Derek Shulman interview (excerpt)

Rodrigo Altaf: Moving to the other side of the table, has it changed your perception towards the artist you work with or what being an artist entails? Because it gave you a different side of things.

Derek Shulman: Yes, but I always make sure that the artists that I work with, whether it's in the rock world or in pop or even in progressive or whatever, they had something which was different. They had something which was unique. Whether it's Jon Bon Jovi or Pantera or Dream Theater or all the bands I signed, they were unique in their way of doing things and they had a career. And when I look back, I'm proud of the fact, to be honest with you, that it wasn't just a one-hit wonder. These bands that I work with are still around and still very vibrant and still very popular.

RA: Yeah. Well, let me ask you about Dream Theater in particular, because a lot of our listeners love prog metal. I spoke with James LaBrie a couple of times and he mentioned you by name. He said, “Derek was instrumental in getting us signed and getting us the promotion that we needed.” When you first encountered the band, what was the moment you thought, ‘there's something here that I want to invest on’?

DS: That band in particular was an unusual one because when I was running Atco at the time, Mike Portnoy came in with a four track demo of instrumentals. And I listened to them. I thought, “Wow! This band is great.” And Mike said, “Look, we're looking for a singer – we don't have a singer yet – but we'd love to do a deal.” They knew my background. And I thought, “I believe there's something here.” I did not a demo deal, it's a deal where they were able to find someone for six months and I said, "I'm gonna pay your salaries. I want you to work on more music and you find a singer, and in six months come to me with what you have.” So I thought there was something there. And within three or four weeks, Mike came in with the same four songs with a singer called James LaBrie. And one of the songs was ‘Pull Me Under’. I said, “OK, what I felt in the music was right. And now they've got the singer and they've actually put the vocals to it.” And I said, “I'm really happy about that.” So I signed them to a full deal and we put the album together and Images And Words came out. We edited a ‘Pull Me Under’ and Dream Theater took off.