Originally published in Used Bin Radio podcast · February 2010
Derek Shulman interview (excerpt)
Interview2 min read
Used Bin Radio: You did sign Dream Theater at Atco. How did that come about? That seems more up your alley than Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Kingdom Come, and that whole deal.
Derek Shulman: That was very interesting because I signed them when they just had a record out on a company – Mechanic Records.
UBR: The first one with Charlie Dominici singing?
DS: Yeah, exactly, that’s right. And they had just got rid of him, and they had done some music without a singer. The music itself, it was amazing actually. It really was. I thought, well, this is incredible. So I said, “Look, I’m gonna sign these guys,” but it was not on the full deal, but on a deal where if you get a singer, I’m gonna put X amount. So I took a wild swing at it, basically, and they found the guy [James] and I would put them together with David Prater. And they went in to do Images And Words, and it came out as good as I expected and hoped it would do. Of course, ‘Pull Me Under’ did very well for them.
UBR: Yeah. Did you have a lot of say in that record? The only reason I ask in the making of that record is I know some A&R guys are really sort of hands-on in the studio with the whole process. But because really ‘Pull Me Under,’ for all intents and purposes, is their only big radio hit.
DS: Well, it was also very edited. It was about ten minutes long, and the song which is on the radio is three minutes. I had some, but not as much as other artists I’ve dealt with and been in touch with. I went to the studio several times, actually. I had someone working for me much more hands-on, but I was kind of hands-on on that record. But I knew that ‘Pull Me Under’ song, with that part of the song which you hear on the radio, was something that I think could get this band to a level where people would know who they were as opposed to not know who they were. And thankfully it did work, at least at the radio level anyway. But how they made their name, and they continue to do so, is by playing live, and they’re fantastic. They’re an amazing live band.