Scenes From A Memory

On Sept. 11, 2001, Dream Theater Released An Album Whose Artwork Eerily Reflected The Twin Towers Tragedy. Guitarist John Petrucci Shares His Recollections From That Momentous Day.

by Christa Titus

September 11, 2011

As the United States pays tribute to those who were lost and injured on Sept. 11, 2001, the country also remembers what it was doing that clear morning when it learned the World Trade Center had been attacked. Daily routines were suddenly, shockingly halted as the news spread. Parents pulled their children from schools, and educational facilities closed early because of the day’s uncertainly. Planned commutes into Manhattan were aborted when bridges and tunnels were shut down.

It was no different for the music industry, especially with New York being one of its meccas. Sept. 11 fell on a Tuesday that year, the day that albums are traditionally released. Normally the community would be abuzz with promo activities like last-minute interviews and release parties. Now, news of which titles debuted that day and who was outselling who was practically forgotten.

Despite the chaos that was unfolding, rock band Dream Theater couldn’t ignore the fact that its record “Live Scenes From New York” hit the streets that day. That’s because, in an almost unbelievable coincidence, the artwork on the album’s cover contained a picture of the Twin Towers. And they were on fire.

“We wanted to illustrate New York, so we had the iconic World Trade Center,” Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci says of the concept behind the album cover, “and another thing we’d used in the past, starting from [our album “Images and Words”]; it’s the heart with the fire.”

Petrucci is referring to the sacred heart, a picture of a heart engulfed in flames and wrapped in barbed wire. The band had a graphic designer substitute the heart for an apple to represent the Big Apple, with the Manhattan skyline featuring the Towers (and the Statue of Liberty) sitting on top it.

“We tried to sort of tie together all the images, obviously not at all anticipating what the horrible coincidence would be when it came out,” he says.

Dream Theater wasn’t the only group that day to release an album whose content unintentionally paralleled the tragedy that unfolded. Biohazard dropped its set called “Uncivilization,” Slayer debuted “God Hates Us All,” and indie rocker Adam Schmitt introduced “Demolition.” Scheduled for reissue were four Motorhead albums: “Another Perfect Day,” “Bomber,” “Iron Fist” and “Overkill.” Rap act the Coup faced the same predicament as Dream Theater: Preliminary artwork for its “Party Music” album (a picture of the Twin Towers exploding) was posted on its website ahead of its November 2001 arrival. The photo was removed by the day’s end on Sept. 11.

Whether they are the product of the human imagination or something else, coincidences also dog Dream Theater’s newest album a decade later. Just days after the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Dream Theater will release “A Dramatic Turn of Events.” It contains a track called “Lost, Not Forgotten.” Neither are a reference to Sept. 11, nor to the departure of band co-founder/drummer Mike Portnoy, who left the group last year. Petrucci understands how people could draw those parallels though. “When we were writing the record, coming up with the song titles, subject matter, the album title and everything, the album was supposed to come out sooner [than it is now], so we didn’t have a release date in mind,” he says. “Things kind of line up in a strange way.”

Below, Petrucci remembers recounts what he was doing that day and the band’s response to recalling “Live Scenes From New York.” (Please note: This following passage has been edited and organized for clarity and brevity.)

“The reason the whole band had come in [to the five boroughs] the day before, we were getting our ear molds for our inner-ear monitor system, which we had never used before. There was an audiologist that came into the mixing studio, it was a good meeting place and that’s why we were all in because we’re not normally all in. Our singer [Canadian James LaBrie] was in town, so he was staying in the city. He was probably at least Midtown. Maybe by the Times Square area. I don’t remember exactly what the hotel was. We were probably mixing on the West Side around 54th or 53rd Street, somewhere around there.

I was home. Obviously, it was in the morning. We were mixing another record in the city that week, “Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.” I was planning on going into the city for day two of the mix. It was just morning and I was kind of drinking coffee and watching television and I’ll never forget that, of course.

Within minutes it was just all over the news, it was everywhere. The feeling was a couple of things. One, we were being attacked. I had this horrible feeling, because you don’t really know what’s going on, so I just felt like the country was being attacked, and then the second thing was obviously watching it all happen and the buildings fall. I couldn’t believe it, what was going on before my eyes. It didn’t seem possible in any way. Completely unreal.

The day before, I had brought my daughter in. She was 3 years old at the time, and we would drive in from Long Island. You’re coming in and you kind of see the reveal of the city. I remember it being a gorgeous, gorgeous day, crystal clear the day before, and seeing the skyline and pointing out all the buildings to her and everything, and the next day everything changed.

I have three children. She was my youngest. I have twins that are 15 now. The youngest was in dance class that day. We had to go to the dance class and take her out, and the other two were in school. We had to go and take them, because you don’t really know what’s going on. You’re like, “Are we being attacked? What’s happening next? Are bombs gonna start?” You don’t really know. So the first thing we did was get the kids and bring them home.

I remember [James] being really, really freaked out just being there. I think it might have taken him a while to get back home. Obviously it did – he lives in Canada, so he couldn’t get any flights.

We [realized the issue with the album] as soon as it happened, and it was like, the calls were immediate. I don’t remember what time it was but I remember being called and speaking to each other like, “My God, this can’t be happening, and we have to change this immediately,” so the fact that that was released on Sept. 11 and had that album cover just freaked us out beyond belief. Just the total coincidence and we were really, really upset by it, really disturbed by it. Our first reaction was that we gotta change this cover immediately, pull anything that’s out there and get rid of this right away. Unfortunately some were sold already, so they’re actually out there.

There was no argument. Everyone felt the same way. Everyone was on the same page: It needs to be changed, it needs to be pulled. Get whatever is out there get sent back and changed immediately. There was no hesitation or resistance on anybody’s part. It just had to be done.

I see [the albums in the original covers] from time to time. Fans have them, they want them signed or whatever. I don’t know the exact number. It was a live album, so they don’t generally sell as many, so maybe it wasn’t so bad. [Recalling the album] probably did affect its overall sales. Not only that, but just everything that was happening in the country, in the world at that time, just so many things on hold and certainly buying music wasn’t at the top of everybody’s list. Everything obviously changed from that day moving forward.

I don’t think [there was] much [media attention about the album cover]. There was something in a magazine where I saw they had the other album cover you were talking about with those other guys [the Coup’s “Party Music”] and our cover. I didn’t see a ton of media attention with it, but I did see a little bit. I think there was so much more to talk about at the time it was like a little side story, coincidence.

It still freaks me out. It’s just a horrible coincidence. It freaks me out still even talking to you, that it was released on that same day with the buildings on the cover. It’s just bizarre. Really, really, really bizarre . . . we don’t have violent song titles. The whole album was a live album based on “Scenes From a Memory,” which was a concept album, a whole story about reincarnation. It’s like this murder mystery. It’s fiction, it’s nothing gruesome, violent about it. Again, the collage of that scene was just to illustrate that this was a live concert that happened in New York using an iconic image and superimposing another image we used in the past. It’s crazy.

Somehow you know somebody who had somebody directly [affected by Sept. 11], whether they were firefighters, friends that were family members of firefighters that were there, policemen who were there who got called in and stuff, but I didn’t personally know anybody who was lost that day. They’re building in the town that I live in a 9/11 memorial, not even a couple of blocks away in front of a firehouse. They’re supposed to have it ready for 9/11 and my daughters are going to do some sort of tribute with their dance company. A sign language tribute to the troops to dedicate the memorial.

[In the weeks after it happened], I remember everything in life standing still. Just being glued to the TV and the news. Wanting to know as much as we can and watching the horrible footage over and over. It’s just like everything got put on hold, like life got put on hold. I remember just not leaving our house, sitting there, watching TV for however long we did, trying to get a sense on what was gonna happen, not only in New York but in the country and the world. Not only was it shocking and scary, because it’s the type of thing that’s really never happened, I remember a lot of uncertainly with everything, feeling like, “Wow, what’s going on? How’s everything gonna change? How we gonna do this or that? How are we ever gonna fly again, how’s the country ever going to recover from this or respond?” Thinking about all those people that died and what it must have been like being there or being in the building, not being able to get out – just thinking about that over and over and over.

Every year they play the footage of the anniversary and you’re watching it, you’re brought right back to that day, [you] just get this big feeling. It’s had such a psychological and emotional impact on everybody, not only the people whose families were directly affected – it’s the whole country and us as New Yorkers. Especially in the whole world, everything changed. The world really changed from that day forward.”