"Dream Theatre": founding and discography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Dream Theater has been in existence for over 30 years and continues to be one of the most significant acts in the progressive metal genre. During their career, the band has released 13 studio albums and built a dedicated fan base around the world.

Group Emergence

Dream Theater was founded in 1985. Its first lineup included bassist John Mayang, guitarist John Petrucci, and drummer Mike Portnoy. Friends studied together at Berkeley, Boston's famous college of music. Without them, it is impossible to imagine the musical universe, which is the work of the Dream Theater group. The founding of the band happened at a time when there was a special demand for heavy metal in America. Friends, like many young musicians of that generation, began their careers with amateur cover versions of Iron Maiden songs.

However, the founders of the "Dream Theater" had other role models. First of all, they focused on progressive rock of the 70s and one of the bands of this echelon - Rush. Mike Portnoy was inspired by the song of this band Bastille Day andproposed to use the word Majesty ("Greatness") as a signboard for the new quintet. This is how he described the ending to his favorite song from the Canadian band.

In progressive rock, unlike metal, not only the usual guitars were used, but also the keys. John Petrucci's friend Kevin Moore was invited to play this instrument. Together they studied in elementary school and even then agreed on musical tastes. But there was one more place vacant. The microphone was initially received by Chris Collins.

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Trinity, who studied at Berkeley, after the founding of "Dream Theater" decided to quit education and moved to New York. Comrades focused on their own musical project. They devoted all their free time to rehearsing and writing new material. The result was not long in coming. In 1986, their first demo was released, which was released in a circulation of a thousand copies.

At the same time, concerts began in the clubs of his native city. Chris Collins soon left the band. He believed that the "Dream Theater" should go a different creative path (more on that below). The rest of the participants began to look for a replacement for their retreating colleague. The place of the frontman was then unexpectedly taken by Charlie Dominici. He was noticeably older than his teammates (they were born in the mid-60s, and the new vocalist in the 51st year). Despite the difference in age, the second part of the quintet turned out to be more tenacious and more productive than the first. The team began to give concerts not only in Boston, but also in New York, where the musical life was more hectic. Then in the underground of the east coast and started talking about a phenomenon called "Dream Theater". The group was popular, but in order to be heard by a large audience, they needed to record their own album.

Meanwhile, the comrades had to change the sign. The Majesty name had already been taken by another band, who threatened the Bostonians with legal action. The musicians began to argue about a new name. We agreed on the option "Dream Theater" (the group got the name of the old and already closed California theater).

Debut album

The popularity that "Dream Theatre" acquired allowed the group to sign their first contract with the record label Mechanic Records. The debut album was released on March 6, 1989. It was called When Dream and Day Unite (the literary translation can be formulated as "When the dream comes true"). The name of the record became a reference to the band's name. This is not surprising, because from the very beginning of their career the founders of the "Dream Theater" paid much attention to the conceptuality of their works. They adopted this trait from their beloved progressive rock of the 70s. Musically, the debut album leaned more towards metal.

The new album "Dream Theatre" fit into the framework of a new genre that emerged in the US in the second half of the 80s. The combination of progressive rock and heavy metal was later dubbed progressive metal by critics. "Dream Theatre" eventually became a key team in this direction. In 1989, however, the prospects for the band's future career were not so bright. Atmusicians had a conflict with the label. The company did not fulfill all its obligations and did almost nothing to promote the record in the industry. This resulted in a commercial failure. The debut tour was short and consisted of only five concerts.

Also, vocalist Charlie Dominici left the band shortly after the album's release. The problem was that, despite the fact that he was a talented performer, his style did not match the band's genre. The rest of the Dream Theater wanted to move on, towards the development of the ideas of progressive metal, which would have long compositions, guitar solos, a pronounced rhythm section. Dominici, on the other hand, was more suitable for songs in the genres of pop ballads or soft rock (so-called soft rock). Much later, Mike Portnoy compared Charlie to Billy Joel.

Labri arrives

With the departure of Mancini, the band once again faced the dilemma of finding a permanent vocalist. In 1991, about 200 demos were listened to, sent by enthusiasts from all over America. The Dream Theater brand, which temporarily consisted of four people, was already quite famous in the circles of metal lovers and music lovers in general. Finally, Petrucci and company were attracted by a recording sent from Canada. It was posted by James LaBrie. The performer received an invitation to come to the USA and participate in the jam. The rehearsals showed that the manner and condition of the ambitious guy are perfect for the team.

At this time, the rest of the team was writing material thatformed the basis of the second album of the group "Dream Theater". "Pull mi under" (Pull Me Under) is their most famous and popular song, which was composed precisely at the turn of 1991-1992. Labri became the new vocalist just before the final recording of the record. Since then, he has remained the unchanged frontman of the American Five. His voice has become the hallmark of the team.

Breakthrough

In 1992 Dream Theater found a new label to replace Mechanic Records. They became Atco. The company gave the group enough creative freedom. In the music business of the time, this was a bold move. Finally, on July 7, the second album was released - Images and Words ("Symbols and Words"). Sound-wise, it differed markedly from the debut album and was a logical continuation of the band's honing of genre ideas.

The record instantly became a bestseller. The opening song, Pull Me Under (literally "Pull me down"), got an abbreviated version on the radio rotation. This was due to the fact that the group decided not to skimp on their composing ideas. Almost all the songs on the album were very long. For example, the first song lasted 8 minutes (the radio version was half as long). A music video was filmed for Pull Me Under that even made it to MTV. Of the group's musical experiments in 1992, it is worth noting the use of a saxophone, which was recorded with the help of guest performers. The style set by the second album of "Dream Theatre" has been the leitmotif of the band's work for many years.

Awake

After the release of Images and Words, the whole world learned about the young guys performing under the banner of "Dream Theatre". Photos of musicians began to appear in the most replicated magazines. The band performed in Europe for the first time. The early 90s was just the last era where the old music industry existed before the advent of the Internet and the spread of digital content.

In 1994, the third album of the Americans was released. It was called Awake ("Wake up"). Musically, there was some weighting of the sound. The album was the last for keyboardist Kevin Moore. After recording the record, the musician told his friends that he wanted to pursue a solo career. The group, which had performances all over the world on its nose, had to look for an urgent replacement. Kevin's place was taken by California native Derek Sherinian. Despite his youth, he was already very famous in the rock scene. Sherinian got to work with Alice Cooper and Kiss.

The break of the pen for the new line-up of the team was the mini-album A Change of Seasons ("Change of seasons"). He came out in 1995. The musicians again went to the experiments and recorded a huge 23-minute song of the same name. It was a real apogee of their creative search in the progressive genre. The plot of the song told about a man whose course of life in the text was compared with the natural annual cycle. In the studio, dialogues from popular films of the era (for example, from Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams) were superimposed on a musical basis. A similar mixing technique was used before - on the song that endsalbum Awake.

Falling Into Infinity

With the expansion of the repertoire, the musicians were able to afford to experiment on live performances. Each concert of the "Dream Theater" differed from the previous one in terms of the set list. Songs as long as A Change of Seasons were divided into parts, performed separately. And in 1993, during the tour in support of Images and Words, the debut live album Live at the Marquee went on sale.

After another series of successful performances around the world, the band members are thinking about a new creative turn, which "Dream Theater" should take. The band's discography has not yet had a full-fledged concept album. However, in 1997 this idea had to be shelved. The fourth album Falling Into Infinity ("Falling into infinity") had to be significantly edited due to the label's unwillingness to release a record that was too long and expensive. The record was the last for keyboardist Derek Sherinian. He (like Kevin Moore before) decided to do his own projects. He was replaced by multi-instrumentalist and improviser Jordan Rudess, who remains with the band to this day.

Conceptual metal opera

Even in the album Images and Words was the song Metropolis. In 1999, the group released their new concept album, which became a plot continuation of this composition. The record was called Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory ("Metropolis 2: Scenes from a Memory"). It was a real piece of music in two parts.

According to the plot, the main character is in a hypnotic dream. He travels the world in 1928 and tries to find out what brought him there. The group held a world tour, the set list of which consisted entirely of staging their own play. Rudess fit perfectly into the team. New songs received his numerous, very interesting keyboard improvisations, inspired, among other things, by academic music.

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The band released five albums in the new millennium. The team did not stop its activities and after each world tour went back to the studio, which explains its noticeable productivity. In addition, the musicians have made it a habit to release tributes to the predecessor bands that most influenced their work. This is how Iron Maiden, Rush and Metallica albums were performed and recorded live.

In 2002, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence was released. This album was the first and only double album in the band's entire discography. However, it only had 6 songs. This record has become one of the most monolithic in the band's career.

Already in the following 2003 the next album Train of Thought was released. It occupies a special place in the band's discography. Most critics and ordinary listeners consider it the quintet's darkest album. Indeed, both the arrangements and the album cover stand out from the rest of the releases. InDuring the tour in support of Train of Thought, one of the most ambitious concerts in the history of the Dream Theater was recorded. It took place in the famous Tokyo Budokan, an arena where the most legendary bands in the history of rock music performed. Since then, several more live DVDs have appeared in the quintet's discography.

Further albums - Octavarium, Systematic Chaos and Black Clouds & Silver Linings - continued the trend towards "modernization" of the band's sound. With all this, each composer of the group did not forget about the fundamental influence of progressive rock of the 70s. In the 2000s, Dream Theater became one of the most recognizable and popular metal bands in the world. The Systematic Chaos album contains the parts of numerous invited eminent colleagues in the workshop. Corey Taylor, Steven Wilson, Mikael Åkerfeldt, etc. have played or sung with "theatregoers"

2010

September 8, 2010, one of the founders of the group - Mike Portnoy - in his social networks told the fans that he was leaving the "Dream Theater". Albums and world tours with this drummer covered a period of 25 years of the band's existence. Until now, there is no clear explanation of the reasons for the departure of the musician. In general, the band members described them as a "divergence of creative views". Since then, Portnoy has been playing in numerous side projects along with other big names in the rock and metal scene. But the drummer never created his own long-lived band. After the rotation of the composition, Mike Magini took a place behind the barrels andcymbals in the Dream Theater group. The last album with Portnoy remained an original chapter in its history, but the members, despite the severity of the split, continued their careers under the same banner.

Magini has already released three albums: in 2011 - A Dramatic Turn of Events, in 2013 - the eponymous Dream Theater, and most recently, in early 2016 - The Astonishing. This disc was a unique experiment. Like Metropolis, the album is a long conceptual story. John Petrucci (lyricist) created an entire fictional universe. The Astonishing has several characters, 2 acts and 34 songs.