Morse, Morse, LaRue, Portnoy and MacPherson

Mike Portnoy, ex-Drummer and co-founder of Dream Theater, recently posted on www.mikeportnoy.com, that he, Steve Morse, Neal Morse, Dave LaRue and Casey MacPherson have been in the studio from 4th-13th January 2011 and have recorded eleven new songs with a view to releasing them later this year.

Mike Portnoy and Neal Morse go back a long way and have recorded and toured together extensively in the past.  Neal Morse’s band, before he went solo in 2002 as a result of him becoming a born again Christian,  is Spock’s Beard.  Dream Theater and Spock's Beard have toured together, with Spock's Beard supporting Dream Theater on their inaugural tour of the UK in 1993.

 Mike Portnoy and Neal Morse are part of prog supergroup Transatlantic, along with, notably Pete Trewavas of Marillion.  Mike Portnoy has played drums on many of Neal Morse’s post-Spock’s Beard albums.

Another of Mike Portnoy’s projects away from Dream Theater is Liquid Tension Experiment.  Liquid Tension Experiment, an instrumental jazz fusion/metal hybrid, started out in 1997 and feature Jordan Rudess on keyboards.  Jordan Rudess was first noticed by Dream Theater in 1994 but declined their offer to join in preference to Dixie Dregs, whose touring commitments were more in line with Jordan Rudess’s lifestyle at the time.  Jordan Rudess subsequently joined Dream Theater in 1997 where he remains to this day. 

Mike Portnoy’s first choice guitarist for Liquid Tension Experiment was the late Dimebag Darrell, who at the time was committed to his band, Pantera. Also considered were Steve Morse and Jim Matheos (Fate’s Warning).  John Petrucci, guitarist and founding member of Dream Theater eventually filled the role, effectively making Liquid Tension Experiment an instrumental version of Dream Theater save for the inclusion of sometime-King Crimson’s Tony Levin on bass guitar and Chapman Stick. 

Dixie Dregs, or The Dregs, are today a loose collective of former members.  Steve Morse has been Dixie Dregs’s guitarist since 1970.  Playing alongside Steve Morse in Dixie Dregs since 1988 is Dave LaRue on bass guitar. As well as Dixie Dregs, Dave LaRue is also bass guitarist in the Steve Morse Band. Perhaps Dixie Dregs’ most well known piece, at least to BBC listeners of a certain age, is “Take It Off The Top” from their 1978 album “What If?”.  As well as being my mobile phone ringtone, it was the opening theme music to Tommy Vance’s Friday Rock Show.

Casey MacPherson does not appear to be part of this web.  For a start he is eleven years younger than Mike Portnoy, the next youngest of the five, and 24 years younger than the eldest, Steve Morse.  He is the lead singer in Texan Band “Alpha Rev” and the former vocalist with “Endochine”.  His singing style is reported to be in the vein of Chris Martin (Coldplay) and David Gray.  Alpha Rev’s musical style is said to be “indie-rock”.

Of interest to Deep Purple fans would be Dream Theater’s cover of “Made In Japan” on their “Ytse Jam” label.  Dream Theater have covered, as well as "Made In Japan", Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” in their entireties when they have played multiple nights at the same venue.

Ian Williams

Sources:  t’interweb, brain full of irrelevant facts.