John Petrucci interview

Guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess are primarily responsible for creating the progressive heavy sounds that have made their band Dream Theater one of the most respected bands in their genre. When they decided to step outside the band however as they have for their just released An Evening with John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess the results are even more surprising than anyone could have imagined. What was a one off chance to perform as a duo at a benefit concert in an almost all acoustic setting 4 years ago has finally found a major release through Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label. This was no ordinary concert as they took a jazz musicians approach to the music in the sense that mostly all of it was improvised, so they threw caution to the wind and relied on their instincts and let their intuitions carry them through what was a truly magical evening of music.

Ryan Sparks, June 2004

CRR: Congratulations on the new record with Jordan. It’s really fantastic. This originally came out 2 years ago is that right?

John: Yeah at least 2 years ago. It was recorded in 2000 and it was released shortly thereafter.

CRR: Did you release it independently at the time?

John: Yeah. I released it on my label through my website. Basically we did the show and it was my wife’s idea to record it. At that time I didn’t even have a website so she designed that and we manufactured the CD and set it up so we could take orders directly. So that’s what we did and we ended up selling a bunch.

CRR: It wasn’t really intended to be a major release.

John: No, the only way you could have bought it was through the website.

CRR: How did Steve Vai’s label Favored Nations get involved to re-release it?

John: When I toured with Steve on G3 he got wind of it and heard it. At the time he was thinking of the acoustic division of the label, he told me that he’d love to release it. I told him the story of how it came about and we talked about distribution, it sounded good to me because I had limitations being only able to release it through the website so it ended up working out real good.

CRR: Can you tell me a little about how the seeds for this project were sown?

John: Jordan had approached me with the gig idea. His wife produces shows at this theater in NYC and they wanted to do a benefit concert. Originally he had approached me about having Dream Theater do it but it didn’t seem appropriate it because it’s this 600 seat little theater, so then we talked about just the two of us doing it. We had to get material so we decided to do kind of a jazz thing, write some heads and then just sort of improvise and that’s what we ended up doing. Like I said my wife suggested we record it because it was just the one night, there were no other shows.

CRR: How much improvising did you end up doing?

John: It’s mostly all improvised. Two of the tracks are completely improvised, we picked a spot in the show where he’d improvise on one track and I would do the same on another one. Two of the tracks were written before and were on Liquid Tension (Experiment) records.

CRR: "State of Grace" being one.

John: "State of Grace" and "Hourglass", actually "Hourglass" didn’t’ make it onto this record but we did play it at the show. "The Rena Song" was a song that I wrote a long time ago. All the other one’s were written on the road while we were on tour. I remember being in Taiwan and places like that and we’d just get together and literally write the themes just leaving a big open space in the middle to improvise. That’s what the majority of the show was like.

CRR: It must have been very satisfying artistically for you both from what you’re used to in the band setting, it freed you up to go places maybe that you’ve never been before.

John: Oh sure. It was great. The night had a real special vibe to it and it was a lot of fun just being able to rely on each other and trade off and have that communication.

CRR: I’m curious as to what the crowd was like, were you playing to a bunch of upper crust theater people or was it full of Dream Theater fans?

John: There were a lot of Dream Theater fans and quite a few theater goers as well. The majority I think were our fans.

CRR: It’s evident when you listen to the CD that the interplay between you both is really magical. How would describe the musical chemistry that you both have and how do you explain it?

John: It’s completely natural, it’s so un-forced. It was like that the first time I met Jordan and we started playing. Just in the way that we think, they way we write and come up with melodies and improvise, there’s just total natural communication. Some players have that ability and it’s like that with Jordan and me.

CRR: Have you had that with anyone else?

John: Oh yeah absolutely, all the guys in my band.

CRR: How did you first become aware of his work?

John: The first time I heard him was on a Vinnie Moore record which was awhile back, then when Kevin (Moore) left the band and we were holding auditions everybody kind of remembered him, he was a New York guy so we met him that way. It ended up not working out at the time with Dream Theater but eventually we would come to do the Liquid Tension projects with him.

CRR: Was it a case of him being unavailable at the time?

John: Yeah it was a couple of different things. He had a few projects going and he had just had a child plus he was filling in for T.Lavitz with The Dregs. We had a heavy touring schedule ahead of us; there were a whole lot of different reasons why it didn’t work out.

CRR: So the time was finally right after Derek (Sherinian) left the band, plus you’d already worked with him in the past.

John: Exactly, we already knew it would work.

CRR: Are you considering doing this type of thing again?

John: You know we don’t have any definite plans but I can tell you I’d love to do it again, there are just so many things on our plate right now (laughs) so it’s not in our immediate future but we’d love to do it again because it was so much fun.

CRR: What the status on your solo album?

John: Well that’s one of the projects on my plate (laughs), that’s going to be finished in the next couple of weeks and then mixed in June. The only thing I’m unsure of is how I’m going to release it, I could release it through my website or get it distributed another way. It’s the first one that I’ve ever done.

CRR: Is it possible to go through Favored Nations again?

John: Sure I could do that or go through Elektra or any of the people that I’ve had offers from.

CRR: What can you tell me about the album?

John: It’s all instrumental; it’s a trio, just guitar, bass and drums. There are no keyboards. The song styles kind of vary, there’s some jazz blues, some pop stuff, some techno and then there’s some heavier stuff which is more in the Dream Theater vein. In general there are a lot of guitars, it’s all guitars carrying the melodies and doing the solos.

CRR: Sounds like this album has given you the chance to really step outside the box and do a lot of stuff you’ve never done before.

John: Sure yeah. It’s truly a solo album, there are no other players or guest artists, it’s just focused on what I want to do. It basically shows the gamut of my style and expression.

CRR: Everyone knows you’re a hell of a guitar player but you’ve written some pretty great lyrics as well. Can you tell me where you draw some of your lyrical inspiration from?

John: It’s something I’ve always had an interest starting from when I was in high school. I took creative writing and I would write poetry. I was always into the arts like painting, drawing, poetry, music and all that stuff, plus a lot of the bands that I listened to always had interesting lyrics. I was big into Rush, Yes, Pink Floyd and Marillion, those type of prolific lyrics I was always drawn to. It seemed like the perfect environment to express that; with music and writing. I’ve always loved the sounds of words. It’s just something I was drawn to. When it came time to do it professionally, it was natural. I would just choose the topic and go from there. I work hard at it and it definitely takes time. Our singer James (LaBrie) has told me that he works so long on lyrics and it does take me awhile but not months or anything like that.

CRR: "Take Away My Pain" was a real personal song for you to write. The lyrics are really poignant, it’s about you Father isn’t it?

John: Yeah I literally wrote that one when my Father was in the hospital on his death bed. It was just what was going through my head while I was there experiencing the whole thing. I kinda had the whole song written in my head, the melody, the words and everything.

CRR: At least you were able to take something positive out of that situation.

John: Yeah, sometimes the words just come right to you. Maybe not the whole song but some of the main parts.

CRR: I think what maybe sets Dream Theater apart from most bands is that everyone seems to contribute equally with the music and the lyrics and this surely works in your favor. Is it just the natural way that the band works, everyone brings in their contributions?

John: The way it works, getting back to that chemistry that we talked about earlier, when we get together and play we just have this natural creative synergy. It’s pretty easy for us to write music. Certain guys are more of a creative force than others so it’s not like we’re all in there equally even though it seems like that. Mike (Portnoy), Jordan and myself are the nucleus in terms of the writing.

CRR: Dream Theater’s success has seemed to get bigger and bigger with each album.

John: We’re like a conservative stock (laughs).

CRR: Yeah but you guys are a band that just seems to get slightly bigger and bigger which each album. The bands progress has been slow but steady and you didn’t get that million selling album right off the bat like some bands do with their first album. What do you think that would have done to your heads having that kind of success right away?

John: It’s hard to say. In a way although it wasn’t a million seller it kinda happened to us with Images and Words. That album really put us on the map, it went gold in the US and basically kick started our career. It made people aware of us, we started to tour and get out there, then after people started to see us they wanted to see us more and we were able to go overseas and everywhere else. That was definitely the kick start and we were able to build on that. If our first album had come out and been a huge success it’s hard to say if we would have been able to continue to build upon that or would we have just come and gone. We’ve been with the same label since ‘92 and I can’t tell you how many bands have been dropped in the time that we’ve been there or how many times the name of the label has changed names, just recently the whole Warner Music Group was bought and they dropped all these artists and they renewed their option on us so we must have something. I’ll take that million seller now though, now would be a good time (laughs). I’ve been doing this for a long time, touring and working. We work really hard so it would be nice.

CRR: Not long after the first album When Day and Dream Unite was released you made the decision to part ways with original vocalist Charlie Dominici, it must have been frustrating losing your singer after only one album.

John: Yeah it was a very strange period, we were young and we got signed right out of Berklee. It was so exciting to record for the first time, your career is just beginning and then suddenly we were without a singer. We were rehearsing without a singer and the future of our record deal looked shaky, time was going by. I started to wonder if I’d ever be able to do this again you know? Fortunately we persevered.

CRR: So there definitely were some doubts on the future of the band at that point?

John: Yeah you kind of have tunnel vision when you’re at that stage and you can’t picture yourself doing anything else but at the same time you can’t help but have doubts. After six months, eight months, a year goes by and you still don’t have a singer, you’re just going to rehearsal and working a job on the side, it’s the story for a lot of people.

CRR: You auditioned a lot of people before finally settling on James, how did you find him, had you heard his work with someone else?

John: We had the feelers out obviously as we had been searching for awhile and one of the people who was working at our label at the time had heard about him and got us in touch. When we heard and saw him he was just worlds above anybody we had ever worked with. In fact there was a guy who was practically in the band before we got turned onto James and we ended up having to tell him sorry (laughs)

CRR: You were actually going to go ahead with this guy?

John: Yeah.

CRR: It was earlier this year that you did the anniversary show wasn’t it?

John: In L.A., Yeah.

CRR: You played the whole first album in its entirety. What was it like being onstage with Charlie again, he came out and sang the encores right?

John: It was interesting. We hadn’t played a lot of shows with him when he was in the band but as soon as he went up there and started singing it really brought back memories.

CRR: Had you guys kept in touch with him all these years?

John: No not really. I saw him maybe once at a show but that’s it.

CRR: How did the whole idea for having him join you for this show come about?

John: That was Mike’s idea. He’s always brainstorming what the next big idea’s gonna be.

CRR: So it was Mike who reached out and contacted him, he didn’t have any problems doing it?

John: Yeah he e-mailed him and he was totally into it.

CRR: Mike always goes through the set lists before playing a show in each city, looking at past set lists to make sure the same songs aren’t necessarily repeated over again which makes each show different and it take’s a lot of dedication to do that. After so many years of playing with Dream Theater what keeps things interesting for you?

John: You know I love to play, I love to perform and I love to play guitar so that’s what’s interesting for me. I love recording and writing, I still have that creative spirit that I’ve always had so that’s what keeps it interesting to me, knowing that each night I have another chance to get something right, we try to keep improvisational moments on stage in order to let loose and I love that.

CRR: There are so many bands who just stick to the same songs every night. I mean I love Pink Floyd but when I would go and see them they were kind of at the mercy of their own show and the choreography you know? They could only do certain things at certain times. I personally like bands that go out and change it up every night; it keeps it interesting not only for you as musicians but for the fans as well.

John: There are pros and cons to that. If you are playing the same songs that show is going to be incredibly tight, it works for the crew, for the lighting director, for the sound man, everybody knows what to expect and there is something to be said for that. Doing it the way we do it, it’s great I think for the fans, for a certain niche of fans that appreciate it, but it’s way harder on us because we have to have a massive repertoire instead of say 15 songs for the tour, we need to have 45 songs on rotation and to keep all that in your memory and on your fingertips (laughs), it’s a lot of work on our part but for the people who appreciate that I think it really works.

CRR: You guys seem to have the best of both worlds though, you’re incredibly tight but you don’t lose the improv feel.

John: Yeah we try to maintain the balance.

CRR: What have you got coming up? I know you’ve got a tour opening up for Yes which will be a great treat for fans of both bands; you must be looking forward to that.

John: It’s gonna be great. They’re a big influence on me and the band as well. I’ve always been a fan so that’s going to be awesome. That will bring us to September and then we’ll take some time and work on our last album commitment with our original deal and take it from there.

CRR: Time to work on renegotiating?

John: Yeah it’s actually something we’re looking forward to because when we signed the original deal we were just kids, it was along time ago so we’re kind of chomping at the bit.