Hi. I'm Sebastián, from Argentina. Back in February 2016, right after
The Astonishing was released, I joined the forums for the first time. My first posts were in the album's 'Recurring Motifs' thread, which you can find here:
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=45892.70Collaborating with other fans on that thread was much fun and very constructive. Thanks to some people, I was able to notice many of the more obscure musical nuggets in the album. In March, Damien (from the French fan-club) mentioned our discussions to John P., and apparently he was impressed.
That was so cool! (Thanks again, Damien!)
Anyway, that thread quickly stopped being updated, and the year went by. In June, I got to see the band play the album live in Buenos Aires, and -earlier that day- I attended a Q&A with John P. and Jordan. As if those were not enough happy memories, I got to ask the first question and Jordan complimented it. The guys from the local fan-club recorded the whole thing, and it's available on YouTube here:
https://youtu.be/d3xqEbsrsH0In short,
The Astonishing is a very special album to me - not just because of the music (which I really love), but because of the whole experience: the forums, the show, the Q&A… Oh, and the videogame!
(Too bad it was so short.)
That's one of the reasons why, in the last couple of months, I've been toying with the idea of creating a more "fleshed out" version of that 'Recurring Motifs' thread. The other reason is, I'm thinking of moving to an English speaking country next year, so this would be a great opportunity to work on my writing skills.
Now, it's very clear to me that
The Astonishing isn't the most widely beloved Dream Theater album, so I'm not sure how much interest this tiny corner of cyberspace could attract. Hell: even the official micro-site -with all the characters' biographies, the songs' descriptions, and the big, loud NOMAC- is no longer available. (There is a simplified version in its place.)
But, if I was a teenager once again, I know I'd be ecstatic to have a place where I can check out and compare my discoveries while listening carefully to the album. That's how I felt back in 2007 when I came across that cool site by Fabien dedicated to
Scenes from a memory (
https://flabonde.free.fr/DTSFAM.htm)... And that other one by Chris on
Octavarium (
https://dt.spatang.com/octavarium.php)...
As for what I've already done:
- I've made an Excel file with basically every chord progression in every song, which I think will be helpful when it comes to comparing sections from different songs.
- I've corrected mistakes in the Excel file with the help of the previews -available in SheetMusicPlus- from the guitar and keyboard "Selections from The Astonishing" score books, released by Hal Leonard in 2016. (You see, my debit card was declined when I tried paying for the books/digital downloads, and I don't have a credit card. So, previews it is. )
- I've re-watched the 3 "Inside The Astonishing" videos (posted in late 2016 in the band's YouTube page), and took notes on the themes and other important stuff the guys talk about.
- I've read once again all posts in the 'Recurring Motifs' thread (including mine), to have an idea of what can be added, what can be modified, etc. (In the past 2 years, I've noticed some musical re-ocurring elements that were not documented back then.)
Furthermore, I already have some ideas on the format. But first, I'd like to know:
- Is anyone else interested in collaborating? We could work together on the music, or someone could take care of other aspects – the story, the genesis/cycle/tour, the different media involved.
- What type of site/document would you recommend for this? Maybe a wikia (with a forum)? Maybe a sub-section in one of the fan-club websites? I have zero experience as far as web design goes, but I'm sure there are many talented, creative people around here.
- Does anyone know how/where I can get the digital score books? I'd transfer the money to anyone willing to buy them for me but, according to SheetMusicPlus, buyers "may not distribute the file to others".
- Any suggestions/advice?
Thanks!