John Petrucci interview

Rocksverige: You were here in August to promote your album that was released in September, and it has been very well received. You were even nominated for a Grammy – how does that feel?

John Petrucci: It’s pretty wild. It’s something that’s hard to get used to. We’ve been playing this music for years and years and years, and it’s always been something that we just love to do. We love to play progressive metal music and do our thing, and throughout the years we’ve been touring around the world and we find that there’s people all over that like the same kind of thing. But to get that kind of recognition, it’s not something that really has happened to us before until the previous album. We got our first one and we were just blown away, and now to have two years in a row for another song, it’s amazing. So we’re just stunned and really happy. It’s great recognition; we’re honored by it.

R: It feels a bit like progressive music have been a bit of a revival the last few years. Why do you think that is?

JP: I’m not really sure why. I see a lot of splintering of the style where there’s younger guys and younger bands that are infusing it into their thing, and with youth the things become renewed. So I don’t know if it’s just we’ve been doing it for so long that it kind of came full circle, and all the fans of ours had kids [laughs] – that’s how old we are – so we see like a lot of younger people at our shows. Like I said, I see the different bands putting out music and fusing the progressive style. To me I think it’s awesome. I think the more people wanting to play and be experimental with music is amazing.

R: I hear that you have very high work ethics that even on days off you want to do things, like you do clinics and stuff – that’s true.

JP: Yeah. A big part of what we do is touring and so we play all over the world and we spend a lot of time on the road, so we’re happy to maximize that time. If anything, the days off I don’t really like too much; kinda get bored. So I’ll bring a guitar with me or whatever or we’ll do things. And the show days are filled as we can see here doing press, the show and meet and greets, and we like to have full packed days. The show itself is three hours long, so by the end of the night you feel like you had it.

R: You have energy still or...?

JP: Not really. As soon as the last note...

R: ...adrenaline...

JP: Exactly.

R: You also produced this album. Was it hard for you to both focus on your performance and all other aspects of the album?

JP: Well I kind of wrote a song about that on the album. The song ‘The Bigger Picture’ on the new album is kind of my way of personifying that process, so all of the metaphors and things that I’m using throughout it are all sort of related to how it feels to go through the creative process from the inside, and then how to be able to step outside of that and see the bigger picture and make sure that you’re staying on the path, even though it might kind of go off or maybe it might be dimly lit in some places or you might go some places you didn’t expect, but that you’re maintaining this clear vision as to what the whole thing is supposed to be in the end. And yeah, you have to kind of step outside of those two roles.

R: It’s been a lot of killing your darling sort of thing or...?

JP: Well, it’s weird because there’s a lot of things that end up not being used and things that you get so close to but then you just have to step away and say it’s not the right thing.

R: Would you save that for later or just...

JP: Sometimes, sometimes not. We have a lot of unused ideas...

R: So they could fill up like a few albums?

JP: Absolutely, yeah; we have tons. With this band, there’s never a shortage of ideas; everybody is very creative.

R: So what’s next then after this tour you just started? You have another long leg – what’s next for you?

JP: The main thing that’s on our agenda is touring. The album came out in the fall and touring for us started with this first European leg as you said. We have a North American run happening, we’ll be back for festivals in July, and we have a whole bunch of other places to go into. For us, we like to do a complete world tour, so we go into Asia and Australia and South America as we’re here in Europe and North America, and it’s just what we’ll be doing for the next few months.

R: Is there a difference in the response from Europe, America, Asia?

JP: Yeah, all the audiences are different. Even within Europe, you can’t even just lump that in. Depending on the country...

R: ...even the city...

JP: ...or the city, sure. Some places are just known to be wild and crazy and loud and singing everything, and some places are a little bit more attentive. But the thing I find that that all the different cities and countries have in common is it seems like people are really happy to be there. It seems like if you make the time to come to the show and you pay the money and you’re listening to music for that long – for three hours – and you’re still there and by the end of the night, your hands up in the air and you’re smiling, that’s just this great feeling for us. So that’s what all those audiences have in common to us is that we’re part of this sort of mutual community.

6:41

To us it’s really important, so we try to put on the best show we can possibly.

R: We’re in it together.

JP: That’s why the tour is called Along for the Ride.