In the fall of 1985, student guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung saw drummer Mike Portnoy jamming in one of the practice rooms at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston. The two later bumped into Portnoy in the cafeteria and found they had more in common than tastes in music; "Finding two people that were completely in sync with me and the fact that they lived 40 minutes away was like a blessing from God."
"During breaks from school they jammed with keyboardist Kevin Moore (in a high school band- Centurion and a vocalist named Chris Collins (in a band that would eventually become Majesty). All decided to leave school to concentrate on the band while working regular jobs and giving private music lessons. Shortly afterwards they recorded a four-track, six-song demo tape which was sold to local fans and shopped to labels. The material was progressive and complex with an edge reminiscent of early Rush.
Mike's father suggested the name Dream Theater- taken from a movie house in Monterey, California, and during that time, the band knew that Collins did not have the vocal range they needed for their recordings.
Charlie Dominici filled in temporarily on vocals, but was not the answer.
In the summer of '88 `When Dream And Day Unite' was recorded at Kajem/Victory Studios in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania in one month's time. Despite a shoestring budget and limited distribution, the album was received well by press around the world, not to mention American metal radio. Without proper support, Dream Theater's concerts were restricted to the New York tri-state area as they still held on to their regular day jobs.
Dominici was released 1990 but called back for one final concert supporting Marillion. It was at this particular show they opened with a then new track called 'Metropolis' - a sample what direction they would progress towards.
It almost two year search for a new vocalist/front man. The band kept busy writing and performing new material as a four piece in local clubs; they even performed many cover medleys of instrumental breaks from classic songs from the likes of Led Zeppelin, Yes, Queen, The Beatles and Van Halen.
Dream Theater actually considered becoming an all instrumental group after not finding a proper vocalist. John Arch of Fates Warning came very close to getting the job, but he decided against it. Steve Stone, Chris Cintron and many others tried out, until the band heard Kevin LaBrie, (Toronto band- Winter Rose). Although Chris Cintron was days away from joining, the band thought LaBrie's voice on a demo tape was too good to overlook and he got the job. Kevin decided to use his middle name James as his first as to not have two Kevins in the group (besides two Johns).
At the end of 1991, they signed a deal with Atco/East West Records and recorded their second album, "Images and Words", with producer David Prater at Bear Track Studios -- a modest facility in Suffern, New York owned by Spyro Gyra sax player Jay Beckenstein who would guest on the track 'Another Day'.
James made his official live debut with the band on June 8, 1992 at the Ritz in New York City supporting Iron Maiden. A few warm-up shows in tiny clubs days before this show proved James was welcomed with open arms by their die hard fans.
After the release of the album, Dream Theater signed to Roundtable Entertainment and was ready to finally perform around the globe. Along the way press radio and even MTV were especially supportive, yet the band felt they reached a new level upon word that "Images and Words" had gone gold in Japan. A short tour was booked and sold out within hours.
Despite this worldwide recognition, the band paid homage to their long time local fans with a sold out concert at the Limelight in New York City on March 4, 1993. With no opening act, the band played almost three hours, not including the brief intermission, and debuted a bunch of new material such as 'To Live Forever', 'Eve' and the 20 minute epic 'A Change of Seasons.'
The `Music in Progress' tour provided a recorded live EP, "Live at the Marquee", at London's famed club. Their show in Tokyo, Japan, was filmed and released on home video in late '93.
By November of '93 the band had completed touring, yet visited Korea in January for a promotional tour due to their increasing popularity.
In 1994, Dream Theater started work on their third album - their first album to be written as a complete band. Relocating to Los Angeles in May for a few months to work with producers John Purdell and Duane Baron and found the duo to be just what they needed to get their musical ideas across.
Halfway through the recording of `Awake', Kevin decided he wanted to leave the band -- a major blow to the band, even though the split was an amicable one.
"Kevin decided to leave so that he could pursue a new musical direction - one which would not have been possible for him to explore within Dream Theater. We really love Kevin we'll miss him, he will always be a part of our family."
to offer and wish him all the best."
After a series of auditions, they decided to bring in Jordan Rudess (of the Dixie Dregs) for the show and Derek Sherinian for the tour. Derek, who also attended Berkelee and played with Kiss and Alice Cooper among others. Derek was announced as an 'official' member during the last few shows of Dream Theater's 1995 European tour.
On October 4 `Awake' was released worldwide and did well beyond the band's hopes. It debuted at 32 on the American Billboard chart and sold over 43,000 copies in Germany in the first week alone. Meanwhile, the single 'Lie', which preceded the album's release, became a big hit at American rock radio out of the box and the video was shown regularly on MTV. The band support the album with a successful American tour and a major tour of Japan (where "Awake" has gone platinum), and Europe.
In April 1995, Dream Theater recorded their 23-minute epic "A Change Of Seasons". Several tracks from the Ronnie Scott's 'Uncovered' Gig were also included in the EP release. After more touring, on September 23, 1997, `Falling Into Infinity' was released in the US. There following was growing greater with each album.
Then on January 18th, 1999, keyboardist Derek Sherinian left the band.
Drummer Mike Portnoy: "Derek's contributions to the band both musically and personally over the last 4 years is something that we will always treasure and we will all miss. He will always be a part of the Dream Theater family."
Jordan Rudess, (once a touring member of the Dregs and has recently collaborated with Mike Portnoy & John Petrucci in their Liquid Tension Experiment project), replaced Sherinian. Rudess, entered Julliard at the age of nine and has extensive classical training.
In the wake of the album's release, Dream Theater embarked on the Metropolis 2000 World Tour, and hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide were captivated by the live show. The tour resulted in the recent release of the DVD concert- `Metropolis 2000: Scenes From New York,' which even includes a band commentary track.
Upon returning home from the tour, Jordan composed and recorded all the material for his upcoming solo release on Magna Carta. The album is being mixed currently and will be available soon.
Mike Portnoy has kept busy working with Transatlantic, with Spock's Beard, Flower Kings and Marillion members and has released a new album- Bridge Across Forever (2001)
In 2002, Dream Theater released ` Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence,' a be a 2CD Set consisting of 6 songs: "The Glass Prison", "Blind Faith", "Misunderstood", "The Great Debate", "Disappear" and the entire 2nd CD contains the 40-minute title track (and my favorite cut),- "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence." The album is selling well. The new 2-CD studio album reached the #1 in CDNow's Top 100 January 29th. As of mid-February, the album is # 46 on the Billboard charts.
In 2003, the band released a guitar-heavy `Train of Thought;' while Portney teamed up with ex-Spock's beard frontman neal MNorse to release a 2 disk Beatles tribute: Yellow Matter Custard: One Night In New York City
In 2005, The new album, Octavarium, was released on June 7th, and took the band's sound in yet another new direction. Among its 8 songs is a continuation of Portnoy's Alcoholics Anonymous suite (steps 6-7 in the 12-step plan), and an epic rivalling A Change of Seasons and covering several musical styles in its 24-minute running time. The album has caused much controversy among fans, some thinking that the band wore its influences too prominently on their sleeves, eg. Never Enough has been compared to Muse's Stockholm Syndrome, and the relatively radio-friendly I Walk Beside You to the trademark sound of U2 blended with Chicago's Peter Cetera. The album is the last under their seven album deal with Elektra Records. Their plans for the future are currently unknown, although it likely includes slapping together a few sophomoric rifts in a three week period -- the same amount of time the band states they spent writing "Train of Thought."
Discography
When Dream And Day Unite (1989)
Images And Words (1992)
Another Day (1992)
Live At The Marquee (1993)
Lie (1994)
Awake (1994)
The Silent Man (1994)
A Change Of Seasons (1995)
Hollow Years (1997)
Falling Into Infinity (1997)
Once In A LIVEtime (1998)
Scenes From A Memory (1999)
Through Her Eyes (2000)
Live Scenes From New York (2001) (3 CD set)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
Train of Thought (2003)
Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour Live with the Octavarium Orchestra (2004)
Octavarium (2005)
Official Bootleg: Dark Side of the Moon (various Pink Floyd covers from 1995- 2006)
Side Projects
Jordan Rudess - Feeding The Wheel (2001)
TransAtlantic - Bridge Across Forever (2001)
James LaBrie's Mullmuzzler 2 (2001)
Leonardo - The Absolute Man (2001)
RMP - The Official Bootleg (2001)
TransAtlantic - Live In America (2CD, 2001)
John Petrucci And Jordan Rudess (2000)
TransAtlantic - SMPTe (2000)
Platypus - Ice Cycles (2000)
Mullmuzzler - Keep It To Yourself (1999)
Liquid Tension Experiment 2 (1999)
Encores, Legends & Paradox (1999)
Gordian Knot - Gordian Knot (1999)
Liquid Tension Experiment (1998)
Platypus - When Pus Comes To Shove (1998)
Explorers Club - Age Of Impact (1998)
Shadow Gallery - Tyranny (1998)
Dragon Attack - A Tribute To Queen (1997)
Steinway To Heaven (1996)
Noirin Ni Riain - Celtic Soul (1996)
Working Man - Rush Tribute (1996)
Winter Rose - Winter Rose (1989)
Vinnie Moore - Time Odyssey (1988)
Jordan Rudess - Listen (1993)
Various Artists - Guitar Battle
Videography
Metropolis 2000: Scenes From New York (2001)
5 Years In A LIVEtime (1998)
Images and Words - Live in Tokyo
Mike Portnoy - Liquid Drum Theater (1999)
Mike Portnoy - Progressive Drum Concepts (1996)
John Petrucci - Rock Discipline (1996)
John Myung - Progressive Bass Concepts (1996)
Jordan Rudess - Keyboard Wizardry (1999)
TransAtlantic Live In America Video (2001)
