Gearing Up – Tech Talk: Dream Theater’s John Petrucci

Dream Theater is one of those bands either you love or you hate. If you’re a fan of complex musical arrangements, long, involved opuses and provocative lyrics, you probably love the surreal sounds that emanate from vocalist James LaBrie, bassist John Myung, guitarist John Petrucci, drummer Mike Portnoy and keyboardist Derek Sherinian. And you’ve probably added their latest EP, A Change Of Seasons to your CD collection – if not for the 23 minute track of the same name, then the cool covers of song by Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Queen and other rock icons. We caught up with Petrucci who plays a pivotal role in the conceptualizing of Dream Theater’s material, to talk about the new EP, his equipment, and a few other things in this latest installment of Tech Talk.

Hit Parader: How did this EP, A Change Of Seasons, come about?

John Petrucci: The EP is just supposed to be an interim release, ‘cause the next album won’t be out until next year. It’s a real fan based release. We got a petition through the Internet that they wanted us to record it. Actually, they were saying they wanted that particular song because we only played it live like two times and there was a couple of bootlegs of it so there wasn’t a real recorded version of it. It was one of those things that kept getting brought up. Also on the EP are a few live songs we did in England, and they’re all covers, so they were writing about that – you know, “Are you gonna release these cover tunes?” So I guess there was a lot of interest, and we just kind of put it all together.

HP: Were you afraid of doing a cover album – a lot of times when bands do that it comes out kind of cheesy.

JP: Yeah, totally. I was like, “I don’t want to release these.” But it was just one night in England and we had a lot of fun. We had the opportunity to play with Steve Howe and Marillion and other guys, so that part of it was cool. We were cracking up. We had a great time. But as far as putting something out, I always want to put out our own material. It could definitely come across cheesy. It’s supposed to be lighthearted. Personally, it is kind of weird to release a CD of cover songs that you used to just do for fun.

HP: Can you talk specifically about the song, A Change Of Seasons from a technical and a creative standpoint?

JP: The songs we write don’t start out to be so serious. As far as the original concept, it’s not as dramatic as it may sound. We literally just get together and start coming up with these parts and it’s like a stream of consciousness type of writing. Four guys together, just jamming on riffs and before you know it, you’ve got ten minutes and then fifteen minutes, and then we’re like, “Yeah, let’s just keep doing it until it’s done,” and then it’s twenty minutes later and you have this crazy song. But because of all the different parts to it and all the different moods, it’s almost like separate songs within one big song. Mike wrote the lyrics and they sort of go along with the different sections; they’re depicting different points in a person’s life and also paralleling that with the change of seasons. The final product is definitely a dramatic point that’s trying to get across but the original conception is just like a fun series of jams.

HP: Everyone thinks you toil for hours over these complex arrangements!

JP: Yeah! [laughs] The stuff that sounds complicated, we definitely work out and it takes time, but it’s like the ending purpose isn’t to have this whole dramatic effect, it’s just to be creative and that’s what’s fun about it. Sometimes you’re trying to be dramatic and you have a strong inspiration that you’re trying to get across musically and sometimes that happens and it is more dramatic from the conception, but this song, from the conception, was just fun-spirited.

HP: Can you explain some of the technical complexities of the song?

JP: Well, there are some parts where the whole band is playing in unison and we’re all doubling on the same part and playing it at a fast speed. Sometimes we’re doing fills where the drums and the guitar are doubling a riff and the drums and bass are doubling a riff and then the drums and keyboards are doubling, so there are some tradeoffs. There’s a lot of reoccurring themes that are happening throughout, so even though it’s twenty minutes long, there is some continuity because themes reappear and you hear a familiarity and it even ends with the same theme it began with and that sort of ties it in. So technically, those are some of the things that are happening.

HP: Do you ever worry if a concept that you have, especially if it’s twenty minutes long, won’t come across on CD or even live?

JP: Definitely, especially when we’re playing in front of people and they’re leaving! [laughs] You definitely think about that and I think that being aware of that is part of maturing as you write songs. But it is hard to keep somebody’s interest for an entire album side or for twenty minutes or whatever. I think one of the things that you develop hopefully, as a musician and a songwriter, is the ability to keep something interesting and to have a clear point and a clear purpose so when somebody listens to it, there’s an immediacy that they can relate to. And that doesn’t always happen and the odds are sort of stacked against you when a song is twenty minutes long.

HP: Do you use different guitars when you’re writing than you do on the road?

JP: My philosophy in the studio is that you’re in a controlled environment. You can get your hands on or rent anything that you want and if you’re trying to get an idea across, make it happen. So I’ll use different guitars to do that – vintage acoustics that I don’t own, and don’t normally have, different tuned guitars, even different models from Ibanez that I don’t normally play live. I’ll borrow, rent, the producer might have a guitar. I usually use my main Ibanez guitar to cut almost everything, but if I’m looking for something that’s a bit different, I try not to compromise, I just try to go for exactly what instrument will make that sound. Live, I don’t do that, I can’t do that. I have to use one guitar to sort of emulate everything. So that’s where the rig actually becomes crucial for the different types of effects and processing and the different ways that the guitar is versatile.

HP: Is there one particular guitar you use, a favorite?

JP: When we’re writing as a group and I want my guitar to sound good in the context of writing, I have a main guitar. But now I have a signature series out so they’re all kind of the same anyway. It’s called JPM100 and it’s a signature Ibanez. If I’m at home, I’ll write ideas on whatever’s around, it doesn’t matter.

HP: Were you actually involved in the design of the signature?

JP: Totally. It’s exactly the guitar that I play. I’d been using Ibanez for several years and I’ve changed my guitar through their custom shop several different times and I’ve changed the pickups through DiMarzio several different times and recently I’ve come up with what I’m most comfortable with and then they said, “We want to do a signature guitar,” and I said “Great,” and they copied exactly what I ended up with. So it’s not like I had to start from scratch and tell them I wanted this and this and this. They just took my guitar that I use and did exactly that – the specs, the wood, the types of pickups, the switches, the location of the knobs and everything like that. It’s cool.

HP: Do you remember your first guitar?

JP: My first guitar was a plastic, nylon string acoustic. One day I found the headstock completely broken off of it and I was like, “Oh well, so much for that guitar.”

HP: Did you ever imagine you’d be writing twenty minute opuses?

JP: I don’t know. To tell you the truth, back then, the only thing I cared about was jamming with my friends, practicing in my room and wanting to be Rush. So that’s all I was thinking about back then. But as you get older and into music, then you start getting into what music is about, what songs are about, and that’s a whole different story.

HP: Where do you think Dream Theater fits into today’s music?

JP: We’re definitely not part of any trend that’s happening, which I guess is good and bad. You want to set yourself apart and you want to be original and you want to make your own mark, but not to the point of complete obscurity. [laughs] In a lot of ways, so far as rock music and pop music has been going, we don’t fit in. But where we do fit in is I think there are a lot of people that want to hear music that comes from progressive roots. That’s my whole philosophy. I’m pretty open to music. If something sounds really good and is sincere then the style of it doesn’t really matter so I think that’s our goal. If we can make music like that, we’ll get a wider range of listeners.