If I'm not in an environment where I can record, it's great to be able to write something down, to be able to know how to do that, to be able to write notation. You grab a piece of paper and there it is. It's the cheapest recording equipment you can buy: a piece of manuscript paper and a pencil!
John PetrucciWe're not the kind of band who writes an order abundance of songs and picks from them, we usually write for the album.
John PetrucciUsually we're all comfortable playing the songs, but during the song there might be one part where you're like โoh, this part's coming up, I have to really focus", a lot of songs have those moments in them.
John PetrucciReal thick strings - your hands start to get fatigued. As much as you practice, and as much experience as you have, and as long as you've been playing, there is a fatigue point during the show, as with anything that's physical. So I wanted to basically pace myself better.
John PetrucciWe've seen progressive rock all over the world, in South America, Europe, Asia, across the US and North America and Australia. There's huge audiences for this stuff. For me it's always been there and it's just a matter of time before the people have more of the means to spread the word.
John Petrucci