Dream Theater entered the studio in February v. No News is Good News

[goo-goo]

What's weird to me is that JP is seem to be heavy on the marketing side with Ernie Ball lately. Every week I get a FB update on John and Ernie Ball and his guitars.

[erwinrafael]

Did they not take risks in the last album by challenging themselves to write concise songs?

[Lucien]

Did they not take risks in the last album by challenging themselves to write concise songs?

No, they didn't.

The problem with Dream Theater and their fanbase is the fanbase's definition of "safe" songwriting. Most of us seem to be completely okay with long instrumentals during a bridge between 2 choruses and the end of a song. Others like the songs where they do less of that. It's not really risky at all to write shorter songs, and to be completely honest, shorter songs in general will always be "safer", if Dream Theater is writing them. The length of a song means nothing in how popular it will be among the Dream Theater fanbase, however drawing new fans in is probably always going to be easier with shorter songs.

It's risky of them to not write music like they've been writing. See, even though they've got cool time signature changes and noodly instrumental sections, the structure of their songs is really never complicated. They might as well just be composers of virtuosic pop songs. ----Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Bridge (insert long instrumental section so the song is longer than 10 minutes) Chorus---- is still the structure for 90% of their songs. The songs that avoid that are their epics, instrumentals, and some of the songs on SFAM. That's basically it.

To be completely honest, the band isn't really that risky at all. I would like to see them write something risky, like a standalone mellow instrumental, a song written in a complex structure like sonata-allegro form (not necessarily instrumental), something atonal (because why the hell not), greater usage of other instruments besides keyboard, drum, bass, vocals, and guitar (like some actual real orchestral instruments played by other people, I would totally dig a bassoon or contrabass solo in a mellow section of an instrumental). People have talked about jazz fusion, why not have them make some actual jazz? That's risky. Let an entire song be a Jordan solo (there's too much unison in this band, everything's too loud), or have a little duel song between Myung and Mangini. Maybe an ambient song (mellow instrumental like I said earlier) where it's just Jordan and Petrucci (or even Myung) improving slowly.

Stuff like that. Except they'll never do any of that (except for the mellow instrumental as a part of IT) because of the box they've closed themselves in. Shorter songs aren't risky, I have heard 0 strong opinions that shorter songs are bad, and if it were a risky move, people would be saying things like this is the death of Dream Theater, etc etc. Sure, many people don't like DT12 that much, but I assume that's more because of the songwriting than the length of the songs. Dream Theater haven't done too many new things recently. Putting a little string section in the middle of a song isn't that impressive or risky when the 6-minute overture to a song made 11 years before has a lot more to it than a melody from Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto 1 (that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point).

[ReaPsTA]

People don't understand that Dream Theater is a business.  A band like Metallica is so popular that they could do nothing the rest of their careers and still live extravagantly off the royalties from their previous work.

Dream Theater's bigger than their non-fans realize, but smaller than their fans realize.  A bad album or two could shrink their fanbase enough for it to be unprofitable.  Given that, after FII's failure, SFAM was considered a make-it-or-break-it album for the band, let's assume that two bad albums could kill them.  This means that, if they take a risk with their next album and it fails, another bad album might end their careers.  What motivation do they possibly have to put themselves in that situation?

[Lucien]

you have to wonder how people don't just hate devin townsend

oh I know, because no matter what style he does, he does it well

dream theater could do the same, they could probably perfect any style

but apparently all their fans want is metal with noodly instrumental sections so that's all they do

great

[Onno]

Did they not take risks in the last album by challenging themselves to write concise songs?

No, they didn't.

The problem with Dream Theater and their fanbase is the fanbase's definition of "safe" songwriting. Most of us seem to be completely okay with long instrumentals during a bridge between 2 choruses and the end of a song. Others like the songs where they do less of that. It's not really risky at all to write shorter songs, and to be completely honest, shorter songs in general will always be "safer", if Dream Theater is writing them. The length of a song means nothing in how popular it will be among the Dream Theater fanbase, however drawing new fans in is probably always going to be easier with shorter songs.

It's risky of them to not write music like they've been writing. See, even though they've got cool time signature changes and noodly instrumental sections, the structure of their songs is really never complicated. They might as well just be composers of virtuosic pop songs. ----Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Bridge (insert long instrumental section so the song is longer than 10 minutes) Chorus---- is still the structure for 90% of their songs. The songs that avoid that are their epics, instrumentals, and some of the songs on SFAM. That's basically it.

To be completely honest, the band isn't really that risky at all. I would like to see them write something risky, like a standalone mellow instrumental, a song written in a complex structure like sonata-allegro form (not necessarily instrumental), something atonal (because why the hell not), greater usage of other instruments besides keyboard, drum, bass, vocals, and guitar (like some actual real orchestral instruments played by other people, I would totally dig a bassoon or contrabass solo in a mellow section of an instrumental). People have talked about jazz fusion, why not have them make some actual jazz? That's risky. Let an entire song be a Jordan solo (there's too much unison in this band, everything's too loud), or have a little duel song between Myung and Mangini. Maybe an ambient song (mellow instrumental like I said earlier) where it's just Jordan and Petrucci (or even Myung) improving slowly.

Stuff like that. Except they'll never do any of that (except for the mellow instrumental as a part of IT) because of the box they've closed themselves in. Shorter songs aren't risky, I have heard 0 strong opinions that shorter songs are bad, and if it were a risky move, people would be saying things like this is the death of Dream Theater, etc etc. Sure, many people don't like DT12 that much, but I assume that's more because of the songwriting than the length of the songs. Dream Theater haven't done too many new things recently. Putting a little string section in the middle of a song isn't that impressive or risky when the 6-minute overture to a song made 11 years before has a lot more to it than a melody from Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto 1 (that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point).

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

[Prog Snob]

Sure, it's a different group complaining with each complaint.  But they will never satisfy everyone.  So they should just focus on producing something that THEY like.

That's exactly what they should do.

[?]

It's a pity DT scrapped the original idea they had for the follow-up to Scenes, which was combining prog metal with world music. I'm happy with Six Degrees as is, and as MP points out the timing wasn't the best, as Steve Vai did something similar in 2001, but I wish they'd done the world music album later instead of abandoning the idea completely. I think the result could've been really cool, and that kind of experimenting with different styles and genres is missing in today's DT.

[Prog Snob]

It's a pity DT scrapped the original idea they had for the follow-up to Scenes, which was combining prog metal with world music. I'm happy with Six Degrees as is, and as MP points out the timing wasn't the best, as Steve Vai did something similar in 2001, but I wish they'd done the world music album later instead of abandoning the idea completely. I think the result could've been really cool, and that kind of experimenting with different styles and genres is missing in today's DT.

Maybe that's what Jordan meant when he said they going to be something completely different for the upcoming release.

[Another_Won]

It's a pity DT scrapped the original idea they had for the follow-up to Scenes, which was combining prog metal with world music. I'm happy with Six Degrees as is, and as MP points out the timing wasn't the best, as Steve Vai did something similar in 2001, but I wish they'd done the world music album later instead of abandoning the idea completely. I think the result could've been really cool, and that kind of experimenting with different styles and genres is missing in today's DT.

Maybe that's what Jordan meant when he said they going to be something completely different for the upcoming release.

Did he actually say "completely"?  I thought it was more like "a little" or "a bit".  I could be wrong though.

[Prog Snob]

It's a pity DT scrapped the original idea they had for the follow-up to Scenes, which was combining prog metal with world music. I'm happy with Six Degrees as is, and as MP points out the timing wasn't the best, as Steve Vai did something similar in 2001, but I wish they'd done the world music album later instead of abandoning the idea completely. I think the result could've been really cool, and that kind of experimenting with different styles and genres is missing in today's DT.

Maybe that's what Jordan meant when he said they going to be something completely different for the upcoming release.

Did he actually say "completely"?  I thought it was more like "a little" or "a bit".  I could be wrong though.

Actually, I thought he said they were doing something they never did before.  Who was it that met him and asked him?  I forget.

[Another_Won]

It's a pity DT scrapped the original idea they had for the follow-up to Scenes, which was combining prog metal with world music. I'm happy with Six Degrees as is, and as MP points out the timing wasn't the best, as Steve Vai did something similar in 2001, but I wish they'd done the world music album later instead of abandoning the idea completely. I think the result could've been really cool, and that kind of experimenting with different styles and genres is missing in today's DT.

Maybe that's what Jordan meant when he said they going to be something completely different for the upcoming release.

Did he actually say "completely"?  I thought it was more like "a little" or "a bit".  I could be wrong though.

Actually, I thought he said they were doing something they never did before.  Who was it that met him and asked him?  I forget.

Here is the one I remember from earlier in this thread . . .

I was at the Musikmesse yesterday. Early in the morning we went to the CME stand in order to see Jordans performance. He was a bit early so my friend and I had a short but very nice chat with him. I ask him how things are developing in the studio - of course he answered that everything is perfect. They have been writing music for one month now, now they are tracking the music. I told him with a twinkle in the eye that I know he is here just to tell me everything about the new album and that I want to share this information here on the DTF forum. We laughed about that and of course he replied that he will not give me any information - however after I asked if it will be a concept album? I know that he refused to give any information - however, the situation was really relaxed and we had a good laugh so I kept on asking.

He just smiled and said something like this "it will something a bit different..." - and I replied: So it will be a concept album? He replied with a huge smile that a concept album would not be anything different!! What was clear is that I would not read too much into this. I think that due to the mimics of him my questions remained completely unanswered. But what I read from his reaction was a huge satisfaction about the development and the progress of DT13.

After his performance on the CME keyboard we were able to talk to him again, there were not many people around - like 12-15 or something... We told him that we released a well-perceived prog CD under the name P.A.W.N. - The Gift of Awareness last year and that eventhough he - of course - did not play on it, nevertheless somehow he "appears" on it, due to the fact that DT and especially Jordan and his playing has such a huge impact on our writing and playing. He was really happy about what we said. We gave him a CD and he signed two for us. Such a nice and humble guy!

Later we saw him performing on the seaboard, which was amazing. I recorded like 20 minutes of that and will upload it on youtube later.

I thought to share this here in this thread since we talked about the album and I am not sure if the information that they have been busy writing for one month and now they moved forward to tracking has been posted here before.

Eventhough I followed everything they did since 1996 I am not sure about the writing time of 1 month... Is that long for their standards? How long did the writing for DT12 last?

Please apologize for my mediocre English...

[rumborak]

I think they've said something like that for the last 5 albums though.

[425]

you have to wonder how people don't just hate devin townsend

oh I know, because no matter what style he does, he does it well

dream theater could do the same, they could probably perfect any style

but apparently all their fans want is metal with noodly instrumental sections so that's all they do

great

I don't know for sure, but my sense is that Dream Theater is bigger and more mainstream than Devin Townsend and thus relying on more of a casual fanbase. Devin Townsend, I assume, has a lot of die-hards who will buy anything he does. Dream Theater has those people, yes, but to meet their usual sales numbers they also need a lot of more casual fans. So if they put out a new album and the first single is a bluegrass song, they're going to take a big sales hit from people who don't want a bluegrass album. A lot of people, especially casual fans, want the sound, not the name on the spine.

[Nihil-Morari]

It's a pity DT scrapped the original idea they had for the follow-up to Scenes, which was combining prog metal with world music. I'm happy with Six Degrees as is, and as MP points out the timing wasn't the best, as Steve Vai did something similar in 2001, but I wish they'd done the world music album later instead of abandoning the idea completely. I think the result could've been really cool, and that kind of experimenting with different styles and genres is missing in today's DT.

Via did something similar? To the world music thing, or did Vai make a Six Degrees like album? A quick google search gave me nothing but a live album from 2001 by Vai.

[Stadler]

To be completely honest, the band isn't really that risky at all. I would like to see them write something risky, like a standalone mellow instrumental, a song written in a complex structure like sonata-allegro form (not necessarily instrumental), something atonal (because why the hell not), greater usage of other instruments besides keyboard, drum, bass, vocals, and guitar (like some actual real orchestral instruments played by other people, I would totally dig a bassoon or contrabass solo in a mellow section of an instrumental). People have talked about jazz fusion, why not have them make some actual jazz? That's risky. Let an entire song be a Jordan solo (there's too much unison in this band, everything's too loud), or have a little duel song between Myung and Mangini. Maybe an ambient song (mellow instrumental like I said earlier) where it's just Jordan and Petrucci (or even Myung) improving slowly.

No offense, but the only thing worse that having to listen to the music you describe above (I have absolutely ZERO interest in listening to John Petrucci play something atonal, or hearing a bassoon solo in a DT song) would be having to listen to the fanbase bitch about them making the music you describe above. 

The band (currently) is: John, John, Jordan, James, and Mike.  Let them go in a room, and make the music they want.  If it is ten carbon copies of "Pull Me Under" or ten versions of a kazoo solo in Eb minor, so be it.  THEY are the artists, not us.   I have no interest in telling them what I want to hear; I want to hear what THEY want me to hear.   

[Lucien]

The problem is that I fear they're just writing what they think we will like, not what they like, which is far more important.

[rumborak]

No offense, but the only thing worse that having to listen to the music you describe above (I have absolutely ZERO interest in listening to John Petrucci play something atonal, or hearing a bassoon solo in a DT song) would be having to listen to the fanbase bitch about them making the music you describe above. 

You know, you're not the first person I've heard say this, but it really is a bummer. I think the willingness of some of DT's fanbase to rather hear the 5th regurgitated version of Metropolis than something that really dares, is a shame, and probably reinforces DT's stagnation. I'd rather DT to try large, and maybe fail, than have a decade full of discography that just sort of is "there".

[bosk1]

To be completely honest, the band isn't really that risky at all. I would like to see them write something risky, like a standalone mellow instrumental, a song written in a complex structure like sonata-allegro form (not necessarily instrumental), something atonal (because why the hell not), greater usage of other instruments besides keyboard, drum, bass, vocals, and guitar (like some actual real orchestral instruments played by other people, I would totally dig a bassoon or contrabass solo in a mellow section of an instrumental). People have talked about jazz fusion, why not have them make some actual jazz? That's risky. Let an entire song be a Jordan solo (there's too much unison in this band, everything's too loud), or have a little duel song between Myung and Mangini. Maybe an ambient song (mellow instrumental like I said earlier) where it's just Jordan and Petrucci (or even Myung) improving slowly.

No offense, but the only thing worse that having to listen to the music you describe above (I have absolutely ZERO interest in listening to John Petrucci play something atonal, or hearing a bassoon solo in a DT song) would be having to listen to the fanbase bitch about them making the music you describe above. 

The band (currently) is: John, John, Jordan, James, and Mike.  Let them go in a room, and make the music they want.  If it is ten carbon copies of "Pull Me Under" or ten versions of a kazoo solo in Eb minor, so be it.  THEY are the artists, not us.   I have no interest in telling them what I want to hear; I want to hear what THEY want me to hear.   

This pretty much sums it up for me as well.

The problem is that I fear they're just writing what they think we will like, not what they like, which is far more important.

Granted I cannot claim to know any of the band members on any sort of deep level.  But as someone who has met them several times and has spoken to JP a few times on a pretty in-depth level about his approach to writing and composing songs, I have NEVER had the sense that they are simply writing what they think we will like at the expense of writing what they like.  Not once.

No offense, but the only thing worse that having to listen to the music you describe above (I have absolutely ZERO interest in listening to John Petrucci play something atonal, or hearing a bassoon solo in a DT song) would be having to listen to the fanbase bitch about them making the music you describe above. 

You know, you're not the first person I've heard say this, but it really is a bummer. I think the willingness of some of DT's fanbase to rather hear the 5th regurgitated version of Metropolis than something that really dares, is a shame, and probably reinforces DT's stagnation. I'd rather DT to try large, and maybe fail, than have a decade full of discography that just sort of is "there".

Well, no offense, but the majority of the fan base would never use terms like "stagnation" in connection with Dream Theater.  It's sad that a few folks on an Internet forum, perhaps propped up by their insular circle of friends, may feel that way.  But since most in the fan base or, more importantly, the band do NOT feel that way, I don't see much for them to be concerned about.

[krieger]

To be completely honest, the band isn't really that risky at all. I would like to see them write something risky, like a standalone mellow instrumental, a song written in a complex structure like sonata-allegro form (not necessarily instrumental), something atonal (because why the hell not), greater usage of other instruments besides keyboard, drum, bass, vocals, and guitar (like some actual real orchestral instruments played by other people, I would totally dig a bassoon or contrabass solo in a mellow section of an instrumental). People have talked about jazz fusion, why not have them make some actual jazz? That's risky. Let an entire song be a Jordan solo (there's too much unison in this band, everything's too loud), or have a little duel song between Myung and Mangini. Maybe an ambient song (mellow instrumental like I said earlier) where it's just Jordan and Petrucci (or even Myung) improving slowly.

I see your point. And I agree with you.

Imho, the "problem" with DT is that they have too much control of what they are doing. They have the time and equipment and they spend 2 months writing the songs and then 2 months recording the album and then the tour (with a DVD) and everything is completely under control. We do this, and then do that, first this, then a solo, then another solo, then...

But most bands are like that, I believe. Few of them really take chances. Maybe people miss the feeling they got when first listening to something like I&W. It sounded completely daring at the time. But that was it. After that was always the same thing, better and better - but never daring anymore.

Maybe that was the reason Kevin Moore always inspired me more than DT. Because he was risky. Maybe he was not sucessful in everything, but you can see he is always trying to do something nobody could predict. When DafR was released it was like - wtf? And then You Go Now, wtf again! Graveyard Mountain Home - what is this all about? Ghost book? Snubbing Portnoy in OSI? Re:Free? The covers he choose?

Maybe you don't like what he does, but from an artistic point of view, he should be admired, I think. Sometimes I think - "That old bugger disappears when he wants and goes to study Medicine instead of recording more albums" and I'm upset but then the guy post a picture of himself in front a computer and I know that whatever he will release next I will buy because I know it will surprise me and remember me that music has a lot of boundaries that can be crossed.

Sometimes it seems DT is a one-trick pony. It is a quite complex, hard to make, impressive, we study our instruments 8 hours a day to be able to do this, "don't do this at home" trick. It's a f***ing amazing trick, that I enjoy seeing again and again, and I thank them for that. But it's only one trick, nonetheless.

P.S. - Strange thing is, after writing that, I can understand more Portnoy's decision of quitting DT.

[rumborak]

It's sad that a few folks on an Internet forum, perhaps propped up by their insular circle of friends, may feel that way.  But since most in the fan base or, more importantly, the band do NOT feel that way, I don't see much for them to be concerned about.

WTF, dude. Do you at this point only fire broadshots? If you weren't the admin of this place, you would have banned yourself a long time ago.

[emtee]

Along about the time of 8V I was one of those fans who wanted DT to change up the process and take what I felt were risks. But after some
time I realized that I was applying a different standard to DT then I did with my other favorite bands. I was actually wanting them to
be something they're not. Truth is there are thousands of bands out there that give me plenty of variation. What I am adamant about
though as a fan is THIS ALBUM MUST SOUND GOOD. IMO there are no excuses to put out another poor to mediocre sounding album.
There is too much talent and technology surrounding these guys. So in short, I'm game with whatever they want to create but give me
sonic quality. I don't think that is asking too much as a fan.

[Setlist Scotty]

It's a pity DT scrapped the original idea they had for the follow-up to Scenes, which was combining prog metal with world music. I'm happy with Six Degrees as is, and as MP points out the timing wasn't the best, as Steve Vai did something similar in 2001, but I wish they'd done the world music album later instead of abandoning the idea completely. I think the result could've been really cool, and that kind of experimenting with different styles and genres is missing in today's DT.

Via did something similar? To the world music thing, or did Vai make a Six Degrees like album? A quick google search gave me nothing but a live album from 2001 by Vai.

He did a world music album, which actually is also a live album. The songs were written and recorded at various shows throughout his previous tour. The liner notes include a lot of details about the songs, the recording of them, etc. Pretty cool release. Here's the wikipedia link that will tell you what songs were for which countries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alive_in_an_Ultra_World

And here's an excerpt of an interview I did with MP in 2002, regarding the world music idea and general direction of DT albums:

SH: Do you think you'll ever do the world-music influenced type of album you originally were thinking of doing before you started working on what became Six Degrees?

MP: Nah. I think that was an idea that came and went - especially now that Vai has done it.

SH: It just doesn't hold the same interest? Do you have some sort of master plan for what you want to accomplish in terms of musical direction with each Dream Theater album, for instance thinking 'I want this one to be heavy' and 'the next one will be more progressive' and then we'll do this and we'll do that? Do you have the next three or four albums outlined as to what you would like to accomplish?

MP: Oh no, definitely not three or four. Like I said, we've just barely discussed the direction or the details of the next record, so it's impossible to know until we're doing it. Like that world music thing you just mentioned? We talked about it and thought we were gonna go there, but as soon as we mic'd up in the studio and started actually playing-

SH: Pantera took over.

MP: So you never know where it's gonna go until it's going.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Sometimes it seems DT is a one-trick pony. It is a quite complex, hard to make, impressive, we study our instruments 8 hours a day to be able to do this, "don't do this at home" trick. It's a f***ing amazing trick, that I enjoy seeing again and again, and I thank them for that. But it's only one trick, nonetheless.

Funnily enough, that same thought applies to MP's playing.

[rumborak]

SH: Do you think you'll ever do the world-music influenced type of album you originally were thinking of doing before you started working on what became Six Degrees?

MP: Nah. I think that was an idea that came and went - especially now that Vai has done it.

SH: It just doesn't hold the same interest? Do you have some sort of master plan for what you want to accomplish in terms of musical direction with each Dream Theater album, for instance thinking 'I want this one to be heavy' and 'the next one will be more progressive' and then we'll do this and we'll do that? Do you have the next three or four albums outlined as to what you would like to accomplish?

MP: Oh no, definitely not three or four. Like I said, we've just barely discussed the direction or the details of the next record, so it's impossible to know until we're doing it. Like that world music thing you just mentioned? We talked about it and thought we were gonna go there, but as soon as we mic'd up in the studio and started actually playing-

SH: Pantera took over.

MP: So you never know where it's gonna go until it's going.

That's a really interesting interview, thanks for that.
I think it illustrates maybe *why* DT can't do something like that. It would require an overarching "orchestrator", or maybe even pre-written songs by one individual, to achieve this different style. DT's songwriting works, as I understand it, on a purely improvisational basis; they start the tape and play what comes to their mind, probably "seeding" the improvs with ideas they've come up during touring. But, from personal experience, jam-writing kinda puts you on the defensive; you are forced to play something on the spot, and the only thing you can do (at least for me) is to play in the style that is the most familiar to you.

[nikatapi]

Along about the time of 8V I was one of those fans who wanted DT to change up the process and take what I felt were risks. But after some
time I realized that I was applying a different standard to DT then I did with my other favorite bands. I was actually wanting them to
be something they're not. Truth is there are thousands of bands out there that give me plenty of variation. What I am adamant about
though as a fan is THIS ALBUM MUST SOUND GOOD. IMO there are no excuses to put out another poor to mediocre sounding album.
There is too much talent and technology surrounding these guys. So in short, I'm game with whatever they want to create but give me
sonic quality. I don't think that is asking too much as a fan.

Couldn't agree more. Even though i'm not greatly fond of DT12, i think still DT like what they do and write good (even great) music. But the production needs to be better, it's been getting worse and worse since BC&SL and with the amount of money they spend on making the albums, it's unbelievable that they can put out so bad sounding albums.

[bosk1]

It's sad that a few folks on an Internet forum, perhaps propped up by their insular circle of friends, may feel that way.  But since most in the fan base or, more importantly, the band do NOT feel that way, I don't see much for them to be concerned about.

WTF, dude. Do you at this point only fire broadshots? If you weren't the admin of this place, you would have banned yourself a long time ago.

  That isn't meant to be insulting, and I apologize if you took it that way.  I mean only to say that your view is the minority.  And often, I have seen you respond along the lines of, "pretty much everyone I know thinks along similar lines."  So my comment was only meant to be directed at the fact that you and your friends may feel a certain way, and the fact that your friends feel the same way as you do has a tendency to prop up one's own beliefs and make them seem like a majority position when it is in fact not.  Again, sorry if it came across differently than that.

[rumborak]

Oh, I see.  Well, scratch my comment then.

It is an interesting angle though to think about. I can *definitely* say that of the 10-odd DT fans I've known closely (like, direct fans) over the years, none of them are remaining. They all started checking out around the ToT-Octavarium era.

Do other people here have their "DT fan friends" circle still intact?

[James Mypetgiress]

When I read

WTF, dude. Do you at this point only fire broadshots? If you weren't the admin of this place, you would have banned yourself a long time ago.

I thought a full scale thermonuclear war was gonna break out... I grabbed by popcorn 

[TAC]

I never had a DT Friends Circle to begin with!

[TheCountOfNYC]

I never had a DT Friends Circle to begin with!

[King Postwhore]

I never had a DT Friends Circle to begin with!

You're not brainwashing your kids?!

[Prog Snob]

Here is the one I remember from earlier in this thread . . .

I was at the Musikmesse yesterday. Early in the morning we went to the CME stand in order to see Jordans performance. He was a bit early so my friend and I had a short but very nice chat with him. I ask him how things are developing in the studio - of course he answered that everything is perfect. They have been writing music for one month now, now they are tracking the music. I told him with a twinkle in the eye that I know he is here just to tell me everything about the new album and that I want to share this information here on the DTF forum. We laughed about that and of course he replied that he will not give me any information - however after I asked if it will be a concept album? I know that he refused to give any information - however, the situation was really relaxed and we had a good laugh so I kept on asking.

He just smiled and said something like this "it will something a bit different..." - and I replied: So it will be a concept album? He replied with a huge smile that a concept album would not be anything different!! What was clear is that I would not read too much into this. I think that due to the mimics of him my questions remained completely unanswered. But what I read from his reaction was a huge satisfaction about the development and the progress of DT13.

After his performance on the CME keyboard we were able to talk to him again, there were not many people around - like 12-15 or something... We told him that we released a well-perceived prog CD under the name P.A.W.N. - The Gift of Awareness last year and that eventhough he - of course - did not play on it, nevertheless somehow he "appears" on it, due to the fact that DT and especially Jordan and his playing has such a huge impact on our writing and playing. He was really happy about what we said. We gave him a CD and he signed two for us. Such a nice and humble guy!

Later we saw him performing on the seaboard, which was amazing. I recorded like 20 minutes of that and will upload it on youtube later.

I thought to share this here in this thread since we talked about the album and I am not sure if the information that they have been busy writing for one month and now they moved forward to tracking has been posted here before.

Eventhough I followed everything they did since 1996 I am not sure about the writing time of 1 month... Is that long for their standards? How long did the writing for DT12 last?

Please apologize for my mediocre English...

That's the one I was referring to. 

[bosk1]

Oh, I see.  Well, scratch my comment then.

Well, I did in fact ban myself once, so at least that part wasn't far off. 

In answer to your other question, I don't really have any long-time DT fans in my circle of friends.  At least, none that were fans back in the beginning.  I do have a few that became fans later.

[ariich]

Do other people here have their "DT fan friends" circle still intact?

Pretty much, yeah. There's quite a mix among my IRL DT-fan friends, pretty evenly balanced between no interest in the newer stuff, preferring the newer stuff, and having no particular preference either way (which includes me).

EDIT: And it is indeed true that bosky has banned himself, which I know because I was the one who had to unban him.