Originally published in Lords of Metal Archive.nl · 2006
Dream Theater
InterviewJohn Petrucci3 min read
Dream Theater releases tons of material and that means not every one of these releases is interesting. The release of ‘Score’ however is a great masterpiece that looks back at the twenty-year career of the band. Tow decades in which Dream Theater set new standard in the symphonic music. This time it’s guitarist John Petrucci who does some short talking about twenty years, the DVD and the future.
By Ralph
John! How is everything in the Dream Theater camp right now?
We are doing really fine, thank you! Enjoying live, family and the DVD release and we are preparing for the new album, so we’re good!
You’re on the verge of releasing the epic piece ‘Score’. In what way do you feel this release is different from previous DVD/CD releases?
Well for starters this is our twenty-year anniversary, which is a celebration in itself. The whole thing with the orchestra, the documentary it’s a full overview of what Dream Theater is about and we are very, very proud of it. Besides that we go through the musical career chronologically, which is interesting!
Having such catalogue now, it must be hard to choose tracks in the first place when you go out on tour, and like in this case record a DVD/CD. How do you pick?
That is hard, definitely! It’s hard to please everyone and ourselves as well. But we always solve this ‘problem’ because Mike Portnoy is the one who decides on a final set list, so he is basically the one having to choose (laughs)! We all have our favorites of course but Mike always comes up with an amazing set list, so that’s good.
You guys seem to be the rock band that consists of some perfect son in law’s...
Hahahaha, you think so? Well, we are! Hahahaha. I see what you mean, we are not a standard sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll band. We like to party though, but we are quite, nice guys in general.
What are you most proud of looking back on the career so far?
The career itself. We’ve always been doing what we love and the fact that so many people have been picking it up over the years makes us proud. Touring everywhere, the albums and so on. We are proud to be still around.
‘Score’ is a career spanning set of discs, kind of like your own lifetime achievement award, if you know what I mean. Is this the prelude to another great DT era or do we have to fear the future?
No! You mean because this would be a great document to end a career with? No! We are starting to work on a new album next month, so there is definitely a future!
Dream Theater always takes every album/DVD one step further, fans expect you to progress. Is it hard to find the balance between progressing and taking it too far?
No, not really. It just happens you know. When we start writing there’s something going on and we don’t really think about it that way. We play and the songs come out as they come out.
Can we expect more G3 stuff from you?
Yes, probably. It was a great honour to do this G3 thing with Steve (Vai) and Joe (Satriani) and a great pleasure as well. So I would do it again if I could.
What does the near future look like for Dream Theater?
We go into the studio next month (that would be now because the interview took place a month ago, RR) and we’ll be there until January or so. It’s great to be able to write an album in one of the best studio’s in the world here in New York. The new album should be out early 2007 and after that we’ll be on the road again.