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

[Madman Shepherd]

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.

A few things to address here.  First of all, you summed up one of the main reasons why I love Kevin Moore's stuff.  From the start of his career as a solo artist, he has been known for that so we knew what to expect.  If DT after 3 decades of making progressive metal music all of the sudden made an avantgarde jazz fusion rap album, every single fan would go "what the fuck?"  If Kevin Moore did that, only about half of Kevin Moore's fans would say "What the fuck?" (so like, 600 people) and the other half would love it. 

Therefore, I am glad Dream Theater delivers progressive metal albums 100% of the time.  Sometimes they are more prog and sometimes they are more metal so not everyone will be happy every time but the majority of their fanbase will surely like it. 

That does not mean they are a one trick pony. 

People hear I&W for the first time and their mind is blown.  There has never been anything like it.  Then they hear Awake and they are so happy that there is a band that will fulfill this progressive metal void but after about the 8th or 9th album, people are saying, "Another progressive metal album?!?!" 

Well, of course.  They are a progressive metal band. 

A friend of mine was into DT before me and then when I got into them he just made fun of their tired gimmick (this was about the 6DOIT time period).  I finally just challenged him about how he can claim I&W is such a groundbreaking album while hating what they do 10 years later which isn't that far apart from I&W.  He finally conceded that he was at a different time in his life so it affects him differently.  Not that it was a problem with the band. 

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

Imho, the "problem" with DT is that they have too much control of what they are doing.

Congratulations, that was officially the stupidest statement I've read all day.

What you guys need to realize is that music is art, and the guys in DT are the artists. No one has ever said, "The problem with Van Gogh was that he had too much control over his paintings". S

[Kotowboy]

Yeah DT should definitely let Roadrunner dictate the sound of the next album.

[rumborak]

Imho, the "problem" with DT is that they have too much control of what they are doing.

Congratulations, that was officially the stupidest statement I've read all day.

What you guys need to realize is that music is art, and the guys in DT are the artists. No one has ever said, "The problem with Van Gogh was that he had too much control over his paintings". S

I think the analogy would fit better if van Gogh had tried to makes his own frames and colors as well. I think that's the aspect people think DT should leave to professionals.

[King Postwhore]

I've always been in the camp that a producer can push a band like a coach. Sometimes even the greats need a nudge or an inspiration.

[commanderbob]

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

I don't have a circle, but a line (1 friend, who got me into them 21 years ago),  and were both just as nuts over them as ever lol.

[rumborak]

I would love to see another "Evening with JP and JR" type of tune.

[Aythesryche]

I would love to see another "Evening with JP and JR" type of tune.

This would be fantastic.

[Skeever]

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

I don't have a circle, but a line (1 friend, who got me into them 21 years ago),  and were both just as nuts over them as ever lol.

As for me, most of my friends stopped being interested in DT around 2005-2006. Especially as people went to college, or got married and had kids. I did talk to a few of my old band mates awhile back, and all were pretty down on the band, so I think it's safe to say that I'm the fan who's held out the longest.

[TheCountOfNYC]

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

I don't have a circle, but a line (1 friend, who got me into them 21 years ago),  and were both just as nuts over them as ever lol.

As for me, most of my friends stopped being interested in DT around 2005-2006. Especially as people went to college, or got married and had kids. I did talk to a few of my old band mates awhile back, and all were pretty down on the band, so I think it's safe to say that I'm the fan who's held out the longest.

I don't understand this. Why should your musical interests change just because you went to college or started a family? I'm pretty new to the Dream Theater fandom, but I've been a Metallica fan since I'm 3 years old, and likely will be for life. If you truly love a band, then you don't just stop becoming a fan because of changes in your life. Maybe you can't devote as much time or money to them, but that doesn't mean you tune out entirely.

[erwinrafael]

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

I don't have a circle, but a line (1 friend, who got me into them 21 years ago),  and were both just as nuts over them as ever lol.

As for me, most of my friends stopped being interested in DT around 2005-2006. Especially as people went to college, or got married and had kids. I did talk to a few of my old band mates awhile back, and all were pretty down on the band, so I think it's safe to say that I'm the fan who's held out the longest.

I don't understand this. Why should your musical interests change just because you went to college or started a family? I'm pretty new to the Dream Theater fandom, but I've been a Metallica fan since I'm 3 years old, and likely will be for life. If you truly love a band, then you don't just stop becoming a fan because of changes in your life. Maybe you can't devote as much time or money to them, but that doesn't mean you tune out entirely.

Tastes could change. It's the same way why I only got to appreciate the later Beatles work only when I entered my 20s. There are also some pop songs I liked when I was a kid, but I now can not bear listening to after my musical horizons expanded.

[erwinrafael]

RELEVANT!

MM FB update:

"What have I been up to?
Muaah ha ha ha ... it is a secret  But I am hitting a lot of drums, smiling more than anyone should be allowed and burning a lot of calories too."

JR reply:

"Let me begin to guess. 17 against 4 while whistling Dixie?"

 

[bl5150]

I never had a DT Friends Circle to begin with!

I brainwashed my sister to like DT, Queensryche etc....does she count?      I have a couple of guys who I'd call more acquaintances than friends who are DT fans and the experience is the same for all of us AFAIK.

That is - started listening in 1992 to I&W (all time fave), enjoyed Awake (not as much) , WTF'ed at FII but grew to like it more , dropped off the wagon more and more through the JR years until BC&SL and have been on board properly again (for new music) since ADTOE and DT12.

[BlobVanDam]

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?

Of the DT fans I know in real life (which is maybe a handful), they stopped listening around ToT/8V too, and haven't come back with the more recent ones.
I'd be the biggest DT fan of the people I know.

[erwinrafael]

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?

Of the DT fans I know in real life (which is maybe a handful), they stopped listening around ToT/8V too, and haven't come back with the more recent ones.
I'd be the biggest DT fan of the people I know.

Which shows that a lot of DT fans jumped...when the band took a huge risk? Because ToT / 8V is them leaving behind the trademark sound of the I&W to SFAM era.

[rumborak]

ToT was a risk style-wise. But 8V, other than the "cover songs" was the beginning of business-as-usual for DT.

[erwinrafael]

ToT was a risk style-wise. But 8V, other than the "cover songs" was the beginning of business-as-usual for DT.

Yeah, you could say that about Octavarium and Sacrificed Sons. But do you think that these are the songs that made old DT fans jump after listening to the Octavarium album? I don't think so.

[BlobVanDam]

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?

Of the DT fans I know in real life (which is maybe a handful), they stopped listening around ToT/8V too, and haven't come back with the more recent ones.
I'd be the biggest DT fan of the people I know.

Which shows that a lot of DT fans jumped...when the band took a huge risk? Because ToT / 8V is them leaving behind the trademark sound of the I&W to SFAM era.

That's a bit of a spin. Awake was a huge departure from IaW, FII was a huge departure from what came before it, and while SFAM was more in the style of IaW, it was still a risky concept album with a lot of wacky and still controversial instrumental sections (which I would kill for them to return to at this point), and SDOIT was their most experimental album and a shift to heavier music.
ToT was a bit risky given the vanilla prog fanbase, but I agree that 8V was a return to pretty safe, and even with the last two albums being safe (especially ADTOE), nobody I know has regained interest in the band. And the majority of these people are very diverse musicians and music listeners, not the average narrow prog fan.
You can also simply make the case that the quality of the music hasn't been as strong since SDOIT.

[erwinrafael]

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?

Of the DT fans I know in real life (which is maybe a handful), they stopped listening around ToT/8V too, and haven't come back with the more recent ones.
I'd be the biggest DT fan of the people I know.

Which shows that a lot of DT fans jumped...when the band took a huge risk? Because ToT / 8V is them leaving behind the trademark sound of the I&W to SFAM era.

That's a bit of a spin. Awake was a huge departure from IaW, FII was a huge departure from what came before it, and while SFAM was more in the style of IaW, it was still a risky concept album, and SDOIT was their most experimental album and a shift to heavier music. ToT was a bit risky, but I agree that 8V was a return to pretty safe, and even with the last two albums being safe, nobody I know has regained interest in the band. And the majority of these people are very diverse musicians and music listeners, not the average narrow prog fan.
You can also simply make the case that the quality of the music hasn't been as strong since SDOIT.

Of course we are working from our own interpretations, because I find that your interpretation is also quite a spin to fit how you would like to frame it. I am just working from my own experience as somebody who lost interest after 8V, did not buy SC and BC&SL at the time of release after finding them meh during my casual listen (I bought them after ADTOE), and only came back as a loyal fan with ADTOE and DT. And I have a couple of people I know who also went the same route. The quality indeed dropped after ToT, but I think a lot of the quality drop is because DT lost its identity, rather than the usual "safe" hypothesis being bandied around by the vocal posters in this forum.

[me7]

I would love if the songs for the new album were recorded "live" in the studio with minimal post-processing. Along with a BluRay that features multiple camera angles.
The last two albums (and ADTOE in particular) were overproduced and overprocessed. DT are an amazing live band, just harness that sound.

[Kotowboy]

Yeah just mic everything up but have all the cabs in a different room.

Use minimal gating and compression and almost no EQ, double track rhythms and solos and do a very slight master. Just an overall punch and sheen.

Bingo.

[KevShmev]

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

Sort of.

My older brother is still a big fan, but he is not the kind to dissect anything at all.  He likes a lot of the newer stuff way more than I do (like, stuff from SC, for example), but still prefers the classic stuff the most.

My younger brother, however, who was the first of us three brothers to like them back in 1993, jumped ship on them a long time ago, largely because his musical preferences changed a lot.  I think he'll still bust out the occasional DT song and enjoy it, but it's not something he listens to regularly at all anymore.  And the only new stuff he's heard by them in probably the last 10 years is stuff he might have heard in my car by chance.

My friends Mike, Matt and Mark are all still fans, but to varying degrees.  Matt is the casual "I'll go see them for the hell of it" kind of fan, Mark likes them a lot and rarely expresses preferences, and Mike is of the "old stuff great, new stuff not-so great" variety.

[gmillerdrake]

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

I really only have a few. My brother and I are still in to them and make road trips to shows together.....I'd say he's the biggest DT fan "friend" I have.

This is sad and sucks but the other huge DT fan friend of mine died in a car accident three years ago. He was an amazing guitarist...had his own teaching guild and was the person who really got me in to music back when I was a sophomore in High School. We went to our first DT show together in '93....he told me I had to come with him. I remember being floored watching them play that awesome instrumental section after "the third aaaarrrrives...." In Metropolis. Anyway, his younger brother and I now hang out and talk a bit and he's a big DT fan also.

And, I have a buddy who I've been close friends with since third grade who still can't believe when I mention DT that I STILL listen to them 

[TL]

My friend who introduced me to DT lost a bit of interest in them when they released Systematic Chaos. I think it was a combination of him not really digging that direction, and just exploring a lot of different styles of music around that time. He still liked their material before that, but wasn't listening to them as much as he had.
When MP left, he started paying attention again. First because he was worried that it could be the end of the band, but then when MM joined he got really excited about how that could turn out. He absolutely loved ADTOE and DT, and is a huge fan of theirs again, while also listening to all the stuff he had gotten into in the mean time.

I also had several friends who went through a phase where a lot of DT was suddenly too cheesy or silly for them. At that time, they only wanted to listen to 'serious' and 'mature' music (a lot of what they thought of that way back then they now look back on as being really childish, ironically). They didn't want to listen to anything 'uncool'. In the past few years though, a lot of them have come back around, and while they still think that some of DT's music is cheesy, that's a selling point for them these days. That element of music can be really fun.

Interestingly enough, as my musical tastes have broadened drastically over the past few years, the main effect that has had on my DT listening is that I've come to like some of their material that I wasn't all that crazy about in the past.

[dvargas]

This place is deader than dead!

I don't think I have ever seen it as bad as this.

[Prog Snob]

Isn't it time we start discussing their hair or clothes or something?   

[Kotowboy]

I think either the writing is going badly and they don't want to let on - or they're cooking up something extra special and are keeping it secret.

If it was business as usual - I think we'd have more updates by now.

[Plasmastrike]

Man, DT being low key lately is making me so eager. They've been putting in work on the new record's music for quite some time. Squeeeeeeeee

[SuperTaco]

Isn't it time we start discussing their hair or clothes or something?   

Don't tempt me

[Prog Snob]

I think either the writing is going badly and they don't want to let on - or they're cooking up something extra special and are keeping it secret.

If it was business as usual - I think we'd have more updates by now.

I just think they're doing a good job of keeping it secret. It was different with MP in the band. I don't mind either way really. Some people start to lose interest with all of this secrecy but not me. It actually builds my curiosity more.  Even albums that originally didn't blow me away have grown on me since their release like Systematic Chaos, so I'm not worried about loving the music they put out.

Isn't it time we start discussing their hair or clothes or something?   

Don't tempt me

 

[TAC]

I just think they're doing a good job of keeping it secret. It was different with MP in the band. I don't mind either way really. Some people start to lose interest with all of this secrecy but not me. It actually builds my curiosity more. 

I think what it does for me is that I kind of forget about them being in the studio. If we got a snippet every 3 weeks or so, I feel like that would drive me crazy. This time of not paying attention to DT allows me to listen to an already fantastic year of music.

When DT is ready, I sure as hell will be as well.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Isn't it time we start discussing their hair or clothes or something?   

Been there

[Prog Snob]

I just think they're doing a good job of keeping it secret. It was different with MP in the band. I don't mind either way really. Some people start to lose interest with all of this secrecy but not me. It actually builds my curiosity more. 

I think what it does for me is that I kind of forget about them being in the studio. If we got a snippet every 3 weeks or so, I feel like that would drive me crazy. This time of not paying attention to DT allows me to listen to an already fantastic year of music.

When DT is ready, I sure as hell will be as well.

Exactly.  It's not like I'm sitting in front of the computer waiting for the next update. When it's time, it's time. We know they're working on something and we know it's not going to be like waiting for a new Tool or Metallica CD, so people just need to have patience. You get some people who take the hints and references MP used to give and they hate the CD before they've even heard it. Get over yourselves.

[King Postwhore]

That's because you're too busy typing to all your love interests Johny. 

[Prog Snob]

That's because you're too busy typing to all your love interests Johny. 

Well that's one reason...