Hello everyone.
I've been lurking for a bit like I'm sure many folks have been recently. I wanted to comment on my reaction to the documentary so far with some background to help illuminate where I'm coming from (I suspect I'm not the only who feels this way about everything that's been happening).
I have been a Dream Theater fan since 1992 when I was a freshman in high school and first read the review of "Images And Words" in Guitar World magazine, followed shortly thereafter by hearing "Pull Me Under" on the local rock radio station (ah the good old days when radio actually played decent music and MTV actually showed videos). For the next 5 years up until the release of "Falling Into Eternity", DT was my absolute favorite band. I saw them live 3 times during this time period. My interest briefly tailed off, then when "Scenes From A Memory" was released, they returned to the throne as my favorite band. With the release of "Train Of Thought" and all of the successive albums that have followed it, I became gradually less and less interested in DT. I felt that they were becoming a bit stagnant creatively, and as many others have pointed out on this forum, they began sounding like less of a "progressive" metal band that enjoyed throwing you multiple curve balls for your listening enjoyment, and more like a metal band that simply played long songs. I had always appreciated the curve balls, and liked to keep my straightforward metal more in the Dio, Sabbath, Maiden, Accept variety, with an occasionaly smattering of the more extreme variety like Opeth (although Mikael Akerfeldt also enjoys throwing a good curveball as well). DT became replaced in my hierarchy of bands by others. I did see them another 3 times live, but began missing some of their dates when they were coming around, and only saw them last year because they were opening for Iron Maiden.
For some reason, I wasn't shocked when I heard about Mike Portnoy's exit from the band (I think my thoughts on MP leaving are best served on another thread though). Over the next several months, as the rumors began swirling about his replacement, I would occasionally read Blabbermouth posts about this person and that with fleeting interest.
Then I saw Jordan's facebook post about the coming info on the new drummer and the drummer search, and I followed the link to the documentary preview. I'll admit that when I watched it, I did have an initial reaction of distaste at what I thought was "reality TV-esque" editing. However, I was also intrigued about the idea of getting a look at the potential of what another world-class musician in DT could do to enhance the band and possibly begin a new chapter, hopefully reinstating some creative fire and passion which I felt had been missing recently. I admit that when I saw the preview, the only drummers that I really knew there were Thomas Lang from Youtube videos and Derek Roddy from his work with Nile and Hate Eternal. That's when I began lurking on this forum and was reassured by several posts here that this documentary would not be a "reality TV" exercise in which drummers would be eliminated one at a time or some other such nonsense.
I then watched the first episode of the documentary and I'll admit that I have been hooked. Watching the second episode has only gotten me more interested and hopeful, reigniting my passion as a lapsed-DT fan. All of the drummers shown so far are amazing in my book and I would give my left nut to jam with any of them. I find it even more refreshing to find that one of the auditionees, Peter Wildeor, has been posting here and seems like a genuine, amiable guy (for some reason, I didn't realize he was the drummer in Darkane eventhough I was familiar with their work). His posting and some of the resulting comments about James Labrie's last solo album led me to listen to some of it on Youtube and then go out and buy the album after being floored by the quality of the songs and performances (particularly Peter's drumming and James' vocal melodies) on the album (actually, I haven't been that surprised and had my expectations altered by an album in a long time - I'm going to have to find the thread here about "Static Impulse" so I can post my thoughts on it there).
In terms of the back and forth about the various drummers and their performances, the choice of editing, who is posting what where, who is dissatisfied with how they were portrayed, and who truly wants the spot in the band or not, I find much of it as nonsense. A lot is written on the internet that may or may not be true. One of the downsides of our technological advances is that now anonymous individuals can impersonate others and/or lie with impunity or care about the repercussions of their actions. Whatever we are reading, we have to realize that the truth in all of these situations is usually somewhere in the murky middle between the two parties involved. I know all of the clues are pointing to one individual being the choice, but I don't really care. I'm watching tomorrow with renewed excitement about DT, the coming new album, and tour. Who knows, we might all be in for a surprise...
Topic: An Exclusive Look into The Band’s Search for a New Drummer (Read 665078 times)