Seconds Out

I've actually managed not to revisit the Dream Theater book for a couple of weeks which has given me a new impetus. After a while you don't read it in the same way as a first-time reader would. I know the text backwards - all 140,000 words of it- and it is impossible to truly assess the quality. Although I'm satisfied with it, reading it again with a fresh pair of eyes has made it a simple task to edit out any nonsense. The force of some of the comments are also put in a greater perspective.

One of the more outspoken interviewees was David Prater, who produced Dream Theater's hit album 'Images And Words'. Of late, the band and David haven't exactly been reticent in brutally criticising each other and rubbing each other up the wrong way. But ignoring the rights and wrongs of the quarrelling, he's an engaging interviewee. He's also highly intelligent and has a strong understanding of musical theory- which is probably why he and the band butted heads so much when they were in the studio. Too many geniuses in the confined space of the control room was always going to end in tantrums.

Anyway, here's one of his many comments, this particular one referring to working with Kevin Moore:

"I was as mad at him as I've ever been in my life. I literally wanted to assault him to make him feel as bad as what he had done to make me feel this bad. He was a rotten bastard then and may be one now for all I know."