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Drummer Mike Portnoy (THE WINERY DOGS,
DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ADRENALINE MOB) was interviewed by Chile's
Radio Futuro prior to THE WINERY DOGS' July 30 concert in Santiago.
Asked what his relationship with his former bandmates in DREAM THEATER is like
today and what he thought of the band's last studo album, Portnoy replied:
"If you wanna talk about DREAM THEATER for the 25 years I was there, then
sure, but I'm not gonna talk about DREAM THEATER now, 'cause people get too
uptight about it, so… If you wanna talk about the other 25 years, sure, but
[laughs] I'm not gonna talk about them and what they do now without me; I'm
here to talk about what I'm doing."
Mike was also asked whether he would one day be willing to reunite with DREAM
THEATER and rejoin the band as their drummer. "Sure," he replied.
"I would do
it in a heartbeat. They are the ones that have closed the door on it.
I've only needed a break, and I've had that break. So I'm ready, willing and
able. But I honestly don't think they ever will; they've closed
their door on it and I think they're too headstrong in having to prove
themselves without me. So I wouldn't count on it. But my door is always
open."
Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER more than 27 years ago, abruptly quit the
band in September 2010 while on tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD. He has since been
replaced by Mike Mangini (ANNIHILATOR, EXTREME, JAMES LABRIE, STEVE VAI).
Portnoy played on AVENGED SEVENFOLD's latest album, "Nightmare",
following the death of that band's drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan,
and toured with them for the entire second half of 2010.
Portnoy announced his departure from ADRENALINE MOB in June due to
"scheduling conflicts." A replacement drummer has not yet been
announced.
Progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER
will release their new, self-titled album — the band's 12th studio release
overall, and fourth with Roadrunner Records — on September 24.
A track from the CD, "The Enemy Inside", will premiere on Monday,
August 5 at USAToday.com.
Says guitarist John Petrucci about "Dream Theater": "I see every
new album as an opportunity to start over. To either build or improve upon a
direction that has been evolving over time or to
completely break new ground.
"This is the first self-titled
album of our career and there is nothing I can think of that makes a
statement of musical and creative identity stronger than that. We've
fully explored all of the elements that make us unique, from the epic
and intense to the atmospheric and cinematic.
"We're incredibly excited about 'Dream Theater' and can't wait for
everyone to hear it."
The nine-track disc was recorded at Cove City Studio in Glen Cove, Long Island,
with Petrucci producing and Richard Chycki engineering and mixing. It's the
band's second album with drummer Mike Mangini, and the first one on which he
was a part of the writing process from Day One.
In January, Petrucci said of Mangini's work: "When people hear the
drumming on this album, they're gonna be
pretty freaked out. On the last album, he did a great job, but he wasn't there
for the writing process and he was interpreting drum parts that I had
programmed. Even though he used his creativity, of course, to
change them up and do his thing, I feel like now he's just Mike Mangini
unleashed. It's all him. It's all his creativity, all his decisions and ideas
and man, the guy's an animal."
"Dream Theater" track listing:
01. False Awakening Suite
I. Sleep Paralysis
II. Night Terrors
III. Lucid Dream
02. The Enemy Inside
03. The Looking Glass
04. Enigma Machine
05. The Bigger Picture
06. Behind The Veil
07. Surrender To Reason
08. Along For The Ride
09. Illumination Theory
I. Paradoxe de la Lumière Noire
II. Live, Die, Kill
III. The Embracing Circle
IV. The Pursuit of Truth
V. Surrender, Trust & Passion
"Dream Theater" will be available in a wide range of distinctive
versions, including
standard and special edition CDs, 180-gram double LP, and a
limited-edition boxed set. Pre-orders are scheduled to launch in July at the
Roadrunner Records webstore.
DREAM THEATER will be on tour in Europe in January and February 2014, and in
North America in March 2014.
"Live At Luna Park", DREAM THEATER's live concert, which was
previously scheduled for release in May via Eagle Rock Entertainment, will now
drop in North America on November 5 as a Blu-ray, 2DVD, 2DVD + 3CD, Blu-ray +
3CD, deluxe edition with 40-page book, Blu-ray + 2DVD +
3CD, and digital video via iTunes.
"Live At Luna Park" was filmed over two nights in South America —
home to one of DREAM THEATER's most ardent fanbases. The DVD was filmed August
19 and August 20, 2012
at Estadio Luna Park in Buenos Aires, Argentina after a 15-month world
tour, hitting 35 countries.
Former THE 3RD AND THE MORTAL
"goddess of beauty" Kari Rueslåtten has inked a deal with Despotz
Records & Music. Due on September 10, her new single will be a new version
of the THE 3RD AND THE MORTAL song "Why So Lonely" from the band's
"Tears Laid In Earth" album (1994), featuring a guest appearance by
NIGHTWISH mastermind Tuomas Holopainen on piano and keyboards. A new
full-length album will be recorded this fall for a tentative January 2014 release.
Rueslåtten in 2005 her solo debut, "Spindelsinn" (originally issued
in 1997 via Sony Music Norway), re-released through GMR Music Group's Peach
Music label. The CD was re-mastered and featured two bonus live tracks.
Rueslåtten's fourth solo album, "Other People's Stories", was
released in 2005 via GMR/Peach Music. The follow-up to 2002's "Pilot"
was previously described as "filled with [Kari's] best songs to date as
well as wonderfully produced." A live video was shot for the album's title
track.
Raymond Westland of Ghost Cult magazine
recently conducted an interview with James LaBrie (DREAM THEATER) and Matt
Guillory (DALI'S DILLEMMA) about James' new solo album, "Impermanent
Resonance" (InsideOut Music). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow
below.
Ghost Cult: What's the thought behind the album title?
Matt: Whenever James and I come up with an album title, we take a step back and
see what
happens in the songs lyrically and come up with something which ties
them altogether. What stood out to us was a sense of nothing staying the same.
A lot of the songs deal with personal relationships, hardships
and challenges someone might be going through in his life, but no matter how
bad things get, nothing is permanent and stays the same. It made
sense to us to use "Impermanent Resonance" as the album title.
Ghost Cult: "Impermanent Resonance" is very much a refinement of the
previous album. Was there any specific reason why you guys stuck with that
sound?
Matt: Yes, one reason is that we really established our sound on "Static
Impulse". With the new album, it was about using that music foundation,
but push
it more in all directions. We spent way more time on the melodic aspects of the
music. That's not to say we didn't give the bass, drums and
guitars the attention they deserve, but we spent so much time and effort
getting the vocal melodies right and crafting the songs themselves. I
think there's clear distinction between "Static Impulse" and
"Impermanent Resonance", mainly in the melodic aspects and the
overall dynamics.
Ghost Cult: With a new DREAM THEATER album looming over the horizon, touring in
support of "Impermanent Resonance" will be a dicey affair at best.
With this in mind, what tour plans do you have?
Matt: It's tough, because there a lot of logistics coming in in order to set
up a tour, because all the members live in different parts of the world. We ran
into this with "Static Impulse". We had a very strong
album to promote, but we didn't have the time to make things happen.
This time we want to take the time to prepare ourselves and tour. With
that said, DREAM THEATER is gearing up for their new record and
eventually they're going to tour to support it. We'll have to look at
the touring aspect when the DREAM THEATER touring cycle has ended. We're all
fired up and ready to go, though.
James: Absolutely. It's inevitable that we'll be out and tour in support of
the new record. It's mainly a question of how and when. Realistically,
it would be at the end of the next DREAM THEATER touring cycle
when that winds down. The new album and the older material will be as
relevant when we go out on tour tomorrow or when we do it in 1.5 years
from now. It's timeless in that sense. When we'll go out eventually, it
will be really exciting and powerful to play this material and bring all the
players together on a single stage. It will be an incredible
experience. You have to be patient, but it will happen eventually.
An invite-only
listening party for the new self-titled album from progressive metal giants
DREAM THEATER was held last night (Tuesday, July 30) at Germano Studios in New
York City.
According to Bryan Reesman of Attention Deficit Delirium, who attended the
event, DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci praised the "incredible
work" of mixer and engineer Richard Chycki during his announcement to the
media present. The guitarist explained
that the group decided to make the new CD a self-titled affair "because
we want to show that the best is yet to come. We're just as passionate,
or even moreso now, about writing, creating and playing together as a
band and moving forward. There is no better way to illustrate that than
to self-title an album and say this is an album you can point to as a
new fan — maybe that the first time you heard of our band was this
album. Or maybe you've been listening to us for a long time and have
something that you can really identify with."
Reesman also reports that some of the new DREAM THEATER material is "more
commercially friendly in a good way."
"What has always been our nemesis is the preconceived notion of what DREAM
THEATER represents musically, and there so many facets to us," DREAM
THEATER singer James LaBrie told Reesman during the playback. "I always
feel that on every album there is a song that is right for a crossover and
could allow us to reach a wider
audience. The problem has always been that people look at us as
superfluous or self-indulgent, that we're technically based and not song based.
That's bullshit and the furthest thing from the truth. We're
always trying to create something that is memorable, and to me, that's
what a song is about."
Read the entire report, and check out photos, at Attention Deficit Delirium.
"Dream Theater" will be released on September 24 via Roadrunner
Records. The nine-track disc was recorded at Cove City Studio in Glen Cove,
Long Island, with Petrucci producing and Richard Chycki engineering and mixing.
It's the band's second album with drummer Mike Mangini, and the first one on
which he was a part of the writing process from Day One.
"Dream Theater" track listing:
01. False Awakening Suite
I. Sleep Paralysis
II. Night Terrors
III. Lucid Dream
02. The Enemy Inside
03. The Looking Glass
04. Enigma Machine
05. The Bigger Picture
06. Behind The Veil
07. Surrender To Reason
08. Along For The Ride
09. Illumination Theory
I. Paradoxe de la Lumière Noire
II. Live, Die, Kill
III. The Embracing Circle
IV. The Pursuit of Truth
V. Surrender, Trust & Passion
"Dream Theater" will be available in a wide range of distinctive
versions, including
standard and special edition CDs, 180-gram double LP, and a
limited-edition boxed set.
DREAM THEATER will be on tour in Europe in January and February 2014, and in
North America in March 2014.
