Dream Theater: A journey from 1985………. (Part I)

In 1985, three students of Berklee College of Music, John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy, decided to form a band in Massachusetts. The trio decided to name their group, Majesty, when they were waiting in line for tickets to a Rush concert at the Berklee Performance Centre while listening to the band on a boom box.

Petrucci, lead guitarist, asked his high school band-mate Kevin Moore to play the keyboards in his new band while another friend Chris Collins was recruited as the band’s lead vocalist. The group covered Rush and Iron Maiden songs in the start.

In the first few months of 1986, the band performed at various concerts in and around New York City. In addition, the band also recorded a collection of demos during this period with the name, The Majesty demos.

In November 1986, Chris Collins was fired, and Charlie Dominici was recruited for the vacant lead vocalist slot after a year. The new vocalist was far more experienced and older than anyone else in the band.

Shortly after luring Dominici in the band, a band in Las Vegas also named Majesty threatened legal action against the group, forcing them to change the name. Several names were proposed and tested like Glasser, Magus and M1. However, all of them were rejected. Portnoy’s father suggested ‘Dream Theater’ as the band’s new name, which stuck eventually at the end.

With the new name, Dream Theater concentrated on writing more material and playing more concerts. This eventually attracted the attention of Mechanic Record, a division of MCA.

The band signed their first record deal with the company on June 23, 1988, and hit the studios to record their debut studio album. They recorded the album at Kajem Victory Studios in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. The entire record was completed in almost three weeks.

Continued in ‘Dream Theater: A journey from 1985………. (Part II)’

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Posted by Haris Ansari on Aug 12 2012. Filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.