Dream Theater

"Well, after listening to all 54 entries (at roughly 11 minutes each!) we finally have chosen a winner!

It was a very hard decision for us to make as so many of these entries were truly incredible and worthy of reward.
The amount of time and effort put foward by each and every one of the contestants really blew us away! There is so much talent out there among our fanbase and we are truly impressed....

Being there were so many great compositions, we wanted to think of a way to award more than just the Grand Prize winner...so in order to share their wonderful talents with everybody, we've decided to take the top 7 finalists and manufacture a CD with their entries to distribute through a future issue of the Dream Theater International Fan Club magazine "Theater of Dreams". (many of the regional fan clubs are going to take part in this CD promotion as well!)

So without any further ado:

1st Place Grand Prize Winner:
Andy Rowland and Ant Law (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Andy's and Ant's entry will be played each and every night on the Dream Theater 2004 World Tour approximately 20 minutes before DT hits the stage.
They also win 4 Tickets and Backstage Passes to the 2004 DT show of their choice, a copy of "Train of Thought" signed by all 5 members of DT, and a set of the 3 latest Ytsejam Records releases (for more information, visit www.ytsejamrecords.com).

2nd Place Winner:
Daisuke Kurosawa (Tokiwadai, Japan)

Daisuke's entry was a VERY close runner-up (we had to listen to the top 2 finalists several times back to back), so we'd like to reward his incredible efforts as well with 4 Tickets and Backstage Passes to the 2004 DT show of his choice.

Top 5 Runner Up Winners:

1. Linear Sphere Theater (London, England)
2. Richard Campbell (London, England)
3. Brian Wherry (Auburndale, MA - USA)
4. Redemption (Los Angeles, CA - USA)
5. Eric Clemenzi (Byfield, MA - USA)

Each of these entries (pending their permission) will be included on the upcoming Dream Theater Songwriting Contest CD.

Honorable Mentions:
Most Creative Entry: Eric Broughton and Umesh Madhavan (Sylvan Beach, NY - USA)
Best Musical Moment: Bass Solo from Godforsaken Project (North Hollywood, CA - USA)
Best Song Title: "Slightly Ominous Cheeseburger" by Divided Sky (Exton, PA - USA)
Best Band Name: Sweet Brown Otter Meat (Renton, WA - USA)

Congratulations to all of the winners and a big thank you to all of the contestants!

C-ya on tour,
Dream Theater"

Here is an update from Mike Portnoy regarding the Dream Theater Songwriting Contest:

"We are currently in tour rehearsals & pre-production in England and in addition to learning the HOURS and HOURS of music, we are trying to find the time to listen to all of the contest entries in order to announce a winner in the coming days....

We are well aware of the fact that many entries were submitted from England where the tour begins and we want to make sure we can honor their passes should they win...."

for immediate release:

Dream Theater's latest CD "Train Of Thought" is tentatively scheduled for release on November 11th 2003.

The track listing is:

1. As I Am
2. This Dying Soul
3. Endless Sacrifice
4. Honor Thy Father
5. Vacant
6. Stream Of Consciousness
7. In The Name Of God

Produced by John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy
Engineered by Doug Oberkircher
Mixed by Kevin Shirley

Dream Theater's 2004 World Tour will kick off in Manchester England on January 16th 2004

Pre-Order "Train Of Thought" now at CDUniverse.com!

Finally! After years of talking about it, The Dream Theater Official Bootlegs are now available to the public! I have dug into my extensive archives to offer you, the devoted DT fan, a chance to share with us so many of the great memories that have helped form this band's almost 20-year career.

We hope to offer roughly 3 titles every six months or so....ranging from the very beginnings as Majesty all the way up to our latest album and tour! And these titles are available exclusively from Ytsejam Records and nowhere else...

Enjoy!

MP

Dream Theater will be heading into the studio on Monday, March 10th, 2003, to write and record a new studio album.

Warner Brothers Publications has released an exceptionally well written book on singing, entitled "Pro Secrets Of Heavy Rock Singing". The book was written by Bill Martin, a well versed individual when it comes to techniques of singing.

James LaBrie is interviewed in this book as well as quoted in almost every chapter. The other singers included in this book are Bruce Dickinson, Geoff Tate, Joe Lynn Turner, Tim "Ripper" Owens, David Draiman, John Bush, Angela Gossow and more. You can visit Bill Martin's website at www.secretsofsinging.com.

Click here to order "Pro Secrets of Heavy Rock Singing" at Amazon.com.

On November 1st, 2002, Warner Bros. Publications released a transcription book of Dream Theater's latest 2CD studio release "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence".

The book contains complete transcriptions (guitar and vocals) to all the songs on this double CD set. Including: The Glass Prison, Blind Faith, Misunderstood, The Great Debate, Disappear, Overture, About to Crash, War Inside My Head, The Test that Stumped Them All, Goodnight Kiss, Solitary Shell, About To Crash (Reprise), Losing Time/Grand Finale.

Click here to order the transcription book at MusicNotes.com.


Warner Bros. Publications has also released a new Dream Theater transcription book called the "Dream Theater Full Score Anthology". The book contains full guitar, drum, bass and keyboard transcriptions and includes "Dance of Eternity", "Erotomania", "Home", "Just Let Me Breathe", "Pull Me Under", "Peruvian Skies", "Under a Glass Moon" and "Voices".

Click here to buy the book at MusicNotes.com.