John Petrucci interview (excerpt)

Chris Wragge: I was half kidding when I said 30 years. Can you believe it has been that long, such success, but such a longevity?

John Petrucci: No I can’t. First of all, thanks for having me. It’s crazy. When I think about when we started, and the fact that I’m still in a band with one of the guys I grew up with from Long Island, it’s just insane. We’re very lucky to be able to do this.

CW: ...and we were really thrilled for you, obviously with the Grammy Award. Talk to me about that, because that just puts things in a whole different perspective and really appreciate what you’ve done – all the work and that is a payoff to be standing there in front of your peers and people that you’ve known for decades and to receive an award like that.

JP: Right. That was a crazy moment. That was our third nomination. At the time we were in between tour legs. They had moved the Grammys from LA to Vegas. And the guys were like, “I don’t think I’m gonna go.” So I talked to my wife. It’s like, “You want to go to Vegas for a few days, whether we win or not? We’ll have some fun in Vegas.” So she was there with me, and I’m sitting there. You don’t expect to win, but then they call your name them. I’m [shocked]. Next thing you know, I’m running up there, and I have to give the speech. It was just all so surreal, but what was so cool about it is that we’ve been playing this crazy form of prog metal. It’s weird to most people. We write these crazy long songs, it’s all instrumental sections, guitar solos, we have concept albums, and you never think that the Recording Academy would really recognize that type of music. So I felt like it was such a big win for prog music and prog metal, and it was really a great moment.

CW: And you go up against someone like Rob Zombie, some household names and whatnot. I’m sure it’s kind of surreal to be sitting there and all of a sudden to hear your name called like, “Whoa! Wait a second! I gotta stand up and go up and accept something right now!” [laughs] Congratulations because that must have been a just a great, great crowning achievement, and your career is not over yet. I love props, and if you don’t mind... [holds up a copy of IaW on CD]. We talk about again 30 years – you and I are at similar age – and back in the day, the CD was where it was at. When you look at some of these and you say, “My gosh, how the business has come from this time to where it is now,” and how you’ve been to just kind of weather the storm so to speak throughout...

JP: Yeah, it’s wild. You’re forgetting about cassettes too, right? [laughs] We saw the change happen and of course the CD came out and that changed everything. Then when everything went to digital and streaming, that was another advancement in music delivery. But here’s the weird thing, things kind of come full circle. All of a sudden vinyl is coming back. Not only coming back, it’s huge.

CW: Do you feel though it is the best sound to really kind of capture the music? What do you think is best? I mean I love vinyl, and I love the little scratches. I think it’s the way music was meant to be heard.

JP: There is definitely a charm to that sound. For me, it’s funny. A lot of musicians might relate to this – there’s a moment when you’re in the studio and it’s the perfect listening environment, and it’s as high res as you’re ever gonna get and you’re like, “I wish everybody could hear it like this,” but then people are getting it streaming and everything else.

CW: Can I ask about musical influences for you? I hear things and I feel like I can hear certain bands that I grew up listening to, and I’d love to hear who were some of your inspirations to see if I was actually right about that. [laughs]

JP: No problem. With us I guess like the biggest one would be Rush. We were growing up all huge Rush fans. We wouldn’t miss a concert when they played at the Garden or at the Coliseum. Another big one for us was Iron Maiden – same thing we’d go see Maiden. Yes, Metallica, a lot of prog, stuff like that.

CW: Tiny bit of Boston at all?

JP: Yeah, absolutely.

CW: Because when I first started listening weeks ago, for some reason I kept coming back to that. I was a big Boston fan growing up. But Maiden, I listened to in high school, Ronnie James Dio. [laughs]

JP: All that stuff. For us, we were kids who were really into the progressive bands from the ‘70s out of the UK, like Genesis and Pink Floyd, Yes. But then we were teenagers, so it was all about Ozzy, Maiden and Metallica, and we just kind of stuck it all together and that was the sound.

CW: Growing up in Long Island and being this band that’s stayed loyal to that region – you’re still there, you still record out there. It’s not like you up and left for Hollywood or greener pastures, things like that. When you hear about people who’ve made it big, what is it about the region that’s kept you there and that you feel is just such a part of your trademark?

JP: Long Island, New York is the greatest place on Earth as far as I’m concerned. I grew up here and there’s something about being here and in a place where you get all four seasons. If you want to go to the beach, you’re at the beach in 20 minutes. If you want to go to the city, you’re there in an hour or so. We have family here. It’s just great to be established here as a band, and we have our own studio here as well, which is fantastic – we can do everything right here.

CW: And it’s one of those places where you’ve got people that’ll basically tell it like it is. [laughs] If people love you, they’ll love you! If they hate you, they hate you! [laughs]

JP: Exactly! [laughs]

CW: Do you have some signature spots out there, places that are just kind of go-to places in all the years that you’ve been there growing up that you just you couldn’t live without?

JP: There’s a lot of signature places. There’s a steakhouse that’s our favorite – it doesn’t matter where I am in the world, I gauge everything...

CW: Based on that?

JP: Yeah, this place called Vintage Steakhouse, which is so awesome.

CW: As far as moving forward now, getting guys together, writing new music, putting new songs out, things like that – how much of your day does that take up? Is it like writing a book for instance? Is it one of those things where you say to yourself, “OK, I’m gonna go take a month now. I’m gonna sit down and really kind of focus,” or is it something where you’re in the shower in the morning. You just kind of come up, stuff enters your head and you’re like, “Let me write that down let me go put that down”?

JP: It’s kind of a little bit of both. I feel like it never really shuts off. So if an idea comes to me, I always make sure that I document it somehow. Even if I don’t have a guitar with me, I’ll sing it into my phone and just make sure that I have all these things so I can remember them. But I think what happens is when we go into write an album, then you’re specifically for the next five or six months there to produce and write your next piece of music. So then it just becomes all-consuming.

CW: Thank God you’ve written some of those things down on your phone so you can bring it all together.

JP: Then you really don’t shut it off. Then all you’re thinking about constantly... you’re at studio, you get home, the thing’s still going. Call your buddy, “Hey...”

CW: All right, so I’m not crazy then in some of the things. [laughs]

JP: No, it’s just the artistic process.

CW: Let’s talk about the tour. You guys just got back from overseas. What was that like? I mean you guys [have a] huge following in overseas countries, huh?

JP: Yeah. We’re lucky enough, we’ve been doing this for so long. [At] the very beginning of our career, we toured. That was really important to us, because we weren’t a band that had really pop success. So our success was based on getting out there and playing. So we have such an international fan base out there. We can kind of play anywhere. We were just in Asia for about three weeks – we went to South Korea, to Japan, to the Philippines, to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and...

CW: Do you ever sit back and is it kind of that surreal moment of like, “I cannot believe how well we travel, and how well the music travels?” I know it’s a worldwide thing obviously and anybody can listen to your music anywhere, but the fact that you go to those places and you’re playing in front of packed houses, it’s got to be just an incredible feeling.

JP: It is. It’s kind of surreal because you’re looking out there and you see people just singing along and meanwhile you’re in like Jakarta.

CW: And is that the ultimate form of flattery there when you can actually look out into an audience in a foreign country and see them mouthing the words to the music that you’ve written?

JP: What’s great about music, you get that realization that music is so universal. It doesn’t matter what you think, what you believe, who you follow, what language you speak, what your culture is. It’s like you hear a song and you relate to that, and there’s that connection, which I love.

CW: You’ve got all tour dates here in the States now, one of which we mentioned earlier in the in the lead to this segment. You’re gonna be at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. That’s got to be an awesome moment, back full circle, be right here, right at home.

JP: Right and that’s an iconic venue. You’re playing in New York of course, hometown show. It’s pretty wild because it’s a mix of all of your family and friends are there, but because it’s in New York as well, there’s a big international component. So you have people coming to that New York show from South America and from Europe and from Asia. And you look out and it’s just this amazing audience.