Dream Theater's Biography
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would ultimately become Dream Theater. Though a number of lineup changes followed, the three original members remained together along with James LaBrie and Jordan Rudess until September 8, 2010 when Portnoy left the band. In October 2010, the band held auditions for a drummer to replace Portnoy. Mike Mangini was announced as the new permanent drummer on April 29, 2011.
The band is well known for the technical proficiency of its
instrumentalists, who have won many awards from music instruction magazines.
Guitarist John Petrucci has been named as the third player on the G3 tour six
times, more than any invited players. In 2009 he was named the No. 2 best
metal guitarist by Joel McIver in his book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.
He was also named as one of the "Top 10 Fastest Shredders of All
Time" by GuitarOne magazine. Jordan Rudess is considered to be one
of the greatest keyboard players of all time by many publications like
MusicRadar. Former drummer Mike Portnoy has won 26 awards from Modern
Drummer magazine and is also the second youngest person (at the age of 37)
to be inducted into the Rock Drummer Hall of Fame. His replacement Mike Mangini
has also previously set 5 WFD records. John Myung was voted the greatest
bassist of all time in a poll conducted by MusicRadar in August through
September 2010. The band was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame
in 2010.
The band's highest-selling album is the gold-selling Images and Words
(1992), which reached No. 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. Both the
1994 release Awake and their 2002 release Six Degrees of Inner
Turbulence also entered the charts at No. 32 and No. 46
respectively and received mostly positive reviews. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes
from a Memory was ranked number 95 on the October 2006 issue of Guitar
World magazine's list of The greatest 100 guitar albums of all time.
It is ranked as the 15th Greatest Concept Album (as of March 2003) by Classic
Rock Magazine and as the number one all-time progressive album by Rolling
Stone (as of July 2012). Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence also led to
Dream Theater becoming the initial band reviewed in the music section of Entertainment
Weekly during its opening week of release, despite the magazine generally
preferring more mainstream music. In 2007, Systematic Chaos entered U.S.
Billboard 200 at No. 19. By 2011, Dream Theater had sold over 12
million records worldwide.
The band's eleventh studio album, A Dramatic Turn of Events, was
released on September 13, 2011. It entered the U.S. Billboard 200 at
No. 8, two positions lower than their previous release Black Clouds
& Silver Linings which entered the Billboard 200 chart at
No. 6. The album is the band's first with Mike Mangini, since Mike
Portnoy's departure. On November 30, 2011, the album's lead single, "On
the Backs of Angels", was nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best
Hard Rock/Metal Performance" category, marking the band's first ever
Grammy nomination. Dream Theater's self-titled 12th studio album was released
on September 23, 2013 and sold around 34,000 copies in the first week and
landed at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 chart, one position higher
than A Dramatic Turn of Events.
On April 9, 2013, Images and Words won Loudwire's fan voted March
Metal Madness for world's best metal album beating albums by Dio, AC/DC, Judas
Priest, Megadeth and Metallica.
HISTORY
Dream Theater was formed in Massachusetts in 1985 when guitarist John
Petrucci, bassist John Myung, and drummer Mike Portnoy decided to form a band
while attending the Berklee College of Music. The trio started by covering Rush
and Iron Maiden songs in the rehearsal rooms at Berklee.
Myung, Petrucci, and Portnoy joined together on the name Majesty for
their newly formed group. According to the The Score So Far...
documentary, they were waiting in line for tickets to a Rush concert at the
Berklee Performance Center while listening to the band on a boom box. Portnoy
commented that the ending of the song "Bastille Day" (from the album Caress
of Steel) sounded "majestic". It was then decided that Majesty
would be the band's name.
The trio then set out to fill the remaining positions in the group.
Petrucci asked his high school band-mate Kevin Moore to play the keyboard.
After he accepted the position, another friend from home, Chris Collins, was
recruited as lead vocalist after band members heard him sing a cover of
"Queen of the Reich" by Queensrÿche. During this time, Portnoy,
Petrucci, and Myung's hectic schedules forced them to abandon their studies to
concentrate on their music, as they did not feel they could learn more in
college. Moore also left his college, SUNY Fredonia, to concentrate on the
band.
The beginning months of
1986 were filled with various concert dates in and around the New York City
area. During this time, the band recorded a collection of demos, titled The
Majesty Demos. The initial run of 1,000 sold out within six months, and
dubbed copies of the cassette became popular within the progressive metal
scene. The Majesty Demos are still available in their original tape
format today, despite being released officially on CD, through Mike Portnoy's
YtseJam Records.
In November 1986, after a few months of writing and performing together,
Chris Collins was fired. After a year of trying to find a replacement, Charlie
Dominici, who was far older and more experienced than anyone else in the band,
successfully auditioned for the group. With the stability that Dominici's
appointment brought to Majesty, they began to increase the number of shows
played in the New York City area, gaining a considerable amount of exposure.
Shortly after hiring Dominici, a Las Vegas group also named Majesty
threatened legal action for intellectual property infringement related to the
use of their name, so the band was forced to adopt a new moniker. Various
possibilities were proposed and tested, among them Glasser, Magus, and M1,
which were all rejected, though the band did go as Glasser for about a week,
though fans reacted poorly to this decision. Eventually, Portnoy's father
suggested the name Dream Theater, the name of a small theater he ran in
Monterey, California, and the name stuck.
When Dream and Day Unite (1988–90)
With their new name and band stability, Dream Theater concentrated
on writing more material while playing more concerts in New York and in
neighboring states. This eventually attracted the attention of Mechanic
Records, a division of MCA. Dream Theater signed their first record contract
with Mechanic on June 23, 1988 and set out to record their debut album. The
band recorded the album at Kajem Victory Studios in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania.
Recording the basic tracks took about 10 days, and the entire album was
completed in about 3 weeks.
When Dream and Day Unite was released in 1989 to far less fanfare than the band had anticipated.
Mechanic ended up breaking the majority of the financial promises they had made
to Dream Theater prior to signing their contract, so the band was restricted to
playing around New York City. The promotional tour for the album consisted of
just five concerts, all of which were relatively local. Their first show was at
Sundance in Bay Shore, New York opening for the classic rock power trio Zebra.
After the fourth show, Charlie Dominici was let go because the band was
starting to feel the limitations of his voice based upon the vocal style they
wanted. The band was looking for more of a Bruce Dickinson/Geoff Tate type of
singer, and his stage presence was not what they wanted for a front man.
Shortly after, however, the band Marillion asked Dream Theater to open for them
at a gig at the Ritz in New York, so Dominici was given the opportunity to
perform one last time. It would be another two years before Dream Theater had a
replacement vocalist.
The Atlantic years
Images and Words and the addition of
James LaBrie (1991–93)
Following Dominici's departure, Dream Theater fought successfully to be
released from their contract with Mechanic, and set about auditioning singers
and writing material for their next album. In their search for a new singer,
they auditioned over 200 people, among them former Fates Warning front man John
Arch. John ultimately decided that his personal commitments were more
important; and, he opted not to join the band. In mid-1990, at a gig in New
York, Dream Theater introduced Steve Stone as their new singer. They had
successfully recorded demos with him, which can be seen on the Demos, though he
only performed one live show with them that ended up disastrous, and Stone was
fired immediately. The band says he had been dancing around the stage in a
rather odd manner, seemingly doing a bad impression of Bruce Dickinson. Also,
he had infamously shouted 'Scream for me Long Beach!' several times throughout
the show (which Bruce Dickinson shouts several times during the live recording
Live After Death), although they were actually performing in Bayshore,
embarrassing the band further. It was five months before Dream Theater played another show, this time
all-instrumental (under the name YtseJam). Until 1991, the band remained
focused in an attempt to hire another singer and writing additional music. It
was during this period that they wrote the majority of what would become Images
and Words (1992).
In January 1991, Kevin James LaBrie, of glam metal band Winter Rose, was
flown from Canada to New York for an audition. LaBrie jammed on three songs
with the band, and was immediately hired to fill the vocalist position. Once
recruited, LaBrie decided to drop his first name to avoid confusion with the
other Kevin in the band. For the next few months, the band returned to playing
live shows (still mostly around NYC), while working on vocal parts for the
music written before acquiring LaBrie. Derek Shulman and Atco Records (now
EastWest), a division of Elektra Records, signed Dream Theater to a seven album
contract based on a three song demo (later made available as "The Atco
Demos" through the Dream Theater fan club).
The first album to be recorded under their new record contract was Images
and Words (1992). For promotion, the label released a CD Single and video
clip for the song "Another Day", but neither made significant
commercial impact. The song "Pull Me Under", however, managed to
garner a high level of radio airplay without any organized promotion from the
band or their label. In response, ATCO produced a video clip for "Pull Me
Under", which saw heavy rotation on MTV. A third video clip was produced
for "Take the Time", but it was not nearly as successful as
"Pull Me Under".
The success of "Pull Me Under", combined with relentless
touring throughout the U.S. and Japan, caused Images and Words to
achieve gold record certification in the States and platinum status in Japan. A
tour of Europe followed in 1993, which included a show at London's famed
Marquee Club. The show was recorded and released as Live at the Marquee,
Dream Theater's first official live album. Additionally, a video compilation of
their Japanese concerts (mixed in with documentary-style footage of the
off-stage portion of the tour) was released as Images and Words: Live in
Tokyo.
Awake and Kevin Moore's departure (1994–95)
Eager to work on fresh
material, Dream Theater retreated to the studio in May 1994. Awake,
Dream Theater's third studio album, was released on October 4, 1994 amidst a
storm of fan controversy. Shortly before the album was mixed, Moore had
announced to the rest of the band that he would be quitting Dream Theater to
concentrate on his own musical interests, since he was no longer interested in
touring or the style of music which Dream Theater performed. As a result, the
band had to scramble to find a replacement keyboardist before a tour could be
considered.
Jens Johansson, who would go on to become a member of Stratovarius, was
among the biggest names to audition, but the band members were eager to fill
the position with keyboardist Jordan Rudess. Portnoy and Petrucci had come
across Rudess in Keyboard Magazine, where he was recognized as "best new
talent" in the readers' poll. The two invited him to play a trial gig with
the band at the Concrete Foundations Forum in Burbank, California. Although the
show was a success, and Rudess was asked to fill the keyboardist position
permanently, he opted to tour with The Dixie Dregs instead, since it granted
him more personal latitude. Dream Theater hired fellow Berklee alumnus Derek
Sherinian, who had previously toured and recorded with Alice Cooper and KISS,
to fill in for the Awake promotional tour. By the conclusion of the
tour, the band decided to take Sherinian on as Moore's full-time replacement.
A Change of Seasons, Falling into
Infinity (1995–98)
Once again finding themselves with a new member, Dream Theater did not
immediately start working on new material. Fans around the world, united on the
YtseJam Mailing List (the most popular form of communication between Dream
Theater fans at that point), had begun to put pressure on the band to
officially release the song "A Change of Seasons". This had been
written in 1989 and was intended to be a part of Images and Words, but
at almost 17 minutes, it was deemed too long for studio placement. It had
nevertheless been performed live by the band, who continued to revise it in the
years leading up to 1995.
The petition was successful, and the group entered BearTracks Studios in
New York in May 1995 to rewrite and record the now 23-minute long song with
Sherinian contributing significantly to the final product. The band released
"A Change of Seasons" as an EP along with a collection of cover songs
from a live show recorded at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London earlier that
year.
After a brief run of small concerts and a short break, the band released
a special Christmas CD through their official fan club, consisting of rare live
tracks recorded during the band's early years. They continued releasing a new
CD each Christmas until 2005.
Meanwhile, there were several changes at EastWest, and Dream Theater's
main contact within the label was fired. As a result, the new team at the
company were unaccustomed to the relationship Dream Theater had with former
EastWest personnel, and they pressured them to write an album that was more
accessible. In mid-1997, they entered the studio to write their next album. In
addition to pressuring the band to adopt a more mainstream sound, EastWest
recruited writer/producer Desmond Child to work with Petrucci on polishing the
lyrics to his song "You or Me". The whole band substantially reworked
the song, and it appeared on the album as "You Not Me" with a chorus
that bore little resemblance to the original. Child also had a noticeable
impact on the album, with a shift towards less complex and more radio-friendly
compositions.
The band wrote almost two CDs worth of material, including a
20-minute-long follow-up to the Images and Words song
"Metropolis–Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper". The label, however,
did not allow the release of a double album because it felt that a 140-minute
record would not be well received by the general public. James LaBrie also felt
that the CD should be a single disc. The unused songs were later released in
the Ytsejam Records release The Falling into Infinity Demos.
The material that made it onto the album proper was released as Falling
into Infinity, which received a mixed reception from fans who were more
familiar with the band's earlier sound. While the album was moderately
progressive-sounding, tracks such as "Hollow Years" and "You Not
Me" prompted some to believe it was the dawn of a new, mainstream-sounding
Dream Theater. Overall, the album was both a critical and commercial
disappointment. Although Portnoy did not speak out publicly at the time, he
later revealed in the 2004 DVD commentary for 5 Years in a Livetime,
that he had been so discouraged during this period that he had considered
disbanding Dream Theater altogether.
During the European leg of the Touring into Infinity world tour,
two shows were recorded for a live album entitled Once in a LIVEtime, in
France and The Netherlands. The album was released at around the same time as
the video 5 Years in a Livetime, which covered the years from Kevin
Moore's departure to the Falling into Infinity promotional tour.
Addition of Jordan Rudess and Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
(1999–2000)
In 1997, Magna Carta Records' Mike Varney invited Portnoy to assemble a
progressive 'supergroup' to work on an album, which would become the first in a
long string of side-projects for the members of Dream Theater. The lineup
consisted of Portnoy on drums, Petrucci on guitar, Tony Levin on bass, and
keyboardist Jordan Rudess, who had finished with the Dixie Dregs. The band
assumed the name Liquid Tension Experiment, and would act as a medium through
which Portnoy and Petrucci could once again court Rudess to join Dream Theater.
In 1999, he accepted an offer to become the third full-time Dream Theater
keyboardist, replacing Sherinian.
With yet another new member, Dream Theater entered BearTracks Studio
once again to write and record their next album. As a result of an ultimatum
from Portnoy, the label gave the band complete creative control. The band began
by revisiting the follow-up to "Metropolis–Part I", which had been
written during the Falling Into Infinity sessions but which had not been
used on that album. They decided to expand the 20-minute song into a complete
concept album, with a story revolving around themes such as reincarnation,
murder and betrayal. To avoid stirring up the fan base, a tight veil of secrecy
enveloped the writing and recording process. The only things fans were privy to
prior to its release were a track list that had been leaked against the band's
wishes, and a release date. In 1999, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
was released to high critical acclaim, being lauded as the band's masterpiece,
despite only reaching No. 73 on the US album chart.
The album was mixed by David Bottrill, but only a few of his mixes made
it on the final album. The bulk was remixed by Kevin Shirley. The rest of the
mixes can be heard in the band's official bootleg The Making of Scenes from
a Memory.
The subsequent world tour was by far their largest to date, and took
over a year to complete. The concerts reflected the theatrical aspect of the
album, with the first half of each show comprising the entire Scenes From a
Memory album accompanied by a film showing dramatized portions of the story
projected onto a video screen behind the stage. For the last date of the North
American leg, at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City, actors were hired to
play characters in the story, and a gospel choir was enlisted to perform in
some sections of the performance. The show was filmed and eventually released
in early 2001 as the band's first DVD release, Metropolis 2000: Scenes from
New York.
Since several songs from the second half of the four-hour show had to be
cut from the DVD to save space, the band also released the full show on the
live CD Live Scenes from New York. The original cover depicted one of
Dream Theater's early logos (the Images and Words-era burning heart,
modeled on the Sacred Heart of Christ) modified to show an apple (as in
"Big Apple") instead of the heart, and the New York skyline,
including the twin towers of the World Trade Center, in the flame above it. In
an unfortunate coincidence, the album was released on the same date as the
September 11 attacks. The album was quickly recalled by the band and was
re-released with revised artwork later, although the few copies which were sold
with the original artwork have since become rare collectors items.
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2001–02)
Putting the whole ordeal behind them, Dream Theater once again entered
BearTracks Studios to record their sixth studio album. Four years after they
first petitioned EastWest to allow them to release a double album, they finally
got their chance with Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. The first disc
consisted of five tracks of 7–13 minutes in length, and the second disc was
devoted entirely to the 42-minute title track, which remains to date the
longest song Dream Theater has written. Many of the song's melodies and musical
themes originated in an instrumental piece, written by Rudess, which would
eventually become the song's "Overture". Those themes were then
expanded by the rest of the band to form individual chapters in a complete
story.
Train of Thought (2003–04)
In 2003, Dream Theater entered the studio to write and record another
album. Unlike Scenes from a Memory, which had been written and recorded
simultaneously in the studio, the band took a different approach by setting
aside three weeks for writing prior to recording. In the middle of the
recording sessions for the album, a special tour with two other progressive
metal bands, Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, was undertaken in North America.
Referred to in the band's promotional material as the "Escape from the
Studio American tour", the tour featured Queensrÿche and Dream Theater as
co-headlining acts with Fates Warning performing supporting act duties. As a finale
for each concert there was an extended encore in which both Dream Theater and
Queensrÿche performed together on stage simultaneously, often playing cover
songs.
At the completion of the tour, Dream Theater returned to the studio to
finish the recording of their seventh album, Train of Thought. In
contrast to the extended songs of their previous album, the band aimed to write
a more song-oriented album, inspired in part by covering the Master of
Puppets and Number of the Beast albums on their previous concert
tour. Although the album was a critical success, its more straightforward metal
sound alienated many of the band's existing fans, who had been attracted by the
band's roots in progressive rock. Another world tour followed, during which
Dream Theater supported Yes, a band which had been a major influence on their
own musical style. A modest North American tour was completed by the two bands,
after which Dream Theater continued to tour the world with their so-called
"An Evening With Dream Theater" shows. The latter were captured in
another live CD/DVD release, recorded at the famous Nippon Budokan Hall in
Tokyo, Japan on their Train of Thought World Tour. Live at Budokan was
released on October 5, 2004.
Octavarium (2005–06)
After their Train of Thought promotional tour, Dream Theater
entered the Hit Factory studios in NYC to record their eighth album. They would
in fact become the final group to use in the famous studio, which closed on
April 1, 2005. Octavarium was released on June 7, 2005, and took the
band's sound in yet another new direction. Its eight songs included a
continuation of Portnoy's "Twelve-step" saga ("The Root of All
Evil", steps 6-7 in the 12-step plan), as well as the title track, a
musically versatile 24 minute epic rivaling "A Change of Seasons". Octavarium
received mixed reviews from fans and has been the subject of spirited debate. Octavarium
was the last album under their seven-album deal with Elektra Records, which had
inherited the contract upon its absorption of EastWest Records.
Dream Theater toured extensively throughout 2005 and 2006 to celebrate
their 20th Anniversary as a band, including a headlining spot on Gigantour
alongside Megadeth and put together by frontman Dave Mustaine, also featuring
Fear Factory, Nevermore and Symphony X. During a show on August 2, 2005 in
Dallas, the band paid tribute to Pantera's late guitarist Dimebag Darrell by
performing the song "Cemetery Gates" as an encore. In addition was
the unexpected appearance of fellow musicians Russell Allen (Symphony X
vocalist), Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory vocalist) and Dave Mustaine (Megadeth
vocalist/guitarist), who joined the band on stage to perform parts of the song.
Dream Theater later departed from Gigantour a few dates before it ended
and continued on with their own series of concerts, several of which were
recorded and released for the band's fanclubs. The 20th anniversary tour concluded
with a show at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 1, 2006. Though
the show had minimal promotion, it was sold out days after tickets were made
available. This show, which was recorded for a CD/DVD called Score
released on August 29, 2006 through Rhino Records, featured song's from the
band's entire history, as well a second half accompanied by a full symphony
orchestra (the "Octavarium Orchestra").
The Roadrunner years
Systematic Chaos and Greatest Hit
(2006–08)
For the first time in their career, the band decided to take the summer
off after their show at Radio City Music Hall. In September 2006, Dream Theater
entered Avatar Studios to record their follow-up to Octavarium with
legendary studio engineer Paul Northfield. Dream Theater's ninth studio album, Systematic
Chaos, was released on June 5, 2007. The record marked their first with new
label Roadrunner Records, which in 2010 would become a wholly owned subsidiary
of the band's previous label Atlantic Records. Roadrunner implemented increased
promotion for the album and Systematic Chaos duly reached number 19 on
the Billboard 200. It also oversaw the release of a video for
"Constant Motion" on July 14, the band's first music video since
Hollow Years in 1997. The album was bookended by the two parts of "In the
Presence of Enemies", an epic song written and conceived as a single piece
but split into two halves for the purposes of the album. The other six songs
included the most recent part of Portnoy's continuing AA Saga with the song
"Repentance".
In the same year, the first version of Rich Wilson's Lifting Shadows,
an authorized history of the band's first twenty years, was released.
The 2007/2008 Chaos In Motion World Tour started off in Italy. Dream
Theater played in the Gods of Metal concert on June 3, 2007., as well as
various other European festivals including the Netherlands' Fields of Rock
Festival, UK's Download Festival, the French festival Hellfest Summer Open Air
alongside Megadeth, Korn, Mastodon and Slayer. The North American leg of the
tour began on July 24 in San Diego, California and wrapped up on August 26 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They played with opening acts Redemption and Into
Eternity. The "Chaos In Motion" tour continued for the rest of the
year and into 2008, playing shows in Asia, South America and, for the first
time, Australia.
On April 1, 2008, a two-disc compilation album entitled Greatest Hit
(...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) was released by the band. The title
jokingly references the song "Pull Me Under", the band's only
significant radio hit. It also includes three song re-mixes from their second
album, Images and Words, five edited versions of previously released
songs, and a track from a single B-side. Unlike most greatest hits
compilations, Dream Theater was actively involved with the album, coming up
with the tracklisting that they felt best represented their musical careers.
After the release of Greatest Hit, drummer Mike Portnoy organized
a new tour called Progressive Nation 2008. Unlike previous Dream Theater tours,
performances were held in cities that they had not visited before in the past
(such as Vancouver, Canada) or cities they had not played in for several years.
This tour also marked the first time, since the release of Images and Words,
where the group performed in small venues and performance halls.
In September 2008, the band released a DVD set called Chaos in Motion
2007–2008, featuring songs recorded at several shows during the Chaos in
Motion tour.
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2008–10)
On October 7, 2008, Dream Theater returned to Avatar Studios to begin
work on their tenth album, resuming their relationship with Paul Northfield to
engineer and mix the record. The album, entitled Black Clouds & Silver
Linings, was released on June 23, 2009. In addition to the
standard CD, the album was made available on vinyl LP, as well as a 3-disc
Special Edition CD that includes the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of
the album and a CD of six cover songs from artists such as Queen and Rainbow.
On July 1, 2009, the album debuted at No. 6 on Billboard's Top 200 album
chart, with first week sales totalling 40,285, making their highest entry on
the chart. The album featured 'The Shattered Fortress', the last in
Mike Portnoy's a series of songs about his 12 Steps recovery from alcoholism,
as well as the song 'The Best of Times', described by Portnoy as "a real
heavy personal subject about my dad who passed away during the making of the
album ... He was battling cancer throughout its making."
The band also embarked on a second Progressive Nation tour, including
the tour's first performances in Europe. Opeth, Unexpect and Bigelf supported
Dream Theater in Europe, while Zappa Plays Zappa, Pain Of Salvation, and
Beardfish were slated to perform on the North American leg. However, Pain of
Salvation and Beardfish were unable to tour with Dream Theater and Zappa Plays
Zappa because of financial troubles within their respective record labels. The
two new bands that filled the vacated slots for the Progressive Nation 2009
tour in North America were Bigelf and Scale The Summit with Bigelf performing
on both European and North American legs.
After the Progressive Nation Tour, Dream Theater re-entered the studio
to write and record a brand new instrumental track for inclusion on the God
of War III soundtrack EP God of War: Blood & Metal. The track,
entitled "Raw Dog" (God (of) War reversed), marked the first
time that the band has written and recorded an exclusive track for an outside
project. "Raw Dog" includes the first ever commercially recorded
harpejji track, performed by Jordan Rudess, as well as Dream Theater's final
recorded performance with Mike Portnoy on drums. In December 2009, during their
Black Clouds & Silver Linings tour whilst visiting Australia, Dream
Theater appeared with one support act, Pain of Salvation. In March 2010, they
toured South America with Bigelf. Afterwards, during the summer of 2010, Dream
Theater supported Iron Maiden on the US and Canadian legs of their summer tour
which were the last shows DT played during 2010.
Mike Portnoy's Departure (2010–11)
On September 8, 2010, Mike Portnoy announced that he would be leaving
Dream Theater, citing better relationships in other projects, burnout, and his
desire for a break as reasons. Elaborating on the situation for MusicRadar,
John Petrucci revealed that originally, Portnoy did not want to leave the band;
he only wanted to take a five-year break.He eventually dropped this number to
around one year.Only after the rest of the band rejected his proposal did
Portnoy decide to quit.
After Portnoy left Dream Theater, relationships between him and his
former bandmates became strained. In February 2011, Portnoy complained that no
one from the band was returning his calls and e-mails. However, later Portnoy
commented that both Petrucci and Rudess were the only members that stayed in
touch with him. Tensions became especially high when Portnoy called
James LaBrie "disrespectful" for comments LaBrie made during an
interview, stating that Dream Theater were "not sad at all" that
Portnoy was no longer a band member. As of July 12, 2011, LaBrie has not
remained in touch with Portnoy. At one point, false reports surfaced that
Portnoy had sued Dream Theater.
A little more than a month after Portnoy's departure, Dream Theater
began auditioning for a new drummer in New York City. The drummers invited to
audition were Mike Mangini, Derek Roddy, Thomas Lang, Virgil Donati, Marco
Minnemann, Aquiles Priester, and Peter Wildoer. The candidates were notified
whether they had been chosen on November 5; however, the results of the
audition were not made public until April 2011 via a three-part YouTube
documentary series called The Spirit Carries On. In the last episode of
the series, it was revealed that Mangini was the drummer selected.
A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011–12)
Dream Theater entered Cove City Sound Studios to begin working on a new
album on January 3, 2011. Writing was completed on March 2 and done without
Mangini. On April 14, LaBrie began tracking vocals
and by June 28, the album's mixing and mastering by Andy Wallace were finished.
Released worldwide on September 12 and in the United States on September 13, A
Dramatic Turn of Events debuted at number one in some countries and
attained the eighth position on the Billboard 200, the band's second
ever top ten debut position on that chart after Black Clouds & Silver
Linings. Although the album received mixed reviews, it won numerous awards
from music publications and its lead single, "On the Backs of
Angels", was nominated for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the 2012
Grammy Awards, representing the band's first ever Grammy nomination.
Dream Theater kicked off their tour in support of A Dramatic Turn of
Events on July 4, 2011 in Rome, Italy. The second leg of the tour took place in
North America, where the band headlined with Trivium. After a short break to conclude 2011, the
band returned to Europe with Periphery, to Asia with Andy McKee, to North
America with Crimson Projekct and then to South America for the final leg of
the tour. On August 19 and 20, they filmed two shows
at Luna Park in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a live Blu-ray release set for
release in May 2013. The tour concluded on September 1 in
BrasÃlia, Brazil.
Dream Theater and future (2013–present)
Writing for Dream Theater's twelfth studio album commenced on the A
Dramatic Turn of Events tour. During soundchecks, the band would jam and
record their ideas, and John Petrucci would bring in material he wrote
independently. Following the conclusion of the tour, the band took a break but
continued writing. They reconvened in early 2013 to enter the studio.
In July 2012, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory was listed
as the number one all-time progressive album by a Rolling Stone readers'
poll, beating 2112 by Rush and Close to the Edge by Yes.
In December 2012, Dream Theater re-signed with Roadrunner Records; the
band soon began recording a new album as part of the new agreement. The band
commented: “Roadrunner's dedication and commitment to Dream Theater has been
evident to all of us from the very beginning, and is consistent in all
departments and on all levels, right on through to the top. Roadrunner is a
record label that is not only great at what they do but who truly understand
what Dream Theater is all about as well as the amazing people who support us
all around the world whom we proudly call our fans. They are a record company
we relate to as an organization firmly rooted in its ideals and mission, while
always pushing the envelope in an effort to keep things moving ever forward.
We’ve reached many career defining milestones while at Roadrunner and are all
incredibly pumped in anticipation of our continued future together!”.
Dream Theater's self-titled twelfth album was released on September 23,
2013. The album sold more than 34,000 copies in its first week and landed on
the Billboard 200 chart at No. 7, the band's third consecutive top 10
album. In addition, the album cracked the top 10 in 24 countries including
Japan, Germany, Argentina, Holland, Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Canada,
Denmark, Norway, Austria, Australia and United Kingdom. Dream Theater's sixth
live album, Live at Luna Park, was released on November 5, 2013.
On January 6, 2014, John Petrucci said that Dream Theater are already
"planting seeds for album No. 13". He commented: "There are some
song ideas and little things like that -- nothing really official, but the
seeds just start to get planted. One of the great things about this career is
that you have the opportunity every time to go in and start again with a blank
slate and think, 'What can we do differently? How can we make this better?'
Where can we go from here?' Every album has a story, and to constantly have a
fresh opportunity to do it is really satisfying."
Logo and imagery
Despite the band's being forced to change their name, Dream Theater
adopted a custom logo (known as the Majesty symbol) and wordmark which
has appeared on the vast majority of their promotional material and on the
front cover of every Dream Theater studio album. The Majesty symbol is derived
from Mary, Queen of Scots' mark, which was re-worked by Charlie Dominici
for use on the album artwork for When Dream and Day Unite.
In September 2010, a fan of Dream Theater discovered that all of the
letters of "DOMINICI" fit together perfectly into the Majesty symbol.
When Charlie discovered this, he laughed and mentioned that "it only took
them 25 years to figure out the 'Dominici Code!'" This has earlier also
been discovered as shown on the comment section of DTFAQ and in the
DTNorway Podcast Episode 2 from 2008, with Charlie Dominici.
Musical style
Dream Theater is well noted for being one of the early progenitors of
the progressive metal genre. The original members, John Petrucci and John Myung
have strong influences from bands such as Rush, Yes, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest,
Pink Floyd, various speed metal bands, and even the glam metal of the day. This
synthesis created a unique metal that was not traditional of the day: it had
distorted guitars and fast riffing, but the music focused more on technical
proficiency and precise execution than on heavy metal riffs. The band's music
has focused on three main elements: metal, melody, and progressive roots. Mike
Portnoy has also stated that the band's slower songs are in appreciation of
artists such as Peter Gabriel, U2, and Journey.
Live performances
Throughout their career, Dream Theater's live shows have gradually
become bigger, longer, and more diverse. The most obvious example of this is
their rotational set list policy. Factors such as set lists from previous
cities are taken into account to ensure that people who see Dream Theater
multiple times within the same area will not see too many (or any) songs
repeated, and even the set list from the last time the band was in a particular
city is taken into account for the benefit of fans who see the band on
successive tours.
Some of Dream Theater's more notable touring partners include Porcupine
Tree, Symphony X, Between The Buried And Me, Deep Purple, Emerson, Lake &
Palmer, Iron Maiden, The Dixie Dregs, Joe Satriani, King's X, Marillion,
Megadeth, Trivium (band), In Flames, Pain of Salvation, Opeth, Queensrÿche,
Riverside, Spock's Beard, Fear Factory, Enchant, 3, Yes and Zappa Plays Zappa.
In 2005, Dream Theater toured North America with the Gigantour festival,
co-headlining with Megadeth, and have played with Megadeth and Iron Maiden
physically on stage.
The band's full world tours, since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence,
have predominantly been so-called "Evening with..." tours, in which
the band performs for at least three hours with an intermission and no opening
act. The show that was recorded for Live Scenes From New York was nearly
four hours in length, and resulted in Portnoy almost being hospitalized after
acquiring severe food poisoning from the food he ate before the show.
There is also a significant amount of humor, casualness, and
improvisation attached to a Dream Theater concert. In the midst of "A
Change of Seasons" it is quite common for themes such as those for Major
League Baseball and The Simpsons to be quoted, and Rudess routinely
modifies his solo section in the song and others, often playing the ragtime
section of "When the Water Breaks" from Liquid Tension Experiment
2. Several songs included on Once in a LIVETime include snippets of
others' pieces, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and
Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee." Other quotations include
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" during "Endless Sacrifice" on the
Gigantour, a calliope-inspired break between verses of "Under a Glass
Moon", a quote of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina"'s main melody
played by Petrucci while performing the intro solo of "Through Her
Eyes" in Buenos Aires, the Turkish March at a concert in Istanbul, and the
opening riff of Rush's "A Passage to Bangkok" at a show in Bangkok,
Thailand. On the "20th Anniversary World Tour" Rudess has even thrown
in a short "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" theme in a break during
"Endless Sacrifice," and during a concert in Israel he started a
spontaneous "Hava Nagila" later accompanied by the rest of the band.
Occasionally, a member of the audience is picked at random to perform on
stage, an example of which can be seen during Portnoy's drum solo on the Live
at Budokan DVD. There have also been many impromptu renditions of
"Happy Birthday" when a member of the band or crew has a birthday
corresponding to a tour date, which normally results in a birthday cake being
thrown at the subject.
Perhaps the best example of Dream Theater's unpredictable concert
structure came during Derek Sherinian's time with the band. At selected shows
the band members all swapped instruments and performed an encore as the
fictitious band dubbed Nightmare Cinema. They usually performed a cover of Deep
Purple's "Perfect Strangers," and, on one occasion, Ozzy Osbourne's
"Suicide Solution," At some shows, Sherinian, Petrucci and Portnoy
would take the stage together under the name "Nicky Lemons and the
Migraine Brothers." Sherinian, wearing a feather boa and novelty
sunglasses, would perform a pop-punk song entitled "I Don't Like You"
with Petrucci and Portnoy backing. In Chaos in Motion tour, in several concerts
before "Trial of Tears," Portnoy and Petrucci would change positions.
In the Score and Chaos in Motion DVDs, an animation has
accompanied certain parts of the songs, showing the band playing along to the
music as cartoon characters. On the Score DVD, during the song Octavarium, the
band is seen performing in an octagonal shaped maze. As the animation continues
Jordan Rudess spontaneously turns into Santa Claus and John Petrucci catches
fire. In "The Dark Eternal Night" from the Chaos in Motion DVD, the
band battles against a monster by shooting fireballs from guitars, throwing
drum sticks, and screaming.
Notable shows and concert accomplishments
Dream Theater's largest audience as a headlining act was 20,000 in
Santiago, Chile on December 6, 2005. This was during their first
tour of South American countries other than Brazil (which they had visited in
1997 and 1998). The show was released on DVD through Portnoy's YtseJam Records.
In 2007, after their show in Salt Lake City on July 30, Governor Jon
Huntsman, Jr. signed a proclamation officially marking July 30, 2007 as Dream
Theater Day in the state of Utah.
In 2008 Dream Theater started the "Progressive Nation '08"
tour, along with Opeth, Between the Buried and Me, and 3. The tour is the
brainchild of Mike Portnoy, who stated, "I've been wanting to assemble a
package tour like this for many years now. With all of the festivals and
package tours that go through America, I've been talking with our manager and
agent for over 10 years now about doing something that focuses on the more
progressive, musician-oriented side of hard rock and metal. I decided it was
time to stop talking the talk, lace up and finally walk the walk."
On February 13, 2009, Dream Theater announced the official line up for
their Progressive Nation 2009 tour. The tour was originally set to feature
bands including Swedish bands Beardfish and Pain of Salvation, as well as Zappa
plays Zappa. On June 22, 2009, Mike Portnoy announced that Pain of Salvation
and Beardfish would not be touring the North American leg of the Progressive
Nation 2009 tour because of record label complications. In the same
announcement, Portnoy stated that the bands Scale the Summit and Bigelf would
replace Pain of Salvation and Beardfish on the tour. This lineup change has put
Bigelf on both the North American and European legs of the Progressive Nation
2009 tour. The tour's North American leg ran throughout July and August 2009.
On March 26, 2009 it was announced that Dream Theater would take the
Progressive Nation tour to Europe for the first time alongside Opeth, Bigelf
and Unexpect. The tour ran throughout September and October 2009.
In June/July 2010 Dream Theater were the opening band for Iron Maiden during
the first leg of their Final Frontier Tour which included Madison Square Garden
as one of the many venues. On December 7, 2010, Dream Theater announced on
their website that they would be headlining the High Voltage Festival alongside
Judas Priest in 2011. In July 2011 they started a new tour to promote their
newest release.
Live guests
Along their career, the band has shared the stage live with guests such
as Doug Pinnick, Theresa Thomason, Dweezil Zappa, Steve Vai, Eugene Friesen,
Jay Beckenstein, Mikael Ã…kerfeldt, Dave Mustaine, Joe Satriani, Russell Allen,
Burton C. Bell, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Bruce Dickinson, Mike
Patton, Ray Alder, Steve Hogarth, Steve Rothery, Steve Howe, Barney Greenway,
Queensrÿche, among others.
Cover songs
Dream Theater have covered other artists' work throughout their career.
They have performed cover songs live and in studio, with many of those live
performances being recorded for official release. A Change of Seasons
features Elton John, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Kansas, Queen,
Journey, Dixie Dregs, and Genesis live covers. Through YtseJam Records, the
band have also released full album live cover performances of Metallica's Master
of Puppets, Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast, Pink Floyd's The
Dark Side of the Moon, and Deep Purple's Made in Japan. The special
edition of Black Clouds & Silver Linings includes a bonus disc with
Rainbow, Queen, Dixie Dregs, Zebra, King Crimson, and Iron Maiden covers. Other
notable artists covered by Dream Theater include Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne,
Pantera, Rush, The Who, and Yes.
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:)