Dream Theater

GIG REVIEW: Dream Theater, Palais, Melbourne, December 7 2009

Published December 7, 2009 | By Peter Hodgson

Once upon a time, if my brother (hi Steevil) and I wanted to listen to Dream Theater we had to order the CDs as imports from the cool old Dutch dude who ran a CD store in our local main street. Forty bucks later we’d have ‘Images & Words’ or ‘Awake.’ This was the height of grunge and such musical tastes were frowned upon by my peers but I didn’t give a feck. Dream Theater were my band. They represented how I felt, what I thought about and how I liked to play.

Cut to today, and Dream Theater CDs are readily available in stores. And not only that – they’ve even started coming all the way down to Australia to prog our socks off at regular intervals. Their first ever tour of Australia was in January 2008 and already they’re back.

My evening started quite awesomely indeed with a 15-minute one-on-one chat with John Petrucci backstage at the Palais in St Kilda a few hours before the gig. You’ll be able to read that interview here later this week so I won’t spoil it for ya, suffice to say that JP was really friendly and talkative and it was so cool to have a chunk of his time to talk guitar geek stuff. Another of those “If the 15 year old me knew this would happen someday he’d probably pass out” moments.

Anyway, on to the gig. Pain Of Salvation were the support. I haven’t listened to them too much but it was cool to see them. They somehow manage to blend proggy rhythms with anthemic melodies without sounding trite at either. I was glad I saw them (and it’s great to see a band using Laboga amps on stage – check them out some time, especially the Mr Hector head), and I’ll definitely check them out further. Vocalist Daniel Gildenlöw has one hell of a high range. Good lord.

As for Dream Theater, the setlist wasn’t as all-encompassing as last year’s shows, where they took great pains to give Australia a “Sorry we’ve never played here before” show. Instead they dipped a little deeper into the catalog, in addition to three songs from this year’s kickass ‘Black Clouds And Silver Linings’ album. The show was bookended by the opening and closing tracks. Nice touch.

1. A Nightmare To Remember
2. A Rite Of Passage
3. Hollow Years
4. Erotomania
5. Voices
6. Keyboard Solo
7. Forsaken
8. Solitary Shell
9. In The Name Of God
10. Encore: The Count Of Tuscany

It was cool to hear Hollow Years live (what was with that bit they added to the pre-chorus? Threw off my singalong!), while it was a little bit jarring to hear Erotomania and Voices without The Silent Man following them up and rounding off the ‘A Mind Beside Itself’ trilogy. Forsaken was suitably epic, with the animated, vampire-laden video playing in the background. Solitary Shell was played at almost double the tempo but somehow it worked. In The Name Of God was one of my least-listened to tracks from Train Of Thought but one could never grizzle about having to hear that incredible solo breakdown.

Highlights included Jordan Rudess’s wizard (I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t caught this tour yet) and iPod solos, Mike Portnoy’s wander around his drum kit during a low-key interlude, and trying to figure out what James LaBrie might be doing when ducking behind John Petrucci’s amps during extended instrumental sections. My guess is that he has a Nintendo Wii back there and is trying to beat his high score in bowling. Petrucci’s tone was monstrously huge, no doubt due in part to his new DiMarzio Crunch Lab and LiquiFire pickups, and he played with all the precision and fire we’ve grown to expect from him. Fun fact: Petrucci is using his B rig in Australia, which is based on the Mesa Boogie Mark IV amp.

If I were to pick my own ideal Dream Theater setlist, it’d probably look a lot different to this one. But that’s probably why I enjoyed this gig so much – they didn’t play what I expected, and there were three tracks that I would call completely left-field choices (Hollow Years, Solitary Shell and In The Name Of God). It takes balls to play a mere 10 songs over two hours and not play more obvious tracks. And in my mind the setlist went a long way towards making up for the many, many years Dream Theater never toured Australia, by saying “Hey, you got all the big stuff last time, but now we’re buddies, we all know each other, and we’re gonna go a little deeper into the catalog.”

Tickets are still available for tonight’s second Melbourne show.

Remaining Australian tour dates:

Dec 08, 2009: Melbourne, Palais Theatre
Dec 09, 2009: Adelaide, Thebarton Theatre
Dec 12, 2009: Perth, Metro City

LINK: Dream Theater at Roadrunner Records Australia.

Posted in Dream Theater, gig review | Tagged Dream Theater, gig review, pain of salvation | 7 Comments

LESSON: How to sound like John Petrucci

Published August 25, 2009 | By Peter Hodgson

There are certain aspects of John Petrucci’s tone that have remained relatively consistent over the years: a flutey, rounded neck pickup soloing voice and a zingy, almost acoustic-like clean sound. His rhythm tone, however, has jumped all over the shop: thick and warm on Images & Words, Falling Into Infinity, Scenes From A Memory and Black Clouds & Silver Linings; somewhat scooped and harsh on Awake, 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Train Of Thought; and somewhere in between for the rest.

First of all, that clean tone. Petrucci’s guitars have two humbuckers and a three-way pickup selector switch. The middle position combines one coil from each pickup, and the end result is conceptually similar to the middle setting on a Telecaster: two single coil pickups in parallel. Now, if you have a multi-channel amp and complex effect-switching system like Petrucci you can set up all sorts of effects to optimise this sound: delay, chorus, compression, sometimes even a phaser like in ‘Peruvian Skies.’ Personally I like to start with some high compression with a very fast reaction time (Petrucci’s live clean tone is particularly compressed in most cases), then sometimes I will either add a pitch shifter parallel to the chorus, or instead of it all together. Set the pitch shifter for a slight doubling just a few cents above the original note, and you’ll get a stereoriffic, hi-fi kind of sound which doesn’t waver and wobble like a chorus would. Check out ‘A Change Of Seasons’ or ‘The Count Of Tuscany’ for examples of this sort of tone – although keep in mind that Petrucci has the luxury of also using the piezo pickups mounted in the bridges of his guitars to get acoustic sounds too. That dude thinks of everything.

As for that flutey lead sound, there are some things that you just can’t dial in with EQ. You need a specific pickup to get them. Back in the earliest days of Dream Theater, Petrucci used the DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell, which is designed to have the frequency response of a single coil but the output of a humbucker. Later he shifted to the Air Norton, and a modified version of it for his Ernie Ball Music Man signature guitar, but nowadays he has the LiquiFire. These pickups all share that rounded tone that seems to emphasise pick attack as well as legato phrasing. One key aspect of that classic Petrucci alternate-picked neck pickup sound is the consistency from note to note, and the only way to get this is to practice. When playing fast, Petrucci typically anchors his pinky finger on the bridge pickup to minimise the distance his hand might stray from the string.

As for the bridge pickup, Petrucci used the Tone Zone – a very mid-and-bass-heavy pickup originally designed as a possible bridge pickup for the Ernie Ball Music Man Edward Van Halen signature guitar – on Images & Words; a midrange-scooped Steve’s Special on Falling Into Infinity and Scenes From A Memory; a custom-designed pickup based on the Steve’s Special but with some tweaks for his Music Man signature guitar; and in more recent years the D-Sonic, a pickup particularly suited to low tunings, before shifting to the new signature Crunch Lab model. He used the Blaze model in his Ibanez Universe 7-string on Awake, and tonally this pickup (which was designed for Steve Vai and is all over Passion & Warfare) is quite similar to the Steve’s Speical. One thing’s for sure, you’ve got buckley’s chance of getting close to his tone unless you use a high quality valve amp. It also helps to have a guitar with quite low action and to use a softer picking attack than you might use for other styles. Think of it as a precision-guided missile rather than indiscriminate bombing.

CLICK HERE for my review of the Crunch Lab 7 and LiquiFire 7.

Photo by Larry DiMarzio

Posted in Dream Theater, John Petrucci | Tagged Dimarzio, Dream Theater, John Petrucci | 2 Comments

NEWS: Dream Theater Australian & New Zealand tour dates

Published July 27, 2009 | By Peter Hodgson

Woohoo!!!

Dec. 01 – Auckland, New Zealand – Civic Theatre
Dec. 3 – Brisbane, Australia – Convention Centre
Dec. 05 – Sydney, Australia – Hordern Pavilion
Dec. 07 – Melbourne, Australia – Palais Theatre
Dec. 08 – Melbourne, Australia – Palais Theatre
Dec. 09 – Adelaide, Australia – Thebarton Theatre
Dec. 11 – Perth, Australia – Metro City

Posted in Dream Theater | Tagged Dream Theater, Dream Theater Australia New Zealand | 1 Comment

NEWS: My playing is on DiMarzio.com!

Published July 27, 2009 | By Peter Hodgson

Add this to the list of Cool Stuff I Find Out About First Thing In The Morning. Remember my DiMarzio Crunch Lab 7 and LiquiFire 7 review from last week? The great folks at DiMarzio liked the review and are now using the sound clips on the Crunch Lab 7 and LiquiFire 7 pages of their website. Go to http://www.dimarzio.com/ and click the links for the individual pickups in the 7 string category (see the photo at the end of this post).

This is super ultra exciting because I’ve been using DiMarzio stuff since I was about 14. In fact, aside from various straps, switches and potentiometers, here’s my DiMarzio list:

Ibanez UV777BK – Blaze bridge, Blaze middle, Blaze neck
Ibanez Jem7VWH – Evolution bridge, Evolution middle, Evolution neck
Ibanez RG550 – PAF Pro in the neck
Ibanez RG370 – Tone Zone bridge, Evolution neck
Ibanez RG7620 – Crunch Lab 7 bridge, LiquiFire 7 neck
Ibanez RG7420 – Tone Zone 7 bridge, Blaze neck
Ibanez custom (not yet finished) – EJ Custom bridge, Solo Pro middle, EJ Custom neck

In my parts box I also have New 7 neck and bridge humbuckers (which were stock in my RG7620), a spare Blaze neck pickup, an Evolution 7 (which sounds cool but had to come out to make way for the LiquiFire!) and another PAF Pro.

DiMarzio LiquiFire & Crunch Lab pickups on Musician’s Friend

6-string regular
DiMarzio DP227 LiquiFire Neck Humbucker Black Regular – $75.95
DiMarzio DP228 Crunch Lab Bridge Humbucker Black Regular – $79.95

6-string F-spaced (pole pieces spaced for guitars with whammy bars)
DiMarzio DP227 LiquiFire Neck Humbucker Black F Spaced - $75.95
DiMarzio DP228 Crunch Lab Bridge Humbucker Black F Spaced – $79.95

7-string
DiMarzio DP707 LiquiFire 7 String Neck Pickup Black – $79.95
DiMarzio DP708 Crunch Lab 7 String Bridge Pickup Black – $89.95

Posted in Dream Theater, John Petrucci | Tagged Dimarzio, Dimarzio Crunch Lab, Dimarzio Liquifire, Dimarzio Petrucci, Dream Theater, John Petrucci | 4 Comments

VIDEO: John Petrucci on DiMarzio, Music Man and his live sound

Published July 24, 2009 | By Peter Hodgson

Here’s a cool video of Dream Theater’s John Petrucci talking about his new Ernie Ball Music Man guitar and working with DiMarzio on pickups. He also talks about his live rig and how he approaches his sound in live performance compared to the studio.

CLICK HERE for my review of John’s new DiMarzio LiquiFire and Crunch Lab pickups.

CLICK HERE to buy the Music Man John Petrucci BFR 7 Electric Guitar Black Burst Quilted Maple from Musician’s Friend for $3,115.

CLICK HERE to buy the Music Man Ball Family Reserve John Petrucci 6 Electric Guitar Black Burst Flame Maple from Musician’s Friend for $2,800.

CLICK HERE to buy the Music Man John Petrucci 6 Electric Guitar with Piezo Bridge Mystic Dream Chrome Hardware from Musician’s Friend for $2,355.50.

CLICK HERE to buy the Sterling by Music Man JP50 John Petrucci Signature Electric Guitar Pearl Red Burst from Musician’s Friend for $549.

Posted in Dream Theater, Ernie Ball Music Man, John Petrucci | Tagged Dimarzio, Dimarzio Crunch Lab, Dimarzio Liquifire, Dream Theater, Ernie Ball Music Man, John Petrucci | 1 Comment

NEWS: New John Petrucci signature DiMarzios

Published June 23, 2009 | By Peter Hodgson

Wha? When did this happen? DiMarzio is releasing two signature John Petrucci pickups, the brutally-named Crunch Lab bridge pickup and Liquifire. The only place I can seem to find any mention of these yet is on the DiMarzio website, so I guess they’re super-ultra new. And they’re available in both 6 and 7 string versions!

Crunch Lab details:
One thing has stayed consistent throughout John Petrucci’s long and successful career: the DiMarzio pickups in his guitars. John has been pushing the envelope of progressive metal since the late eighties, and the new DiMarzio Crunch Lab Bridge Model ensued from our most recent collaboration with John. He used it throughout Dream Theater’s tenth studio album, Black Clouds and Silver Linings.
John swears this is the best live and studio sound he has ever had, and the name says it all crunch is what it’s all about with a big, tight sound that’s neither muddy nor thin.
Tech Talk: The Crunch Lab is noteworthy (bad pun alert!) for what it doesn’t do – it’s not a screamer, and it’s not about thundering lows. Its physical appearance is identical to the D Sonic, but the internal design is a lot different. It’s louder, and the highs have more depth. The lows and mids are more open, and this is crucial for playing chords with body and presence through a gained–out amp. The voicing of the pickup is also different enough to the point that John prefers the Crunch Lab to be installed in almost all of his guitars (including the JP Bari) with the solid bar toward the neck, regardless of the guitar’s tuning.

Liquifire details:
One thing has stayed consistent throughout John Petrucci’s long and successful career: the DiMarzio pickups in his guitars. John has been pushing the envelope of progressive metal since the late eighties, and the DiMarzio LiquiFire Neck Model resulted from our most recent collaboration with John. He used it throughout Dream Theater’s tenth studio album, Black Clouds and Silver Linings.
John swears this is the best live and studio sound he has ever had. He wanted a neck pickup with a flowing, singing solo tone when used with a heavily overdriven amp and a clear chord sound with a clean amp setting.
Tech Talk: Since the mid 1990s, John’s neck pickup sound has been based on either the standard Air Norton or the custom version in his Ernie Ball guitars. The LiquiFire has several significant differences. Its treble response is warmer and smoother while bass response is tighter and brighter. The total sound has a more focused voice.

Read my interview with DiMarzio pickup designer Steve Blucher here.

Posted in Dream Theater, John Petrucci | Tagged Dimarzio, Dimarzio Crunch Lab, Dimarzio Liquifire, Dimarzio Petrucci, Dream Theater, John Petrucci | Leave a comment

NEWS: Dream Theater covers Rainbow

Published May 19, 2009 | By Peter Hodgson

Available now on iTunes is Dream Theater’s new cover of Rainbow’s ‘Stargazer.’ CLICK HERE to buy it.

The new Dream Theater album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, will be released by Roadrunner on June 23.

CLICK HERE to order the standard edition from Amazon.com or the ad to the right to order the 3-disc special edition.

There is also a deluxe box set edition of the album, which costs $130.98 at Amazon.com. CLICK HERE to order the deluxe edition from Amazon.com. Here are the details from Dream Theater’s site:

Deluxe Collector’s Edition Box Set (3CD & DVD)

Disc 1
A Nightmare to Remember
A Rite of Passage
Wither
The Shattered Fortress
The Best of Times
The Count of Tuscany

Disc 2
6 cover Versions (TBC)

Disc 3
A Nightmare to Remember (Instrumental)
A Rite of Passage (Instrumental)
Wither (Instrumental)
The Shattered Fortress (Instrumental)
The Best of Times (Instrumental)
The Count of Tuscany (Instrumental)

The Deluxe Collector’s Edition Box Set includes the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs (the titles of which will be revealed at a later date) plus the following special features:

DVD

Stem mixes of standard CD (try your hand at producer with isolated audio tracks of the entire album)

Dream Theater mouse mat

Find a silver foil ticket (100 lucky fans win a Meet & Greet with the band)

Lithograph of cover art, numbered (100 lucky winners will find a litho signed by Hugh Syme)

Limited edition audiophile 180-gram double-LP set with exclusive artwork from Hugh Syme

Posted in Dream Theater | Tagged black clouds and silver linings, Dream Theater, dream theater cover | Leave a comment

NEWS: New Dream Theater video – what do you think?

Published May 8, 2009 | By Peter Hodgson

Here’s the video for Dream Theater’s new single, A Rite Of Passage, courtesy of Roadrunner Records.

What are your thoughts? Feel free to leave your comments here.

Personally, it ‘A Rite Of Passage’ reminds me of Scenes From A Memory, which is probably my favourite Dream Theater album. Can’t wait to hear the rest.

The new Dream Theater album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, will be released by Roadrunner on June 23.

CLICK HERE to order the standard edition from Amazon.com or the ad to the right to order the 3-disc special edition.

There is also a deluxe box set edition of the album, which costs $130.98 at Amazon.com. CLICK HERE to order the deluxe edition from Amazon.com. Here are the details from Dream Theater’s site:

Deluxe Collector’s Edition Box Set (3CD & DVD)

Disc 1
A Nightmare to Remember
A Rite of Passage
Wither
The Shattered Fortress
The Best of Times
The Count of Tuscany

Disc 2
6 cover Versions (TBC)

Disc 3
A Nightmare to Remember (Instrumental)
A Rite of Passage (Instrumental)
Wither (Instrumental)
The Shattered Fortress (Instrumental)
The Best of Times (Instrumental)
The Count of Tuscany (Instrumental)

The Deluxe Collector’s Edition Box Set includes the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs (the titles of which will be revealed at a later date) plus the following special features:

DVD

Stem mixes of standard CD (try your hand at producer with isolated audio tracks of the entire album)

Dream Theater mouse mat

Find a silver foil ticket (100 lucky fans win a Meet & Greet with the band)

Lithograph of cover art, numbered (100 lucky winners will find a litho signed by Hugh Syme)

Limited edition audiophile 180-gram double-LP set with exclusive artwork from Hugh Syme

Posted in Dream Theater, Roadrunner | Tagged Dream Theater, Roadrunner | 7 Comments

NEWS: New Dream Theater single for free download

Published May 5, 2009 | By Peter Hodgson

Just saw this on Blabbermouth.net:

DREAM THEATER: New Single Available For Free Download For 24 Hours Only - May 5, 2009

Starting on May 6 at 12:00 a.m (midnight) EST, click here to download a free MP3 of “A Rite of Passage”, the first single from DREAM THEATER’s upcoming album “Black Clouds & Silver Linings”, due in stores June 23. The free MP3 will be available for 24 hours. After that, the track will stream on RoadrunnerRecords.com.

In addition to the standard-version CD, “Black Clouds & Silver Linings” will also be available on vinyl LP, as well as a three-disc, special-edition CD that will include the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs.

Six weeks prior to the June 23 street date, Roadrunner will release one cover song per week through digital retailers.

DREAM THEATER commenced work on “Black Clouds & Silver Linings” — the band’s second for Roadrunner, following up 2007′s “Systematic Chaos” — in October of last year.

Drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci are once again at the helm as producers, while Paul Northfield mixed the record.

“Black Clouds & Silver Linings” track listing:

01. A Nightmare to Remember
02. A Rite of Passage
03. Wither
04. The Shattered Fortress
05. The Best of Times
06. The Count of Tuscany

Posted in Dream Theater | Tagged Dream Theater, free dream theater single download | Leave a comment

NEWS: New Dream Theater album title, cover, details

Published March 12, 2009 | By Peter Hodgson

Fellow prog geeks rejoice! The new Dream Theater album is called ‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’ and it will be released on June 23 on Roadrunner Records.

In addition to the standard-version CD, there will also be a vinyl LP and a three-disc, special-edition CD that will include the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs, the titles of which will be revealed at a later date.

Six weeks prior to the June 23 street date, Roadrunner will release one cover song per week through digital retailers. A video for the first single, ‘A Rite of Passage,’ will be shot in late March.

‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’ was produced by drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci, and it was mixed by Paul Northfield.

The track listing is: