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Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: MinistroRaven on February 06, 2018, 01:40:28 PM
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https://www.musicradar.com/news/john-petrucci-g3-made-me-rise-to-the-occasion-and-gain-more-confidence-as-a-soloist
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"Mike gave me the record. I haven't listened to it yet."
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Great interview with JP! I hope he doesn't listen to that album, though ;)
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He's got a couple more of his cds he needs to listen to.
I did laugh when he said, the one thing he would change of The Astonishing is exactly what we've been discussing...Releasing the novel first, then hand out cds at shows.
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Where do you think I got the thread idea?
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Where do you think I got the thread idea?
I thought that, obviously.
I hope he's not regretting how things unfolded. I would've hated having to sit through the concert without hearing the album first.
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Where do you think I got the thread idea?
Oh...nice. I actually wouldn't have minded that. Or release the album along with book. That would've been a nice box set.
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"If I had the chance to do it over, I would do it differently, though. We have the novel coming out now, but in a perfect world, I think I would have had the novel done [first]; release the novel so people could read the story; and then do the tour and have the album available at the show when you leave. I think that would have given the whole experience a lot more meaning to fans."
Hindsight is always 20/20. That sounds like a better plan but I think the fans would have reacted the same to TA. I agree with what was said in an earlier post. I would have wanted to hear the cd before going to the show. But, it is what it is and they're moving forward.
"After The Astonishing...we definitely want to return to doing something that's more definitive and classic, but hopefully also staying current and using the things that we've learned as writers and as a producer to take it to the next level so we're not ever repeating ourselves."
I thought ADTOE hearkened back to I&W. I get what he's saying. The material has inspired them but they want to do something new and exciting at the same time.
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"I heard the first song that came out. It sounds great. Those guys are all amazing, and Ron is an incredible guitar player."
John is a class act all the way. Even if he didn't actually dig the song I'm sure he would still say something along these lines. It's much more important than wearing your heart on your sleeve or whatever.
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"I heard the first song that came out. It sounds great. Those guys are all amazing, and Ron is an incredible guitar player."
John is a class act all the way. Even if he didn't actually dig the song I'm sure he would still say something along these lines. It's much more important than wearing your heart on your sleeve or whatever.
I guess the first song that came out is referring to Signs of the Time?
But yes, JP is a class act all the way. Great response but he genuinely means it too.
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"I heard the first song that came out. It sounds great. Those guys are all amazing, and Ron is an incredible guitar player."
John is a class act all the way. Even if he didn't actually dig the song I'm sure he would still say something along these lines. It's much more important than wearing your heart on your sleeve or whatever.
1000% this. I wouldn't expect JP to be anything but classy, that's just who he is. But sometimes I wonder what he says in private.
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"I heard the first song that came out. It sounds great. Those guys are all amazing, and Ron is an incredible guitar player."
John is a class act all the way. Even if he didn't actually dig the song I'm sure he would still say something along these lines. It's much more important than wearing your heart on your sleeve or whatever.
1000% this. I wouldn't expect JP to be anything but classy, that's just who he is. But sometimes I wonder what he says in private.
“Psychotic symphony? They should have just called the album raw salmon, cause I eat stuff like this for breakfast”.
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I think it would be important that he listens to the music MP has been involved with, I mean just to see what his long time friend has been up to. SOA and Similitude are definitely more than worthy endeavors.
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I think it would be important that he listens to the music MP has been involved with, I mean just to see what his long time friend has been up to. SOA and Similitude are definitely more than worthy endeavors.
Similitude? Definitely
SOA? Not really
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"Mike gave me the record. I haven't listened to it yet."
Those parts of the interview were funny as hell :D
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"Mike gave me the record. I haven't listened to it yet."
"I heard Mike did some stuff after Dream Theater; I'm not even gonna waste my time"
"Mike gave me 20 CD's with a pleading look in his eye. I threw 20 copies of The Astonishing at him"
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"Mike gave me the record. I haven't listened to it yet."
"I heard Mike did some stuff after Dream Theater; I'm not even gonna waste my time"
"Mike gave me 20 CD's with a pleading look in his eye. I threw 20 copies of The Astonishing at him"
:rollin
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"Mike gave me 20 CD's with a pleading look in his eye. I threw 20 copies of The Astonishing at him"
Wonderful
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Savage :rollin :rollin
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While I understand JP and MP are friends, their friendship arose out of being bandmates (i.e., working together). Obviously, there was talk about what MP is doing musically, so it's hard to believe they didn't spend some time discussing what DT has been up to. "What did you think of The Astonishing?" "You won't believe what John Myung did backstage before our show in Louisvilee." That sort of thing. It would be fun to be a fly on the wall at one of their get-togethers.
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Good interview.
Couple thoughts - (1) I'm really glad they didn't release TA that way, going to a show like that without knowing the music would have been...weird. It was just a lot more enjoyable already knowing the tunes. (2) Classy JP as always with how he addressed Mike and SOA, good stuff. (3) Just freaking record some more solo material and release it!
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Good interview.
Couple thoughts - (1) I'm really glad they didn't release TA that way, going to a show like that without knowing the music would have been...weird. It was just a lot more enjoyable already knowing the tunes. (2) Classy JP as always with how he addressed Mike and SOA, good stuff. (3) Just freaking record some more solo material and release it!
He plans to release it right after Tool releases theirs...
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Not releasing the album prior to those shows would have been awful, and further highlighted all the worst points of the tour. You'd get confused because it's one guy singing all the parts, and if you don't know those parts you'll have a hard time following. Not to mention that one guy has always had issues with live enunciation, making trying to follow the music you're hearing for the first time harder. Add then that they spent a great deal on production but none of it really assisted in telling the story as it should have and you'd have a very tough experience. And yes, you'd have the book and know the story, but actually trying to follow it within the show, if you're hearing the music for the first time, would be extremely difficult.
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Not releasing the album prior to those shows would have been awful, and further highlighted all the worst points of the tour. You'd get confused because it's one guy singing all the parts, and if you don't know those parts you'll have a hard time following. Not to mention that one guy has always had issues with live enunciation, making trying to follow the music you're hearing for the first time harder. Add then that they spent a great deal on production but none of it really assisted in telling the story as it should have and you'd have a very tough experience. And yes, you'd have the book and know the story, but actually trying to follow it within the show, if you're hearing the music for the first time, would be extremely difficult.
Agreed. The live show was hard enough to follow just by watching the screens with already knowing the story and music. Take out knowing the music and a lot of people would leave scratching their heads, assuming they even showed up. Going to a concert of all music you've never heard before isn't going to get a lot people to come besides the die hards and curious ones.
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Indeed, it was already risky enough to announce the shows before the album was out. I did buy the ticket before hearing the album, but I knew I would have heard the album. I would have had trust in them and would have took a leap of faith, but my least enjoyed listening of The Astonishing was the first one, and not hearing the album until the show would have not helped.
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my least enjoyed listening of The Astonishing was the first one
Same with me. Sitting in my basement listening with my friend for the first time and both of us were kind of left confused. The album really didn't catch on with me until my 3rd listen. It's a lot to take in at once.
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They could publish a libretto and give one to each person who purchases a ticket. For those not familiar, the libretto is usually in the program for an opera. It has all the lyrics but also who's "saying" (singing) each part, and often other notes as well, so you can follow the story.
Except that that's stupid because you don't pass out librettos at rock concerts. :yarr
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There was something similar wasn't there? I can't recall, but I thought there was a program that stated at least the characters although I don't think the lyrics were in it.
When I was in 8th grade and Cats was still on broadway, everyone had to take a music class and part of the class was Cats and eventually a field trip to see it. But one thing that I still remember from that experience, was the music teacher said it's always best to go into a musical already knowing the music. So we listened and learned the songs in class before seeing the show. Definitely helped with following along live.
I'd really hate to have to reference a program at a rock concert, although it's easy to say having experienced the TA show, that it was a cross between a broadway show and rock concert in execution.
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Not releasing the album prior to those shows would have been awful, and further highlighted all the worst points of the tour. You'd get confused because it's one guy singing all the parts, and if you don't know those parts you'll have a hard time following. Not to mention that one guy has always had issues with live enunciation, making trying to follow the music you're hearing for the first time harder. Add then that they spent a great deal on production but none of it really assisted in telling the story as it should have and you'd have a very tough experience. And yes, you'd have the book and know the story, but actually trying to follow it within the show, if you're hearing the music for the first time, would be extremely difficult.
The bolded language assumes that everyone who attends the show has bought and read the book, which isn't a good assumption. I haven't read a book in years. I do a lot of reading at work and simply have other priorities for my free time. In this "alternate universe" scenario, while I might have bought the book, there's an awfully good chance I wouldn't have gotten around to reading it, so I'd have been even more confused.
The "book first" scenario is common with Broadway plays (e.g., Les Miserables). The difference, of course, is that you have multiple actors playing the different parts and there is a visual aspect to the performance. With The Astonishing, you had one person voicing several roles (including female roles) and no visual performance or sets to help convey the story.
All in all, I agree that the "book first" scenario would have been a terrible idea.
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This album grabbed me immediately, i realy liked the style of music on it .Ofcourse took a few spins to learn to know it.
Most of the times the albums which do so i tend to forget after a while,but not this baby.
They should've released the novel and album together for the people who've had a hard time with it..
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No one is going to read the novel if they are struggling with the album though. For example, I think the website with the storyline of each song was more than enough to follow the story on first listen. If that wasn't enough to follow, then there's no way someone is going to invest many hours into reading a book which will undoubtedly be more detailed and possibly harder to follow than the basic song synopsis the band gave us.
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Where do you think I got the thread idea?
:lol
When I saw your thread, I though you got the idea from me . . . . not really, but I kinda had a similar idea, right? Pardon my delusions of grandeur.
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=48955.msg2364029#msg2364029
When did you first hear about it from JP?
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Where do you think I got the thread idea?
:lol
When I saw your thread, I though you got the idea from me . . . . not really, but I kinda had a similar idea, right? Pardon my delusions of grandeur.
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=48955.msg2364029#msg2364029
When did you first hear about it from JP?
:lol Nice. I hadn't seen your post (or if I did, I had long since forgotten about it). JP mentioned it when we were chatting after the G3 show in Reno last month. I can't remember exactly how it came up, but we were somehow talking about how huge that production was, and I asked whether I was correct in assuming they were just leasing all that equipment and didn't buy it. At some point, he made the comment that he kind of wished they had done the release differently and that it might have been cool if they released the book first, and then gave the album away at the shows, and then released it for purchase after the tour so those who didn't attend could buy it.
I didn't know he was going to publicly mention the same thing, which is why I worded my thread purely in terms of a "hypothetical." But, you know, for those paying close attention, if I happen to mention that I'm seeing a DT or JP show, and then I start dropping threads about "hypothetical" situations afterward, it's probably because the band said something to me that got me thinking along those lines. :lol
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*bosk goes to a DT show*
*bosk posts a thread How long do you think DT have left?*
*people panic*
:lol
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*bosk goes to a DT show*
*bosk posts a thread How long do you think DT have left?*
*people panic*
:lol
Calling it now. On April 1 Bosk throws out "hypothetical" MP returns thread. DTF explodes....
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:lol Nice. I hadn't seen your post (or if I did, I had long since forgotten about it). JP mentioned it when we were chatting after the G3 show in Reno last month. I can't remember exactly how it came up, but we were somehow talking about how huge that production was, and I asked whether I was correct in assuming they were just leasing all that equipment and didn't buy it. At some point, he made the comment that he kind of wished they had done the release differently and that it might have been cool if they released the book first, and then gave the album away at the shows, and then released it for purchase after the tour so those who didn't attend could buy it.
Now that is a game changer. If the album was given away exclusively to those who would attend the shows, I think that would be quite exciting. Like watch a concert of an unreleased album, then you get the album afterwards as part of the package.
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*bosk goes to a DT show*
*bosk posts a thread How long do you think DT have left?*
*people panic*
:lol
Calling it now. On April 1 Bosk throws out "hypothetical" MP returns thread. DTF explodes....
:rollin
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While that would be funny, I think there are a lot of reasons why it wouldn't be cool to go there.
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While that would be funny, I think there are a lot of reasons why it wouldn't be cool to go there.
Of course. But I do find it funny that from now on anytime you speculate on anything DT related, folks will wonder if JP tipped you off to something.
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Bosk: Hey guys! Do you prefer crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
DT Forum: OMG! Dream Theater is releasing a line of peanut butters!!!
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Bosk: Hey guys! Do you prefer crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
DT Forum: OMG! Dream Theater is releasing a line of peanut butters!!!
:rollin
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Bosk: Hey guys! Do you prefer crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
DT Forum: OMG! Dream Theater is releasing a line of peanut butters!!!
Hopefully also a a line of jelly jams!
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Bosk: Hey guys! Do you prefer crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
DT Forum: OMG! Dream Theater is releasing a line of peanut butters!!!
Hopefully also a a line of jelly jams!
:clap:
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My personal opinion is that the cd would have been received better if it was not marketed as "the new Dream Theater album". If it was explained that JP/JR had written a musical theatre piece and this was the soundtrack to that as performed by Dream Theater, I think fans would maybe have had more of an idea what was coming.
Instead I think many fans were expecting another DT prog metal album except with the added excitement of it being a 2 disc concept album so everyone was ridiculously hyped up considering how their last concept album was received. What we got was something very different, more of a cheesy broadway musical with some metal elements rather than a DT album as we know it. I think fans would be more accepting if this was not considered a DT album but a separate thing.
That being said, I do enjoy the album but the book should have been ready to go at the time the album was released or shortly after to capitalise on the fans excitement at that time. Not sure how many people are really desperate now to dig in to the story of an album released 2 years ago. I am getting it (I got it for a Christmas present in 2016 and am still waiting!) but more for the collector in me and the hopefully nice packaging and extra materials rather than any desperate desire to read the book.
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I do believe there's something to that - DTF was more accepting towards the album, and it might be because people knew (from me talking about it) what it was about...
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Not sure how many people are really desperate now to dig in to the story of an album released 2 years ago.
Sadly, I'm not. And I'm an avid book reader and I love very much The Astonishing. It's been 2 years, I simply moved on. They have yet to write it, and still the release of DT14 is nearer than the release of The Astonishing is, at this point in time.
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Well, we've been over this quite a bit in the last two years, so I'm not saying anything new here, but I'll just put it out there anyway: Typically, when a band with an established career gives in to a creative muse to put something out there that is totally different and "out there" from the norm, there is mixed reaction from the fan base. Some love it. Some hate it. Some aren't entirely sure what to think. And quite often, a couple of albums down the road, that "experimental" album will simply have its place in the discography as the controversial oddity that some loved, some hated, and some were unsure of, and the band will have gotten back to their usual thing and done more in line with what the fans had grown comfortable with over the years. I think The Astonishing squarely fits that. Fan reaction has run the gamut. It is an unusual album, not just for DT, but for ANY band. The band is proud of it. Fan reaction is mixed. Next album will likely be more typical, and TA will be a novelty in the rear view mirror. Thankfully, I think most fans, even the ones who hated it, seem to appreciate that the band had the courage to do what they wanted to do when the inspiration struck them, even if it could have been any number of different ways to better please certain fans and be more digestible. Personally, I'm really glad that they did that album. It is VERY different. I happen to like it, which is great. For those who didn't, they'll likely get something more in line with what the band is traditionally known for this next time around.
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Well, we've been over this quite a bit in the last two years, so I'm not saying anything new here, but I'll just put it out there anyway: Typically, when a band with an established career gives in to a creative muse to put something out there that is totally different and "out there" from the norm, there is mixed reaction from the fan base. Some love it. Some hate it. Some aren't entirely sure what to think. And quite often, a couple of albums down the road, that "experimental" album will simply have its place in the discography as the controversial oddity that some loved, some hated, and some were unsure of, and the band will have gotten back to their usual thing and done more in line with what the fans had grown comfortable with over the years. I think The Astonishing squarely fits that. Fan reaction has run the gamut. It is an unusual album, not just for DT, but for ANY band. The band is proud of it. Fan reaction is mixed. Next album will likely be more typical, and TA will be a novelty in the rear view mirror. Thankfully, I think most fans, even the ones who hated it, seem to appreciate that the band had the courage to do what they wanted to do when the inspiration struck them, even if it could have been any number of different ways to better please certain fans and be more digestible. Personally, I'm really glad that they did that album. It is VERY different. I happen to like it, which is great. For those who didn't, they'll likely get something more in line with what the band is traditionally known for this next time around.
I see what you did there :lol
"A gallop snapshot poll taken immediately after President Bush's speech on
funding embryonic stem cell research last night shows that half of Americans
approve of his decision, 25% do not, and still another 25% are not sure what
to think."
Is The Astonishing a good album? That is the great debate. :hat
All joking aside, you make a great point!
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Well, we've been over this quite a bit in the last two years, so I'm not saying anything new here, but I'll just put it out there anyway: Typically, when a band with an established career gives in to a creative muse to put something out there that is totally different and "out there" from the norm, there is mixed reaction from the fan base. Some love it. Some hate it. Some aren't entirely sure what to think. And quite often, a couple of albums down the road, that "experimental" album will simply have its place in the discography as the controversial oddity that some loved, some hated, and some were unsure of, and the band will have gotten back to their usual thing and done more in line with what the fans had grown comfortable with over the years. I think The Astonishing squarely fits that. Fan reaction has run the gamut. It is an unusual album, not just for DT, but for ANY band. The band is proud of it. Fan reaction is mixed. Next album will likely be more typical, and TA will be a novelty in the rear view mirror. Thankfully, I think most fans, even the ones who hated it, seem to appreciate that the band had the courage to do what they wanted to do when the inspiration struck them, even if it could have been any number of different ways to better please certain fans and be more digestible. Personally, I'm really glad that they did that album. It is VERY different. I happen to like it, which is great. For those who didn't, they'll likely get something more in line with what the band is traditionally known for this next time around.
Don't disagree with any of this, I was just talking about how the music may have been better received and less of a divisive fan reaction. If John Petrucci had said "Hey guys there won't be a new DT album for a while but we're working on a really exciting multi media project which will include a book, video game and a musical theatre piece. We're really excited for you to see what we've created." If you then release everything at once, I think people would not then have judged it as another DT album but something separate. Doesn't mean everyone would have liked it of course but they may have been more understanding as to why it was not in the traditional DT style.
I am one of those fans that does appreciate that they did something new and creative though and still enjoy the album.