Dream Theater Interview

I’ve been avidly following Dream Theater since I first saw them play the London Marquee in April 1993. In fact, I’ve been to every gig they’ve played here, except the Ronnie Scott’s one in 1995. It’s not every day a girl gets to interview her favourite band. So, with “A lump in my throat the size of a boulder” and my knees shaking I joined up with Matthew Honey to talk to the band just prior to their one and only UK show.

MH: It has been a long time since the last album was released, what has been happening?

JM: There have been a lot of deaths in our families and we had to take time out to deal with it. In addition John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy and James LaBrie all had children so a lot of different things happened and we needed time to get our personal lives in order. We also took our time writing; one and a half years, and came up with two and a half hours of music.

MH: The experience of death seems to have had more of an effect than birth on the song writing.

JM: I guess it is how you look at it, some of the songs go in positive directions but it takes a while for these emotions to filter through. As we were writing there was a lot of stress from our business and personal life.

MH: I think the new album surprised a lot of people in the direction it took; some fans are accusing you of moving away from your progressive roots.

JM: I think we are finding a better way to balance the more self indulgent playing and strong song writing with strong melodic content. I think this record is our most groove and feel orientated album so far.

NB: How are sales going?

JM: Sales are taking off, the album is exploding everywhere. We’re in the charts in areas that we never thought we would be like Italy, Holland, Germany, Finland.

DS: Actually, in Finland, they are putting each band member on a coin to celebrate the release of “Falling into Infinity” and we’re very excited about that.

JM: So we’re doing really well.\\NB: So what was it like writing with a new keyboard player, after the departure of long time bandmate Kevin Moore?

JM: It’s been an experience, a wonderful experience. Finding out Derek’s creative side and how he interacts with us musically and in finding out what the synergy is between us. It was a great learning experience and he brought a lot to the album.

NB: Were you worried how it would turn out?

DS: (Smiling) Was I worried? I mean are you asking me? Ask him (points at JM). I wasn’t worried!

JM: Well you always are a bit. You don’t really know what it’s going to be like until you hear it. But it’s been great, we spent a year and a half working with each other and finding out what we do, in learning how to work with each other. As we started writing, the first song we wrote was “Lines in the Sand” which, after we wrote that it was like yeah, Derek is great and that was it. Lines in the Sand, the first song we wrote with Derek.

NB: Did you have classical piano lessons?

DS: I did when I was younger but I haven’t studied classical for about 10-15 years. I’ve always loved classical music and it’s a big part of my training and at times it comes out. But I think on Lines in the Sand there’s a lot more jazz blues influence ...

NB: And fusion?

DS: Yeah fusion. That’s where my heart is more than in classical.

NB: You’ve been with a lot of bands as the “Off Stage” keyboard player. Can you give me a list please?

DS: What bands have off-stage keyboards? Well Kiss used to (laughter). I think Ozzy has one, Alice Cooper too. I don’t really keep track. A lot of the big guitar bands of the 80s would have them, like guys playing samples or whatever. That was cool, but I wouldn’t want to do anything like that again.

NB: John, how did you get that chunky bass sound on the new album? It seems better than any I’ve heard on previous albums.

JM: Two words, ladies and gentlemen, Kevin Shirley. Kevin was great, he got all the performances that he needed out of us and he really worked with me on the bass tone.

DS: And also I think the Yamaha “John Myung” model 6-string bass is a big part of the sound.

JM: Yeah, there’s been a new synergistic relationship between me and Yamaha, where I’m co-designing instruments with them and I have a JM signature six-string which should be out on the market sometime in the summer. I think it’s gonna do really well because it fills a void that’s in the market right now, as far as six-strings go, where most of them are made by smaller companies that charge exorbitant fees. So this one, with Yamaha’s strong pricing point on it, should do quite well.

NB: Most of the six-string basses I’ve picked up at music fairs and in music shops weigh an absolute ton. Do you have a special lightweight model or do you just work out a lot?

JM: Yes, the signature model was definitely designed around my physical limitations (eg., the size of my hands) and the weight was a consideration as well ...

DS: Also the 100 push-ups you’re doing each day has gotta help.

JM: (Laughing) Yeah and the 100 push-ups too.

NB: Have you ever tried a Chapman Stick with 10 strings?

DS: Do the voice ...

JM: (Putting on a silly voice) Perhaps you’ve been reading the bio?

JM: Yes, during the year and a half that we had off I started playing Chapman Stick because it was an instrument I really appreciated through musicians like Peter Gabriel, who always found ways to incorporate it. I found it really intriguing and I wanted to bring something to the album that hasn’t been there before, so I approached the Chapman Stick with a bass player’s mindset, playing more functional rhythms and supportive things that you would find a bass player doing, but with the Chapman Stick.

NB: Derek did you write any of the keyboard parts to “A Change of Seasons” which you recorded with the band?

DS: Yeah I wote some of them. That song was reworked quite a bit from its original so I got to go in there and really “do it”. Although I didn’t write a lot of it, I got the chance to put my personality and my own sounds into “A Change of Seasons”.

NB: John, you also mentioned Kevin Shirley as being a different producer for the band. I would say that the production on “Falling into Infinity” is the best I’ve heard for the band. Would you agree with that?

JM: Absolutely. Kevin was able to bring something that our other producers haven’t been able to, which is capture the live aura of the band. The energy that you see at a Dream Theater show is part of the listening experience on this album.

NB: OK now onto the website (http://www.rsabbs.com/dt/index.html), who does it and how did it come about?

JM: Well, our fans have become really involved on a global scale and a lot of them are taking initiatives to start fan clubs and things like that, which is great. But now it’s starting to get a bit chaotic so I think we’re gonna have to find a way to streamline the information and to upgrade our existing site so that it’s more efficiently maintained.

NB: That leads me onto the Ytsejammers’ (pronounced Yitsay) e-mail list which goes out as a digest several times a day. I noticed that Mike actually writes to one of the guys on the list who transmits his comments to the digest. Do any of you have-e-mail or internet access at home?

JM: Yes we do. I carry an IBM 365 XD laptop with me and I go online at hotels that are equipped and keep up with the e-mail and world news.

NB: So you’re coming back to do a full European tour in February/March? Will you be doing more than one date in the UK?

JM: I don’t really know yet.

DS: I think we’re coming back here in April.

(Actually, James LaBrie answered this one in more detail at the end of the gig when he said they would be back in the UK for some dates during the European tour between Feb/April 1998).

NB: Any material demoed up for the next album and when can we expect it out?

JM: Well being that this tour is about 6 weeks old, I think we’re gonna need a little more time to be creative.

DS: Yeah, we just started with the tour so we’re not even in that head. We have different “head spaces”, there’s the writing head, the recording head and the performing head. Right now we’re knee-deep in the performing head.

NB: Do you write on the road?

JM: Yes, actually, we do a lot of individual writing on the road. What I like to do, whether it be a lyrical or musical inspiration, is to just document it because the road is where you get a lot of ideas and then, when the time comes to write, you bring all the ideas to the table and craft them into songs.

MH: Was Peruvian Skies written with the experience of something similar to the lyrics (child abuse) actually happening?

JM: No it’s sort of just letting one’s imagination run without really knowing the facts. It’s more like just a story....

MH: It has a very Metallica-sounding ending.

DS: Yeah it’s very Metallica, and the front sounds like Pink Floyd. It’s cool, hey those are two great bands. We like to steal very creatively....

NB: I was quite surprised by the track you wrote with Desmond Child, because out of all the tracks I’ve heard from the new album, I thought the song he co-wrote was more likely to be “Anna Lee”, rather than “You Not Me”, because it is very DT.

JM: I think that’s what happens when you find someone who is really good at what they do. He doesn’t really change who you are, he just finds a different way of looking at you and bringing those qualities out. Yeah, it was a great learning experience working with him, but it’ll probably be our last...

DS: We pretty much had that song already written. He came in and helped out on the chorus a little bit. 95% of it, though was ours, so I don’t want to give him more credit than he deserves.

MH: The instrumental “Hell’s Kitchen”: is that supposed to be an intro to “Lines in the Sand”?

DS: “Hell’s Kitchen” was supposed to be the middle section of “Burning My Soul” but it didn’t really fit in there (laughs). We didn’t wanna throw it away so we made it into its own entity. It is its own entity but it just happens to segue into “Lines in the Sand”.

NB: Why did Kevin Moore leave the band?

JM: Kevin left because he wanted to be a free soul. He wanted to go out and write Kevin Moore music and he’s doing it. He’s talented and he’s great and we love him. We saw him at the House of Blues in LA on this tour. He came and saw us play and I asked him, you know, it must be weird for him to see us playing songs that he is a part of. He said “Yeah it was definitely a weird experience, I found myself playing as you guys were playing!” But it’s great. He’s a great guy and we still keep in contact.

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I managed to catch up with the rest of the band at the “aftershow” and asked them if they minded answering a few specific questions each. They were all very gracious and did just that!

NB: (to John Petrucci) Is it true that you graduated from Berklee College of Music (and that most of the band did).

JP: No I/we didn’t graduate. We were all there for about a year and then left because we had formed the band.

NB: Do you teach/do clinics there, or any other places?

JP: Yes I do quite a few of those at various places like Berklee and the Musicians’ Institute in LA.

NB: Have you done any more guitar instruction videos?

JP: No, just the one, but I think it’s time to make another one. I’d like to do that.

NB: If you did a solo album would it be called “The Exaggerator”? (Fans of the band’s Live in Tokyo vid will get this one)

JP: (Laughs loudly). But it’s true!! Actually I think it’s time we did another band video too.

NB: Are you really Roxy Petrucci’s (drummer with Vixen) baby brother?

JP: NO!!!

NB: Cousin, or anything else?

JP: No relation at all! (laughing again).

NB: (to Mike Portnoy) How long does your huge drum kit take to set up?

MP: (Smirking) I don’t know!

NB: Hmm, roadie does it huh?

MP: Ha ha, yeah, about an hour.

NB: Did you have fun doing the Rush “Working Man” tribute album with Billy Sheehan and others?

MP: Yes it was great. Billy and I were in the studio together doing that album. John (Petrucci) played on one track, but all the others sent their contributions by mail!

NB: You play drums like you have as many arms as an octopus and yet you’re also doing backing vocals live. You must have lungs the size of planets and be very fit!

MP: (Laughs) Not really, I got bored with just playing drums, so now I do backing vocals too.

[Mike is very modest and the best drummer on the planet, but someone had definitely upset him tonight. Judging by what he said at the end of the gig it may have been a person from another magazine.]

NB: (to James LaBrie) Did you have singing lessons at all or study any instruments at school?

JL: Yes I did have singing lessons. The music teacher at school in Toronto sort of picked me out from a young age and helped me along. My father has a very good voice. From age 10 to 13 I sang barber shop. I was mainly into rock from 13-20. Then, when I was about 20, I had opera training. My vocal teacher, Rosemary Patricia Burns, is very good.

NB: How does it feel to be the only Canadian in the band with Americans? Do they pick on you, like the English vs the Welsh?

JL: No, (laughing) because they know I’d beat the shit out of them!

NB: I’ve been to everyone of your gigs over here except the one at Ronnie Scott’s. Did you enjoy that gig?

JL: Actually I was unwell for the gig. I had food poisoning before we did it and I ruptured my vocal chords after vomiting. It was quite a bad time for me because I had to be very careful I didn’t damage my voice.

Well that was “A Dream Come True for Me”. I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing my favourite band and would like to thank them all for their hospitality.