We auditioned a lot of great drummers; every one of them was world class. We had a lot of fun playing with each of them and had some great jams. With Mike [Mangini] it was just something really special about what was going on.

I do a lot of the stuff that I started out doing that I think any guitar player that's concerned about the craft needs to do. It's basic practicing of the basic elements. I try to practice like a well rounded regiment of things where I can kind of do whatever I wanna do and I also have to practice the actual songs to keep that under my fingers as well.

We have a storage close by where I live, that's very organised. My guitar tech, Matty organised it all, labeled everything.

I know we play a part in the story of progressive music, but for us those influences are the real fathers, the ones that we were interested in.

I'm a hopeless tone chaser!I love it and get into the whole thing.

With all tools at my disposal, I'm 100% into chasing tone and checking out new equipment and "geeking" out during sound check by taking too much time.

I would say the more the better when it is comes to development and marketing. It's actually fun. For some it can be a frustrating thing.