments are missing from Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick.

Metallica: Frantic (From Metallica’s St. Anger / 2003)

(After one second):

MP. I know it, I’m gonna know all of them like that... (snaps his fingers) :-)

SR: (laughs) That’s not fair.

MP: I shall not say anything until you guys have listened to the song.

D to SR: You toured with them, a long time ago. They were the headliners and you the support act.

MP: I saw that tour.

SR: Is this Metallica? Is this their new record?

D: Yep. Just listen to the drum sound.

E: And it’s not a lousy MP3...

MP: I’m so scared to talk about this album...

SR: No, go for it!!!

MP: It’s got to be the most expensive garage album ever produced.

SR: Yeah absolutely, I knew that they went for that. It’s Bob Rock trying to make a garage record. (laughs)

MP: Yeah, the snare drum just sounds like a tin can. Do you have only this song on it?

E: Yep, only this one.

SR: I did hear a song on the radio, where the snare drum was like “Kienk”. They have this real bizarre tone to it.

E: Yeah, it sounds like he’s hitting an empty oil barrel. Nick, do you like this song?

NDV: I’m not a big Metallica fan, so I should just reserve judgement.

MP: I will say I definitely appreciate their effort to make this type of record, as it was the type of record that they had to make. I know that as a fan, I wanted them to get heavy and do longer songs like in the ‘old days’, so I definitely appreciate the effort and attempt, but I think they fell short of what they could have done. And I can’t get past the production, I mean, that snare drum... I think that 5 years from now, they’re gonna regret that, as much as they regret the lack of bass on... And Justice For All. I think it’s like, that big a mistake. It was obviously intentional, but it makes the album un-listenable to. I would much rather watch the DVD, that, to me, is light years better than the album itself, because it sounds like a band. Even the vocals are out of tune and way out of the mix.

D: James is trying to “sing”.

MP: I think he can sing.

D: I don’t like it. Metallica used to be aggressive, fast and even a tad progressive and that’s what people like about Metallica.

MP: I do agree, but I’m glad to see that they at least go in that direction.

SR: I was never a big Metallica fan, but my favourite record was The Black Album.

E: Really? That’s where it stopped for me...

MP: I hated The Black Album until Load came out. (laughs)

D: Let’s skip to the next song.

Opeth – Moonlapse Vertigo (From Opeth’s Still Life / 1999)

(Again after one second)

MP: I know it...

D: One of their songs is on the tape that’s played as the house music during this tour. You want to give it away Mike?

MP: It’s Opeth.

NDV: Opeth, I’m brand new to that band. I’ve only heard it on the bus during this tour.

MP: That’s the mellow album, right?

NDV: Yeah, it has a black cover.

MP: I think they are all black. (laughs) These guys just put out two twin albums. One, which is all Progressive Death Metal (Deliverance), but then the other album (Damnation), is all acoustic like Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, etc. Like a complete 180 turn and it’s all produced by Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree.

D: This is one of their older songs, which starts very mellow and gets really heavy later on. It’s really diverse, but you have to be a real Metal Head to appreciate the heavy parts with death grunts and all. The next song will be more to your liking, Nick.

NDV: Well, I really like this, it’s just that I’ve only heard it on this tour.

SR: Where are these guys from?

E: Sweden.

MP: Sweden has produced many great bands over the past years. I just love the last 2 albums from Opeth, they’re great. To go from the Moody Blues into the Cookie Monster. (laughs)

Genesis – Los Endos (From Genesis’ A Trick Of The Tail / 1976)

NDV: (after one second): I know this one. It starts really mellow...

MP: Can you fast forward a bit? (laughs) I can’t believe this, 3 guys from a prog band are asking to fast forwards to the vocals. (Funnily enough there aren’t any vocals on this song, since it’s an instrumental track; Ed.) (laughs) That’s the last thing you’d ever expect.

SR: What is this, Marillion, or something like that?

D: No, this is Genesis. Are you in to Genesis?

SR: Nope, I don’t know them really that well. I’m gonna tell you right now that probably, everything you play today I won’t know.

E&D: Don’t say that...

D: You can hear some Brand X (a Jazz Rock outfit in which Phil Collins used to play once in a while; Ed.) influences in this song.

NDV: Yeah, on this one he’s playing some good drums.

D: Which period do you prefer: The Peter Gabriel or the Phil Collins era?

NDV: I prefer the middle era, from like Selling England By The Pound to Duke. All those records are fantastic. I do like earlier albums, such as Foxtrot, I’ve memorized all those albums too! I was listening to ...And Then There Where Three, the other day and I still think that that is one of the greatest records they made.

SR: I just got the new Tarzan soundtrack. It’s fucking great.

D: Yeah, it also features Phil Collins.

MP: It’s like, we grew up with listening to The Lamb Lies Down, while our kids are growing up with the music of Tarzan. I guess Geoff must be a fan, because one of the first e-mails he sent me, when we were talking about a jam, he suggested doing Supper’s Ready.

NDV: For a jam? (laughs)

Nick D’Virgilio – Will It Be Me (From Nick D’Virgilio’s Karma / 2001)

NDV: Jeez... I hate this song.

SR: Do you play on this song?

NDV: I’m singing. (everybody laughs) This is from my solo album.

MP: This is not the one from Moulin Rouge, right? Because when I saw the movie Moulin Rouge, I thought what song is that??? I was like, that sounds like it’s Nick’s song! I thought it was your song!

NDV: No, it was covered.

MP: I had no idea.

D: I like the guitar solo in It, who’s playing It?

NDV: Me, this song is pretty much all me.

D: Nobody recognized Nick’s voice?

NDV: (Pointing at Mike) He might, but Scott and I just met.

SR: (laughs) I didn’t know he was a singer as well.

MP: He is also the singer of Spock’s Beard.

SR: (laughs) I thought that you were only drumming for Spock’s Beard.

Queensrÿche – Waiting For The Kill (From Queensrÿche’s The Warning demos 1983-84)

SR: Is this somebody else doing us? Or is this me?

MP: Wait a second, is this not on an album? I only know one song of yours that wasn’t on an album.

SR: This is not from The Warning, this must be live or something.

MP: No, this is a demo. Let me see if I know it, I can’t remember the name of the song, but I think I have this demo.

D: The first word is Waiting...

SR: Oh shit, that effort became Child Of Fire and then we go into Waiting which became NM156. A blast from the past man! God, I haven’t heard this song since the eighties.

D: Do you also have this demo?

MP: Yeah, I have it somewhere. I’ve got some live tapes of them, from before The Warning and there was another song that wasn’t on any album. Maybe it’s just this song, Waiting For The Kill.

D: Yep that’s it.

Spock’s Beard – Feel Euphoria (From Spock’s Beard’s Feel Euphoria / 2003)

NDV: Oh, I know this one, just took me a second...

MP: This is Nick’s snare drum sound, this is Feel Euphoria?

NDV: Yes.

D: I really love this song, as it’s so different from the other songs on this album. Like I said to Mike before, your voice sounds remarkably similar to Neal’s in the lower parts.

MP: Yeah, in the first verse of Ghost Of Autumn you sound exactly like Neal, !t’s unbelievable... Even the piano part reminds me a bit of his playing. I was shocked by your range, I was surprised how low you went in a lot of songs.

NDV: It’s much easier to sing lower. Neal just wrote all these high parts for me to sing.

D: How do you feel about this album?

NDV: I love the record.

D: Neal left just after Snow and you decided not to go on tour, but write a new record instead.

NDV: Yeah, that’s right, we didn’t want to stop, we wanted to do something. None of us thought that we should go out on tour and promote Snow without Neal. We wanted to put something out with the new line-up and then go out on tour.

E: Was it clear, right from the start, that you were going to sing for Spock’s Beard?

NDV: I knew that, right from the start, I wanted to sing, but not everyone else was convinced that I should sing!

D: Yeah, because we heard the rumour the someone else was going to do that.

MP: Ray Wilson was talked about.

D: Was that a just a rumour or a real candidate?

NDV: The name was scattered around, but I was convinced it should be me (everybody laughs).

MP: I love the new Spock’s album!

Majesty – Vital Star (From Majesty’s first demo / 1986)

MP: Oh wow, I know what this is... You’re about to hear a ‘Geoff Tate wannabe’.

E: Yeah, that’s right, this is a blast from the past.

SR: What is this?

MP: This is the Majesty demo. This is Dream Theater back in 1985 or ‘86. We gave you guys (Mike points to Scott) copies of this demo when we met you in 1986 or ‘87. Back then we had this singer that was just in a stratosphere, like Geoff was his idol. We used to cover Queen Of The Reich and Take Hold Of The Flame back in ‘86.

SR: That’s why you keep saying, “Let’s play these two songs together at the end of the show.” (laughs) That would be cool. (laughs)

MP: I was thinking, I should take some of the videos of us doing these songs, to show to the Queensrÿche guys, but they’re packed up as I’m in the middle of moving.

NDV: Did this demo give you your first deal?

MP: That demo led eventually to our first deal a couple of years later. By the way, that Majesty demo will be available from Ytsejam Records. (laughs)

Queensrÿche – Desert Dance (From Queensrÿche’s Tribe / 2003)

MP: I know what this is...

NDV: Wait a minute, is this him? (pointing to Scott)

SR: Where did you get that?

D: From the Internet, it’s available on your website.

MP: How else did you think everybody would be able to sing the words. (laughs)

NDV: Ah, it’s brand new.

SR: Yeah, it’s not out yet. Some songs are already on the Internet for download, if you can’t stop it, embrace it.

MP: I think the key nowadays is getting your album out as soon as you can. I think that’s what we’re going to do with our new album. We’ll deliver it to the label and have it out 2 weeks later.

NDV: Usually, they’ll need 3 months, they’ll send it out to the press before the record is officially released. That’s why it’s done as soon as it’s been sent to the press, because then it’s available for download.

MP: Yeah, that’s the old story. You need 3 months for set up, but for a band like us you don’t need this set up. The fan base is there and they’ll buy it when it’s available. If they want to do a set up for more sales and more fans after that, that’s okay. It doesn’t have to happen all on the opening day. But let’s talk about the Queensrÿche song.

D: Yeah, what do you think of the new Queensrÿche song?

NDV: I’m pretty new to them, not to the old stuff of course, but the new material sounds great.

MP: I know the whole album actually.

SR: Yeah, Mike called me up 2 months ago and told me “Great record, I got it”. (laughs)

MP: Yeah, I think it’s really good, it’s the best album since Promised Land.

E: Does it sound like Promised Land? Did you move into the musical direction of that era?

SR: Yeah, I think so, there is some stuff that definitely is from that era. The philosophy behind the record and the themes behind it are kind of like that.

E: And what was the involvement of Chris DeGarmo?

SR: Chris came in and just did three songs with us for this record.

MP: Which three songs are they?

SR: He did Doin’ Fine, Under My Skin, which we re-titled The Art Of Life and Falling Behind.

MP: Doin’ Fine is one of my favourite tracks on the album.

Liquid Tension Experiment – Chris & Kevin’s Excellent Adventure (alt. Take) (From Modern Drummers Hot Trax / 1998)

MP: Oh, I know what this is, that’s a tough one. What the tuck is this, is this live? Oh no, it’s the outtake from the Modern Drummer disc. This is me and Tony Levin. Come on, we need something else that Scott will know, as he has to leave in 2 minutes.

Led Zeppelin – Moby Dick (From Led Zeppelin’s II / 1969)

NDV: I’m very back into Zeppelin these days, I’ve got the DVD and these 3 CDs (How The West Was Won).

MP: It’s an overload. I listened to the whole triple CD and then I watched the first disc and then I was like I need a month off to get to the second disk. He (John Bonham) is one of my gods.

NDV: It’s amazing to see how fat he was though, if you look at the second disk.

MP: That’s why he is one of my biggest influences. (laughs)

NDV: That part that they do in Achilles Last Stand, which sounds so good, he looks so different from the first disc in 1972, where he’s doing the drum solo in Moby Dick. I love Bonham!

D: I guess almost every rock drummer is in some way influenced by John Bonham.

NDV: Well, not every drummer, but I definitely am.

E: And what about you Scott?

SR: I’ve never listened to Led Zeppelin before. I know the songs, but I never owned one of their records.

E: What are your biggest influences?

MP: Yeah, what did you grow up with?

SR: A lot of weird shit. I started listening to Rush from day one, but for the last 17 years, it’s all soundtracks.

MP: Are you into David Lynch’s soundtracks?

SR: Yeah, absolutely, I know all that stuff. I do that stuff on the side, like scores for commercials and films. I just haven’t listened to anyone else’s music for so long, except for that Phil Collins thing, but that’s also a soundtrack. (laughs) My daughter listens to it a lot. The most recent record that I really, really liked is the new No Doubt record. It’s completely different than what you guys listen to, but I really like it. That’s what happens, when you have kids and mine listen to so many different things. The only time I have free, they are with me, like in the car and I shove everything they want to hear in the CD player. I have no choice!

MP: I try to force them, every time they try to put in N’Sync or something, I replace it with The Beatles or Pink Floyd. They love The Beatles now and Pink Floyd, too. My daughter used to go to sleep every night listening to Wish You Were Here.

NDV: I’m very lucky. My kids like to rock! I can put on a record by Audioslave and my 3 and 5 year old will go like this in the backseat. (Nick is banging his head, laughing.) That’s so great... “Daddy, put on a rocking song”.

MP: One last note on Zeppelin. There’s gonna be some Zeppelin news from me for you guys soon... Okay, I’ll just tell you... After that Beatles thing I did, that went so well, I got an offer to do the same thing again, in Canada, at another Drum Festival. I don’t want to do the Beatles thing again, so now I’m going to do a Led Zeppelin tribute in the Fall. It’s at the Montreal Drum Festival in November and we’ll probably do a warm-up show in New York beforehand. I haven’t announced it yet, but that’s gonna come to you soon.

D: Have you decided on the line-up yet?

MP: I have got my band picked out, but I’m waiting to hear on their availabilities and stuff. You guys are going to like the singer, if he can do it.

E: Okay, then I know who it is... (whispers to Denis “its Daniel Gildenlow”)

MP: Yep, you’re right, it’s Daniel, he really has got the looks.

(At this moment Scott had to leave for his prior engagement, so from here on it’s just Mike and Nick who comment on the songs; Ed.).

SR: Okay guys, I’ve got to go now. Thanks and see you.

Porcupine Tree – Sound Of Muzak (From Porcupine Tree’s In Absentia / 2002)

MP: Scott would have known this one. (laughs)

NDV: Is this Porcupine Tree? I’m just really getting into them now. One of the guys is from the band Japan, right?

E: Yep, the keyboard player (Richard Barbieri).

NDV: I was a big Japan fan, they were like eighties pop.

E: Do you only have the recent album by Porcupine Tree?

NDV: I don’t know much about them and I’m just starting to get in to them now. I’ve heard bits and pieces and now I’m starting to enjoy the band a lot. Before the end of the tour I’ll know them a lot better, I guess.

E: They are currently touring with Opeth in the States.

MP: Yeah, I know. I’ve already checked out their tour dates to see if any of them crisscrossed with our dates, but we’re not able to see them.

D: Have you already seen Opeth live?

MP: No, I’m dying to see them, but when we get to Portland at the end of this tour, they will be in Portland on a day off, so I’ve already e-mailed Steven and Mikael and invited them all for the show and I hope they’ll come. I’m bummed that I can’t see the show.

Pete Bardens Mirage – Many to Many (From Supper’s Ready, Tribute To Genesis / 1995)

NDV: You can turn this one off right now. This was a painful session.

MP: I don’t know this yet. Oh wait, is this the Genesis Tribute?

NDV: Yeah, I love the song, but the session where I did the song, with the guy from Camel (keyboardist Pete Bardens; Ed.), was horrid. It was a painful day. He didn’t know how to play anything. I was showing him the piano parts and it took forever and the band wasn’t that good either, it turned out like... “mwah”. The other song I did with Kevin Gilbert (Back In NYC) was awesome.

MP: Yeah and the Yes song you did with Kevin was awesome too.

D: I think this song is a great rendition of the original.

NDV: Thanks, I appreciate that.

D: What’s your thought about it Mike?

MP: I don’t have a specific opinion about this particular track, but I definitely remember the Back In NYC and Siberian Khatru (Yes) that those guys did and I was blown away by both of those. It’s a great combination of players; Nick, Mike Keneally and Kevin, three totally talented people.

D: But you, Nick, are a little embarrassed by this particular song...

NDV: Yeah, but there’s another Genesis tribute that I was on, where I did Can-Utility And The Coastliners, with the guitar player out of Brand X, but that’s a horrible version of that song too.

(To be found on the Genesis tribute, The Fox Lies Down)

OSI – Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (From the Limited Edition OSI / 2003)

D: Are you bored by this already?

MP: No, I love this, I can do this all day. I love talking about other bands, I hate talking about Dream Theater and want to talk about other bands. Ha, I know this... (after half a minute into the song). If you know the tune, you’d definitely get it by now. It’s Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, old Pink Floyd.

NDV: No, I’m a Pink Floyd fan, though not a die-hard.

MP: Yeah, this is an old one, it’s right after Sid Barrett. This is from A Saucerful Of Secrets, their second album. They still had a couple of leftover Sid songs, but basically David Gilmour was coming in at that point. This song is all Roger Waters actually.

E: Was there a reason why you picked this song for the OSI album?

MP: I don’t know about how it came up... Uhmmm, me, Kevin and Jim are just fans of this old stuff. Kevin loves old Pink Floyd, he loves Roger Waters and his voice sounds so much like Roger’s at times. This is, believe it or not, the only time me and Kevin played together in this session. All of the stuff on the main disc, his tracks were either pre- or post-recorded and I was just playing to sequencers and click tracks. While Kevin and Jim where there, the only time that Kevin and I physically sat together and played, was during this song. This was just one take and live. So what you’re hearing, is what we did for the first and only time. The first time we played together since 1994!! I realised when I did the commentary track for the Transatlantic DVD how much Pink Floyd I’ve covered. Transatlantic did Shine On You Crazy Diamond, OSI did this song and Dream Theater did Hey You, In The Flesh and we even did Run Like Hell for one or two shows. One of the songs that I really wanted to do for the jam on this tour is Comfortably Numb. I thought it would have been perfect, with Geoff doing the Waters part and James doing the Gilmour parts and then the big guitar solo at the end. But Geoff didn’t want to do it. He hates that song, so I was really disappointed by that.

NDV: There’s a new Pink Floyd tribute out, which I’m on with Keneally doing Astronomy Domine.

MP: Really, it’s a cool song. I love the Voivod version of that song (To be found on the album Nothingface; Ed.). Is this new tribute out yet?

NDV: Yeah, it’s a double disc, with a shit-load of songs, with a lot of obscure bands I’ve never heard of.

E: Will you do another album with OSI?

MP: There are no plans now. It would be up to Jim and Kevin to initiate that. I have no plans, I have way too many other things I’m doing. I’m sure they’ll bring it up at some point and I’ll evaluate it then and see if it fits in to my schedule.

D: Is it right to say that OSI is your least favourite side project?

MP: I wouldn’t say favourite, but I enjoy listening to it and I definitely enjoy the bonus tracks too. But because I’m the least involved with it, I feel the less connected to it. When I originally discussed it with Jim, the point of the project wasn’t for me to do a Kevin Moore solo album, it was more to do a project that we worked on together. The more I work with other people and collaborate, the more I enjoy it. In the case of OSI, where there wasn’t that much collaboration with, I felt a little more detached from it. I would have preferred more collaboration.

D: As much as I love the album, I have to admit, that this is one of my least favourite projects you’ve done.

MP: That’s because I had the least to with it I suppose. (laughs) Although that’s not true, because I just did the John Arch solo album and I had nothing to do with that, I just played the drums on it. Then there’s another album that will be out later in the year, that I’m just the drummer on. I’m very, very proud of that album. (Mike is referring to Neal Morse’ Testimony.)

D: Well, I have problems with the voice of John Arch.

MP: Yeah, his voice is an acquired taste for sure. It’s so different, that people either love it or they just can’t listen to it. It’s almost like King Diamond or something. He’s like a vocal acrobatic. When I listen to a John Arch album, it’s so busy, it’s like listening to Liquid Tension Experiment but the vocalist is like, that busy. I just love his voice.

D: You also did a vocalist audition with John Arch as the replacement for Charlie Dominici. I’m glad that didn’t work out. (laughs)

Dream Theater – The Dance Of Eternity (From Dream Theater’s Metropolis part 2: Scenes From A Memory / 1999)

MP: That’s a low D, so it’s either Overture or The Dance Of Eternity

(Meanwhile Nick is drumming the parts on his knees)

MP: Look, Nick knows it. Do you want to sit behind the kit tonight? (laughs)

D: Who came with the idea of putting this tour together?

MP: It started off with Queensrÿche and Dream Theater and it was mainly a management thing. There’s a couple of people on their label, Sanctuary, that are tied in with us and I think that they threw in the idea to Queensrÿche. Eventually, it was brought up to me and would I object to it, because of things that were said in the past and do I think it’s good for the band. I thought, yeah, I don’t care about what was said in the past, whether or not it’s the best time. This is what the fans always wanted to see, we’ve got to do this. It would’ve been nicer to have done it 10 years ago, but better late than never... We figured that it was a good opportunity to get a break from the studio. We knew that we wanted to have a third band and originally Porcupine Tree were talked about, but that didn’t work out, for whatever reason. Then I said, “If we want to put the tour together that the fans always wanted to see, we’ve got to bring Fates Warning in on the bill”. I pitched Jim and they were up for it, then I pitched it to Queensrÿche and they said it’s okay, so that’s how it came about.

D: How did you get into the picture with Fates Warning? What happened to Mark Zonder?

NDV: Mark can’t do it for some family or personal kind of reason. He’s moving and he couldn’t get out. I’m not exactly sure how Jim got my name. Was it from you Mike?

MP: I would love to take credit for it, but believe it or not Jim brought your name up without me.

NDV: Yeah, he knows Spock’s Beard and stuff like that. He just called me and I wasn’t doing anything between the new Spock’s Beard album coming out and we’re not going to tour ‘till October, so I said yeah, let’s go for it.

E: Were you familiar with Fates Warning?

NDV: Not much, just a few things here and there.

D: Well, you’re coming very close to the originals, except that Mark has some electronic drum set-up.

NDV: Yeah, it’s really cool, they just let me do my thing. I try to play as close to it as possible so I don’t screw them up. But they let me play and I do some extra fills here and there. It’s good to rock too. I’m not singing and don’t have to worry about anything.

D: It is also great to see Frank Aresti back.

MP: Yeah, it’s great to have Frank back, it’s a great line up. All five are strong, there are no weak links.

E: Can we expect Nick on stage during the encore?

MP: We know there is room up there, we’ll see how it develops. When we do the Dream Theater and the Queensrÿche songs, I don’t think it’ll work, but with the jam, it could work.

(Nick leaves as Fates have to perform in like, 5 minutes or so, so a big thank you to Nick for his time!!)

D: How many songs have you rehearsed with Queensrÿche?

MP: We have three in rotation right now, but in the coming days I’ll sit down with Geoff and talk about getting some more stuff into rotation. Originally I submitted a list of songs to Geoff. It was Comfortably Numb, Won’t Get Fooled Again, Kashmir, Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding. It is a list of 7 or 8 cool classic songs, but it was hard to co-ordinate with those guys, because they kept changing their mind. I talked to Scott, then I talked to Geoff and they disagreed on things. That’s why it’s easier with us, with one person who writes everything and then go. With them, they can’t agree on anything, like, we’ve got to sound check and Michael Wilton learned Kashmir and the other guys didn’t want to do Kashmir. The other guys had learned Won’t Get Fooled Again, it’s like, chaos.

D: Yesterday, at the show in Pompano, I got the impression that you were sort of directing the scene during Won’t Get Fooled Again.

MP: Well, with 10 people on stage somebody has got to have control. Even when we played The Real World (which is a Queensrÿche song) for the first time, Michael Wilton couldn’t remember the parts and Mike Stone had no idea, so John Petrucci had to basically teach those guys what to play in The Real World. Like, whole harmonies and stuff

(Meanwhile The Dance Of Eternity is still playing.)

“TURN THAT OFF, IT’S MAKING ME CRAZY!” (everybody laughs) So it’s difficult to co-ordinate with 10 people to play all by once, and it’s a logistical nightmare technically, with the soundboard and the monitors too.

D: What about the time schedule, as the curfews seems to be very strict.

MP: Yeah, especially so for the outdoor ones. If you go over even by a minute, you’re gonna pay thousands and thousands of dollars per minute and the bands have to pay! So we have to stay really tight on the schedule or else it comes out of the jam or whoever is closing the night gets screwed. That’s what happened last night in Pompano, as Michael Wilton’s amplifier blew up as they were going on. Normally there is a twenty-minute change, but I think it was almost an hour last night, so they had to rush on stage and we were sending notes to Geoff in between songs as we had to decide on the jam. First we wanted to do Real World and The Spirit Carries On, but we knew that there wouldn’t be enough time for a two song encore and it wouldn’t be right to do one or the other, so at that point we knew it had to be The Who song. But then it turned out that they were only able to do a 50-minute set, so we gave them the option. We sent them a note: “If you want to blow out the jam and play ‘till eleven we’ll understand”, but they chose to do the jam.

D: Okay, that was it for now, thanks and see you in January, I guess.

MP: Yeah, but actually you’ll see me sooner than that... Other than the Zeppelin Tribute, I have 2 other things, which I can’t tell you yet, but there is an album and a tour... It’s an album that I already done but nobody knows about. (by now we all know that he’s referring to Neal Morse’ new album and upcoming tour) And no, I’m not gonna tour with Spock’s Beard, although I have talked with Nick about that. I’ve had two tour offers for the Fall, one for America and one for Europe and I think I’m going to take the European one. There are no dates yet, all will be revealed soon!