Derek Sherinian interview (excerpts)

Used Bin Radio: Besides the signature playing style, I wanted to also talk about sort of your signature writing style. Specifically, I hear some Elton John a lot of times in the phrasing and the way you piece together music. And I always wondered, on the record that you did with Dream Theater, was ‘Anna Lee’ yours?

Derek Sherinian: Yes, it was.

UBR: Because that is such an Elton John sounding song.

DS: Yeah, good ears. Absolutely. I think the inspiration for that song was ‘Someone Saved My Life Tonight’. When I’m doing piano stuff, there’s definitely Elton influence. When I’m doing heavy B3, you can hear Jon Lord, Steve Walsh of Kansas, or Tom Scholz’ Boston. Those records are a huge influence on me. I just take everything that inspires me and gets me excited and I throw it into my own. I digest it. And I’ve been very fortunate throughout my career to play and actually record and tour with a lot of these guys who have been my heroes. And so when you’re standing right across from Yngwie in a studio and listening to him play or live and you’re just doing it night after night, that becomes a part of you. You’d have to be a f***ing idiot to not absorb that. Or if you’re on tour with Kiss for three months and you’re dealing with Gene Simmons every day, you have to be a f***ing idiot to not absorb some of that business savvy of how to run a band. I’m a sponge and I try to surround myself with great people all the time to help raise me to be great. My attitude is, why scratch for the turkeys when you can soar with the eagles? And that’s what I really live by. I surround myself with the greats because if I’m going to be a legend, I need to play with legends.

UBR: That’s right. I mean, it’s funny when you look at your discography and you see the people that you’ve played with. You really, really have surrounded yourself with superstars. For Joe and I, I think we first probably came aware [when you played in Dream Theater].

DS: Yeah, for many, too.

UBR: How did you hook up with those guys? Was that the Berklee thing?

DS: No. I did a record with Alice Cooper, the Hey Stoopid record, and then during that time Nirvana came out and all of those rock bands were just dead in the water, and everyone was afraid to put out a record and were taking hiatuses. Guys like Alice and Kiss and Mötley Crüe have millions in the bank so they can sit back and not work for a few years. And then wait for the climate to change. But I was out of a job. Then a friend of mine from New York, Jonathan Mover, a great drummer who played with me and Alice Cooper for a while, called and said this band Dream Theater is looking for a keyboardist. And I didn’t know anything about the band. I really didn’t. So he said this progressive rock band and they’re signed to Atlantic, are looking for a keyboard player. I go, “OK”. So I pursued it a little bit more. And I ended up setting up an audition, and they sent me the music that I had to learn. The audition was gonna be in New York. When I first heard the songs that I had to learn, I was terrified because I’d never played stuff that insane before as far as musically. So I really took it as a challenge. It’s like, “All right, this is gonna be a stretch for me, but I’m going to really give this everything I have and try to make this happen.”

UBR: How many years ago is this now?

DS: ‘94. So I went in, and as it turned out, there were three keyboard players that were in the front running. It was Jordan Rudess, Jens Johansson, who’s an incredible player from Sweden, and myself. Their first choice out of the three of us was Jordan, but Jordan, I think, just had a kid at the time, and something happened where he ended up passing on the gig. So I was the runner-up choice. So I joined the band as a sideman for six months, and then they made me a full member after six months, and then I was there for four and a half years at that point. And then, at some point, the relationship ran its course. There was nothing really negative, there was no fights or whatever, but they just decided that they wanted to play with Jordan. And so Jordan came back to the band, and I got my pink slip, and there’s never been animosity. There’s never been any lawsuits or any craziness. I’ve maintained good friendships with all of the guys. Petrucci’s played on my solo record, Blood Of The Snake, and I talk to Portnoy all the time online. So, I mean, it’s a good thing, and I really value my time in Dream Theater because it raised awareness around the world about myself as a player, and it opened up a lot of doors for me.

UBR: Did you play at that gig at the Burbank airport?

DS: No, I didn’t. No, Jordan played that gig. I heard he was wearing flip-flops and he was reading a music chart.

-----

UBR: But then when you came in, you basically started off, before you had recorded with them, you started off doing the Awake tour, and then recorded with them for Falling Into Infinity.

DS: That’s right. Actually, we did the Awake tour, half of it, and then we had a break and did A Change Of Seasons. Then finished the Awake tour, and then was in the studio a whole year. So really, if you look at the four years that I was in the band... I really wish that we had made more albums together because I only really got to do A Change Of Seasons which was an EP, and then one studio album and then one live album/DVD. I would have liked to have done two or three studio albums during that period.

UBR: Pretty great experience, though, doing that?

DS: Fantastic. I mean, the guys forced me to step my game up. Whether you like Dream Theater’s music or not, to be able to play in that band and play that music, it’s like you’re a Green Beret musician. You can’t just be some ham and egger with a dream going in there and, oh, the planets were really aligned tonight and I really just was in tune with my instrument and I hit all the notes. It’s like, “No, you’re trained like an athlete and you’re expected to play, because you’re under the microscope.” So doing gigs like Dream Theater and even more so Planet X, I have musical confidence. So when you ask me if I go into a room with like Glenn Hughes and Jason Bonham and Joe Bonamassa, not taking anything away from their greatness, but I don’t think there’s anything those guys are going to dish out that’s going to make me fearful musically.

UBR: So did they audition you with ‘Metropolis’?

DS: No, thank God! Look, it’s one thing to go in and audition for Alice Cooper. You’ve been hearing those songs over and over again since you were a kid. But then to go into a band where you’ve never heard this music, and it’s in different time signatures and the songs are 10 minutes long – all this crazy s*** – that’s insane. That’s one muscle that really develops is your retention of being able to memorize these arrangements and things. So then when you go back to a normal band that’s playing in 4/4 or just basic arrangements, it’s like you can listen one time and go, “OK, next.”

UBR: Since you’re a veteran with Dream Theater, having worked quite a bit on your records with Virgil Donati, did he call you at any point when he got the audition with Dream Theater recently and say, “Got any advice for me?” And what was your advice?

DS: No, he didn’t ask for advice, but he told me he was going in. I don’t need to tell Virgil anything. I mean, he’s sick. As great as Dream Theater is, Virgil and Tony MacAlpine are at that level, if not even further.

UBR: Did this thing with Dream Theater shock you, with Mike leaving and then came back and then left, or was asked not to come back?

DS: I’ve been doing this so long now, nothing shocks me, but I mean, I was surprised that he actually went forward with it. I knew there was tensions in the band when I was there – between John and Mike, and John and Mike and James... I think what happened [was] Mike went on tour with Avenged Sevenfold and got a taste of being in a mainstream band and it’s like a fresh situation, not all the tensions of the bulls*** that happens after being in a band all those years. I think Mike just wanted a break, and the other guys didn’t want to take a break.

UBR: It’s funny, too. That was really his first exposure into headlining 18,000 seaters and stuff. Whereas he was doing Transatlantic and Liquid Tension and Dream Theater, where they’re a little smaller, condensed, and a prog crowd is a very specific crowd.

DS: No, it’s a different deal. It’s a whole different level of things. You know what though, as I said, I have relationships with both parties and Dream Theater is very happy with their new drummer. Mike has a new band – Adrenaline Mob – that I know he’s very happy with. He’s gonna go to Brazil with Stone Sour, I think, to fill in for the drummer. I think he’s having a kid. Mike’s gonna do just fine. Dream Theater’s gonna do just fine. I wish everyone success.

UBR: Yeah. A part of me just feels bad about it. Like, I just want to hug Mike, because he’s having a moment. And the band didn’t grant him the moment.

DS: He doesn’t need a hug. He’s just fine. He’s in the gallery of greats and Modern Drummer. He’s a very famous drummer. And he’s made a good chunk of money.

UBR: But that’s his baby.

DS: Yeah, you know what? Sometimes you’ve got to put the baby up for adoption and start a new family. For lack of better metaphors or whatever, he’s gonna be just fine. Dream Theater is gonna be fine. I think they sold almost 40,000 records their first week without Mike. They’re still getting the same guarantees from the promoters without Mike. They’re fine. Mike’s gonna be fine.

UBR: Have you heard the new record? Do you like it?

DS: I haven’t yet. As I say, I don’t listen to music in between, but at some point, I look forward to listening to it.

UBR: Just curious, you’re here in LA and they’re coming this weekend. Is that the kind of thing you would show up at? Go see some old friends play?

DS: Who’s coming?

UBR: Dream Theater.

DS: Oh, they are? If they invite me to come down, I’ll come. I’d love to say hi to everyone.

UBR: We were there at the Pantages when you and Charlie Dominici came down and revisited some Dream Theater past.

DS: That was really cool. With Black Country Communion, we did two big festivals in Europe that we were on the bill with Dream Theater, so I got to see all the guys and say hi to Mike Mangini, the new drummer. Yeah, it was good seeing those guys.

UBR: Is that a weird deal seeing those guys and doing all that?

DS: Oh, no, not at all. It’s fun, absolutely. I mean, it’s been 10 years since I’ve been in the band. It’s been a long time.

UBR: You said you grew up classically trained and all that stuff, right?

DS: Yeah.

UBR: Were you a prog guy growing up?

DS: Not really. I used to like Rick Wakeman and Emerson because they were great keyboard players, but I really thought the vocals sucked in both of those bands. The songwriting was not my style. I liked Van Halen I, Aerosmith, Zeppelin, Sabbath, but those keyboard players were great. But I definitely didn’t have those kind of bands on my wall.

UBR: So when you got the call [for] the Dream Theater thing, it was the whole different deal.

DS: It was a whole different deal. It’s like Dungeons & Dragons, like a whole different mindset, Hobbit or JR Tolkien – the lyrics... everything was like a whole different thing, but as I said earlier, I’m a chameleon and I’ll try to go into any situation and do the best I can.

UBR: Do you learn to like that kind of stuff?

DS: I like elements of everything. I love, as a musician, to play incredibly fast unison lines precisely and live and f***ing nailing it. That’s a rush. It’s like high performance driving or motorcycle riding. But I think a lot of the songwriting and lyrical imagery is just horse s*** in progressive rock. I think it stinks. Same thing in hip hop. I think some of the grooves are great, but then some of the... There’s good and bad in everything.

UBR: As big of Dream Theater and progressive rock fans as we are, I think it’s real easy to make fun of the names of these bands.

DS: On the first Planet X record, there’s a song called ‘King Of The Universe’. I had an oration; I wrote this pompous whole thing that’s called ‘The Rise Of Pompocles’. And it’s like basically totally mocking progressive rock. So if you want to laugh, go listen back to the Universe record.

-----

UBR: We always like to end our interviews with three rapid-fire questions. Just the first thing that comes to mind. What was the first record you ever bought?

DS: Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

UBR: If you didn’t get into music, what else do you think you’d be doing now?

DS: I really don’t have any idea.

UBR: And if you were stuck on a desert island and you could only bring one Rush album with you, which would it be?

DS: ‘By-Tor and the Snow Dog’. Whatever record that was. Fly By Night. Or maybe the double live...

UBR: Exit Stage Left?

DS: Yeah.