Metal Hammer Presents...Bloody Roots – Our Definitive Guide To Metal Legends: Dream Theater

2007

Dream Theater’s ninth studio album ‘Systematic Chaos’ has just been issued by Roadrunner Records. Even with more than six million albums sold, and mantelpieces full of musicianship awards, the band are very excited by the future.

“For the last seven years we’ve almost coasted along, but we’re at a great point in our career,” enthuses Portnoy. “A whole range of younger bands like Trivium, Stone Sour, Shadows Fall and Opeth cite us an influence, and we’ve never had the acceptance of playing a festival like Download. After 22 years we’re not going away and the possibilities are endless.” Adds LaBrie: “At this stage in our career, it’s kinda comical to have to say we’ve found a label that will give us the support we need.”

The band return to the UK in October, but instead of their usual ‘an evening with’ marathons they plan upon bringing support bands along. “Those four-hour shows were getting out of control,” says Portnoy. “We’re all into our forties now and getting older, but the kind of music we play is intense. We need a break from that format, which isn’t to say that we won’t bring it back on the tour after next.”

If you want to know more about Dream Theater, a career-encompassing coffee table book called ‘Lifting Shadows’ arrives in the autumn. The adjective ‘coffee table’ is used advisedly because it’s so enormous, that you could almost use it as one.

“Even for the diehard fan, it has detail that you’ll eat up,” states Portnoy. “The author, Richard Wilson [No, not the actor of the same name – Ed], has gone into every nook and cranny, interviewing people I haven’t spoken to in 15 years. Because we believe that everything worth doing is worth overdoing, I’ve compiled a CD of rare material to accompany each chapter. So even for a new fan it’s the ultimate history lesson.”

For details go to: www.dreamtheaterbook.com.

2006

In April, a 20th anniversary tour was documented at a show at New York’s famous Radio City Music Hall. Their most lavish project until that point saw them teaming up with a complete symphonic orchestra, dubbed The Octavarium Orchestra, during the second half, and was released as a DVD and triple-audio disc called ‘Score:

Portnoy was genuinely moved to tears.

“Radio City Music Hall is a venue that’s reserved for the elite – metal bands rarely play there,” he explains. “I’ve only ever seen Maiden, Kiss and The Who there, so it was a very special experience.”

Meanwhile, the quintet’s contract with Atlantic Records was running down. “We were happy to let it do so,” exclaims LaBrie. “Dream Theater must have seemed like aliens to Sylvia Rhone [label president], who loved urban music. She came backstage at a gig in Chicago and promised the label would keep pushing us until we were platinum. I don’t think I ever saw her again,” he laughs.

2005

Dream Theater love to add all sorts of detail and extraneous meanings to their music.

Their ‘Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence’ album contained six songs; the following release, ‘Train Of Thought’, had seven and, fittingly given its title, ‘Octavarium’ had eight different pieces. Indeed, there were various connections to the number eight through the whole album.

“If you were looking for obscure nuggets, ‘Octavarium’ was the place to go,” smiles Portnoy. “Our fans are ridiculously over the top – they want to know everything about us and our lives. When it comes to hidden messages, they catch everything that we throw at them and more. Some even make up a few that we don’t intend. With ‘Octavarium’ they were in the artwork, the sequence of the songs; even the keys they were played in. It was one giant puzzle waiting to be deciphered.”

Adds LaBrie: “It’s fun to go online and read the things that the fans speculate about. These theories they come up with can leave you scratching your head and saying, ‘I’m in the freaking band – even I didn’t see that: Honestly, sometimes it really can be utterly mind-blowing.”

Celebrating their 20th anniversary, the band accepted an invitation from Dave Mustaine to join the summer’s Gigantour. As the package trek rolled through Dallas, they paid tribute to hometown hero Dimebag Darrell with an extraordinary jam session that saw them joined by Megadeth’s Mustaine, Burton C Bell of Fear Factory and Symphony X’s Russell Allen for a version of the Pantera classic ‘Cemetery Gates’.

“We like to play songs that relate to certain cities,” explains Portnoy. “In London we’ve played a Queen cover, and in San Francisco we’ll do something by Journey. I used to hang out with the Pantera guys a lot, especially in my drinking days. I still can’t quite believe what happened to Dime, though I knew Phil [Anselmo, vocals] slightly better because we were both huge fans of boxing.”

2003

As you’d expect of a band that changes its set-list from night to night, Dream Theater have a mainly positive attitude towards unofficial recording of their music.

To this end, Portnoy set up, YtseJam Records as a way to release his extremely extensive archive of Dream Theater-related recordings.

Among the CDs and DVDs issued by YtseJam so far are documentations of the band’s bravest traditions, namely including covers sets whenever they play two consecutive nights in certain venues.

Up to this date they have performed Metallica’s ‘Master Of Puppets’, ‘The Number Of The Beast’ by Iron Maiden and, most recently, Deep Purple’s ‘Made In Japan’ in their entirety.

“Obviously, doing those events takes a lot of organising, from preparing backdrops to re-learning lyrics,” says LaBrie. “But they’re a lot of fun to do.”

More of these shows are planned, though James winks dramatically: “If I told you which ones are being planned, I’d have to kill you.”

2002

Besides its monstrous 42-minute title track, which filled the whole of one disc, the ‘Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence’ double set contained a song called ‘The Glass Prison’, which began a suite of material inspired by Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12-step recovery plan.

Its composer, Portnoy entered Alcoholics Anonymous at the start of the millennium and hopes that the band will one day perform all 12 songs in concert form.

“Musicians who are addicted to drink or drugs – or both – eventually have a choice,” he says. “Die or get sober. Did it affect the music? Towards the end, yeah. I always used to wait till the gig was over before drinking or taking drugs. But eventually things got so bad; I had a whole open bar set up behind my drum kit. Instead of Gatorade or water, my tech used to pass me glasses of Jack Daniel’s and Jägermeister.”

2001

The previously mentioned ‘Live Scenes From New York’ album was released on September 11, 2001, the day of the Twin Towers attacks. In a horrific and unintended coincidence, its sleeve depicted the World Trade Centre in flames. The original design was quickly recalled and replaced by something a little more tasteful.

“The whole thing was uncanny,” rues LaBrie. “Obviously, out of respect for New York City and the victims the original artwork had to be changed. Then all of a sudden the ones that made it onto the market became collectors’ items.”

2000

In August, Dream Theater played a show at New York’s Roseland Ballroom that was later released as the DVD and triple album, ‘Live Scenes From New York’. They performed for An incredible four hours, which was one of their longest shows ever.

“We beat that one two years later, also in New York,” volunteers Portnoy. “On the second of two nights at the Beacon Theatre we did our normal three-and-a-half-hour show, followed by the whole of Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ album. Then there was a 30-minute encore, so the whole thing must’ve lasted for more than four hours. What can I say? We’re the Bruce Springsteen of heavy metal.”

1999

The arrival of Jordan Rudess, a virtuoso keyboard player who’d been educated at the famous Julliard Academy and who’d turned down the chance to join for the ‘Awake’ album, was the band’s most recent and important line-up change.

Having issued the ultimatum of, ‘leave us alone to create or we’ll split up; to the record label, the new-look unit delivered a full-blown masterpiece in the highly conceptual album of ‘Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory’. “Jordan’s talent was very obvious when he worked with Mike [Portnoy] and John [Petrucci] in Liquid Tension Experiment,” says LaBrie of one of the many Dream Theater side-projects (completed by King Crimson bassist Tony Levin). “The chemistry was incredible; we had to have him in the band.”

Dream Theater’s members have all been involved in solo projects or side bands, arguably the most notable of which being Transatlantic, Platypus, Mullmuzzler, Office Of Strategic Influence and the Jelly Jam. Portnoy is planning a record with Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson and Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth. “The other outlets help to keep the band fresh,” claims LaBrie. “There are a lot of them, but they don’t cause too many problems.”

1998

Dream Theater are such incredible musicians that they’ve been known to swap over their instruments onstage.

During a bout of touring for ‘Falling Into Infinity’, they used encore time to morph into an alternate band that went by the name Nightmare Cinema.

This new group saw now departed keyboard player Derek Sherinian taking on guitar, Portnoy becoming the bassist, John Petrucci picking up the drum sticks and John Myung switching from bass to keyboards.

“Derek was actually a very good guitarist,” smirks Portnoy with good humour, “but Petrucci was a horrible drummer.”

1997

The differences between Dream Theater and their record label worsened during the making of the ‘Falling Into Infinity’ album. Generally considered their most radio-friendly – not a complimentary term, when made by DT fans – release, it saw them being forced into an unlikely collaboration with Bon Jovi/Aerosmith/Meat Loaf hitmaker Desmond Child, who provided the lyrics for ‘You Not Me’. “We were in a creative and financial spiral, and the label kept trying to make us recreate the fluke hit [‘Pull Me Under’],” says LaBrie. “We came as close as a band can come to breaking up.”

Equally frustrating, the singer was forced to muddle through the recording process after rupturing his vocal cords due to excessive vomiting (he’d been struck by food poisoning whilst touring Cuba). “It took eight years before my voice came back to full power,” he sighs. “Sometimes it used to crack, like I was going through adolescence again.”

1995

A special show took place at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London in late January that saw them performing material by Deep Purple, Metallica, Rush, Led Zeppelin and Queen with special guests including Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway and members of Yes and Marillion. Tracks from the Uncovered show surfaced on a mini-album called ‘A Change Of Seasons’, which also included a 23-minute epic called ‘Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle And The Sleeper’ [sic] that had been around since 1989, but which the label had banned them from recording. Incredibly, an online fan petition assisted the song’s release. “That’s an example of how little Atlantic Records understood what we were trying to do,” marvels LaBrie.

The band were teamed up with David Prater again for ‘A Change Of Seasons’, though this time it was LaBrie that bumped heads with the producer. “Even after the success of ‘Images And Words’, he monitored me like I was a 12-year-old,” grumbles the singer.

1994

During the making of the band’s third album, ‘Awake’, Kevin Moore informed his band-mates he was leaving. “The timing couldn’t have been worse as I was starting my vocals the next day,” recollects James LaBrie of his first bout of band upheaval. “I was shocked as he’d worked so hard to get to that point, and we were definitely moving full steam ahead.”

Moore’s fill-in successor was Derek Sherinian, a man whom Alice Cooper had once called, “the Caligula of the keyboards”.

1993

On 23rd April, the last night of Dream Theater’s debut UK tour, they recorded a live album at London’s Marquee Club. “Being our first time overseas, it was incredibly exciting,” enthuses Portnoy. “We were also touring America and Japan for the first time, so we made new fans and friends everywhere we went. I drank a lot back then, so the memories are a bit blurred.”

At about this time, the YtseJam Mailing List was established. ‘Majesty’ spelled backwards, it was the main channel of online communication between Dream Theater fans for many, many years. “The internet community was absolutely crucial to the survival of a band like Dream Theater,” agrees Portnoy. “For obvious reasons, we’ve never received radio play to speak of.”

1992

‘Images And Words’ was released, to everyone’s astonishment generating the hit ‘Pull Me Under’, eight minutes of tense, dark, Metallica-flavoured riffing. Sales of 500,000 copies established them as a creative force, but mainstream success not only bought record label problems, ‘Images And Words’ became the watershed album that many fans still believe they’ll never surpass. “That can be frustrating,” nods Portnoy. “But it’s the same for me: there are certain bands that I discovered via a specific album at the start of their career, and they remain my favourites. You can’t do anything about that.”

1991

The search for a replacement singer took considerably longer than anyone expected. More than two years and 200 auditions later, and on the verge of opting to become an instrumental band, Dream Theater heard a tape by Canadian band Winter Rose. Their singer Kevin James LaBrie (the Kevin was dropped to avoid confusion with Kevin Moore) was just what they’d been looking for. Having signed a new deal with Atco Records, they began their second album, ‘Images And Words’. The band were soon warring with producer David Prater. “Dealing with that asshole’s pop-metal mentality was tortuous,” sighs Portnoy. “He’s an impossible individual.”

1988

Completed by vocalist Charlie Dominici and keyboard player Kevin Moore, Majesty inked with the MCA Records offshoot Mechanic, becoming Dream Theater before the release of their debut album, ‘When Dream And Day Unite’, the following year. Despite receiving rave reviews, Mechanic barely opened their chequebook for the band (“We spent more in Starbucks whilst making our current album than they did on recording that first album”, laughs Portnoy now), and after just a handful of club gigs Dream Theater decided to start anew – only this time without Dominici.

“He was 15 years older than the rest of us, and nothing like our favourite singers, [Iron Maiden’s] Bruce Dickinson and Geoff Tate [of Queensrÿche]. Only just as we kicked him out Marillion offered us a local gig support slot, so Charlie got a last hurrah.”

1985

With big-haired metal dominating the charts and airwaves, Dream Theater’s story began in low-key fashion when guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung and drummer Mike Portnoy met in the cafeteria of the Berklee College Of Music in Boston. “I’ll never forget that day,” says Portnoy, who happened to be wearing a T-shirt of the band Talas. The three long haired guys, who all hailed from the New York suburb of Long Island, stood out like sore thumbs, eventually deciding to drop out and form a band called Majesty. “Back then, Berklee was a complete jazz school,” chuckles Portnoy. “Now it’s become a school for Dream Theater-style musicians. They should give us some sort of kickback.”

“I discovered them around the time of ‘Images And Words’, just as I was starting to play the guitar. I’d never experienced too much progressive rock until then, but I listened to that album every day for a couple of months, even joined the fan club. I bought ‘Awake’ the first week it came out, and since then I’ve been happy that the albums all sound different to one another.”

—Herman Li (Dragonforce)

“Dream Theater are among my favourite bands. Any one of them could stand out there on their own and do a half hour solo and it wouldn’t be boring. That’s something you can’t say about too many bands. It’s hard not to be influenced by people who are such incredible musicians.”

—Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall)

“Dream Theater are my Beatles. They’ve influenced my approach to song writing, and their music inspires me to be a better player.”

—Josh Rand (Stone Sour)

“They broke new ground with the ‘Images And Words’ album, somehow managing to make progressive heavy metal – a genre that was extremely unfashionable – popular. After Dream Theater came along, they influenced a whole new generation of bands. I’ve a lot of respect for them for doing that.”

—Gus G (Firewind)

“I discovered Dream Theater through a guy who was our band’s singer for about two weeks. They’re still one of Travis [Smith, drummer] and my all-time favourites. Most guys that become shred-masters can’t write to save their lives. These dudes have mastered their instruments but don’t forget the fact that a song also has to have structure.”

—Matt Heafy (Trivium)

“The heaviness and symphonic qualities of ‘Images And Words’ floored me. There’s talk of a project involving myself, Mike Portnoy and Steve Wilson [of Porcupine Tree]. It will happen, but not for 20 years because we’re all so busy. I’m kidding, we have to do it or people will think we’ve been talking shit for all these years.”

—Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth)

“Their debut album, ‘When Dream And Day Unite’, inspired me to write to Mike [Portnoy, DT drummer]. He replied, I met up with them in America and it grew from there. It was great that James LaBrie wore a Napalm shirt in the video for ‘Pull Me Under’. The ‘Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence’ album was a work of pure genius.”

—Barney Greenway (Napalm Death)

“Back when I was learning the drums, my first record was ‘...And Justice For All’ by Metallica. It was the craziest drumming I’d ever heard, until a friend let me hear ‘Metropolis’ by Dream Theater. After that I was like, ‘Lars who?’”

—Dan Torelli (Madina Lake)

“A friend gave me some of their music a long time ago, and I didn’t really understand it at the time. When I joined Sanctity, they were all huge fans and they really turned me onto the band. Dream Theater have the whole package – musicianship, and songwriting. I’ve not had the pleasure of seeing them live yet, but I will!”

—Jared MacEachern (Sanctity)