More Than Ever

Dream Theater are about to present us with their new album Distance Over Time, a work in which they have sought to capture the essence of the band. From Metal Hammer we had the privilege of being able to talk to John Petrucci and James LaBrie, and the result is this complete and interesting interview:

Text: David Rodrigo and Pablo Abarca

Metal Hammer: How would you describe the new album in your own words?

John Petrucci: It’s Dream Theater playing together as a band, having a good time. It’s possibly the best reflection of the band live and conveying that feeling in the studio that we’ve done in quite some time. It was composed and recorded in a room with a really good, warm sound and I think that shows. It’s a very organic record.

MH: If you were to compare it to The Astonishing what would you say are the main similarities and the main differences?

James LaBrie: The main similarities? Well, it’s the same band. [laughs] The differences are quite a lot. Obviously that was a massive project: John came up with the idea for the concept and three years later that’s what you heard. Even preparing the production to do that tour took us about a year. Musically I still think it’s a fantastic album: a rock opera with a musical feel that speaks volumes about the diversity in the band and the kind of band we are. If we look at Distance Over Time everything is more concise, John just said organic, and that’s precisely why the collaborative effort of the entire band is noticeable. It’s an album that has a harder, more powerful approach to the songs, which reflects what we’ve always been: a progressive metal band. I think each song is very focused, and you can appreciate all the details and the effort and care behind each track. We’ve given our all to each one of them, and I think it’s 100% Dream Theater. If you listen to songs like ‘Pale Blue Dot,’ it’s classic DT, and in other songs like ‘Fall Into The Light’ or ‘Barstool Warrior,’ you can even hear one of our biggest influences: Rush, but with a personal approach, as we’ve always sought on our albums.

MH: It’s true that this album has more of a Dream Theater “trademark” sound. Is that something you actively sought, or did it just happen while making the album?

JP: A bit of both. There was a lot of heat in that room. We had to put a kind of screen in front of Jordan so he could hear himself. It was an all-wood room with very high ceilings. Some of us wore in-ear headphones, others monitors... Mike said he could hear the guitars echoing around him and that it was very inspiring. When you’re in a setup like that, it’s natural to end up making energetic, good-vibe music, whether you’re looking for it or not. It’s true that we’d talked about going in that direction, but once we were in that room, everything felt very natural.

MH: When The Astonishing came out, your fans were quickly divided between those who loved it and those who hated it. What do you think the reception will be for Distance Over Time?

JP: Well, The Astonishing demanded a lot from our fans in many ways: there was a lot of music, over two hours, a full orchestra and choir, the song structures were more story-oriented, so there were a lot of ballads and soft songs. And we knew some of our fans would enjoy it, but others wouldn’t be as comfortable with it; it wouldn’t be what they expected. With that in mind, I think with Distance Over Time they’re going to find something more like what they expect from Dream Theater. It’s not experimental; it’s more what we do.

MH: What can you tell us about the writing and recording process for the album? What was it like to get into a room and write and record the album in the same place in less than a month?

JL: The first thing was to prepare the venue, so they brought us the equipment and we set it up, and then throughout the whole process, we had Maddi, who’s John’s guitar tech, Maddi Schieferstein, and he’s also our right-hand man for a lot of things, both on the road and in the studio. Without him, we’d be running around like headless chickens. And then there was Jimmy Meslin, who’s the sound engineer, and he was overseeing the mic’ing and recording of everything while we were writing the music. As far as the process goes, it’s quite similar to what used to be done in the 1970s, when you’d get the whole band into a venue and someone would have some basic ideas to start working around, and then more ideas would come up, they’d be tested along the way, building the songs. Experimenting, discarding, moving forward.

JP: Yeah. I mean, the whole songwriting process reminds me a lot of what we did on Train Of Thought. In the past, we’ve often worked in what I call “Demo Mode,” where we’d make elaborate demos, multitrack them, trying to make them sound good, and when they were finished, we’d go to the studio and record them again. Or sometimes we’ve gone into the studio with nothing planned, preparing everything, writing, and recording at the same time, which is a risk because sometimes you have an idea that seems good and you’re recording it, and suddenly you realize it doesn’t turn out right. We did that on albums like Dramatic Turn of Events, the self-titled album, and Scenes From a Memory. It takes a long time because you have to keep recording and recording until you find the right one.

With Train Of Thought, what we did was go to an old rehearsal room, set up like two microphones for the whole room, and play the songs live, and those were the demos. It was all very simple, nothing elaborate. With Distance Over Time, we followed that same process: we were basically in an empty studio. Our engineer put two mics on the drums, and the rest of us were just plugged in. When we finished a song, we’d rehearse it and then record it in Pro Tools, and that was the demo. All live.

MH: Did you use any material from the demos in the final recording?

JP: Yes. For example, the keyboard solo at the end of ‘S2N’ is Jordan’s improvised solo from the demos. It’s incredible that he can do stuff like that. The intro to ‘Pale Blue Dot’ is also from the demo. We added the vocals later, but the keyboards and guitars are straight from the demo. There are some things like that on the album, like in ‘Barstool Warrior.’ And also at the end of ‘At Wits’ End’... I don’t want to spoil it, but after the fade, when the song comes back, it’s us playing live, jamming while we were writing the song.

MH: So far in Dream Theater’s career, each album has always been a step forward, a way to find a new approach or a new way of expressing your music, but with Distance Over Time it seems that for the first time you have looked back and returned a little to your roots. Why do you think that has happened precisely at this moment in your careers?

JL: The truth is, I don’t think it’s for anything in particular. The truth is that when we went to make the album this time, we were clear that we wanted it to be a hard rock album, just a progressive metal album, that you could feel the band we are playing. It’s true that for the guys in Dream Theater, the way their instruments sound and the approach to each song is something very important, something we’ve always invested a lot of time in, and while this time it wasn’t necessarily different, it’s true that the goal was different. We wanted to make a sincere album that reflected who we really are, and that’s why we put so much emphasis on achieving and highlighting the organic sound of the album and the fact that it was recorded almost live. We spent many hours talking with the engineers, the producer, etc. to find the right sound.

JP: It’s true that we had talked about wanting to make an album that captured the essence of the band live. And the truth is, we spent many hours talking with everyone involved in the recording to try to find a way to achieve that. In the end, it was a matter of stripping the music of all artifice: no orchestrations, no additional musicians, no ostentatious arrangements. No iPad sounds, just Jordan playing organs and keyboards. In some songs, even the keyboards or guitars disappear in certain passages and remain as a trio. It’s the complete opposite of what we did with The Astonishing in that sense.

MH: There’s a lot of talk these days about the album’s artwork and what happened with the New York Times Magazine cover...

JP: It’s crazy, isn’t it? [laughs] We had our graphic artist, Hugh Syme, who presented us with this Hamlet-inspired idea, with the skull and all that... and two weeks later or less, the New York Times Magazine released its cover and... I was honestly very confused. [laughs]

JL: It could have been worse. We could have been the ones to release the cover two weeks later. And then everyone would have said we copied it.

JP: I mean, it’s totally amazing. The concept is the same, the hand is the same, even the background color is very similar. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not, you be the judge, but the truth is it was a bit of a shock. We invest a lot of time and are very excited about the music, the ideas, and the artwork, and you want it to be something unique and special, and then this happens and it kind of ruins it, making it less special in a way.

MH: There’s a song on this album, ‘Room 137,’ which is the first song Mike Mangini wrote lyrics for in Dream Theater...

JP: That’s true. Mike has been with us for eight years, and this album has been on for four, and this latest one is definitely the one he’s been most involved with, creatively speaking. He had a lot of great ideas during the writing process. He had this idea in ‘Room 137’... You see, we were making the song and deciding on the tempo, and he said he was going to set it at 137, and I asked him why that one, and he told me the story of how this is a prime number that repeats itself like a constant in the universe, and long story short, basically there was a theoretical physicist named Wolfgang Pauli who practically went crazy trying to figure out the scientific and spiritual connection of this number, and he ended up in room 137 of a hospital.

MH: John, James, we’re about to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Scenes From A Memory, which you’re going to play live on the upcoming tour. Have you started rehearsing it yet?

JL: Oh, yeah. We started twenty years ago! [laughs] No, no way, we’re still discussing the first set. The second set will be Scenes... and of course we’ll have rehearsals, but they’ll be like a month before the tour or something. I find it hard to believe that twenty years have passed since that album, which was a huge turning point in our career and an album that virtually all of the band’s fans embraced from the very beginning. It was an important moment; we were coming through a difficult period, with many challenges after the release of Falling Into Infinity, and it was incredible to see people’s reaction to this album, so we wanted to pay homage to it. I think it’s going to be a fantastic experience for everyone.

MH: Finally, since we’re running out of time: Aside from the already confirmed date at Rock Fest, will we be lucky enough to see you live in Spain?

JP: Definitely. You know, it’s impossible to play the entire show at a festival, so we’ll make sure to hit venues all over Europe, including Spain.

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Video excerpts apparently from the same interview but some parts are different than what appeared in print

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcMGyvmFXwg

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(transcribed by TMW)

When asked to compare Distance Over Time with The Astonishing:

James LaBrie: What are the main similarities and differences? Well... similarities... it’s the same band.

John Petrucci: [laughs] Same guys.

James: I think [The Astonishing]’s a phenomenal album musically. It’s a rock opera, theatrical opus. I think it speaks loudly of the kind of band we are, the diversity of the band, whereas now when you shift over to Distance Over Time, everything’s much more concise. This album’s going predominantly in more [heavy] approach to songs, but still maintaining the technical aspects of Dream Theater. It’s classic Dream Theater.

John: People who like Awake, Images, Systematic Chaos and Train of Thought maybe listen to that, and they’re like, “This doesn’t sound like Dream Theater. This is not what I expect.” So with that in mind, I think and I hope that with an album like Distance Over Time, it might be more what you would expect.

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Explaining what inspired them and how the sound of Distance Over Time developed:

JP: It’s more Dream Theater-y. [laughs] Whatever that is. The nature of us being together in a room – and when I tell you it was loud in that room! [laughs] In fact, we had to put like a baffle in front of Jordan because he was just getting bombarded by guitar. Mike kept commenting how he loved that he can hear the guitar echoing off the wall, and it was really inspiring. When we’re in that setup, it naturally happens that you write energetic, heavy, progressive, fun, spirited music, because you’re all feeling it. You feel the groove. You play something crazy and the other guys [say], “Oh that's cool!” and they start playing.

JL: The overall goal was, “Let’s write an album that is gonna sound like a classic, heavy rock album.” That’s why we’ve been stressing that it’s very organic sounding, because the way that the whole album was written, it was, so you wanna also capture that essence when you’re actually sending down the tracks for real, and recording for real – let’s not lose that. That’s the magic of why I think this album sounds like it does.

JP: You’ll hear moments in the songs where the guitar drops out or the keyboard drops out, and it’s just a three-piece. There’s no additional musicians, there’s no extra strings, choir. There’s no iPad sounds. It’s just the guys playing.

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Describing the process of writing the album:

JP: The writing process and what we did reminds me of what we did on Train of Thought. With Train of Thought, what we did is we set up in a rehearsal studio in New York City. I forgot how we did the demos – we had, maybe, two microphones – and when we finished writing a song, we would just play it live and record it live, and that was the demo.

Pablo Abarca: Like two microphones for the entire room–

JP: Yeah.

PA: –or for each instrument?

JP: Something like that. It was really simple; like super, super simple. The demos are not elaborate at all. So with Distance Over Time, we did that same process. We were basically in an empty studio that had no gear in it. Our engineer put two mics on the drums. That’s it and everything else was just direct. We just had Pro Tools, we pressed record and all the demos were live.

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JP: For example, the keyboard solo at the end of ‘S2N’ is Jordan’s improvised solo. At the end of ‘At Wit's End,’ when the song fades out, I don't want to give it away, but there’s a little Easter egg. But what comes back in is us playing live when we wrote the song.

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Speaking of Mike Mangini’s input on Distance Over Time:

JP: This is his fourth album with us. I would say – and he would definitely agree – this is the most he’s been creatively involved. He had this idea for ‘Room 137’. We were writing the song and we were deciding on the tempo and Mike, who is very mathematical, said, “I’m gonna set the tempo at 137.” We were like, “Why 137?” So then he went on to tell us this whole story about how that number – 137 – is this prime number in the universe that keeps repeating everywhere, and that this philosopher named Wolfgang Pauli basically drove himself crazy trying to figure out the spiritual and scientific connection. And he ended up dying in hospital room 137.

JL: It proves that the universe is conscious and alive; it's really crazy.

JP: So that's the significance.

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Giving insight into the inspiration behind the lyrics to ‘Pale Blue Dot’:

JP: I kept getting exposed to things that had to do with the Voyager missions. There's Voyager 1 and 2 and Carl Sagan was the astrophysicist on the project at the time and my father loved Carl Sagan. We used to watch Cosmos all the time. Anyway, one of the Voyagers – when it got to the edge of the solar system – it flipped around and took a picture of the solar system from the other way. Carl Sagan wrote a book and actually gave a very famous speech at NASA where he talked about how it hit him that in that picture the earth is tiny, like the size of a pixel or even less, and the fact that everything that's ever happened in the history of humankind – every war, every relationship, all the blood that's been spilled, religions, ideologies, everything that we take so

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Speaking of the changes in how music is distributed and available now:

JL: It's the world we live in. Technology has given people access to things for free, and music and movies [are some] of the biggest victims to that situation. But I think that Spotify and Apple provide amazing platforms for bands now in a legal sense. I'm still though of the opinion... like I still love something tangible in hand. We were just talking about vinyl and CD, but everything is pretty much digital nowadays. And as long as you can show your appreciation for the arts by going through methods of legal process, I think that's cool.

JP: We’re still kinda romantic with the idea that a record is a piece of work, and to sit down and experience it from beginning to end, like watching a movie. I mean the streaming services are definitely good for [when] you want something right now; you want to hear it, you want to check something out, you want it on your phone. Great, beautiful, you can get it anywhere. But the idea of a record coming out on vinyl; you look at the artwork, you take the time and make an event out of listening to the whole thing.

JL: It’s much more intimate.

JP: It is, and if you listen to a Dream Theater record – any of them – there’s an arc. There’s a reason why there’s an intro song, even if it’s not a concept album. There’s a reason why ‘Pale Blue Dot’ closes it.

Original text

Más que nunca

Dream Theater están a punto de presentarnos su nuevo disco Distance Over Time, un trabajo en el que han buscado capturar la esencia de la banda. Desde Metal Hammer tuvimos el privilegio de poder hablar con John Petrucci y James LaBrie, y el resultado es esta completa e intersante entrevista:

Texto: David Rodrigo y Pablo Abarca

Metal Hammer: ¿Cómo describiríais el nuevo disco en vuestras propias palabras?

John Petrucci: Es Dream Theater tocando juntos como una banda, pasándolo bien. Es posiblemente el mejor reflejo de la banda en directo y transmitiendo esa sensación en estudio que hemos hecho en bastante tiempo. Fue compuesto y grabado en una habitación con un sonido realmente bueno y cálido y creo que eso se nota. Es un disco muy orgánico.

MH: Si tuvieras que compararlo con The Astonishing ¿Cuales dirías que son las principales similitudes y las principales diferencias?

James LaBrie: ¿Las principales similutes? Bueno, es la misma banda (risas). Las diferencias son bastantes. Obviamente aquel fue un proyecto mastodóntico: John tuvo la idea para el concepto y tres años después es lo que escuchasteis. Incluso preparar la producción para hacer esa gira nos llevó cerca de un año. Musicalmente sigo creyendo que es un disco fantástico: una opera rock con cierto aire a Musical que habla mucho y muy bien de la diversidad que hay en el grupo y de la clase de banda que somos. Si miramos a Distance Over Time todo es más conciso, John acaba de decir orgánico, y precisamente por eso se nota el esfuerzo colaborativo de toda la banda. Es un disco que tiene un acercamiento más duro y potente a las canciones, que refleja lo que siempre hemos sido: una banda de metal progresivo. Creo que cada canción está muy centrada y se pueden apreciar todos los detalles y el esfuerzo y mimo detrás de cada tema. Lo hemos dado todo en cada uno de ellos y creo que es Dream Theater al cien por cien. Si escuchas canciones como ‘Pale Blue Dot’ es DT clásico, y en otros temas como ‘Fall Into The Light’ o ‘Barstool Warrior’ se puede incluso apreciar una de nuestras mayores influencias de siempre: Rush, pero con un enfoque personal, como siempre hemos buscado en nuestros discos.

MH: Es cierto que este trabajo tiene un sonido más “Marca de la casa” de Dream Theater ¿Es algo que buscasteis activamente o simplemente sucedió mientras hacíais el disco?

JP: Un poco de las dos. En aquella habitación había mucha caña. Tuvimos que poner una especie de biombo delante de Jordan para que pudiera oírse. Era una habitación toda de madera, con techos muy altos. Algunos llevábamos in-ears, otros monitores... Mike decía que podía escuchar las guitarras resonando a su alrededor y que era muy inspirador. Cuando estás en un “setup” así es natural que acabes haciendo música enérgica, con buen rollo, lo busques o no. Es cierto que habíamos hablado acerca de ir en esa dirección, pero una vez en aquella sala todo fue muy natural.

MH: Cuando The Astonishing salió al mercado vuestros fans se vieron rápidamente divididos entre los que lo amaban y los que lo odiaban ¿Cuál creéis que será la recepción con Distance Over Time?

JP: Bueno, The Astonishing exigía mucho a nuestros fans en muchos sentidos: había mucha música, más de dos horas, una orquesta completa y coro, las estructura de las canciones estaba más orientada a contar la historia, así que había muchas baladas y canciones suaves. Y nosotros sabíamos que algunos de nuestros fans podrían disfrutarlo pero otros no se sentirían tan cómodos con ello, no sería lo que esperaban. Con eso en mente creo que con Distance Over Time se van a encontrar con algo más parecido a lo que esperan de Dream Theater. No es algo experimental, es más lo que hacemos.

MH: ¿Qué podéis contarnos del proceso compositivo y de grabación del disco? ¿Cómo fue meterse en una habitación y componer y grabar el disco en el mismo sitio en menos de un mes?

JL: Lo primero fue preparar el lugar, así que nos trajeron el equipo y lo preparamos y luego durante todo el proceso tuvimos a Maddi, que es el técnico de guitarra de John, Maddi Schieferstein, y es también nuestra mano derecha en muchas cosas, tanto en la carretera como en el estudio, sin él estaríamos dando vueltas como pollos sin cabeza. Y luego estaba Jimmy Meslin, que es el ingeniero de sonido, y estuvo supervisando la microfonía y la grabación de todo mientras escribíamos la música. En cuanto al proceso, es bastante similar a lo que solía hacerse en los setenta, cuando llevabas a toda la banda a un local y alguien tenía algunas ideas básicas sobre las que empezar a moverse, y después van surgiendo más ideas, se van probando sobre la marcha, construyendo las canciones. Experimentando, descartando, avanzando.

JP: Sí. Es decir, todo el proceso compositivo me recuerda mucho a lo que hicimos en Train Of Thought. En el pasado muchas veces hemos trabajado en lo que llamo “Demo Mode”, en el que hacíamos demos elaboradas, con multitrack e intentando que sonaran bien y cuando estaban terminadas íbamos al estudio y las grabábamos de nuevo, o a veces hemos ido al estudio sin nada preconcebido, preparábamos todo y escribíamos y grabábamos a la vez, lo que es un riesgo porque a veces tienes una idea que parece buena y la estás grabando y de pronto ves que no queda bien. Eso lo hicimos en discos como Dramatic Turn Of Events, el homónimo o Scenes From A Memory. Lleva mucho tiempo, porque tienes que estar haciendo grabaciones y grabaciones hasta dar con lo bueno.

Con Train of Thought lo que hicimos fue ir a un viejo local de ensayo, pusimos como dos micrófonos para toda la habitación y tocábamos las canciones en directo, y esas eran las demos. Todo muy sencillo, nada elaborado. Con Distance Over Time seguimos ese mismo proceso: estábamos básicamente en un estudio vacío. Nuestro ingeniero puso dos micros a la batería y el resto íbamos enchufados directos. Cuando acabábamos una canción la ensayábamos y luego le dábamos a grabar en el ProTools y esa era la demo. Todas en directo.

MH: ¿Usasteis algún material de las demos en la grabación final?

JP: Sí. Por ejemplo, el solo de teclado al final de ‘S2N’ es el solo improvisado de Jordan de las demos. Es increíble que pueda hacer cosas así. La intro de ‘Pale Blue Dot’ es también de la demo. Las voces las añadimos después, pero los teclados y las guitarras son directos de la demo. Hay algunas cosas así en el disco, como en ‘Barstool Warrior’. Y también al final de ‘At Wits’ End’... no quiero spoilearlo, pero después del fade, cuando la canción vuelve, somos nosotros tocando en directo haciendo jammeando mientras componíamos la canción.

MH: Hasta ahora, en la carrera de Dream Theater cada disco siempre ha sido un paso adelante, una forma de buscar un nuevo enfoque o una nueva manera de plasmar vuestra música, pero con Distance Over Time parece que por primera vez habéis mirado hacia atrás y regresado un poco a vuestras raíces ¿Por qué creéis que eso ha sucedido precisamente en este momento de vuestras carreras?

JL: La verdad es que no creo que sea por algo en concreto. Lo cierto es que cuando fuimos a hacer el disco en esta ocasión, teníamos claro que queríamos que fuera un disco de rock duro, de metal progresivo sin más, que se sintiera la banda que somos tocando. Es cierto que para los chicos en Dream Theater la forma en la que suenan sus instrumentos y el acercamiento a cada canción es algo muy importante en lo que siempre hemos invertido mucho tiempo, y aunque en esta ocasión no ha sido necesariamente diferente, si que es cierto que el objetivo era diferente, queríamos hacer un disco sincero que reflejara quienes somos en realidad y por eso hemos puesto tanto hincapié en conseguir y señalar el sonido orgánico del disco y el hecho de haberlo grabado casi en directo. Pasamos muchas horas hablando con los técnicos, el productor, etc para buscar el sonido adecuado.

JP: Es cierto que habíamos hablado que queríamos hacer un disco que capturara la esencia de la banda en directo. Y la verdad es que pasamos muchas horas hablando con todo el mundo involucrado en la grabación para tratar de buscar la forma en la que conseguirlo. Al final fue cuestión de desnudar la música de artificios: nada de orquestaciones ni músicos adicionales ni arreglos ostentosos. Sin sonidos de iPad, solo Jordan tocando órganos y teclados. En algunas canciones incluso los teclados o las guitarras desaparecen en algunos pasajes y se quedan en forma de trío. Es totalmente lo opuesto a lo que hicimos con The Astonishing en ese sentido.

MH: En estos días se está hablando mucho del artwork del disco y lo que pasó con la portada del New York Times Magazine...

JP: ¿Es una locura, verdad? (risas) Tenemos a nuestro artista gráfico, Hugh Syme, que nos presentó esta idea inspirada en Hamlet, con la calavera y tal... y a las dos semanas o menos la revista del New York Time presenta su portada y... la verdad es que quede muy confundido (risas).

JL: Podría haber sido peor. Podríamos haber sido nosotros los que sacáramos la portada dos semanas más tarde. Y entonces todo el mundo hubiera dicho que la habríamos copiado.

JP: Es decir, es totalmente sorprendente. El concepto es el mismo, la mano es la misma, hasta el color del fondo es muy parecido. No sé si es una coincidencia o no lo es, juzgadlo vosotros, pero la verdad es que fue un pequeño shock. Invertimos mucho tiempo y estamos muy emocionados con la música, con las ideas y con el artwork y quieres que sea algo único y especial y entonces pasa esto y te chafa un poco, como que lo hace menos especial en cierto sentido.

MH: En este disco hay una canción, ‘Room 137’, que es la primera canción para la que Mike Mangini ha escrito una letra en Dream Theater...

JP: Es cierto. Mike lleva con nosotros ocho años y con este cuatro discos y sin duda es este último en el que ha estado más involucrado, creativamente hablando. Tuvo un montón de ideas geniales durante la composición. Tuvo esta idea en ‘Room 137’... Verás, estábamos haciendo la canción y decidiendo el tempo y dijo que lo iba a fijar en 137 y le pregunte por qué en ese en concreto y me contó la historia de cómo este es un número primo que se repite como una constante en el universo y, resumiendo, básicamente hubo un físico teórico llamado Wolfgang Pauli que prácticamente se volvió loco tratando de descubrir la conexión científica y espiritual de este número, y acabó internado en la habitación 137 de un hospital.

MH: John, James, estamos a punto de celebrar el veinte aniversario de Scenes From A Memory, el cual vais a tocar en directo en la próxima gira ¿Habéis empezado a ensayarlo?

JL: Oh, sí ¡Empezamos hace viente años! (risas) No, que va, aún estamos discutiendo el primer set. El segundo set será Scenes... y claro que tendremos ensayos, pero serán como un mes antes de la gira o algo así. Me cuesta creer que ya hayan pasado veinte años de ese disco, que fue un punto importantísimo en nuestra carrera y un disco que virtualmente todos los fans de la banda abrazaron desde el primer momento. Fue un momento importante, veníamos de atravesar un periodo difícil, con muchos desafíos después del lanzamiento de Falling Into Infinity, y fue increíble ver la reacción de la gente con este disco, así que queríamos rendirle cierto homenaje. Creo que va a ser una experiencia fantástica para todo el mundo.

MH: Por último, ya que nos quedamos sin tiempo: Aparte de la fecha ya confirmada en Rock Fest ¿Tendremos la suerte de veros en directo en España?

JP: Sin duda. Ya sabes que en un festival es imposible llevar el espectáculo completo, así que nos aseguraremos de pasar por las salas de toda Europa, España incluida.