DREAM THEATER Drummer Interviewed At France's HELLFEST; Video Available

July 1, 2009

Romania's Metalhead TV conducted an interview with drummer Mike Portnoy of progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER at this year's Hellfest, which was held on June 19-21, 2009 in Clisson, France. Watch the six-minute chat below.

DREAM THEATER's latest album, "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", has taken the band to new heights. The CD debuted at No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales totaling 40,285. Both numbers mark the highest-ever first-week figures for the band, which is enjoying the greatest success of its 25-year career. 12% of the week's sales were digital, putting "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" at No. 21 on the Digital Albums chart.

Commented Portnoy: "This is truly amazing. After almost 25 years together, DREAM THEATER is still growing and progressing and doing bigger and better than ever. I can't think of many bands that can claim that. We are truly thankful to have this incredible support from fans who believe in the band as a musical force."

Such a monumental debut places dream theater, a band known for lengthy epics and the true "album" format, in the cozy Top 10 company of JONAS BROTHERS, BLACK EYED PEAS and REGINA SPEKTOR, a truly remarkable feat. Portnoy continued, "An album with four songs over 12 minutes in the U.S. Top 10? Hell must've frozen over! This is one small leap for DREAM THEATER, and one giant leap for music in general."

"Black Clouds & Silver Linings" is DREAM THEATER's tenth studio album and follow-up to the band's 2007 Roadrunner Records debut, "Systematic Chaos". In addition to the standard version CD, the album is also available on vinyl LP, as well as a three-disc special-edition CD that includes the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs. A limited deluxe collector's edition boxed set is also available.

DREAM THEATER made its debut appearance in Israel last month, rocking a crowd 10,000 strong to their knees. The band's own Progressive Nation tour returns stateside on July 24 in Miami, and will feature DREAM THEATER as headliner, ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA, BIGELF and SCALE THE SUMMIT. The tour — which marks the second incarnation of Progressive Nation — wraps on August 29 in Los Angeles.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).