Kevin Moore interview (excerpts)

Hi Kevin. Where are you calling from?

Hi. I am calling from Costa Rica.

You are on holiday?

No, I live here.

Oh. Can you please tell me more about it?

My brother has been down here for two years. When I finished the record, I came down here. It's great.

And you have your own studio over there?

I will start to build a studio. But it's gonna be a portable system based on a laptop. A compact system.

-----

Have Fates Warning ever asked you to join as a permanent member?

No, they haven't. You know, for me it's ok to go there every couple of years for three or four days and lay down some keyboard parts and play this kind of music. It's much fun. But the reason I left Dream Theater was that I don't want to do this kind of music 24 hours a day.

Why don't you even go on tour with Fates Warning?

For the same reason. If it's just for a couple of days, it's ok. But a whole tour? I am not even crazy about touring myself. So I definitely wouldn't do it with somebody else's band. That sort of music is kind of explored territory for me.

-----

A friend of mine heard a rumor that you have been approached by Spastik Inc, Ron Jarzombek's band. Is that true?

Oh yeah. But... I don't like the music too much. So I turned down the offer.

Would you consider to play on the next Explorer's Club album with James LaBrie and James Petrucci?

I don't want to get into that kind of music. Same subject. It's really different from the music that I am interested in, that I spend my time writing. I think that kind of stuff... what's the name of the label? I can't remember.

Magna Carta.

Exactly. They put out a lot of that stuff. And the other guys from Dream Theater are very involved in it. This very progressive stuff.

You don't feel as a part of the progressive scene anymore?

No, I definitely don't. Apart from the Fates Warning thing, which is hard to defend.

-----

I don't understand why almost all the marketing and promotion for your album has done with metal and rock magazines. You tell me that you don't feel part of the metal scene. Did you get the wrong promotion?

That's pretty simple. The label that I am on in Germany is a metal label (Massacre Records). I am the only act that's not a metal band. Not many bands can pick and choose what label to be on. It depends from the labels that are interested. The metal labels were the first ones to be interested, because of my background in Dream Theater. It just worked out that way. I am really happy with Massacre in the sense that they are behind the album and give me alot of freedom to do what I want. But all the interviews are with metal and progressive magazines. That's a very difficult situation. It's not up to me to tell them what to do. But it would be great if they started to get me in touch with electronic music mags.

One fan wrote me that he wants to know your opinion of bands like Liquid Tension Experiment, Mullmuzzler, Platypus, Transatlantic and all the other projects of the Dream Theater guys.

I haven't heard all of it. You know, it's not really the music that I listen to. But I think it's great that the guys are doing side projects and have fun doing records.

What music do you listen to now?

I am not listening to one type of music. I listen to a lot of singer/ songwriters, for example. I don't listen to electronic music all day, if you mean that, haha.

Another question about Dream Theater: you assisted your successor Derek Sherinian with the keyboard sound when you left the band. Did Jordan Rudess also contact you for some info?

No, he didn't contact me. Maybe he contacted Derek. I didn't speak to Jordan, I've never spoken to.

Two fans were telling me that the communication between them and you after the Dream Theater shows and during meetings was not what they expected. They described you as a reserved and chilly, almost arrogant person. What's your comment?

I think that's pretty true. The last couple of years with Dream Theater have been very hard times for me. I was becoming less and less involved in the music, I was not so excited about playing live. So that may have been the reason for my behaviour.

Do you miss the times when you were playing with a real band, went on tour etc...?

I am happy with the present. It's difficult for me to predict what will happen. But I am happy with how things are right now, but I couldn't say that I will never go on tour. I have no idea what will happen.

What are your plans for the near future? How do you spend your time?

I will do a lot of video work. Now I have spent a year on the music, so I think I will concentrate more on the video stuff. But I also have some ideas for the next record. Maybe I will start working on it soon. But these are only very vague ideas.

Ok. Do you have a final statement? Since we are a rock mag, do you wanna say goodbye to the metal scene?

I won't be doing any work in the metal scene anymore. But I think alot of metal fans don't listen to this kind of music all the time. So I say to your readers: Check out the CD. Maybe you like it.