John Petrucci interview

Artisan News: When did it become apparent that the way you were going to handle replacing Mike Portnoy was by a public search?

John Petrucci: Well, when we realized that Mike Portnoy really left and it sunk in, and we had to find a new drummer, we started to think about, “Well, how are we gonna go about doing this?” and “Who do we know that would be somebody we would like to consider?” and “Are there people that we don’t know?” We thought of all different things – are there unknown people that are somewhere in the corners of the practice rooms of the worlds, up and coming? And, of course, there are the people that we know, that we’ve played with before, or that we know professionally or whatever, and would they be interested? And we started to come up with a list, and we had a short list – not too many people on there. And then we started contacting them “Would you be interested?” and they said “Yes”, and we set the whole thing up.

AN: What was the process for screening the candidates?

JP: Some people we knew already – like we knew Mike Mangini – he played on three James’s albums. Virgil I knew – he played on G3 [as] Steve Vai’s drummer, and he played with Derek with his Planet X thing. Peter played on James’s latest solo album. But there was some guys [where] you’d ask a manager or a guy that they played with before, “Hey, what’s the deal with this guy? Is he cool? Do you know anything about him?” and you take it from there. Obviously if anybody said something wrong, “Oh believe me, you don’t want to deal with him, he’s a druggie” or whatever, then yeah you, would obviously not go down that path. [laughs]

AN: One thing I thought was great is how you opened it up to the public and made a quality documentary for YouTube... Where did the idea come from?

JP: We talked about that pretty much from the beginning. The initial idea was, “We have to film this.” That was our first thinking. “We can’t just do this and have no record of it. We have to film this.” So you think about, “Oh, we’ll give a video camera to our manager.” But then when we started to really think about it, it was like, “Well, why don’t do this for real? Is this something that maybe the label would be interested in?” And they were totally interested in it, and their production person really had some great ideas, hired an incredible director and film company to do it, and we went for it, we did it professionally. And I think they did such a great job.

AN: So you’re happy with it?

JP: I’m so happy. I think it came out really classy. [It] really captured the intimate real moments of what happened, because literally was like just being there and fly-on-the-wall filming you, but they maintained respect to all the drummers involved, and it was done with a high level of standards. I think came out really cool.

AN: Is there going to be any footage that ended up on the cutting room floor that might see the light of day?

JP: It’s possible. I mean, obviously there’s a ton of footage, because we filmed everything. So we have all of the footage of all of the songs being played, all the jam sessions that we had – all that was filmed, and you only got to see a little bit of that. So there is tons. If we wanted to, we can easily do some sort of extended version or something...

AN: Reading the comments about the search, some people are saying it was rigged from the start. Is there any truth to that?

JP: No. Of course we didn’t know all along – it’s just that Mike was the first guy. He was literally the first one to audition. And he came in there and he just knocked us out. Up until that point, we had never played with another drummer, Dream Theater had never existed with another drummer. We never played with another drummer as Dream Theater, so it was like the first time we were kicking into a song with this stranger – not that Mike Mangini is a stranger – and it just blew us away. I mean, that could have went any way. If it was somebody else or whatever, and it was like, “Wow. We could have played these songs in front of an entire audience and it would have been perfect.” He just has all of the elements in place, so it’s probably why he kinda came across that way. There was a very natural chemistry between all of us – like one of us: East Coast guy, Berklee – he’s one of us.

AN: Mike Portnoy did a lot more than just play the drums in Dream Theater. How do you split up his other responsibilities?

JP: Mike did a great job at maintaining contact with the fans and being very organized with a lot of the details that are going on – he’s really into that stuff and love to do it. So there was a lot of conversations as, “Okay, I don’t normally handle this, so how are we gonna do this?” and that’s what it’s just been about: a lot of organization. Some things don’t change and other things you’re like, “Okay, well it’s something that Mike did before, so now I need to do that,” or “Now maybe you can do that,” or “Maybe that’s something that none of us need to do and the professional that normally does that will do that.” It’s just sort of reassessing and reorganizing things. In a lot of ways, it made me realize that maybe we needed some better communication within our organization – the band really knowing what is going on at all times – and so it’s been good and eye-opening in that sense. Now everybody’s on the same page and knows what to expect and all these different aspects which is cool.

AN: Has it brought the rest of the band together, closer than you’ve ever been?

JP: Absolutely, yeah. It’s because – you know I don’t want to be overdramatic – but it’s like parallel to somebody [who] dies in your family. Everybody comes together and says, “Alright, this is really happening. This sucks so bad, but what are we gonna do?” And you don’t wanna just lay down and die; you want to roll up your sleeves and face it and be positive as much as you can. So yeah, it’s definitely brought us together. I think it’s a natural thing that just happens in these types of situations. Like I said, [there’s] been very a closed type of communication and awareness as to everything that’s going on and what we need to do to move forward.

AN: Mike lost his father, and sometimes there is some soul searching, and I wanted to ask if you thought the loss contributed to his thought process in initially leaving the band and then wanting back in?

JP: You think about those things, yeah. I thought about that too. You know, that’s only really things that Mike could answer himself: what was happening in your life? Obviously, him losing his dad was devastating and an important moment in his life, and people can change from those types of things. Whether or not it had any influence on what he wanted to do after that point, I don’t know. Yeah I think about that, sure. I think about a lot of things, but he’s the only one that could really answer that. I can’t speculate what’s going through his mind.

AN: When Mike first announced he was leaving Dream Theater, some fans were speculating it was because he got caught up while on tour in Avenged Sevenfold. Do you hold anything against Avenged Sevenfold for Portnoy’s departure?

JP: No. I have no feelings towards them that are negative at all. They didn’t do anything wrong and I don’t even know those guys. They’re just trying to have their career and their lives. Things happen for a reason – I know that’s a cliché – but life is weird that way. You think about the series of events, what led up to something. “Well, if I didn’t make this decision, then this wouldn’t happen. And if this didn’t happen, then that wouldn’t happen...” It just happens and big changes happen all the time in relationships and businesses. Things that you would never “Oh, I could have never imagined that.” So of course, no I don’t hold anything against them at all.

AN: What part of the Dream Theater catalog does Mike Mangini like to play the most?

JP: He hasn’t really expressed that part of it, where he said, “Oh I like your epics more than the metal stuff.” He can play anything. The thing that I really like about him and his drumming style – and that was so important because a lot of those drummers were amazing drummers, incredible – but Mike Mangini gets the whole rock thing, like the metal. I mean we’re a progressive band, but our basic sound is metal and rock, and you can’t be a jazz guitar player plugged in through an amp with distortion – it’s not the same thing. You either understand that whole thing and you get it [or not], and I love that because when we play our music with Mangini, it sounds and so heavy and so grounded and locked, but no he hasn’t really expressed that he likes a certain side better than others.

AN: Do you see the direction of Dream Theater changing musically with Mangini now in the band?

JP: On this record, we didn’t write with him, we wrote it without him. Obviously Mike Portnoy wasn’t there. Whenever there’s not a member there or a new member added in, there’s gonna be some sort of dynamic change due to personality or musical style, whatever. Since we wrote this just with the core of the composers, which is me and Jordan and John and James, you won’t hear Mangini’s influence. You’ll hear his influence as a player, because when he came in and recorded everything, obviously he put his unique stamp on it, even though he was learning the songs that we wrote. There’s no way you can’t notice a change. In many ways, it sounds like Dream Theater sounds, and in other ways it sounds like, “Okay, this is a new person here.” But we made the decision to have him in a band because we like what he does. So I think people are going to be blown away by him on this album.

AN: You mentioned the communication between the band members – does that go beyond verbal to musical communication?

JP: That’s always been great. The biggest difference is there’s no drummer in the room, it’s like quiet. [laughs] I’ve been writing music for this band since the beginning, so we’re used to John and I just being in my room writing – I mean Jordan – when you write on guitar and keyboards is that kind of intimate conversation. That really hasn’t changed, that’s the same as it’s always been. The biggest difference is you’re not cranking in a studio, jamming with loud drums and everything going on, so it’s more controlled and it’s a little bit more conducive to being musically focused and spending more time on the crafting of the actual music. It’s a controlled environment like where you have the ability and the freedom to work things out fully and completely to where they need to go. You can take that musical journey. It’s easier to do that, I find, when I work either one-on-one or just with a couple of guys just playing guitars and keyboards and piano... I think it’s a different environment. Once you start getting everybody in, the whole band’s cranking, drums are going and everybody’s... I don’t know... it starts to get not intimate, and there’s just more stuff going on. I like just being in a dimly lit room with my guitar and just getting in touch with the music, with writing music. If you do that with another person or another two people on that level, the best stuff comes out that way.

AN: Is that how this was written? Because it seems as time goes on, less and less musicians are getting together in rooms and actually doing it the old fashioned way...

JP: Yeah, that’s the way we do it: the old-fashioned way. We did it right here at Cove City. We all got together, we came in every day and we just wrote. We wrote and we wrote and we wrote, and we demoed and we got very detailed. If you actually one day get to hear the demos that came out of the writing sessions, they’re completed works. There’s a programmed drum that I programmed in Logic. It sounds cool, it sounds actually awesome! [laughs]

AN: Knowing that you did that, was it easy for Mike to come in and communicate to him what you wanted for the songs?

JP: Yes he was amazing in that sense. For example, let’s say there’s a section of the music and it needs like a jungle-ly kinda groove. It’s hard to program that in a drum... you come up with some stupid thing. But if you communicate, “Hey Mike, this is what’s on the reference. However, just see what you’re feeling. I’m picturing an African... something that would be on a Peter Gabriel thing.” And you put these thoughts in, and he just spit it out, one thing after the next until it was exactly perfect. He’s just incredible to work that way, just a wealth of musical and drum knowledge; the ability to play anything. Never makes a mistake, it’s bizarre. I could say to him, “Listen just play harder,” or “I want the kick drums harder in that section,” “Don’t do two-four – do it all down beats,” whatever, and he’ll be like, “Okay” and do it that way. So the working relationship on this album – producing him and having him come in and play the music that we wrote and interpret programmed drum parts – it couldn’t have gone better. It was unbelievable.

AN: The business side of bands is so convoluted these days, you have members playing in bands that are sort of permanent but are not members – how do you guys operate? Is Mangini a member of the band?

JP: Yeah, he’s a member of the band. Absolutely. He’s not a hired guy. Obviously the details of our business arrangement... it’s not really a public thing... Yeah, he’s a band member. That’s what we were looking for. I think it depends on the band and what they were looking for. We’re not looking for a session guy to come in temporarily. We don’t wanna be known as the temporary Dream Theater; we want a member. You know, like when we got Jordan in the band. We wanted a new member. That’s the point.

AN: Have you given thought as to how the new material will work in the set at this point?

JP: The album’s gonna come out sometime in September. At that point, we’ll start headlining in the US where we will incorporate a lot of the new material and the production of the show will be centered around the new material. But up until then, we do festivals in July in Europe, and we’ll just play one of the new songs and it’ll be part of the mix type of thing. So you won’t really see that until the fall, until the album is out and we start to really tour in support of the album.

AN: ...and have you gotten concepts together?

JP: Oh yeah, absolutely. We’ve already had meetings, there’s already people working on things. That stuff takes time. Show sets need to be designed and lighting concepts, video concepts, people need lyrics... So that’s already in motion.

AN: Tell us about the sequencing of A Dramatic Turn of Events.

JP: As far as the order of the songs on the album, actually that kind of came into play once all the songs were done and demoed. I started thinking about that right away, and came up with something and lived with it and sat with it for a while, and showed it to the other guys and it stuck. So the sequencing is done; it’s all set. The flow of the album is done. The first song we wrote is the opening song, which I kind of intended that to be, so that worked out; that was a no-brainer. But an album has to tell a story and have a flow, and I think it’s coming out good.

AN: So do you view Mike Mangini as Dream Theater’s drummer in perpetuity?

JP: Absolutely – I would hope so! That’s the way I like to live life and think about things. I don’t think of things as being temporary. I like to think of this as moving forward in a positive way and direction with all intentions of staying this way forever. Unless some unforeseen event should happen, which happens! [laughs] You could’ve asked me the same question before Mike left, and I would have had the same answer. “Of course this is the way This is who we are. This is the way we’ll always be.” You never know what’s gonna happen. But, yeah, the full intention’s of moving forward this way.

AN: What are your thoughts on Dream Theater’s fans making comparisons between the two Mike’s? Are you prepared for the debates people will have?

JP: I guess! It’s the wonderful Internet – we’ll see it right away! It’s inevitable. People will compare and think one guy is better than the next. Music is a very personal thing and you write stuff that comes from a very intimate place and you share it with everybody. At that point it’s just open season. The same goes with performances and people and members. So at this point, we’re kind of used to that. I do feel really good about the album, I feel really good about Mike Mangini as a band member and his choice, and I really think that we’re gonna see a very positive response to him. Yeah, people will compare – there’s no doubt – and hopefully it’ll all be in fun and good taste. Because to me it’s all music; there’s no reason for all the nonsense.