Sons of Apollo (feat. Portnoy & Sherinian)

[Sycsa]

Here's a new interview of Derek done by me : https://blogofapollo.wordpress.com/2017/12/12/premier-article-de-blog/

Props to Derek for hauling the big ass B3 to all those small gigs. Seeing and hearing a real Hammond live is always special. That condom comment made me cringe hard though. His 5-year-old self would surely appreciate it.

[rumborak]

We spent a lot of time with the lyrics and melody lines. He will be able to reproduce his vocal performance live at ease because we wrote within his vocal range. There is nothing worse than going to see a band that you like, and the singer sounds like he is dying up there struggling to hit the notes.

 

[bill1971]

We spent a lot of time with the lyrics and melody lines. He will be able to reproduce his vocal performance live at ease because we wrote within his vocal range. There is nothing worse than going to see a band that you like, and the singer sounds like he is dying up there struggling to hit the notes.

 

It was sort of an insult to Jeff as well. Also, to Geddy Lee, Geoff Tate and any other singer over the age of 35.

[bill1971]

Why did you choose Jeff as a singer? Did you have other choices?

It was very important to us to have strong and powerful rock vocals. Jeff did a great job on Psychotic Symphony. We spent a lot of time with the lyrics and melody lines.

Weren't they only in the studio for a week??

[devieira73]

DTF jumping in Derek’s throat in 1 2 3...
I think what he said was a valid opinion and said with kindness (finally!) and of course it applies to a multitude of singers.

[bosk1]

DTF jumping in Derek’s throat in 1 2 3...

Deviera, you and others have already been told to stop the baiting.  Knock it off.

[devieira73]

Why did you choose Jeff as a singer? Did you have other choices?

It was very important to us to have strong and powerful rock vocals. Jeff did a great job on Psychotic Symphony. We spent a lot of time with the lyrics and melody lines.

Weren't they only in the studio for a week??

I believe that was the time only for instrumental composition and recording the basic tracks, but the vocals and melodies were done after that.

[The Walrus]

DTF jumping in Derek’s throat in 1 2 3...
I think what he said was a valid opinion and said with kindness (finally!) and of course it applies to a multitude of singers.

I can't fucking stand Derek and I thought the interview and his responses were fine. Except the rubber comment. That's kind of weird.

[devieira73]

DTF jumping in Derek’s throat in 1 2 3...

Deviera, you and others have already been told to stop the baiting.  Knock it off.

Sorry Bosk I apologize, but apparently Rumborak did that also or not?

[rumborak]

I could not care either way and frankly find this mostly just hiliarously entertaining but ... come on, of course this was another jab at James by Derek.

[cramx3]

Pretty short on the answers and ignores some of the questions 

[The Walrus]

I don't think it's fair to immediately link that comment to James. I LOVE James and I'm still critical of his voice. And there are quite frankly lots of singers who sing in the high register who just can't deliver the goods live and it gets worse as they get older because they insist on keeping the songs with stupidly high vocals in there. Not many guys in rock who can really knock it out of the park live with high vocals.

But, there isn't anything in that statement that immediately links to Dream Theater or James. Hell, he doesn't even define a genre he's talking about there. Frankly he's right. A great singer, live, does extraordinary things for a band. Nobody enjoys listening to guys struggle to sing their own songs, excuses about age and touring be damned.

[devieira73]

Yes, it’s very rare a Glenn Hughes case. Anyway, I guess maybe JSS recorded SoA in a comfortably range thinking not only today but also for years in the future.

[Sycsa]

of course this was another jab at James by Derek.

Well, that would never hold up in court, since what Derek said applies to about 20-30% of all the singers out there, but given his track record, I’m also positive that he had James in mind. Even if he hadn’t explicitly set out to take a jab a James, he sure as hell gladly accepted it as collateral damage.

If Derek were a classy guy, he’d make the effort to avoid any ambiguity, and phrase it so.

[Madman Shepherd]

We spent a lot of time with the lyrics and melody lines. He will be able to reproduce his vocal performance live at ease because we wrote within his vocal range. There is nothing worse than going to see a band that you like, and the singer sounds like he is dying up there struggling to hit the notes.

 

It was sort of an insult to Jeff as well. Also, to Geddy Lee, Geoff Tate and any other singer over the age of 35.

Even Bob Seger whom I saw a few months ago. Old Time Rock n Roll was sung in a lower register. I'm sure most people would rather it sounded like the original recording but they were having the time of their lives.

Should he have sung it in a lower register on the record because 40 years later he would have to modify it?

Contrary to what Derek said, I think limiting yourself in the studio is worse than seeing a singer struggle live which isn't preferable either. I would take a struggling singer that produced a masterpiece recording than a very unexciting recorded vocal performance. I would say Jeff's vocal performance on the SoA album is largely unexciting with a few kickass moments.

[Mosh]

I agree with Derek. Knowing the singer’s limitations and writing to accommodate them is just good songwriting. I can understand a singer struggling to sing their old material but when it’s recent stuff (which I think is what Derek was mostly referring to since the question was about JSS) it’s harder to excuse.

[MirrorMask]

I agree with Derek. Knowing the singer’s limitations and writing to accommodate them is just good songwriting. I can understand a singer struggling to sing their old material but when it’s recent stuff (which I think is what Derek was mostly referring to since the question was about JSS) it’s harder to excuse.

Well, gotta agree with that.

On the other hand I agree also with the Sheperd about how singers shouldn't limitate themselves because in 40 years they won't have the range anymore, but since the question was about Jeff Scott Soto who is 50 anyway, I don't think at 90 he'll worry about singing God of the Sun.

[bill1971]

I have not exactly been pro Derek but I don't have a real problem on what he said about singers. These bands wrote and recorded their songs in their 20's sometimes so of course as they get older they will have to alter it. That is one advantage of starting a band when you're in your 50's you don't have to worry too much about how you will sound in 20 or 30 or even 10 years possibly.

[Skeever]

Derek is right in one sense, that a lot of voices in the genre are subpar, or were once good but have not held up.

That's still not an excuse for an album's worth of afterthought vocal melodies.

[mikeyd23]

Derek is right in one sense, that a lot of voices in the genre are subpar, or were once good but have not held up.

That's still not an excuse for an album's worth of afterthought vocal melodies.

That's kinda the trade off though right? Its something that has been discussed here a lot regarding DT. If you write vocal melodies in the studio that are easier for a singer to pull off live, you are basically limiting the singers range (in most cases). This often can lead to monotone vocals that don't have a lot of movement, aren't terribly dynamic, and tend to be forgettable.

On the flip side, you can do essentially what DT has done (for the most part) and continue to write pretty challenging parts in the studio for James. He tends to pretty much always deliver in the studio, which leads to a dynamic performance with lots of range and movement on the record, but he tends to then struggle with those tough sections live.

I'm not saying one way is right and another is wrong, just different approaches, that's all.

[rumborak]

It's not that you're forcing the singer to choose from 2 notes. "Keeping in range" still means probably a solid 2 octaves or so. I think a lot of artists out there prove daily that good vocal melodies don't require 5 octaves.

[mikeyd23]

It's not that you're forcing the singer to choose from 2 notes. "Keeping in range" still means probably a solid 2 octaves or so. I think a lot of artists out there prove daily that good vocal melodies don't require 5 octaves.

Right, but in this specific instance, I'd say Jeff's performance suffered from being held to those constraints.

[Mosh]

Definitely. Whether or not Derek had a point JSS seemed underused.

[rumborak]

Definitely not disagreeing on that front. JSS has a lot to offer, but went entirely underused. Or even badly used, like the beginning of Labyrinth.
I just don't think that range has much to do with it.

[the keyboard wizard]

Pretty short on the answers and ignores some of the questions 

Exactly, that's why I don't like that much email interviews because in most cases, the interviewee doesn't not develop his answers. But it's not just Derek: every email interview I did had the same problem. Nothing beats a real "face to face" interview.

[bill1971]

It's not that you're forcing the singer to choose from 2 notes. "Keeping in range" still means probably a solid 2 octaves or so. I think a lot of artists out there prove daily that good vocal melodies don't require 5 octaves.

Right, but in this specific instance, I'd say Jeff's performance suffered from being held to those constraints.

Yes agreed. JSS has a lot more range but went unused. It is like having a superstar basketball player but telling him to only play 20 minutes and don't hustle too much so they don't get hurt.

[mikeyd23]

Definitely not disagreeing on that front. JSS has a lot to offer, but went entirely underused. Or even badly used, like the beginning of Labyrinth.
I just don't think that range has much to do with it.

In general, I don't think range necessarily has to have much to do with it.

In particular, when looking at SOA and Jeff, I think not utilizing his range more definitely had a lot to do with my opinion of him being underused and not memorable. 

[cramx3]

Pretty short on the answers and ignores some of the questions 

Exactly, that's why I don't like that much email interviews because in most cases, the interviewee doesn't not develop his answers. But it's not just Derek: every email interview I did had the same problem. Nothing beats a real "face to face" interview.

Sucks, wasn't meant to be insulting or anything either.  You had some good questions that went un answered.

[erwinrafael]

We spent a lot of time with the lyrics and melody lines. He will be able to reproduce his vocal performance live at ease because we wrote within his vocal range. There is nothing worse than going to see a band that you like, and the singer sounds like he is dying up there struggling to hit the notes.

Well, it is written within JSS' current vocal range, all right. So much "within" that it doesn't even touch near the potential of what Jeff can still do. Doesn't even come close to Jeff's vocals in his recent solo album or in what he's doing now in TSO.

Come on, Derek. Don't sell Jeff Scott Soto short. He lost a lot of his range but he has a lot left in his tank with that beautiful voice.

[goo-goo]

Why did you choose Jeff as a singer? Did you have other choices?

It was very important to us to have strong and powerful rock vocals. Jeff did a great job on Psychotic Symphony. We spent a lot of time with the lyrics and melody lines.

Weren't they only in the studio for a week??

They only spent one week tracking and recording the basic tracks in the studio. Vocals were recorded later.

[bill1971]

We spent a lot of time with the lyrics and melody lines. He will be able to reproduce his vocal performance live at ease because we wrote within his vocal range. There is nothing worse than going to see a band that you like, and the singer sounds like he is dying up there struggling to hit the notes.

Well, it is written within JSS' current vocal range, all right. So much "within" that it doesn't even touch near the potential of what Jeff can still do. Doesn't even come close to Jeff's vocals in his recent solo album or in what he's doing now in TSO.

Come on, Derek. Don't sell Jeff Scott Soto short. He lost a lot of his range but he has a lot left in his tank with that beautiful voice.

Well he can sound bad there. Who the hell sees TSO anyhow?

Yes I am joking.

[Madman Shepherd]

So if Derek is all about faithfully reproducing music in a live setting, why did he use a string ensemble unless he is planning on taking them with for the tour? It's okay to alter some of the music but not the vocals?

[RodrigoAltaf]

They're in the bill of the Hellfest Festival...oh man, Priest, Maiden, Megadeth, Alice in Chains... I'd love to go!

[Architeuthis]

They're in the bill of the Hellfest Festival...oh man, Priest, Maiden, Megadeth, Alice in Chains... I'd love to go!

And Nightwish!

[Adami]

They're in the bill of the Hellfest Festival...oh man, Priest, Maiden, Megadeth, Alice in Chains... I'd love to go!

Good choice for them! They need to stick to these types of gigs for now.