Dreams do come true

Mon 17th Dec, 2007 in Features

Ask any would be drummer or wannabe lead guitarist who has ever dreamed about being in a band about Dream Theater and they will more than likely wax lyrical for hours about the incredible playing skills of the band’s members and their dynamic form of technical progressive metal.

Dream Theater are what you would call “a band’s band”. They are individual master musicians who originally formed while attending Boston’s Berklee School of Music in the mid-eighties. A change of vocalist and a couple of keyboard players over the past twenty years brings us to the current line up.

Original Berklee drummer, Mike Portnoy, lead guitarist John Petrucci and bass guitarist John Myung are joined by Jordan Rudess, a virtuoso keyboard player who attended The Julliard School in New York at age 9. Canadian vocalist, James LaBrie completes the quintet and when you put them all together you come up with a complex brand of progressive metal. Dream Theater are what the most successful progressive rock band since the “Prog” heyday of the early seventies.

With such importance placed on each musician’s technical playing abilities it is vocalist, LaBrie who compliments them with a dynamic range of harmonies. A vast range of singing styles has assisted the band in staying fresh after nine studio and five live albums. With their 1000th concert coming up soon I asked LaBrie about his thoughts on touring Australia for the first time.

“Australia is one of those countries that has eluded us for basically our entire career. Now that we know it is a reality that we are coming down there to see our many fans – it is exciting. We just can’t wait to get down there and perform – we’re stoked”, he excitingly announced. “Our current tour has been out since June this year and we are touring throughout Asia and on to Australia and possibly India after that. From there we come back to America for a bit and then go down to South America and back to the States through until next June. So we’ll be out there for a year”, he went on to say.

James explains the ethos behind Dream Theater and their constant touring – “I think that after we do this tour of Australia that it will show the promoters and the fans that we really do care about what we do. For us it is really about who we are and what we do – touring and getting in touch with the fans and putting on the best show possible”.

“Touring has always been a priority for this band and that’s always been our forte – it’s the live environment, the shows, the concerts – that has always been very close behind first and foremost our music. Its very exciting for us to know that there is an appreciation world wide for the band”.

“We have been doing this for a very long time and to know for a fact that we have an expanding following is even more encouraging. It is a phenomena to a certain extent that is getting bigger and bigger every time we go out. We have been working very hard at what we do and the touring aspect has been a constant by supporting each and every album that we have released.

In closing James said “we know that we have many, many fans down under that are appreciative of our music and I think it will be a very powerful and successful tour that will prove itself” .I for one know that they won’t disappoint.

Check the giguide for details of Dream Theater’s tour dates