DREAM THEATER Bassist: 'It's So Great To Be Working With The People I Work With'

June 29, 2012

Roadrunner Records recently conducted an interview with bassist John Myung of progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Q: You're one of only two founding members left. What's your creative relationship like with John Petrucci this many years in? How do you two write or play together; do you have a unique musical language between you?

Myung: Sure, I mean, there's a real comfortable chemistry and the people that I play with inspire me. It's so great to be working with the people I work with. But as far as chemistry, sure. We've been working together for a really long time, and when you're in the moment, working on stuff, it's almost like you're multitasking on the same thing but everything that's happening is relative to the same page we're on, so it's definitely cool. I don't know if you'd call it style, it's more of a chemistry and a relationship and just getting whatever it is we're doing done.

Q: As DREAM THEATER's bassist, did you have a special role in helping integrate Mike Mangini into the group sound? How quickly were you two able to lock into a groove, and from a bassist's perspective, what kind of drummer is he to play with?

Myung: He's very critical of keeping values together. We talk about this all the time, where he tells me the important things he learned, and those are the things that I love about playing with him. He says, "One of the biggest things I learned, one of my teachers told me, 'Why are you rushing? Why are you hitting that? Give each note its 100 percent value and don't invade that space, don't do that.'" And that's one of the hardest things to do in life, is knowing your limits and thinking of the big picture and navigating on that level. So it's really kinda cool playing with someone that has really high regard for that. It makes things a little bit more comfortable for me, and I'm noticing little things, like I'm hearing a little bit more sound, it's a little bit more locked. So I don't see it as me bringing anybody in. I see it more like him being a really cool guy and a great drummer, and being really complementary to what's going on.

Read the entire interview from Roadrunner Records.

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).