Originally published in SOAL Night Live YT channel · July 2020
Derek Shulman interview (excerpt)
Interview1 min read
Derek Shulman: You know [I signed] Dream Theater at the same time as well. So I try to balance out my world if you like.
SOAL: Did you run across some progressive groups, like in the mid ‘80s, where you thought, “This is an amazing band, but there's no way this is gonna fly in this decade”?
DS: Not really. Well... Dream Theater. In fact, I signed them based on a demo without vocals. They had a deal with MCA I think or they were dropped, but I loved their music and I signed them on a contingency deal to get a singer and they their singer. We did Images and Words and thankfully that took off for them, and they became Dream Theater.
SOAL: I think they were lucky to kind of get right at the tail end of that kind of ‘80s metal thing, and I think straddle the line between that and progressive metal. So I think the timing was good for that one and then they became legends. The ‘90 kind of was a time where it's like it's okay to be progressive again – it's like a whole new generation that grew up on the ‘70s stuff that wanted to make their own version of it.
DS: That didn't really come across. There were bands there, but I was running a company, so but I had to deal with I had to deal with hip-hop, I'd be had to deal with all kinds of music, so it wasn't just one particular kind of thing.
SOAL: Once you got them signed did you still work closely with them as they developed or was it kind of like, “OK, you're in there, good luck.”
DS: No certain bands I work very closely with. I just mentioned several of them. Pantera, I was in the studio with them. And Dream Theater, it was a lot of fun as well with Dave Prater. So certain bands I worked hands on.