DREAM THEATER's MIKE PORTNOY Explains 'Systematic Chaos'

Morley Seaver of CausticTruths.com recently conducted an interview with DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On the group's songwriting:

"I don't know if we've ever had one song that could really sum up what DREAM THEATER is about because there are so many sides to the band. I guess the big epic songs are always the ones that tend to show all of the different sides. So I guess if I could only play one person one song, if they had 25 minutes to spare, I'd play both parts of 'In The Presence Of Enemies' from the new record because that's really going to show the full spectrum. Usually the shorter songs, something like just 'Forsaken' or 'Constant Motion' isn't going to really give the big picture. It'll just give you a little taste of one side of what the band is."

On the group's new deal with Roadrunner Records:

"Well, our contract finally ended with Atlantic. You know, we had been signed to them for 14 years and they picked up every option for each album. So there was no getting away. As hard as we tried! (laughs) We had them for the duration of that contract and once it ended we had different options out there. But I think the whole corporate, major label corporate thing left a sour taste in our mouth. It served us well on one level. It surely got us a lot of exposure but on another level we were always a small fish in a big pond. And yes we're kinda the big fish in our own little progressive empire, yeah. But in the mainstream world, you know, I don't think the label ever did crap for us with marketing and promotions. So when it came time to look for a new label we were definitely scared off to any of the Warners or Sonys in that whole kind of approach.

"Roadrunner has really proven themselves as an amazing label that has major label status and promotion and marketability but at the same time a real independent spirit. And if you look at what they've done with bands like OPETH and SLIPKNOT or STONE SOUR to NICKELBACK to MACHINE HEAD, you know. It was obvious from their roster that they really cherish the bands for what they do and just did their best to market and promote those bands for what they do. And that seemed like the perfect place for us."

On the band's new album, "Systematic Chaos":

"It's seven completely independent songs with independent ideas and independent musical themes. You know, 'Octavarium', 'Six Degrees'… and 'Scenes from A Memory', they all had big grand themes and concepts, but with 'Systematic Chaos' it was nice to just, you know, have individual tracks to work with."

Read the entire interview at CausticTruths.com.