Sunday 24 November 2013

'When all else fails, you will find inspiration in music'.

Dream Theater

I like listening to music. I like writing. I like writing about music, and have been wanting to get my thoughts down on this particular band for a while now. Plus, I was supposed to do another 'Tyre Tech' post and really couldn't think of what to write. Hence the title.

There are two types of people in this world: Dream Theater fans, and music fans who just haven’t heard Dream Theater yet. Being classified by many and labelled as ‘Progressive metal’ is, I believe, doing them a great disservice. If you must classify and sort them then they are without a doubt progressive, as anybody who appreciates the likes of King Crimson/Pink Floyd etc will immediately recognise when listening to 20min epics such as The Count of Tuscany, Octavarium or Illumination Theory (off their latest album); and likewise nobody with even a passing interest in rock music could listen to John Petrucci’s playing and fail to pick out the metal style/influences. It is my opinion however, that Dream Theater are a band that transcends categorisation. The sheer range, diversity, volume-however you choose to express it-of musicality, creativity, skill and deep understanding of music that they bring to the table with every release seems to redefine the genre of what could be loosely described as ‘progressive metal’.  They don’t worry about fitting into any specific mould, they don’t worry about (or indeed face) criticism from fans and the media when they do something different (like many well known ‘metal’ bands) and they most certainly do not follow any sort of trend. They are, and have been since inception, on their own rather unique trajectory; and whilst they undoubtedly take nods from other artists, contemporary and otherwise, they are one of those rare examples of a group of hugely talented professional musicians coming together and gelling perfectly. Why is it that ‘supergroups’ (as I’m pretty sure examining the component parts of DT would ordinarily result in their being classified as a ‘supergroup’) normally don’t last very long? I would say it’s because you can only really have one or two strongly driven creative forces in a group...ordinarily. Lennon and McCartney, Plant and Page, Lynott, Mustaine, Bellamy, Hetfield, Grohl-all strong creative minds that drove/drive their respective groups’ directions to success-yet Dream Theater’s work as a collective is always just that, collective. Most of the band members have pursued other projects (which gives you an idea of what they bring individually to the DT writing process), yet they somehow still manage to come together and successfully fuse all that creative genius time after time. And I don’t think there is a word better than ‘genius’ in this case.

I must admit however that I am only a relatively new fan, having only bought their last three albums as new releases-but how they manage to consistently create such masterpieces is beyond me. Not only do they craft songs with catchy riffs and passages each time, and not only do they manage to evoke a unique ‘feel’  to each album-but they also manage to write songs with real meaning, or as I heard a musician once say-real ‘heart’. And while it’s nothing new for artists to really reach out to and connect with fans with their work, it is rare in my personal experience for an artist(s) to bring something so finely polished and with such a strong unique direction with each release.  They simply never miss a beat. I am yet to come across a ‘filler track’, I am yet to think ‘oh come on, this was clearly written in half an hour the day before recording deadline’-and this is made all the more impressive when you consider they have just released their 12th studio album, with a largely unchanged creative core. Their work follows broad templates, or perhaps I would do them better service by saying each album has their unique ‘sound’. With each album you can expect among other things orchestral flavourings, thunderously heavy 7-string riffage and...keyboard solos. Don’t let that put you off though, think more Pink Floyd than Emerson Lake and Palmer (apologies to ELP fans out there, but you can probably appreciate what I’m driving at.)

One of the noteworthy things for me is that I don’t have ‘favourite’ Dream Theater tracks. I also hardly ever skip one when it comes up on shuffle (only my iPod will know what praise that is). I arrive at the explanation that despite being a fluid creative force that changes, develops and adapts; they remain very strongly true to their form, their sound and their true nature. They are Dream Theater and everything that has come to mean (to me). If I pick one of their songs to listen to I do not do so necessarily because I want to listen to that song per se...more that I want to dive into the rich musical experience that is DT. I thought about using some sort of ‘rich hearty soup’ metaphor there, but was pretty sure it would sound a bit shit, and would also be a bit out of place talking about music. (FYI).

They are not a band to listen to if you are after background music and they are most certainly not a band for your fan of contemporary processed ‘clone’ music; but if are willing to just sit down, listen and let your ears soak it all up then you will be rewarded with something quite special. They are not a band to listen to with preconceptions of what ‘progressive metal’ should sound like, and are, I find, best listened to with a ‘clean mental slate’ if you will; and will definitely not appeal to fans of ‘quickfix’ music. You have to surrender yourself to the music, feel your way through it, engage with it, understand it and take what it has to offer. If you can, then I trust and hope that you will enjoy as many wonderful music experiences listening to them as I have.

Thanks for reading. And congratulations if you made it this far.



Sunday 17 November 2013

Tyre Tech #2: What Actually Makes A Tyre?

Tyres are made of rubber. Easy right? Not exactly. Hopefully this post will help you understand just exactly what product info like ‘3/180 TPI Casing’ or marketing spiel like ‘High Quality High TPI Construction’ means.

Put simply the carcass of a tyre (the main body of the tyre), nylon sheets of varying TPI (threads per inch) are impregnated with rubber and then layered up as desired (that’s the whole ‘ply’ thing) and then finished off usually with some sort of puncture protection and a tread surface. The desired application influences the number of plies, the TPI of nylon used in those plies, the level of puncture protection used and the design and construction of tread surface. That’s the Ladybird Book Edition anyway.

TPI Talk:  Some manufacturers use TPI as a marketing tool, but don’t be fooled-there is a lot more that influences how well a tyre performs than its TPI. For example, a higher TPI is often seen as a selling point, but a higher thread count just means thinner strands of nylon that are more easily broken-i.e: the potential of having a tyre that is more prone to punctures. However, the flip side is that generally a tyre with a higher TPI will have a more supple carcass which will usually give a tyre that ‘feels’ better on the road and rolls better. A high TPI tyre with a poor rubber compound could easily be outperformed in the lab and real world by a tyre with lower TPI but a better rubber compound.

Perhaps my crappily drawn Paint diagram may help you visualise...!


Ply Talk: Nylon threads run in one direction, so manufacturers layer nylon sheets over one another in plies, giving a lattice like construction to, for example, end up with a tyre that is supple, rolls well but is also reasonably puncture resistant. Increasing the number of plies reduces the number of gaps in the Nylon, so increasing the durability of the carcass and the puncture resistance. As in basically making it harder for stuff to just poke through. Mountain bike tyres for example will sometimes have more plies of nylon with a lower TPI in order to get a tyre with the best of both worlds. The TPI of the nylon used in the plies and the number of plies is where the real clever work comes into play-and my limited knowledge extends no further than the basics that low TPI=’strong’ and high TPI= ‘quick’. In a nutshell. Ladybird Book again ;)

Rubber Talk: Before the nylon is layered to make the carcass however, it must be impregnated with a rubber compound. This is relatively simple for me to explain, as the science is too complicated-so I can’t! Typically though with current rubber compounds, the engineers can choose to either have something that is fast and lightweight, or durable and heavy. I say typically, as that is not always the case as I will talk about in my next post...The compound for the tread surface will typically be tuned for slightly different characteristics than that used for the plies that form the carcass/sidewalls etc; which again is pretty obvious, but I hadn’t actually realised how much thought and specificity actually went into individual tyre design and construction until I saw a bit behind the scenes.


Every tyre is designed for a different role, be it speed, durability or even just affordability. Do not be fooled into thinking that just because Tyre A has a higher TPI than Tyre B for example, that A will outperform B in the wet or last longer. Also don’t automatically think that cheap tyres will be more puncture prone than more expensive tyres; more technical know-how is required to make two tyres that have similar levels of puncture protection but for one to be faster/lighter. Typically, you pay more for a tyre that outperforms cheaper contemporaries in one of the three areas: speed, durability or puncture protection. Again...typically. But you’ll have to wait until my next post to see what I mean by typically ;)

Sunday 10 November 2013

Tyre Tech #1: Basics

Tyre Tech-Basics

There are a lot of technical terms used in advertising at the moment and I daresay quite a few ill-founded opinions floating round; and being of the opinion  that understanding what a product should be will ultimately result in people making the right purchase choice.

Let’s start by going back to basics. Tyres are important. They are your point of contact with the road and they arguably govern your speed far more than any other part of the bike. A good set of well-mounted and pressured tubulars for example could probably make a 40 year old ‘vintage’ bike ride better than a modern stock carbon jobby with poor quality clinchers incorrectly inflated. I am sure that everyone, given the choice, would take riding faster for the same effort-and good tyre choice can do just that. Going faster isn’t just a matter of choosing tyres that roll faster for a given input (ie: have lower rolling resistance), grip also plays a crucial part. It’s no good having the best rolling tyres in the world if you have to slow down to walking pace every time the road is anything but straight. Anecdotally, when I asked an ex-pro what pressures he used in the wet for example, he said he would go as low as 75-80 PSI in the rain, as he found being able to corner as normal thanks to the increased grip the lower pressures gave, gave him more of an advantage than the increased rolling resistance took away.  That’s perhaps slightly extreme as an example; but take mountain biking-going fast off-road is as much about having tyres that grip well as anything else, so some of that principle is obviously transferable to the road. Think about the cobbled classics, tyre choice for these races is crucial, and it’s probably not exaggerating to say the wrong choices could mean the difference winning and losing (perhaps not between Cancellara winning and Contador winning admittedly). All this is all pretty logical and probably nothing new, but I personally find it helps to get my head around basic needs/demands when trying to understand things. The skill in tyre design and manufacturing is finding the right compromise between speed, grip, and durability depending upon the desired application.

Rubber compound, tread patterns and tyre construction all play their role in making a tyre what it is; and ultimately on how quickly you go, whether you stay upright in the wet, and how sore your bum is after 5 hours in the saddle.  In my next post I’ll talk a bit about what actually goes into making a tyre-which is actually a lot more interesting than you may think!