1991 - 1994 History
Following Dominici's firing, Dream Theater fought successfully to be released from their contract with Mechanic, and set about auditioning singers and writing material for their next album. In the time until they had secured a replacement vocalist, they wrote the majority of the music for what would become their second album, Images and Words.
In their search for a new singer they auditioned over 200 people, among them former Fates Warning front man John Arch, but all were turned down for various reasons. In 1991 a tape arrived from Canadian band Winter Rose's singer Kevin James LaBrie, who was immediately flown to New York for a proper audition. After a short jam session he was hired as full-time singer, and started using his middle name, James, as his first to avoid confusion with Kevin Moore.
For the next few months, the band resumed gigging and worked on vocal parts for all the music that they had written to that point. ATCO Records (now EastWest) signed Dream Theater to a seven album contract on the strength of their reputation and a three song demo (later made available as The ATCO Demos through the Dream Theater fan club).
The first album to be released under their new record contract was Images and Words in 1992, the first of many Dream Theater albums to be recorded at BearTracks Studios. The song "Pull Me Under" gained a lot of radio airplay, and as a result the label commissioned a video clip for its promotion, which had moderate MTV rotation [citation needed].
The success of "Pull Me Under", combined with relentless touring throughout the U.S. and Japan, helped Images and Words to achieve gold record certification in the States and platinum in Japan [citation needed]. The album received much critical acclaim and is seen as a landmark album in the development of progressive metal [citation needed]. The album is still the most commercially successful of all Dream Theater's releases.
A tour of Europe followed in 1993, which included a show at London's famed Marquee jazz club. That show was recorded and released as Live at the Marquee, Dream Theater's first official live album, and a video compilation of their Japanese concerts (mixed in with some documentary-style footage of the off-stage portion of the tour) was released as Images and Words: Live in Tokyo.
Keen to work on fresh material, Dream Theater retreated to the studio in May 1994. The 1994 sessions were the first in which Dream Theater as a whole wrote music together that was specifically for an album, with Images and Words being entirely composed without a vocalist and with an uncertain future as far as recording was concerned.
Awake was released in October 1994. It featured a distinctly heavier sound than the band's previous releases, which caused criticism among long time fans, but was still well-received by critics and gained Dream Theater a new breed of fans [citation needed]. Shortly before the album was mixed, Moore announced to the rest of the band that he wished to concentrate on his own musical interests and would be quitting Dream Theater. This rocked a band that had enjoyed just two years of stability after a tumultuous first half-decade, but Moore was no longer interested in the life of a touring musician nor the brand of progressive metal Dream Theater performed, so the two parties went their separate ways.
As a result of that news, the band had to scramble to find a replacement keyboardist instead of jumping head-first into touring mode.
Jordan Rudess, an up-and-coming keyboardist who was relatively unknown in rock music circles to that point, was invited to play a trial performance with Dream Theater in the hopes that he would join the band. The gig, in Burbank, California, went well but Rudess decided to accept an invitation from The Dixie Dregs to perform with them instead. Derek Sherinian was brought on as a hired gun, and by the conclusion of the Awake promotional tour Sherinian was Dream Theater's new full-time keyboardist.
In their search for a new singer they auditioned over 200 people, among them former Fates Warning front man John Arch, but all were turned down for various reasons. In 1991 a tape arrived from Canadian band Winter Rose's singer Kevin James LaBrie, who was immediately flown to New York for a proper audition. After a short jam session he was hired as full-time singer, and started using his middle name, James, as his first to avoid confusion with Kevin Moore.
For the next few months, the band resumed gigging and worked on vocal parts for all the music that they had written to that point. ATCO Records (now EastWest) signed Dream Theater to a seven album contract on the strength of their reputation and a three song demo (later made available as The ATCO Demos through the Dream Theater fan club).
The first album to be released under their new record contract was Images and Words in 1992, the first of many Dream Theater albums to be recorded at BearTracks Studios. The song "Pull Me Under" gained a lot of radio airplay, and as a result the label commissioned a video clip for its promotion, which had moderate MTV rotation [citation needed].
The success of "Pull Me Under", combined with relentless touring throughout the U.S. and Japan, helped Images and Words to achieve gold record certification in the States and platinum in Japan [citation needed]. The album received much critical acclaim and is seen as a landmark album in the development of progressive metal [citation needed]. The album is still the most commercially successful of all Dream Theater's releases.
A tour of Europe followed in 1993, which included a show at London's famed Marquee jazz club. That show was recorded and released as Live at the Marquee, Dream Theater's first official live album, and a video compilation of their Japanese concerts (mixed in with some documentary-style footage of the off-stage portion of the tour) was released as Images and Words: Live in Tokyo.
Keen to work on fresh material, Dream Theater retreated to the studio in May 1994. The 1994 sessions were the first in which Dream Theater as a whole wrote music together that was specifically for an album, with Images and Words being entirely composed without a vocalist and with an uncertain future as far as recording was concerned.
Awake was released in October 1994. It featured a distinctly heavier sound than the band's previous releases, which caused criticism among long time fans, but was still well-received by critics and gained Dream Theater a new breed of fans [citation needed]. Shortly before the album was mixed, Moore announced to the rest of the band that he wished to concentrate on his own musical interests and would be quitting Dream Theater. This rocked a band that had enjoyed just two years of stability after a tumultuous first half-decade, but Moore was no longer interested in the life of a touring musician nor the brand of progressive metal Dream Theater performed, so the two parties went their separate ways.
As a result of that news, the band had to scramble to find a replacement keyboardist instead of jumping head-first into touring mode.
Jordan Rudess, an up-and-coming keyboardist who was relatively unknown in rock music circles to that point, was invited to play a trial performance with Dream Theater in the hopes that he would join the band. The gig, in Burbank, California, went well but Rudess decided to accept an invitation from The Dixie Dregs to perform with them instead. Derek Sherinian was brought on as a hired gun, and by the conclusion of the Awake promotional tour Sherinian was Dream Theater's new full-time keyboardist.
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