Quotes 'n' Notes
Re-Signing with Roadrunner
Press release:“We are all very excited to be re-signing with Roadrunner Records! Over the past 5 years from the release of Systematic Chaos to our latest A Dramatic Turn of Events, we've developed strong creative and professional bonds with everyone at Roadrunner as well as many great friendships along the way. [...] They are a record company we relate to as an organization firmly rooted in its ideals and mission, while always pushing the envelope in an effort to keep things moving ever forward. We’ve reached many career defining milestones while at Roadrunner and are all incredibly pumped in anticipation of our continued future together!”
(Dream Theater - DreamTheater.net - 3rd December 2012)Why they stayed:"There were other offers that we were considering, but we definitely felt strongest about Roadrunner and building on the relationships and the history. With the people that are there, and what we’ve done together, and how they know how we operate and how we know they operate, there’s a lot to be said for that. When the label understands the band, and the band understands the label, there’s a bond. [...] Since that relationship was strengthened and developed over three albums, continuing made so much sense."
(John Petrucci – MetalInsider.net – 7th December 2012.)Release Schedule
Initial Plans:"We’re on the same schedule as
A Dramatic Turn of Events, meaning that we entered the studio at the same time to work on that album, and it didn’t come out until September. It’s too early to tell if it will follow the same release schedule. By the time we’re done, writing, recording, mixing, mastering, it could be May-ish, and then we hit the Summer festival season in Europe around July or so, it’ll probably be a similar schedule."
(John Petrucci – MetalInsider.net – 7th December 2012.)Tracks and Lyrics
Mangini's writing:“The main difference is that this time we have Mike Mangini in the studio with us. The last time we were in the studio we had no drummer, we had a drum machine, so the drum machine was a compositional tool for us – to get ideas down, and to make sure we understood the rhythmic aspects of what we were writing. This time, the drums can play a real role.”
(Jordan Rudess – Noisecreep.com – 11th January 2013.)Myung's lyrics:“This question is submitted from @EmilMoodysson, and the question is, ‘Is there any chance John Myung will be writing lyrics on this album?’ And the answer is… yes! There’s a bunch of songs here, and I’ll most likely take one, and I’m looking forward to that.”
(John Myung – Twitter Q&A (Via YouTube) – 28th March 2013.) Instrumental track:“We actually finished the instrumental not too long ago, and it’s really cool, and I can’t wait for you to hear it.”
(John Myung – Twitter Q&A (Via YouTube) – 28th March 2013.)Band interviews:
Mike Mangini interview by Metal Insider on July 31, 2013John Petrucci interview by Ultimate Guitar on August 12, 2013Track by Track
1. False Awakening Suite"When we play live and before we hit the stage, we like to have some sort of dramatic piece of music and something cinematic to bring us onstage. The last tour was a piece from the movie "Inception" and it was kinda like, "Well, let's write our own. We can do this. How hard could it be?" So we wrote our own cinematic opening and the cool thing is it has real strings on it and it has that cinematic vibe but it's in the style of metal and it's kind of a progressive version of it. It's our spin on that type of opening."
(John Petrucci - Ultimate Guitar: "You Don't Have to Be Afraid" - 12th August 2013.)2. The Enemy InsideThe Enemy Inside was released to the public on Monday 5th August 2013. The lyric video is available
here, and was released on the 6th.
3. The Looking Glass4. Enigma MachineConfirmed as an instrumental in
an interview with John Petrucci, conducted by Ultimate Guitar and published 12th August 2013.
5. The Bigger Picture"To me with producing - and this goes to the song The Bigger Picture - it's being able to step back and really see what you're trying to do from the beginning. Then to put all the pieces in place so that you follow that road to where when you're done you can say, "OK, this is what I expected it to be. I did all the things that made it happen." That's really, really important to me to keep that focus and to have a really good grasp of the bigger picture, and that's what that song is actually about."
(John Petrucci - Ultimate Guitar: "You Don't Have to Be Afraid" - 12th August 2013.)"The Bigger Picture is like a show closer where it's so poignant and the melody is really strong and you want to sing along to it and it's very open and simpler in a lot of ways."
(John Petrucci - Ultimate Guitar: "You Don't Have to Be Afraid" - 12th August 2013.)6. Behind the Veil7. Surrender to Reason"That's just a reckless solo. That's the type of thing where I transport myself into a small, smoky club with a trio. It's late at night and you're just going for it. I wanted to make that solo right in your face. With the exception of during the pick scratches, the whole solo is just dry - just really obnoxious and dry and right in your face. I would have went on longer if I could but that's it."
(John Petrucci - Ultimate Guitar: "You Don't Have to Be Afraid" - 12th August 2013.)8. Along for the Ride9. Illumination Theory"The first thing you start with is that you go in knowing, "OK, this is gonna be an epic piece. It's gonna be 20 minutes long." You know you have room for parts to develop and grow. Once you do that you can get a good idea of the type of shape of it that you want. For example in this case, I knew I wanted us to do an atmospheric breakdown in the center with almost like a ballet-sounding string thing just to be totally, totally different in the middle. Similarly with the ending progression that's repeating, that's something we had worked on at a soundcheck in Asia at one point. As soon as we did that, I'm like, "This will be used for the ending of a song somewhere on our next album." So you have an idea and you have these little pins like on a map. It's a matter of shaping what happens in-between those moments."
(John Petrucci - Ultimate Guitar: "You Don't Have to Be Afraid" - 12th August 2013.)"After all the silence at the very end? Yeah, that's like a little Easter egg we stuck in there. It has a very string kind of sound to it."
(John Petrucci - Ultimate Guitar: "You Don't Have to Be Afraid" - 12th August 2013.)
Topic: "Dream Theater" by Dream Theater - Fact Finder (Read 14485 times)