Wide Awake In London

Considering John Petrucci had only flown into London that morning, not really. So, with shades in place and still in the clouds we sat down with James, who was fine, he’d been in three days already!

Where did the album title ‘Awake’ come from?

John: When we were coming up with a title, we had a little pow-wow session like we always do, and we were reading through all the lyrics trying to find a phrase or word that might sum up the record. Awake was one of them, amongst a whole bunch. It was actually in a couple of songs: Innocence Faded and Silent Man. We were reading through the words and we saw it – AWAKE. We started to think and talk about it, that it could mean a non-judgmental look at music, the world, and issues.

The pacing and the sequencing of the album are very good, opening up with shortish(?) songs, and hitting home straight away...

John: Well, there’s certainly a lot of energy on the record.

The music still sounds very complex in places, but it seems to me to have been achieved in a simpler writing manner. Would you agree?

John: Yeah. I think a lot of that has to do with orchestration. There are a couple of songs on there like Lie, or even Caught In A Web, where there is a lot of rhythm playing, there’s not textural clean guitars, break-down sections, it’s like a non-stop assault. For the most part 6:00 is like that, even though it has a little break-down section. I think the overall effect is that it seems like it’s more simplified. You don’t have those orchestrational type things, like say, Pull Me Under for example.

When I first heard the demos I thought that this new album wasn’t going to be as heavy as I was expecting. But when you listen closely to it, you find there is some amazingly heavy stuff in there....!

James: True. Even though it’s very edgy and aggressive, it still has that symphonic feel to it.

When you listen to some of it you sometimes have to stop and think and remind yourself who you’re listening to. Some of those riffs are so savage in places.

John: I love that, it’s so much fun to play. It’s all the 7-string’s fault.

James: And also John Myung’s 6-string bass.

John: Yeah. Those two things coupled together is what does it.

I heard that Lie was played on a radio station in the US yesterday, and that the reaction from some people was that it was just TOO HEAVY, and that it wasn’t Dream Theater!

John: The funny thing is that, a) It’s hard to take one song and have it really reflect or represent the record, and b) All that it is, is an extension of the heaviness that’s within us. You know what I mean? Take several songs from the last album and there are so many sections that are really heavy, but you can only get so heavy with the instrumentation. John and I brought the strings down lower; it’s just the same sort of approach, it just sounds thicker.

How did the recording in Los Angeles go? Were there any problems or complications that you experienced?

James: I think one of the great things about the recording of this album was the producers we worked with: John Purdell and Duane Baron. They were great, they really pulled the best out of each guy in the band individually, for performance. They made you feel really comfortable while recording, and from the time we started working with them through to the finishing of the album, the one great thing about them was that not only are they sonically capable of getting great sound, but they really understood the music. Both of them were really aware of the music. I felt the recording process went down really easy.

John: Duane’s a great engineer. He got sounds so quick and he was able to get exactly what you were thinking about.

I heard the band, and Jim (Pitulski – Manager), were banned from the studio during the mixing process. What happened?

James: Well yeah. We tried one way, and that didn’t work; because we were all in the studio when it first started, and it was just unfair to the producers because, obviously each guy is focusing on his instrument- and it was like: ‘Wait a minute, I want me up more!’ And they were trying to please everyone, and you just can’t do that. So you have to have your objectivity. So they were left alone. The one great thing though, even though we were out of the studio, they were aware by that time what we wanted and what we didn’t want, for the most part. Like when David Prater mixed Images And Words, that was really unfortunate because he forgot some sections to bring out, and he really didn’t really understand what we wanted for the final lay of the music. When Duane and John went in, they knew everything that needed to be there and how we wanted it to be represented.

I’d like to go through the songs on the album with you:

6:00 – A good choice of opening track. It’s very sharp, punchy, and has a meaty riff; tell me a bit about the song.

John: It was one that Kev wrote. He pretty much wrote the whole thing. We fucked around with the choruses a bit and the ending of the song, but the majority of the arrangement and all the parts, Kev wrote. What else? That was probably Mike’s hardest drum song.

You used additional spoken word sampled stuff on several tracks, which works very effectively, of which 6:00 is one, was this a conscious thing you did to add these bits in?

John: That’s something that’s in Kev and Mike’s heads. If you think that’s interesting you should hear the types of demos that Kev was doing, all based on samples. Really techno and industrial, that was his whole head, the way he was going and why he’s not in the band any more. You hear it all on Space Dye Vest, sample and stuff all over the place.

The sample “6 o’clock on a Christmas morning” – what’s that about?

James: I think I know what Kevin was pertaining to. Basically what that lyrical content is, what he’s doing with it is; is somebody finding out what they are doing isn’t necessarily where they want to be. If you don’t take life by the reins and chase after something you love and need to do to carry on, then life will just pass you by. Basically what that’s pertaining to, the way it starts out, it’s 6 o’clock and this guy doesn’t want to get up ‘cos he has to go to work, in a more literal sense this is what is going on. He finds himself outside of work, sitting in his car, he can’t get out of the car to go into work because he just does not want to do this anymore. It’s like 6 o’clock on a Christmas morning; are you getting up for the right reasons? Is it for Christmas or is it for work?

John: Yeah, that’s exactly what it was. It was from a story, I don’t know which, how there was this conflict with the character, getting up for Christmas and sort of losing the meaning and interest of it.

Caught In A Web – It has a very different feel to it. Also there’s a slight change from the demo version towards the end of the song.

John: There are a few different changes that Duane contributed when we were doing pre-production rehearsals. Extensions of sections and lead-ins, he change the arrangement a little bit. That’s one of the songs with my 7-string.

It’s also the first song that James has contributed lyrics on, you both co-wrote the lyrics. How did the collaboration come about? What was the idea?

James: It was a concept I came up with. And basically it deals with a rage against conformity. That’s what the lyrical content is about. Originally Kevin was going to write it and he just couldn’t get into it. John called me up and he said: “you got lyrical ideas, why don’t you go for it?” I started writing the bulk of the lyrics and I said to John: “Come on in and we’ll try to nail this.” John had melody ideas and the title. So we got together and worked out the lyrics.

Nice to get your name on the lyric sheet finally.

James: Yeah, it’s true. Hopefully there’ll be more next time, it’ll be with that in mind next album, that I’d a least submit lyrics and see what happens.

Innocence Faded – This has grown on me a lot. When I first heard it I wasn’t sure, but the more you listen closely to it, the more you pick up on. There is so much in there. It’s a more subtle song than most on the album. Also after having the demos for so long it’s good to hear the final thing and how much improved it is.

John: That’s the danger with demos; I wish nobody would even get demos out.

James: We were talking about that, that in the future that’s probably not gonna happen! Just for that reason – it’s no offence to you or anything, it’s just that people get the wrong message.

John: It’s like nobody knows what the process was – for some of those demos it was like, we really didn’t have time to do real demos, so let’s just mic everything and do it. We’d just get it down so we have a blueprint to work with. Then somebody gets it and thinks: ‘Oh I don’t like that song it sounds like shit.’ Meanwhile we knew it sounded like shit, we’re just trying to get a blueprint so we can work. That’s why I hate giving out demos, cos I wish that everybody could hear the album for the first time when it comes out, and that’s the true representation of how it was supposed to be. That song existed on a demo, for the most part, on a 4-track.

So what was the concept behind ‘A Mind Beside Itself’, if there was one?

John: There was. I had written ‘The Silent Man’, and when we came to write the album, we were thinking of ideas, and I brought up the idea of doing a trilogy and having that be the third part, an instrumental being the first part, and sort of an epic being the middle part. And that’s what we did, went in and created that.

Erotomania – I think this will go down well live. It’s the sort of thing that could fit anywhere into the live set. It’s tight and it really flows well.

John: You think so? It’s strange that it would flow well, because it’s an example of sections from a long time ago meshed together with new ideas.

To what extant have you put bits of songs in other songs? Did you do it consciously, or did it just come out like that?

John: We consciously did it. The trilogy is obvious so they all mesh, so each one of those songs has common instrumental parts. And the only other one I believe is ‘Space Dye Vast’ and ‘The Mirror’ I think, I don’t think there is any others.

Voices – One of my favourites. The way the vocals go from the subtle to full throttle power. And it’s almost 10 minutes long, but it just flies by because your listening to so much going on and then all of a sudden its finished and into ‘The Silent Man.’

James: That’s supposed to be the effect.

John: It’s sort of an escape from a very tight technical approach, the song’s very loose, almost like a Jane’s Addiction sort of thing.

The Silent Man – Where John you play acoustic guitar. Are we going to hear this live? Cos I think this will go down a storm.

John: The way we recorded it was cool, we used these natural tuned acoustics, clean guitar overdubs, fretless bass etc., so we can’t do all that shit but, it’ll still be in there in its raw state.

James: Even in its raw form it’s still powerful.

The Mirror – ‘Puppies On Acid.’ Good to see it into a full blown song. Again vary heavy meaty riff, which is very dark and mystical. And it has Mike’s lyrics.

John: It has sort of a vampirish effect.

James: The whole process when the guys were writing out The Mirror, a part of it was Lie, and then we made that a whole separate issue, and then we brought it all around again back into The Mirror.

Going back to the demo, The Mirror is a ten minutes song. Listening to the final cut, all of a sudden Lie jumps in.

John: The way you heard the demo was the way it was supposed to be. That middle section everyone thought that it would be a great song by itself, so let’s take it out. And Mike was ‘I love that change, we got to leave it, how can we do it?’ And we all came to the conclusion to just insert a song there, take it one step further.

Having the extra bit on the end of Lie enhances the song as well.

John: Yeah. That point where it goes into that thrashy piece, that is The Mirror like continuing.

Lie – I think it’s a good choice as a single from the album.

John: It’s pretty aggressive and everything, but there are not too many others that are heavy, that are short like this one.

James: It gets to the point real quick, it definitely does that. It’s not just a heavy in your face song – the way I approached it, or that Kevin wanted me to approach it vocally, everything’s supporting each other and complimenting each other in that song.

Lifting Shadows Off A Dream?

John: A John Myung lyric. That song has an interesting story. The way it starts, the intra, the two chords going back and forth. John had these lyrics which were really just a poem, and he wanted to make a song out if it. He had this idea and just two chords! We were like, ‘John, where are we gonna go with two chords?’ We worked on it and jammed on it, racked our brains, recorded the jam, and by the end of the night were like ‘ah fuck it, this sucks.’ We came in the next day and listened to the recording, and thought it could be really cool. All of a sudden it evolved into this song. I think it’s one of the most mature, strongest songs. The thing being that John just had a poem, they weren’t phrased out as lyrics or anything, so we sat down and re-arranged his words and phrases a little bit.

James: So that the words made more sense along with the melodies.

John: Then James and I got together, wrote melodies for his words. So the stages of it as a poem, then as prose, as phrases, and then melody and it all came together.

Next up there’s Scarred – Which the working title was “Keymaster.”

James: Which happens to be my favourite song on the album.

John: That was the first song that we wrote when we started writing in January. Mike, John and I just got together, John had this groove, we sort of jammed it and it turned into Scarred. It proved to us that our chemistry was still there, that same shit like when we were at Berklee playing together, the same feeling. We were so psyched. It got the writing of the album off on such a good foot. The chemistry was there and we were really confident about the album.

There’s a very tasteful lead intro to that; your solos, are they pre-written or do you just go in and they come off the bat.

John: Depends on the song. 90% of the time they’re pre-written, as are the ones in that song. The Voices solo was a little bit less constructed, because it was a more loose song.

The track as a whole is very big in sound, something different from the others, I’m not sure what it is.

John: It’s layering. It’s orchestration. You know what sucks? It might not be on the cassette.

Yes, I heard about that from Jim earlier. We won’t get into that.

James: We don’t need the fans knowing about the political bull-shit there.

Space Dye Vest – So off the wall and possibly an indication of Kevin’s imminent departure? It’s a great song, and a very personal song, very emotional ‘open wound’ type thing. Also on the demo, in some ways it has more emotion to it, because basically it is only piano and vocals. But it wouldn’t have worked like that on the final product it’s too bare.

James: The reason I obviously like the album version better than the demo, is I think it was a true representation of myself playing out his lyrics, in a vocal sense. On the demo I was trying to do more or less what he wanted, whereas when I did the album I had sat with it for a while, I’d got into it, I knew how to express myself with this song in a very sincere way. That’s the reason why I like it, cos I think it’s more sincere.

You can hear that. Because on the demo there are times when you think, is this James? Not until you pick up on some of the obvious pieces do you realise that it is you.

James: Exactly. It was too forced.

Again, some people will hear it and think this isn’t Dream Theater, and dismiss it. If they bother to listen to it properly, they will realise what a great song it is.

John: It’s weird that even in the past, there were songs that are so much a part of us now, that when we first introduced or started to write them, didn’t seem like that they were us at all. Another Day for instance, with saxophone, real poppy.

James: Like that song we were just listening to, To Live Forever; it has that U2-ish kind of feel.

John: Or Wait For Sleep. Those songs have turned into as much as our sound as Learning To Live or Pull Me Under has. I think it’s important to evolve, for a band to evolve – take Rush, every album they are evolving, and they’ve been around for over twenty years!

Having Space Dye Vest as the last track on the album acts as sort of an epitaph to Kevin – a thank you and goodbye. It’s also such a contrast to the rest of the album, and a nice wind-down to the album to finish with. Without Kevin, are you planning to play it live?

John: No way. We weren’t planning on playing it with Kevin.

James: I think that’s the kind of song that should be left alone and just on an album. It lends itself to that.

How much of the album do you intend to play live, initially anyway?

James: Hopefully the rest. We’ll try and play as much as we can.

John: There were certain songs that felt really good to play when we were writing them, and I think they’ll go over really well – like Caught In A Web, Lifting Shadows, 6:00. They feel good, and you feel psyched when you’re playing them and you wish someone was there just listening to them. Other songs are a bit like you’re not sure.

James: I think Voices is gonna be incredible live.

John: I think something like Innocence Faded is gonna be hard.

Changing tact. How did the thing with Steve Morse go John? Is there likely to be anything coming out?

John: That was awesome, like a dream coming true before my eyes. We did record something, we demoed something. Since then we haven’t received any details as to what we are supposed to do with it. It’s supposed to be for a Guitar World recording and I received some contracts for it a while back, but no other details or anything so I don’t know if it’s still a project. I went and jammed on stage with him and basically we’re friends now. Unbelievable.

Well, thanks very much once again, and I look forward to seeing you here on tour in the U.K. next February, if not earlier!

John: No problem. I’m glad you listened to the finished tape a few times. That’s the way we want people to hear it. It just seems that by the way you were talking about it you were getting what we meant. It seems like you’re getting the picture, which is cool.