James Labrie

Source: http://www.jameslabrie.com/bio.html

Kevin James Labrie was born on May 5, 1963 in Penetanguishene, a town in Ontario, Canada. James' parents say that when he was three years old, he would walk around the house singing whatever songs were on the radio. Although he didn't get the words right, he could sing the melodies. Inspired by his father, James started singing and playing drums at age 5: "My parents say I was tapping on everything so if they didn't get me a drum set, I'd ruin the house!" When he was six years old, he was very intent on replicating different vocal styles and techniques. It was obvious that his voice was very mature for a six year old. When James was in elementary school, his teacher put him in singing class to further his training. Meanwhile, his father, uncle, and brothers were in a barber shop quartet, which James was made a part of.

Yet James' real love was rock music which he pursued by his early teens. By fourteen, James was singing and playing drums in several bands. However, James knew that drums were secondary to his true passion, singing. At eighteen, James moved to Toronto, Canada.

At age 21, he began vocal training with the renowned vocal coach Rosemary Patricia Burns. After working with several Canadian bands, James became the vocalist for Winter Rose, which almost signed with Atlantic Records. Then Pierre Paradis, who managed the band Voi Vod, approached James regarding a solo project with Aquarius Records. He also told James about a New York based band called Dream Theater who were looking for a vocalist. The rest, as they say, is history.

James' musical tastes are quite varied as he names Metallica, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Journey and Judas Priest as well as classical composers Mozart, Vivaldi and Beethoven as favorites. Influential vocalists include Steve Perry (formerly of Journey), Freddie Mercury, Sting, Paul Rodgers and Nat King Cole. James continues to practice with Ms. Burns and encourages other vocalists to pursue formal training.

Throughout his musical career, James has become one of the most well-respected and admired vocalists in progressive rock. As the voice of Dream Theater and guest performer on numerous side projects, James has helped to define the sound of progressive music for the next millenium. His incredible range and distinctive, intense vocal performances have earned him accolades from fans and critics alike.

In addition to Dream Theater's numerous studio and live releases (Images & Words, Live at the Marquee, Awake, A Change of Seasons, Falling Into Infinity, Once in a LIVEtime, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory, Live Scenes From New York, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Train of Thought, Live At Budokan, and Octavarium), James has also appeared on releases by Fates Warning and Shadow Gallery, Trent Gardner's Explorer's Club and Leonardo the Absolute Man, the first Frameshift album (Unweaving the Rainbow), Ayreon's The Human Equation, as well as tribute albums to Rush, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and Queen. In 1999, James completed and released the first MullMuzzler cd, Keep it to Yourself to much critical acclaim. The followup, James LaBrie's MullMuzzler 2, was released on September 11th, 2001. In 2005, James dropped the MullMuzzler moniker and released Elements of Persuasion, the third and arguably greatest of his solo efforts. A fourth solo album is already in the works so stay tuned.

When not on the road, James enjoys camping, downhill skiing and reading. His favorite authors include Anne Rice, Dee Brown, Robert Utley and Forest Carter. James currently lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife Karen, daughter Chloe, and son Chance Abraham.




Mike Portnoy

Source : http://www.mikeportnoy.com

Mike Portnoy was born on April 20, 1967 and raised in Long Beach, New York, where his interest in music started at an early age. “My father was a rock n’ roll disc jockey, so I was always surrounded by music constantly. I had this huge record collection when I was real young and loved the Beatles and then later on Kiss. It was inevitable that I’d become a musician.”

Although Mike taught himself how to play the drums, he did take music theory classes in high school. During that time he began playing in local bands Intruder, Rising Power and Inner Sanctum, the latter of which released their own album. Mike left the band after being awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee Music College in Boston.

An avid collector of many things, Mike has a vast array of Dream Theater memorabilia including bootlegs, posters, clippings and everything else under the sun with the band’s name on it. He is also responsible for capturing everything the band does on video tape and DAT. His huge video collection includes favourite films as 2001, A Clockwork Orange, Jacob’s Ladder and The Wall along with episodes of The Simpsons and memorable boxing matches.

Mike says his biggest influences are Rush drummer Neil Peart and the late Frank Zappa. Other favourites include drummers Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colaiuta, Simon Philips, John Bonham and Keith Moon and bands such as The Beatles, Queen, Yes, Metallica, Jellyfish, Iron Maidon, U2 and Jane’s Addiction. He is also a fan of rap music.

Mike and his wife Marlene live in Rockland, NY with their daughter Melody Ruthandrea, new son Max John, dog Bongo and cats E.T. and Cypress.






Jordan Rudess

Source : http://www.music-city.org

Jordan Rudess (born November 4, 1956) is a Juilliard-trained keyboard (music) most famously known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater.

Jordan was recognized by his 3rd grade teacher as an exceptional piano player, and was immediately given professional tuition to enhance his prodigious talents. By the age of nine he entered the prestigious Juilliard for classical piano training, but by his late teens he had grown increasingly interested in synthesizers and progressive rock music. Against the advice and wishes of his parents and tutors, he decided to turn away from classical piano and try his hand as a solo prog rock keyboardist. After performing in various projects during the 1980s, he gained national attention in 1994 when he was voted "Best New Talent" in the Keyboard Magazine readers' poll after the release of his Listen solo album. Two of the bands who took notice of the up and coming young star was The Dixie Dregs and Dream Theater, both of whom invited him to join their respective bands. Jordan chose the Dregs primarily because being a part time member of the band would have less of an impact on his young family, a choice he wasn't given with Dream Theater. During his time with the Dregs, Jordan formed a so-called "power duo" with drummer Rod Morgenstein. The genesis of this pairing occurred when a power outage caused all of the Dregs' instruments to fail except Jordan's, so he and Rod improvised with each other until power was restored and the concert could continue. The chemistry between the two was so strong during this jam that they decided to perform together on a regular basis (under the name Rudess/Morgenstein Project or later RPM) and have since released a studio and a live record. Jordan encountered Dream Theater once again when he and Morgenstein secured the support slot on one of Dream Theater's North American tours. In 1997, when Mike Portnoy was asked to form a supergroup by Magna Carta Records, Jordan was chosen to fill the keyboardist spot in the band which also consisted of Tony Levin and Mike's Dream Theater colleague John Petrucci. During the recording of Liquid Tension Experiment's two albums, it became evident to Mike and John that Jordan was precisely what Dream Theater needed. They asked Jordan to join the band, and when he accepted they fired their then-keyboardist Derek Sherinian to make way for Jordan. Jordan has been the full-time keyboardist in Dream Theater since the recording of 1999's Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory. He has recorded 3 other studio albums since then; 2001's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, 2003's Train of Thought (Dream Theater album), and 2005's Octavarium. In addition, he has appeared on the live albums Live Scenes From New York and Live at Budokan (Dream Theater).






John Petrucci

Source : http://en.sonorika.com/johnpetrucci

Petrucci first played guitar at the age of eight when he noticed his sister (who was taking organ lessons at the time) was allowed to stay up past her bed time to practice. He soon dropped it when his plan failed. At age 12, he began playing again when he was invited into the band of his friend Kevin Moore, who would later become the first keyboard of Dream Theater. Petrucci began to practice in earnest whilst exercising physically. He was a largely self-taught guitarist who developed his skills through attempts to match the skill of his idols, who included Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Al Di Meola, Alex Lifeson and Allan Holdsworth. He has jokingly referred to his guitar idols as "the Steves and the Als".

Petrucci attended Berklee College of Music in Boston with childhood friend John Myung (bass), where they met future bandmate Mike Portnoy (drums). These three in addition to another childhood friend of Petrucci and Myung, Kevin Moore (Keyboards), formed the band Majesty, which would later become Dream Theater.

While Dream Theater is what Petrucci is most commonly associated with, he is also a part of the project band Liquid Tension Experiment and has appeared as a guest on several records by other artists such as the Age of Impact album by the Explorer's Club.

Petrucci has released a guitar instructional video, "Rock Discipline", which covers warm up exercises, exercises to avoid injury while playing, alternate picking, sweep picking, chords and other techniques for developing one's guitar playing. Petrucci also has a book named "Guitar World presents John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom", which was compiled from columns he wrote for Guitar World magazine, bearing that same title.

In 2001 he was invited by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired him to record a solo album. Suspended Animation was released on March 1, 2005, and made available for order from his web site. He also appeared on the 2005, 2006 and 2007 G3 tours.

Petrucci also wrote and recorded two instrumental soundtrack songs for a Sega Saturn game titled Necronomicon. Each track is roughly two minutes long and they are simply titled "Prologue" and "Epilogue". Petrucci is an avid Sega Saturn gamer, and has revealed in interviews that he never tours without one.

In 2007, John Petrucci went on G3 tour again, this time with Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert.

Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic.http://www.dtfaq.com/question/114 Petrucci is married to Rena Sands, a guitarist in the all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak, and they have 3 children, SamiJo and Reny (who are twins), and Kiara.

John Petrucci won the "Guitarist of the Year" award recently in Total Guitar Magazine.






John Myung

Source : http://www.activemusician.com

John Ro Myung (pronounced My-ung) is a bassist and a founding member of the progressive metal group Dream Theater.

Born on January 24, 1967 in Chicago, Illinois, to Korean parents, John Myung grew up in Long Island, New York. He played the violin from the age of five until he was asked to play electric bass in a local band when he was fifteen. He stuck with bass from then on, and after graduating from high school he enrolled at the Berklee College of Music, where he and high school friend John Petrucci (guitar) met future band mate Mike Portnoy (drums). The three of them formed the band Majesty with another friend from high school, keyboardist Kevin Moore, and vocalist Chris Collins. They would later be known as Dream Theater.

Though Dream Theater is his primary focus musically, he has appeared in a number of other projects through his career. His first non-Dream Theater venture was in the pop-prog band Platypus with Rod Morgenstein, Ty Tabor and ex-Dream Theater bandmate Derek Sherinian. He is also a member of Jelly Jam, which consists of the same line-up as Platypus, but without Sherinian. John's main influences include Chris Squire, Steve Harris, Geddy Lee and Cliff Burton, and their respective bands Yes, Iron Maiden, Rush, and Metallica.

Apart from his membership in these bands, he has appeared as a guest on numerous records.

Myung has somewhat become the mystery member of Dream Theater, as he rarely ever seems to speak or draw attention to himself in videos or concerts, a fact that made many fans wonder if anyone has ever seen him speak. (He does speak in DVD commentaries and obviously on his instructional video, as well as to fans he meets at live shows. If given the right topic such as bass playing techniques, he will converse for long periods of time) His mysterious persona was emphasized when at a show in Germany, he went over to James LaBrie and tackled him American football-style, much to the confusion and amazement of both the audience and the rest of the band; this move later became known as the "Myung-tackle". Jordan Rudess has suggested in his tour diary that Myung was probably dared in a bet to perform the move.

Myung is famous for his practicing principles; both Kevin Shirley on the Metropolis 2000: Scenes From New York DVD as well as former keyboardist Derek Sherinian on his website state that John Myung is the only musician they know who warms down after a show. In a forum post, John Petrucci said that back at Berklee, he and Myung had a pact of practicing at least six hours every day.

John began playing bass at the relatively late age of 16, but because of his classically trained background on the violin he was able to move quickly from his beginner-level "Memphis" brand Precision bass copy to a salmon-colored four-string Fender Jazz bass. He also began to develop a unique playing style high on the neck, adding counterpoint lines and melodies to the band's material which are not typically heard in traditional "rock" music. He was also a heavy user of effects not typically heard on the bass guitar to better bring out his distinctive style.

For Dream Theater's debut album When Dream and Day Unite, John played a heavily-modified (with added front pickup sending a signal to a full-time "effected" amplifier while the stock rear pickup supplied a more traditional "bass" sound to a "clean" amp, much like influences Chris Squire and Geddy Lee) Ernie Ball/MusicMan Stingray four-string bass as well as his four-string Fender Jazz Bass, with the Stingray seeing the vast majority of local NYC-area live performances in this period (1988-1992).

John used a 4-string Spector bass for the recording of Images and Words in 1992, but made the technically challenging switch to six-string basses for their subsequent tour of America, Europe, and Japan, using several high-end Tobias "Basic" line of basses - at least two, a red-stained and "cherry sunburst" that can be seen and heard on various Dream Theater home videos and on the "Live At The Marquee" EP released in 1993. John continued to use Tobias throughout the "Images And Tour" and "Music In Progress" tours from 1992 to late 1993.

For Dream Theater's Awake album, John became the primary endorser of "Tung Basses", a small company formed by ex-Tobias luthier Nicholas Tung. John owned at least three of the only 100 instruments constructed, two "Wingbass II Bolt-on" six-strings (one natural and one sunburst, both with maple tops, ash bodies and maple necks with rosewood fretboards) and one "Wingbass II Hybrid (a "half neck-through" with spalted maple top, ash body, and maple neck and fretboard.) The natural-finish Wingbass II bolt-on became his main live instrument for the "Waking Up The World" and "A Change of Seasons" tours, although you can see the other two used in his "Progressive Bass Concepts" instructional video. During this period he also used a Hamer acoustic bass guitar for "unplugged" radio shows and live performances. For amplification, John was using Mesa Boogie Strategy 400 power amps, a Mesa Boogie Bass 400+, and a modified Mesa Boogie Triaxis guitar preamp.

After the Tung company ceased production, John began endorsing Yamaha instruments, using their TRB six-string fretted and fretless basses and working with their Artist Custom Shop on what would become his signature instrument based on their RBX body style while recording 1997's Falling Into Infinity. A bolt-on bass with alder body with flame-maple top available in either "Ruby Red" or "Turquoise Blue" with a maple neck, ebony fretboard, and "Infinity" inlay on the fretboard, The "RBX-6JM" was his main studio and live instrument (along with his TRB fretless) from 1997, 1998's Once In A LIVEtime double-disc live CD and 5 Years In A LIVEtime video, and 1999's Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory, 2001's Live Scenes From New York three CD live set, and 2002's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence double album.

In 2002 John Myung and Yamaha unveiled the RBX-JM2, an updated version of his signature bass that echoed the redesign of their entire RBX-series of basses. Changes included a modified body shape with more "modern" lines and carvings, solid finishes in either "Inca Silver" or "Plum Purple" in flat as opposed to glossy paint, slightly tighter string-spacing, a maple neck/rosewood fretboard with "Yin-Yang" inlay at the 12th fret, and a single Seymour Duncan MusicMan-type Humbucking pickup. This is John's current signature bass.

A few "oddities" that have only been used in the studio or rarely live include a MusicMan Stingray five-string (most likely where the idea for a single pickup on the JM2 came from) and Hamer 8-string bass (strung with the bass string followed by a string tuned an octave up, much like a 12-string guitar) used in parts of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, as well as a 12 string 'Grand Chapman Stick', an instrument that is played wholly by "tapping" the strings much as a pianist plays a keyboard as opposed to strumming them with a pick or fingerpicking. To date, however, John has only used The Stick on a small number of Dream Theater songs: "New Millennium", "Take Away My Pain" and some songs off Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, including "Misunderstood". He has, however, contributed several Stick tracks to Sean Malone's first "Gordian Knot" recording on the songs "Srikara Tal" and "Redemption's Way".

In terms of onstage amplification and effects Myung uses all rackmount effects for his sounds. As of August 2005 he uses two Demeter HBP-1 preamps, a Demeter VTDB-2B mono tube direct box, Demeter HXC-1 optical compressor, Ashdown ABM RPM-1 EVO II preamp and ABM APM 1000 Evo II power amp, a Pearce BC-1 preamp, Framptone 3-Banger (for switching between preamps and their different settings) and Mesa Big Block 750 amplifier. Note the lack of any traditional speaker cabinets - all members of the band except guitarist John Petrucci (who needs onstage speakers for feedback effects) use direct boxes that feed their signal into the front-of-house mixing board and enable them to use "in-ear" monitors as opposed to older wedge-shaped speakers facing them at the front of the stage. This allows them to receive a much more accurate mix of the live sound and the ability for each band member to customize their own settings.

Apart from the various preamps that John uses for overdrive and distortion, the only "effect" used is an Eventide DSP4000 Ultra-Harmonizer for chorus, harmonization, and time-based effects. He says, "I dig the Hyper Quad setting on the Eventide. It makes for a great wide, spatial effect that really brings my bass sound to life, especially live.