Who's the Better Band? Rush, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree or Opeth

PattheMetaller

If I have to vote again, let me see.....Dream Theater :P

Whoops it's not letting me!!!

galwayrush

4 Bands i like, and 2 of them are my absolute favourites. I picked Rush because of how long i've been a fan, a bloody scary number of years.

galwayrush

OctavarIan wrote: »

Also since the question seems to be in the present tense, that pretty much eliminates Rush.

.

Present tense?, they are touring this summer, have a new album in the making as well as the pending release of a Rush documentary.

Nea

galwayrush wrote: »

they are touring this summer

Will divorce papers be pending this time round:)

galwayrush

Nea wrote: »

Will divorce papers be pending this time round:)

I reckon it will be worse than that.:D

langerdan2112

RUSH. Silly question really! I like the other bands too but they wouldn`t have a pot to piss in if RUSH hadn`t paved the way.

DingChavez

A better poll would be which of those 4 bands have the most annoying fanboys.

Mushy

DingChavez wrote: »

A better poll would be which of those 4 bands have the most annoying fanboys.

A better thing to do with annoying things is to avoid them.

H1tmonlii

Dream Theater
Long epics, creative songwriting, tight as hell when live

Mushy

http://www.chordstruckmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=218&Itemid=1

Fresh off Porcupine Tree’s first Coachella appearance, Steven Wilson discusses The Incident, the upcoming Anesthetize DVD, the long-awaited Wilson-Åkerfeldt-Portnoy project and the Deadwing movie that may or may not happen.

Porcupine Tree is one of those bands that sounds larger than life, but is nearly off everyone’s radar. They aren’t mainstream, but their popularity isn’t anything to scoff at either. With their latest conceptual effort, 2009’s double LP The Incident, Porcupine Tree stands tall at their finest hour.

“We are all about this idea of the album as a musical continuum, a musical journey. It’s a kind of 70’s thing – conceptual records, records that take the listener on a journey. That is a very subtle thing and it is a very carefully balanced thing when you have a flow in a sequence of music that kind of works in the way that [it] moves, develops and evolves in exactly the way you want,” Wilson shares.

“If you imagine the first disc is like the novel then the second disc is like a bunch of short stories that relate to the novel, but don’t fit in,” Wilson continues. “The whole concept of what is an album now is changing anyway because of download culture, so we figured, ‘Why not--this time--package an EP and album together?’”

The result is one of Porcupine Tree’s most heralded albums by fans and critics alike. Their popularity has grown with each album release. Although Porcupine Tree has meandered through the boundaries of genres throughout their entire career, they find themselves in a more stabilized niche of progressive rock and metal. Their recent material stands in contrast to their earlier days when they were criticized for being Pink Floyd impersonators.

“This is one case where it was a deliberate homage to the music that first turned me on to wanting to make music, myself. ‘Time Flies’ is really a song about my childhood and about certain landmark events and incidents in my childhood that did change the path of my life – sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse,” Wilson says.

“In this case, one of the landmark events was hearing my father listening to this record [Pink Floyd’s Animals]. For the time in my life, I felt strongly about music. I think, for once in my life, the Floyd comparison doesn’t annoy me.” Wilson says with a laugh.

In May, fans will finally see the famed October 2008 performance at Tilburg, The Netherlands when Porcupine Tree toured in support of Fear of a Blank Planet.

“What happened ultimately was that The Incident music came along and it was somewhat surprising to me because I didn’t expect to write so much music so quickly,” Wilson explains of the two-year Anesthetize DVD postponement.

While on the subject of long-awaited releases, Wilson also touched upon the Deadwing script that was written to complement the 2005 album of the same name. Wilson intended for the album to be the soundtrack to a movie he envisioned at the time. Five years later, the script is still in development hell.

“We show it whenever we can to whoever will read it. The problem with getting a film project off the ground is the stakes are so high. Getting an album off the ground is easy. You can get an album off the ground with $5,000. To get a movie off the ground, to do it properly, you’re talking $100,000 plus – so to get someone to get us that kind of money is tough. It’s a dark film. It’s not an easy sell,” Wilson says.

“In the meantime, I’ve carried on with my interest in film. I made a film last year about the making of my first solo record, Insurgentes, which became a lot more than just a documentary; it became a film about the state of the industry and what it means to be a musician in the download culture era. [That will] be playing at a lot of festivals this summer which is very gratifying.” Wilson doesn’t seem to rest. If he’s not touring with Porcupine Tree, he’s off working on solo material, producing other bands or doing one of his side projects like Blackfield, Bass Communion and No-Man. Recently, Wilson has collaborated with Mikael Åkerfeldt from Opeth and Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater.

“I started writing with Mikael [Åkerfeldt] last month, finally. It’s still in the very early days. We wrote about 15 minutes of music last month in my studio near London and we’re very excited about it. I think people are going to be very surprised by the direction. If they’re expecting some kind of death-metal-progressive rock, they’re going to be surprised [because] it’s not like that,” Wilson continues.

“If you put the two of us together, the last thing we’re going to do is something similar to what people already know from our most high profile project. It’s very arty, very ambitious; it’s going to be epic. We’re still writing. [It’s going to be] very dark, very twisted, very experimental. It’s still rock music, but we’re trying to do something really, really special and really different with this.”

With all the freedom each member has to pursue projects, it’s incredible the only lineup change was in 2002 when Chris Maitland was replaced by Gavin Harrison. To Wilson, it isn’t so surprising. He prefers it that way.

“It’s unhealthy, in a way, to only play with the same group the whole time. I’ll go off and work with a death metal band or a jazz band. Richard [Barbieri] will go off and do an electronic album. Colin [Edwin] will go off and do an album of world music and African music. In a way, we bring all that enthusiasm and all those ideas back to the band and we find a way to re-integrate those ideas back into the fabric of the band’s sound. It’s what’s kept the band moving and evolving forward musically and stopped us from getting bored and jaded about what we do,” Wilson points out.

“It helps the band to continue to rise in popularity. Every time we make an album, it seems like there’s more interest and more of a buzz around the band. There’s nothing better to keep a band happy and keep a band together than feeling like you’re all moving in the same direction and moving forward.”

Seems quite apt for this thread.

GLaDOS

Great read, would love to see the Deadwing movie.

The Mike, Wilson, Portnoy collaboration would be amazing.

Mushy

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Great read, would love to see the Deadwing movie.

The Mike, Wilson, Portnoy collaboration would be amazing.

Yeah great interview, lots to look forward to. Doubt the movie will surface anytime soon. Good to see new solo stuff to amidst all this (and probably more).

That project is what I was mostly aiming at. Is absolutely perfect for me.

Somnus

I remember hearing a mention of the Portnoy, Akerfeldt, WIlson collaboration a while ago (maybe 2+ years ago). Good to see they've started.

It doesn't mention Portnoy though. I'd say he'd be the hardest to get on board just because DT seem pretty busy. Also, I think his drumming style is too clinical to work with Mike and Steven Wilson. They are very flowing kind of songwriters.

galwayrush

Anesthetize by PT has Alex Lifeson playing lead guitar and the track was played at the interval during Rush's SnA tour. I spotted Steve Wilson at the Toronto Rush show .

o1s1n

galwayrush wrote: »

Anesthetize by PT has Alex Lifeson playing lead guitar and the track was played at the interval during Rush's SnA tour. I spotted Steve Wilson at the Toronto Rush show .

Didn't notice that myself when I saw them over in Wembley on the Snakes and Arrows tour. Was probably just too excited to be listening to the interval music!

As far as the poll goes, Rush all the way.

Useful.Idiot

what the? opeth wasn't in this poll when I voted!

they're better than all of those bands! oh well at least they're winning. edit: or have won it seems?

Malice

Useful.Idiot wrote: »

what the? opeth wasn't in this poll when I voted!

they're better than all of those bands! oh well at least they're winning. edit: or have won it seems?

I added Opeth and reset the poll in the mistaken belief that everyone could vote again. I think anyone that voted on the poll initially weren't able to vote a second time. I was able to vote again but then I'm special. Either that or I didn't bote the first time around. I can't remember .

GLaDOS

Shenanigans I say!

waltersobchak

I think with the combination of the 2 polls its

1: Rush
2: Dream Theater
3: Opeth
4: Porcupine Tree

galwayrush

All the other three have been quoted as being long time Rush fans.I discoverd them through Rush, 4 excellent, highly talented bands.:cool:

RayCon

Im glad Rush won .... any other result would have been blasphemous !!

Don't get me wrong, I love Porcupine Tree and like Opeth (dont have time for Dream Theatre) - but Rush are Gods.

My final result would have been :

1. Rush
2. Porcupine Tree
3. Opeth
4. Dream Theatre

stateofflux

you can't compare those bands.... especially when rush are a big influence on the others.....

galwayrush

Just realised, it's been 2 years since the Rush weekend in Galway.:eek:

Nea

YAY Porcupine Tree and Anathema added to Sonisphere Spain.

Anyone else going?

Only worry now is that bloody volcano, it better sleep that weekend

Mushy

Booo Anesthetize delayed a week. I want it now.

old gregg

Malice_ wrote: »

I added Opeth and reset the poll in the mistaken belief that everyone could vote again. I think anyone that voted on the poll initially weren't able to vote a second time. I was able to vote again but then I'm special. Either that or I didn't bote the first time around. I can't remember .

reminds me of election time in Zimbabwe