John Petrucci interview

Chris Wragge: You’ve played all over the world this year, including Radio City Music Hall. So why was it so important to you and the rest of the band to play at the [Nassau] Coliseum?

John Petrucci: Growing up, I was a teenager in the 80s. So when one of my favorite bands came to town, the Nassau Coliseum was the place to see them. My first concert was Rush in 1982. I’ve seen Iron Maiden there, Pink Floyd, all the bands that came through. If you’re a Long Islander, that’s where you went to see a show. So it’s iconic.

CW: When you really think back, making that correlation between those great memories that you had at the Coliseum and now the fact that you’re there on stage, it’s got to be incredible.

JP: When I would go to see my favorite band, whether it was Rush or Iron Maiden, and they were in the same room as me up on stage, usually I had horrible seats, so they were tiny. But still, it made me kind of believe that, hey, I want to do that. I can do that. And so it definitely set a course for me as a young musician. It’s an incredible feeling to be finally playing that venue after 40 years as a band. It’s crazy.

CW: At the Coliseum, you guys are going to be playing your new album, Parasomnia, in its entirety. So what else can fans expect? Anything special for just the hometown crowd? You gonna tailor make this one for Long Islanders or what?

JP: Well, the show itself is really special for sure. I mean, not only are we playing Parasomnia in its entirety, which is perfect timing for Halloween because it’s a really creepy, scary album. We’ve had people show up in pajamas and costume. And the fact that Halloween’s right around the corner, it’s going to be a great way to wrap up this US tour. We’re also still celebrating our 40th anniversary. So we’ll be playing a selection of songs from a catalog and we’re playing a song called ‘A Change Of Seasons’ that we haven’t played in a long time, especially with Mike Portnoy, our original drummer, back in the band.

CW: Let’s talk about how Long Island helped shape the band’s sound itself. Can you give us a little bit of background on that?

JP: Absolutely. First of all, there wouldn’t be a Dream Theater if I didn’t grow up on Long Island. The local rock radio stations would play AC/DC and Def Leppard and Ozzy and all this stuff. So I was hearing this stuff, and as a young guitar player, just really getting into all these different bands and guitar players. The neighborhood that I grew up in Suffolk – I grew up in Kings Park – everybody played an instrument. Even our bass player, John Myung, and I met when we were like 12 years old. That’s how I learned to play guitar. We’d go from garage to garage just playing and learning, and it was incredible.

CW: Did you ever think you’d be having this conversation 40 years later, projecting ahead with this type of success and this type of world outreach? And now we can’t keep you in Long Island for more than a couple of hours – you’re going to Australia and Asia.

JP: I never would have thought it. When you’re that young, you just have dreams of conquering the world. You see your heroes doing it, and you aspire to that. So we’re really, really lucky to be able to do this together as musicians. There’s part of me that still feels like that kid. It’s like, “Oh my God!” We’re gonna look at each other on stage and there’s going to be that unspoken nod like, “Hey, we’re playing the Coliseum. Isn’t this cool?” It’s going to be awesome.