Dream Theater – The Turbulent Soundtrack

Totally conscious of your awkward staring, but desperately unable to turn your attention, you know in your heart that you really don’t have much of a chance, do you? But with Christmas just a few days away, hope is naive as you fight shy hesitation to meekly approach her, stammering to work up the nerve to ask for a date. “If you want to see me,” she states with the fierce challenge of pointed insistence, “I’ll be at the Dream Theater show on Wednesday.”

John Petrucci laughs out loud that, after coming together at a Dream Theater Home For The Holidays performance, you’ve now been married for several years. And he laughs even louder when you admit that, despite not really being much of a fan in the beginning, you’ve become something of a reluctant one by nature of your wife having all the Dream Theater CDs, videos, and now the Live Scenes From New York DVD in the house.

Working on his debut solo album in response to positive reaction to his performances on the G3 tour, the soft spoken guitarist is eager to talk about Dream Theater and their new album, Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence. A two-disc set that features over an hour-and-a-half of new music in the form of only six songs, the purposely coincidental sixth Dream Theater studio album centers around the forty-two minute title track that alone is the extent of Disc 2, something Petrucci knows to be adventurous. “To me, it’s kind of an epic long song, and not so much a conceptual piece like Scenes From A Memory.”

The nucleus of Dream Theater formed over sixteen years ago at the Berklee School Of Music as a chance meeting between students Petrucci, bassist John Myung and drummer Mike Portnoy. As the core of what would ultimately evolve into Dream Theater, the band formed as Majesty, eventually adopting their now familiar name from a California movie house. Following the independent release When Dream And Day Unite and a series of vocalists, the addition of James LaBrie and Images And Words – with its breakout single ‘Pull Me Under,’ and the monumentally defining ‘Metropolis – Part 1’ – became the cornerstone to a dedicated fan base. Obsessing over the very nuances of the band, and sparing no opportunity to travel the distances of the world to revel in live Dream Theater performances, it’s on audience that approaches that of the Grateful Dead in terms of adulation and dedication.

“We’re blessed because we have fans that are so behind the band,” says Petrucci of the lifeblood of his band. “They want to see us play,” he says, referring with amazement to those who travel thousands of miles to see the band, while admitting the most extreme thing he ever did was “sleeping out for Frank Zappa tickets.” And with the opinions of such diehard fans being important to him, he asks your wife’s thoughts on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, only to laugh again when you sheepishly admit that she hasn’t heard it because you’ve hoarded the CD to yourself...

Metal Edge: a couple of years ago, you guys were just going out on the road for Scenes From A Memory. Talking to Mike [Portnoy] about how Dream Theater had always been measured by Images And Words, I asked him if Scenes From A Memory would be the next thing by which the band is judged. Do you think that happened?

John Petrucci: I think it did, because Images And Words was a very special album for us. It was our first major-label debut, and it was our first success, as far as commercial success – A lot of our fans heard us for the first time. Up until Scenes From A Memory, I don’t think a lot of those same fans felt we did something that hit them the same way. For some reason, Scenes From A Memory did.

ME: Now that the bar is raised, how did that affect this record? You’re higher up the ladder, and the pressure is even higher than before.

JP: Right. [laughing] First of all, we went into this record with very specific ideas as to what we wanted to write. Our thinking was that since we just did something which was a real accomplishment, we need to do something special on this album, and not just a collection of songs. So, we had some really specific conversations about what we were going to do. Some of the things we decided to do, for example, were to write on epic piece; write on orchestral sort of piece; experiment on some of the songs with the production [and] get a little psychedelic; write something really heavy – Basically make a very varied and eclectic Dream Theater record, and write in a style a little more reminiscent of early progressive music. We kind of knew what we were doing, and I think the pressure gave us a focal point.

ME: Do you think you could have done Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence without Scenes From A Memory as its predecessor?

JP: I do, because the way I look at Scenes, that’s a conceptual album based off of a story. The story has a plot, characters, and it’s a mystery. But ‘Six Degrees’ is just a long song, and we’ve done that many times, right from the beginning. This just happened to be the longest one. [laughing]

ME: But even though you really can’t categorize this as being a concept album, is it correct to say that it’s conceptual in nature? Everything seems to tie together very well.

JP: It does, and we’ve even talked about it. When we were coming up with the title, we’re like, “Oh, there’s six songs... The Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence.” [laughing] You can almost do that with all of our albums. When we write music, it’s a certain period in our lives, and we’re all sort of going through similar things, and there’s almost always a thread that goes through our albums. So, yeah, it’s conceptual in nature, absolutely.

ME: As you said, Scenes From A Memory was a story, and very theatrical. Before that, Falling Into Infinity was very personal in nature. Where does this album fall between those two standpoints?

JP: This album is a couple of things – It’s very introspective, and it’s very intellectual. Where you said Falling Into Infinity was personal, it’s almost based more on emotions and feelings. This is more cerebral. We’re talking about things like stem cell debate and deterioration of the mind.

ME: Those things, and religion, addiction...

JP: There’s addiction, there’s religion – There’s some serious religion. ‘Misunderstood’ is totally about the temptation of Christ. You might not know that reading the lyrics –

ME: But reading the lyrics, it is hinted.

JP: Totally, so it’s pretty deep. I think this one definitely delves pretty deeply on a subject basis. It’s not your average rock ‘n’ roll topics. [laughing]

ME: No girls and cars? [laughing]

JP: [laughing] Yeah, you don’t hear most bands singing about harvesting embryos.

ME: That’s why it seems to be so thematic, because each of these individual things – addiction, religion, stem cell research – when you wrap the emotions of all that together, any of those given subjects causes any amount of inner turbulence within any given person.

JP: That’s very true, you totally nailed it. And, once again, when we were coming up with the title, that was one of the things we were going through – They’re all sort of elements of inner turmoil and stress.

ME: So the seventh degree of turbulence would have to be being in a touring rock band.

JP: Yeah, right. [laughing] That’s very true.

ME: In that sense, with all this turmoil and emotion chronicled in these songs, where do you personally fall? With which do you emphasize the most?

JP: That’s a hard one to say. I mean, ‘Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence,’ the three particular sections I wrote are about specific mental disorders. I don’t really relate to them personally, other than I think they’re interesting. I’d probably have to say... [pauses] Probably ‘Misunderstood,’ because that has a lot of meaning to me.

ME: Why is that?

JP: Because it talks very deeply about faith. It talks about Jesus, and faith and temptation – Temptations that challenged him. When you think about religion and the grand picture, it’s very hard to focus in on real human qualities, emotions and challenges. But when you think about that particular story, about a man tempted with the same things other people were, you can relate to that on a personal level. Everybody looking to this person as if they are the one and only savior, but they’re feeling doubt. What about people that have so much fame? What about artists or athletes, people that have so many people surrounding them, yet they talk about being alone. They don’t relate to all these people on a personal level.

ME: Do you think that’s why the members of this band are so rooted in family?

JP: I think so, because family is very, very personal. Your wife and children, and your extended family, it’s something personal to you. It’s something that only you have, and they know you the best. As much as everybody in public kind of knows you, they’ll never know you on that level. And, as many people that you meet, you’ll never know them on the level that you know our own family. So, even though I can sit here and sound very pious and talk about Christianity, you don’t have to take ‘Misunderstood’ from that angle.

ME: This record reflects more of your early progressive influences. Being mentioned in the same breath as [Rush’s] 2112 and [Yes’] Closer To The Edge, how comfortable are you being categorized with these other works that are obviously so influential?

JP: I think it’s amazing. It’s very flattering to be mentioned in the same breath. Those are some of our greatest influences, and they mean a lot to us musically. It’s not as if we’re in the same time period as those records, but you feel like you’re part of, like, an extended family. [laughing]

ME: That’s an interesting way to put it. Given the time frame for those pieces, it wasn’t such a big chance for a band to be taking. Now, you’re totally out on the end of the gangplank...

JP: Oh, totally. I mean, no rock bands are even having solo sections anymore, never mind forty-two minute songs.

ME: As well as reflecting early progressive influences, a lot of Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence is probably heavier than what you’ve done before. Was that something conscious, to make this a bit heavier?

JP: Yeah, absolutely! Music continually changes, and we’re influenced by contemporary music as it’s going along. I mean, the night before we started writing, Mike and I went with our wives and saw Pantera and Soulfly. So, it’s totally conscious. Talk about the bar being raised, heavy guitar music has completely developed and gotten as heavy as it can get.

ME: But from your perspective, that’s got to be fun. Being a guitar player, I’m sure there must be times when you feel like a kid, saying, “Yeah, I just want to wail away on my guitar!”

JP: Oh, totally. To me, that’s one of the greatest things about playing guitar. Being a musician, I’ve always gotten a lot of joy out of challenging myself, as far as craft and the art of songwriting. But specifically being a guitar player is one of the most fun things, just the abandon, y’know? It can be very aggressive, loud, annoying, funny – It’s such on expressive instrument. It’s not like you’re playing under very strict guidelines, like classical or jazz. Rock guitar is the be-all, end-all of just being able to act like a kid and go whacky from time to time. [laughing]

ME: And that having been said, how much of an influence do you think the whole G3 experience is going to have on what Dream Theater does from this point?

JP: It’s had on influence already. We were recording when I got asked to do G3. I did the tour, and came back and finished recording. I mean, Joe [Satriani] and Steve [Vai] are two of my favorite players, and it was such a high to play with them. That sort of attitude, I think, is reflected in some of the music. All the guitar on Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence was recorded after that tour, and some of the solos, too. I was fired up, y’know? I was very pumped after that.

ME: What’s interesting is, with your fans being so dedicated, there’s a fine line. You are essentially creating music for yourself, but, on the other hand, you have to keep in mind the people who listen to your music. Was that in the back of your mind, going into an album like this?

JP: [amused] Y’know, sometimes we say that. Obviously, we’ve been doing this for a long time, and we do know specific people that will be at the shows. And, the funny thing is, we’ll say that. It’s like, half-joking, but we’re half serious: Oh, this section, I can totally picture Matthias headbanging in Germany. [laughing] Y’know what I mean? When we play Italy, I can totally picture so-and-so singing this section. We’re half-joking, but it’s kind of true.

ME: Do you think that makes for being a much better band, because you are that in-tune with these people?

JP: I think it probably has to do with establishing a specific... How can I say this? I figured this out after doing certain side projects: Dream Theater, as much as we’re about not having boundaries when it comes to writing, we definitely have a certain thing that we’ve developed as a band, the certain ingredient that goes in the sound we make. I think we’ve become very in-tune with that. For example, when I was writing for the G3 tour, it was a different experience from a few hours later when I would be together with the guys, writing for Dream Theater. Different head space.

ME: 2001 was a pretty prolific year for Dream Theater, as far as product, with the Scenes From A Memory DVD and live album. Was it intended that way, to saturate the market, so to speak, leading up to this new record?

JP: I don’t know if it was completely planned that way. I think it happened to work out that way. There were specific plans to do the DVD and the live CD. I think the general feeling was that it was good to have something out there, something new that fans can get their hands on. I don’t think we like laying dormant for too long.

ME: You were actually working on Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence at the beginning of last year. When you give a project that much time, things are bound to change from a creative standpoint. How much did this album change, even though you said that you really thought it out?

JP: Y’know, it really didn’t change too much. Personally, one of the funny things I said in the beginning was we should try to keep this album shorter than the last one. [laughing]

ME: [laughing] Nice try!

JP: Yeah, nice try, exactly! Another thing I remember saying was, lyrically, this time I’m going to write a little more simple. I ended up writing all this complicated stuff. [laughing]

ME: That’s pretty remarkable, that it didn’t change that much.

JP: From the very beginning, we wanted to release it in January of 2002. We had been on the road for a long time, and we always release albums in the fall, and then tour in the winter. We were like, eh... “Let’s not do that again.” So, that gave us a lot of time to play with.

ME: Isn’t that dangerous? When you have that extra time, you kind of look at it as, well, we’ve got time, so let’s change things around.

JP: The funny thing is, the very beginning of these sessions, it felt like we had all the time in the world. Our pace was really slow, and then, all of a sudden, the G3 thing was kind of like a deadline. We were like, “Alright, before we leave, we have to be finished with all the music.” So, we had written the five songs over the period of all these months, and then we wrote ‘Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence’ within, like, two weeks. In the beginning, we’d be in the studio like, “What do you want to do today? Should we go to lunch first?” We were laughing because, at the end, we’re going to be like, y’know, somebody spoon feeding me my lunch while I’m trying to finish my guitar tracks.

ME: And there’s always the temptation when you have time to go back and tweak it a little bit.

JP: Yeah, there is that, to some degree. I’d like a little more of that, because we really don’t do that. I mean, the Scenes From A Memory mixes, we did do that. I wasn’t happy, and we had things remixed and whatnot. This album, everything was very final. I almost would have liked that flexibility, but we put pretty rigid time constraints on ourselves.

ME: After the January show at B.B. King’s club in New York, you’re going off to Europe. What are the tour plans after that?

JP: Actually, the purpose of the New York show is kind of a warm-up, because we’re using in-ear monitors for the first time. We have a production show that we’re going to use [on tour], but we wanted to concentrate on the feeling of playing live with the in-ear monitors.

ME: Just knowing how – for lack of a better word – anal you guys really are about your sound, that’s just staggering that you’ve never used those things before. [laughing]

JP: I know! Could you believe it? Those things are perfect for us, the perfect thing. Forget about it now, soundchecks will be hours. I’m not really sure on the order, but we are planning on going to Asia and playing in Japan, and probably China and Korea. Maybe some other areas as well. And then, we will do a headlining tour in the U.S., and probably some sort of opening or package kind of thing in the U.S. during the summer, as well as European festivals. And, we will also probably go to Australia and South America.

ME: Given the climate of everything in the world, is there any apprehension at all?

JP: Yeah. To be quite frank, there’s on offer for us to play Indonesia, and I don’t know if I feel good about it, y’know what I mean? So, yeah, it’s weird. We’re at war, and we’re talking about flying all over the world. It’s a little scary.

ME: When you do go on tour, have you discussed what you’re going to do for a set?

JP: We have, actually. We’re sort of compiling together songs that we know we want to definitely do. It’s a matter of arranging them in such a way that they fit. It takes some thought. Mike consumes himself with that. He’s so into it, y’know? I think it keeps him awake at night, how to combine the songs to make the perfect set.

ME: He was that kind in high school, scribbling band logos on book covers and writing out set lists, wasn’t he? [laughing]

JP: Oh yeah, absolutely! [laughing]

ME: There’s going to be so much made out of such a long song as the centerpiece of the whole album, does that make you feel obligated to play it?

JP: Yeah, I think so. It’s sort of fun because, at the same time, there’s only one period where it is like that. Like with Scenes, when that came out, we were like, well, we have to play the whole album. But now that we did it for a whole tour, now we don’t have to play the whole album anymore.

ME: “Alright, we’re going to do ‘Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence,’ ‘Pull Me Under,’ a quick medley of Scenes From A Memory, and thank you, goodnight!” [laughing]

JP: Exactly, it’s horrible. [amused] Y’know, one of the funny things is that, a lot of times, we’ll do festivals. Your set list time will be forty-five minutes, so we’ll just play one song, and we’re set. [laughing]