Jake Bowen interview (excerpt)

UG: Periphery formed in 2005 and you joined in 2007. What were you doing prior to joining the band?

JB: Prior to Periphery, I was a keyboard tech for the band Dream Theater.

Really?

Yeah. I was playing guitar while I was on tour and playing guitar when I was at home. I knew that being in a band and playing guitar is what my calling was. But I was able to try out the other side of touring, the tech side of touring, and it kinda got me prepped for being in a band and going on tour and stuff like that.

That is a side of touring most musicians never see.

That’s what I was doing right before I joined Periphery. When I joined Periphery, it was kinda like starting from square one. We didn’t really get on the road ‘til a little while after I joined.

How did you get that gig as a keyboard tech for Dream Theater?

Umm, I’m actually related to the guitar player, John Petrucci. It’s through nepotism I got a pretty sweet gig but I really worked my butt off to do a good job. I learned a lot doing it.

How are you related to John?

He is my mom’s sister’s husband.

You were also a fan of Dream Theater?

Oh, very much so. I’ve been listening to Dream Theater since the early ‘90s. A lot of that music has motivated and inspired me throughout playing guitar and it still does.

Did you have a chance to sit down and talk with John about guitar and that kind of stuff?

Yeah. Probably in ‘94 and ‘95, he gave me some of my first guitar lessons. Then much later, we’ve always played guitar with each other at family gatherings. We did a DiMarzio video a few years back where we kinda like jammed on stuff we had. It’s always been very casual and there’s never been any serious project coming out of it. But yeah, we do talk about guitar a lot and music.

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In 2012, Periphery actually toured with Dream Theater. You hold the record for being the only person who ever did tech for Dream Theater and also opened for them.

Yeah, that was a great tour. A lot of people thought because I’m related is why we got the tour. They’re such a good band and they’re so particular about what they do and the quality of how they do it, they wouldn’t take out any band so we really had to prove ourselves before that. They saw we were a serious band and were worth having as an opening act.

You joked before about getting the tech gig because of nepotism but if your band really sucked, there was no way Dream Theater was going to take you on the road with them.

Yeah, and make them look bad, hahaha.

When you first told Misha you were related to John Petrucci, he must have thought you were making up stories to get in the band. Right?

He didn’t believe me. He didn’t think I was [related] because we were friends online at that point when I told him that. Then eventually he realized I was telling the truth.