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The Twelve-step Suite (also known as the Twelve-step Saga or Alcoholics Anonymous Suite), is a set of five songs by progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater. One song was featured on each Dream Theater studio album from ''Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence'' to ''Black Clouds & Silver Linings''. The lyrics to each song, written by the band's then drummer Mike Portnoy, deal with his experience of alcoholism. Each song represents a certain number of the Twelve Steps. Various lyrical and musical themes run through the Suite. It was written by the band with the intention of eventually playing it live as one piece.〔http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/mike_portnoy_of_dream_theater/〕 == Background == By the end of Dream Theater's tour to promote ''Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory'', former drummer Mike Portnoy considered his alcoholism and drug abuse to have gone out of control: Portnoy went through periods of taking other drugs, including marijuana, prescription drugs and cocaine, though he considered alcohol to be his "drug of choice".〔 Bandmate James LaBrie noted that Portnoy was "drinking like a fish";〔 his drinking had become a source of tension within the band.〔 Portnoy consumed his final alcoholic drink on April 20, 2000 after the final show on Dream Theater's ''Scenes from a Memory'' tour. He found the Alcoholics Anonymous twelve-step program (which he considers to have "saved his life"〔), and makes it a priority to attend meetings while touring. Portnoy's struggle with alcohol was the subject of "The Mirror", a song from Dream Theater's ''Awake'', released in 1994. After he stopped drinking, Portnoy decided to write a suite of tracks describing the twelve-step program which would span several albums. He views the Suite as one concept album, spread over five releases. Portnoy started with an initial lyrical idea for the entire Suite, but musically the band "approached it fresh" when writing each track.〔 The Suite was planned as something which would eventually be performed live in its entirety.〔 All songs are dedicated to "Bill W. and his friends". Portnoy described the process of writing the tracks as "very therapeutic".〔 Upon finishing the Suite in 2009, he reflected that he had "dug () into a hole with it. It was a nice idea seven years ago... After a while it became like an obligation hanging over my head, like a homework assignment."〔 He said that he "didn't know if () would have done it"〔 if he knew how big the Suite was going to be: "If I had realized what I was getting myself into five albums ago... I think maybe I would have written one song that encompassed all twelve steps." Before leaving Dream Theater in 2010, Portnoy had planned to play the Twelve-step Suite in its entirety following the ''Black Clouds & Silver Linings'' tour. He intentionally reserved "The Shattered Fortress" for this tour.〔http://www.prog-sphere.com/tag/mike-portnoy-drummer/〕 He said that it would "break his heart" if Dream Theater was to perform the Suite without him.〔 In May 2014, during an interview for Eddie Trunk's "Trunk Nation", Portnoy commented on the outcome of American heavy metal band Queensrÿche's feud (which resulted in the band's ex-vocalist Geoff Tate retaining the rights over the albums ''Operation: Mindcrime'' and ''Operation: Mindcrime II'') and said that he would like to have done the same with his Suite when leaving Dream Theater. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Twelve-step Suite」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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