after 25 years together this band lost
one of its core members hi I’m Rebecca
Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re speaking with John Petrucci
of Dream Theater about their first album
without founding member Mike Portnoy a
dramatic turn of events
now let’s talk about a dramatic turn of
events what were you guys going through
on that before we we went in to record
the album you know we had many
discussions as to the kind of album we
wanted to make and also the importance
of the album you know because we
realized with the situation that just
happened that a lot of eyes would be on
us
probably more than usual we wanted to
make sure that every decision that we
made was what we we had deemed
undeniable so when people see this
person that’s the drummer it’s like oh
okay
that’s great I get it and we wanted to
take that same approach with the music
so we wanted to make sure that the album
had a lot of depth a lot of quality that
the songs were written to their fullest
potential that the vocals were presented
in the best way that we can as far as
the melodies and the range and the sound
we kept that sort of mindset the whole
time as we were writing you know it’s a
nice is good enough no that’s not good
enough let’s go back and refine it is a
section tight enough or crazy enough you
know if it wasn’t then we’d go back in
and make it and we did that every step
of the way
what would you say influence the other
I mean musically it’s hard to say
because we when we get together there’s
so many ideas and we just we’re in a
room and we’re just playing together
it’s not like we’re listening to a
particular album together and we’re
getting influenced that way it’s just
kind of each other I mean lyrically for
me I was looking at major things that
were happening in the world that were
changing the world which is where the
title of the album stems from
now if I’m not mistaken Mike wasn’t
involved in the writing process why was
that a choice that you guys made really
besides the auditions we didn’t really
have any experience with him this time
going in I felt it was important not to
have to incorporate another person I
just didn’t want to take those kind of
chances right at the beginning I think
as the tour goes on and as we kind of
jam during sound checks and do different
things we’ll will gain more experience
in next album it’ll be more comfortable
we’ll know each other better and we’ll
be able to mesh
how do you think this album even fits in
your background line to me I’m very
proud of the way that this is Alvin
sounds the way that the the sonic
landscape ended up coming out a lot of
that has to do with Amy Wallace I’m a
big fan of the way he mixes records and
he just spent so much detail in mixing
to every single instrument and you know
the result is is incredible
we kind of returned a little bit back to
some of the more progressive roots you
know the album kinda leans a little bit
that way more it is a bit more balanced
and some of the other albums as far as
the elements that make up our sound you
know maybe other albums were leaning
more metal II this one kind of has more
of a balance it’s probably more
progressive
I think vocally is probably one of
James’s strongest albums I think he
really is an MVP on the south with every
song there’s something that you can
really latch on to there’s nothing that
it’s kind of irks you the song stranger
you know there’s some of the other
albums or some things here and there
that well maybe I would have changed
that or maybe I would change that but
this one I’m just totally happy
thank you very much no problem
one of its core members hi I’m Rebecca
Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re speaking with John Petrucci
of Dream Theater about their first album
without founding member Mike Portnoy a
dramatic turn of events
now let’s talk about a dramatic turn of
events what were you guys going through
on that before we we went in to record
the album you know we had many
discussions as to the kind of album we
wanted to make and also the importance
of the album you know because we
realized with the situation that just
happened that a lot of eyes would be on
us
probably more than usual we wanted to
make sure that every decision that we
made was what we we had deemed
undeniable so when people see this
person that’s the drummer it’s like oh
okay
that’s great I get it and we wanted to
take that same approach with the music
so we wanted to make sure that the album
had a lot of depth a lot of quality that
the songs were written to their fullest
potential that the vocals were presented
in the best way that we can as far as
the melodies and the range and the sound
we kept that sort of mindset the whole
time as we were writing you know it’s a
nice is good enough no that’s not good
enough let’s go back and refine it is a
section tight enough or crazy enough you
know if it wasn’t then we’d go back in
and make it and we did that every step
of the way
what would you say influence the other
I mean musically it’s hard to say
because we when we get together there’s
so many ideas and we just we’re in a
room and we’re just playing together
it’s not like we’re listening to a
particular album together and we’re
getting influenced that way it’s just
kind of each other I mean lyrically for
me I was looking at major things that
were happening in the world that were
changing the world which is where the
title of the album stems from
now if I’m not mistaken Mike wasn’t
involved in the writing process why was
that a choice that you guys made really
besides the auditions we didn’t really
have any experience with him this time
going in I felt it was important not to
have to incorporate another person I
just didn’t want to take those kind of
chances right at the beginning I think
as the tour goes on and as we kind of
jam during sound checks and do different
things we’ll will gain more experience
in next album it’ll be more comfortable
we’ll know each other better and we’ll
be able to mesh
how do you think this album even fits in
your background line to me I’m very
proud of the way that this is Alvin
sounds the way that the the sonic
landscape ended up coming out a lot of
that has to do with Amy Wallace I’m a
big fan of the way he mixes records and
he just spent so much detail in mixing
to every single instrument and you know
the result is is incredible
we kind of returned a little bit back to
some of the more progressive roots you
know the album kinda leans a little bit
that way more it is a bit more balanced
and some of the other albums as far as
the elements that make up our sound you
know maybe other albums were leaning
more metal II this one kind of has more
of a balance it’s probably more
progressive
I think vocally is probably one of
James’s strongest albums I think he
really is an MVP on the south with every
song there’s something that you can
really latch on to there’s nothing that
it’s kind of irks you the song stranger
you know there’s some of the other
albums or some things here and there
that well maybe I would have changed
that or maybe I would change that but
this one I’m just totally happy
thank you very much no problem
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