The “metal” Dream Theater is where it’s at. Let’s not kid ourselves – the band’s proggy side is sometimes hit or miss, but when they’re out there, ripping it out, tearing up the fretboard (keytar included for Jordan Rudess), DT is hard to top. On their 2010 North American tour with Iron Maiden, that side of the band was on full display, with the band’s too-short, yet awfully brutal set literally chewing up outdoor amphitheatres across Canada and the US of A.
In what should be the last tour in support of their excellent Black Clouds and Silver Linings, Dream Theater is at the enviable stage in their career where they can do as they please, something that drummer/bandleader Mike Portnoy relayed to Blistering throughout our 25-minute chat. Before the band can get to work on album #12, Portnoy will be hitting the road with the not-very-prog Avenged Sevenfold, something that had the Interhole abuzz with conversation. Yet the energetic sticksman seemed eager to take on the A7X gig, as it gives him a reprieve from the daily demands of Dream Theater. They are after all, the biggest progressive metal band going right now.
With that in mind, Blistering and Portnoy (who was kind enough to suggest this scribe sit in a shaded area to protect his bald dome) waxed on the Maiden tour, the band’s unique “chemistry,” the second-wind the band got with Metropolis Part II: Scenes From A Memory and something Portnoy wasn’t able to answer: what lies beyond 2010...
Blistering.com: You came out toward the end of 2009 and said the tour cycle for the new album would end in early 2010. Here we are on the Maiden tour, so what made you decide to do it?
Mike Portnoy: When you get the call from Maiden, you pack your bags, hit the road and go. It wasn’t in our plans. We had planned on being off the road at this time, but when the opportunity arose, we took it. They are one of the few bands that formed the blueprint for Dream Theater. When me and John [Petrucci, guitars] and John [Myung, bass] formed the band, it was Maiden and Rush. Those were the two bands that were our heroes; what we wanted Dream Theater to be. Even though we don’t follow them today like we used to when we were kids, the fact will never change they were our heroes when we formed and one of the few that are a perfect match for us to open for.
Blistering.com: You usually rotate setlists for each show, but what’s the setlist looking like for this tour?
Portnoy: I wrote a setlist for this tour that’s aimed at their audience, not our audience. When I write Dream Theater setlists, I write it for our fans, but I aimed this one at their fans and I wanted it to be a crash-course in the metal side of Dream Theater. It’s all the heavier side of the band and it’s the same set every night. I wanted to have the perfect formula. It was the same for when we opened for Yes. I had the perfect prog set and left it at that.
Blistering.com: We’re over a year removed from the release of Black Clouds and Silver Linings, so now that you have perspective on it, what’s your take?
Portnoy: I don’t know...I’m too close to have a true perspective. It usually takes a few albums before I can have some perspective. At this point, I like it and will stand by it. It’s still the latest thing we’ve written and where we’re at now. But it usually comes a few albums later when I get an idea and the fans, their true thoughts come out.
Blistering.com: You’ve been able to successfully dip into both the prog and metal scenes for the duration of your career, so with record sales at such a low point for everyone, how do you manage to maintain good numbers?
Portnoy: The prog fan base is very limited. If you look at Progression Magazine or go to NEARFest, the numbers are low. I don’t mean to disrespect the bands, but if you look at bands like The Flower Kings or Spock’s Beard, they play for a few hundred people a night, whereas because Dream Theater is so footed in the metal scene, we play to thousands a night. So I think the metal community and the metal audience is what propelled us beyond the underground prog world. And I love the scene and a big supporter of it. My Transatlantic project is rooted directly in it, but I think Dream Theater transcends that altogether. So we need a label like Roadrunner to keep us going.
Blistering.com: The Dream Theater fan base is one of the more devoted going right now, so with the expectations from album to album, do you pay attention to those anymore?
Portnoy: I do, I pay attention to everything the fans say. I don’t always make decisions on it. The other guys don’t care; Jordan does, but the other guys don’t. But for me, every decision I make on behalf of Dream Theater is made with the fans in mind. Absolutely, 1,000%. But at the end of the day, I want us to do what keeps us happy.
Blistering.com: This is by far the longest tenured line-up for Dream Theater. What’s the chemistry like and why does this particular one work so well?
Portnoy: The chemistry works. It’s not what most would think is a normal chemistry because there’s certain members way more involved than other members, but it’s not by design. A lot of people look at John Myung’s lack of lyrical contributions the last 10 years and they’ll hold it against me or John Petrucci and that’s not the case. That’s John Myung. That’s the way he is, if he doesn’t want to contribute, he doesn’t have to. The same with James [LaBrie, vocals]. He takes a lot of flak for not contributing to the music, but this is what works for us, this is the chemistry that works and was comfortable for us.
When [ex-keyboardist] Kevin Moore was in the band, it didn’t work. He was miserable and made a lot of tension for us. When [ex-keyboardist] Derek Sherinian was in the band, there was a great personal chemistry – he’s a great guy and easy to get along with. But the fans never truly accepted him and I don’t think the fans truly embraced him until he was gone. The people that were there from ’95 to ’98, he was never accepted, but Jordan fit like a glove and it felt comfortable. This chemistry is what it is, but it’s the right chemistry for this band. Some people contribute more than others and that’s what makes it work. I think if anything were to change, we’d fuck it up.
