Tunnel Vision With John Petrucci

In his second piece for this issue of New Voice, Jon Van Daal sits down with John Petrucci during the Australian tour. Their conversation below covers diverse territory from the experience of returning to Australia, their contribution to “God of War”, to future plans for solo material. So, without further adieu, take it away Jon and John...

Jon Van Daal: What’s it like being back here in Australia?

John Petrucci: It’s great coming back for a second time because now we have returning customers and there seems to be more enthusiasm at the shows and more people. Y’know, in some countries, you go there for the first time and it’s just like they explode. You might only play one show in a country, like in Russia we played Moscow, and the same in Israel, and there’s like 10,000 kids right there. But in Australia, after all the years we’ve been touring, we never came here, so we had to develop. So we’re probably not as big as we are in other parts of the world, but it’s great to see an increase and an improvement in attendance, and the fans are really into it.

JVD: So, talking of first times, how was your first visit to New Zealand?

JP: It was good! The theatre we played was a really nice theatre...

JVD: Where they made King Kong?

JP: Yeah, it was a really fancy place, really nicely done out!

JVD: What has been the highlight of the Black Clouds and Silver Linings tour so far?

JP: There have been a couple high lights y’know. In June, one of the highlights was playing the Download Festival in England, there were 80,000 people there, it was fantastic. Then the shows I mentioned, Moscow and Israel. It was nice coming to a country for the first time. Over the summer, it was great touring Progressive Nation with Opeth, that was amazing; I love Opeth. Then over here, like we mentioned, playing New Zealand for the first time. All the cities have their own charm!

JVD: Moving on, how did the song for ‘God of War’ come about?

JP: Well, that was something that RoadRunner approached us about. I think that they were approached by Sony, because it’s primarily a metal label, and they were interested in their acts, and then RoadRunner asked us to do it.

JVD: And, did you guys accept immediately?

JP: Yeah! It’s a fun little project to do.

JVD: As you’ve done a track for a computer game before, do you think this experience will be different or better?

JP: Well, this’ll be different because the experience I had before was a long time ago. It was when Sega had the Saturn, so we’re talking a long time ago. I just did it on my own and they just needed a couple of little musical parts for the beginning and the end and they each had to be 2 minutes long. This is different. This is the band writing a song now. It’s not on the soundtrack; I guess the game doesn’t have a soundtrack. It’s on a disc that’s included with the game. So it’s kinda music that surrounds the game and it will definitely be a different experience than what I did in the past.

JVD: Did you consider doing anything with vocals? Is James going to be involved as well?

JP: Well, we’ve decided to do an instrumental track on this one. We’re kinda busy with the tour and this is stuck right in the middle, so we decided that it was easier for us to not have to worry about vocals.

JVD: And are there any plans to do anything else while you’re in the studio?

JP: No. Not at that time. We only have a really short period of time, like a week or 4 days, so it’s going to be pretty intense.

JVD: Apart from South America, there won’t be any big headlining tours next year, but are you thinking of doing any festivals or anything else?

JP: We probably will, summer time, festivals are looking likely in summer. Normally we would go out like June-time and do festivals, but we just did that this past summer so if we do do something, it will probably be something different. like festivals we’ve never done before in the later part of the summer.

JVD: Do you personally have any musical plans for during the DT downtime? Something like G3 or another solo album?

JP: Yeah, well G3 is like Joe Satriani’s ‘organisation’, so he would have to ask me to do it. So I don’t really have any control over that, but if the timing worked out and it happened, then sure, I’d do that in a second, I love it. As for a solo album, I’m actually writing now, so that would be a very good project for me to do in that time!

JVD: So if that could coincide with another G3 tour...

JP: Yeah, that would be great!

JVD: Do the band have any plans to head back to the studio later in 2010?

JP: We won’t go back into the studio until like a year from now, or maybe a little less. If you consider; we’ll do God Of War; we’ll do South America, I think Mike is doing a Transatlantic tour, we’ll take a little time, I’ll hopefully do my solo album. *laughs* I hate to say it, because then I have to do it! Though, maybe I should say it! Then, like we said, maybe some festivals later on in the summer; so we won’t be heading to the studio before the fall-ish.

JVD: I was actually looking back over the history of DT and Jordan obviously joined over 10 years ago...

JP: Yeah...

JVD: ...which is amazing in itself, but you guys have done so much. Like, normally a band has a very fertile chapter and then they go off, but with you guys it’s just getting better and better...

JP: Oh! Thank you.

JVD: But, do you think the music is also getting heavier?

JP: I think so. But that’s a hard question to answer. People ask me that and I think maybe the sound of the production has got better and heavier in a way. But when I think back to our very first album, the album opens up with essentially a thrash song ‘A Fortune in Lies’, ‘Ytsejam’ is heavy and ‘Afterlife’ is very riffy and heavy. The thing that sets us apart is that we’ve always had a metal sound, but it’s just that the production has got better I think. Certainly, in “guitar land” from Train of Thought onwards, I’ve used more D-tuned guitars, the baritone etc., so certainly the guitar sound has gotten heavier, but as far as whether the music has stylistically gotten heavier, well I don’t know! Maybe.

JVD: You’ve got ‘Lie’ on the setlist this tour...

JP: Well yeah, ‘Lie’ was on the Awake record and that was a heavy record back in 1994. So have we gotten heavier? Not really!

JVD: Technically, how have things been progressing for you? How have things been going? I think last time we spoke, you had a guy who was helping you with your pedals and software? Have you been working on enhancing your sounds or anything like that?

JP: Yeah, absolutely! There have been a few additions. I don’t have them down on this tour because we’re using a B-rig, but the rig that I built for this tour is using Mark V Mesa Boogie amps that just came out. It’s an awesome amp, I miss it down here! So that’s like a new addition. It didn’t make it too much on the album, a few little bits, like ‘The Count of Tuscany’ solo for some overdubs, but like for the ‘God of War’ thing, I’ll definitely use it. So that’s a new addition, and then I’m always getting things like new pedals and stuff like that. And what else? Oh, for Systematic Chaos, I only had a prototype of my MusicMan BFR and since then we’ve developed and released it, not only the six-string version, but the seven-string version and the baritone version, so that guitar is all over Black Clouds and Silver Linings, it’s the guitar I’ve been using almost exclusively. I also discovered the Fractal Audio Systems Axe FX, which everybody’s talking about. It’s a cool unit that’s computer-chip powered, which is a cool idea. I haven’t really incorporated it into anything yet. but I hope to maybe use it as an effect unit or whatever: I’ve further developed my relationship with TC Electronics that’s been very longstanding but we never had quite as close a relationship as we have now. So, we’re working on some signature stuff together, which is really exciting for me, I love that company, they’re fantastic. I don’t know if I’m leaving anything out – I’m always trying out lots of new stuff!

JVD: Is there anything you want to say in closing? Maybe about the tour or the band or the future?

JP: Yeah. I think it’s been a great tour. we started back in June and we’ve covered a LOT of the world! It’s been very successful. We’re touring at a time when the world economy is really on edge and we’re still getting good audiences and they respond and we’re plugging through and staying out there and working. It’s something that I think is very important to do. I would like to note that it’s great that we came back to Australia relatively quickly after not even coming here at all before.

JVD: Do you think that’s the RoadRunner effect?

JP: I think it’s just the band’s plan, it’s where we want to develop and if the market exists, it makes sense for us to come! Australia’s a beautiful country – it’s great coming here in the winter, when it’s cold in New York. I would just like to time it so I can bring my family here. I keep telling them...

JVD: Like Mike brought Marlene, back when he came on the clinic tour...

JP: Yeah, well if this was summertime – meaning July or August! – I’d love to bring them. My kids are all asking me “Did you see Sydney?” and I just sent them some pictures. They want me to bring back a boomerang!