Ahead of his upcoming debut solo tour, guitar virtuoso John Petrucci sat down with Metal Wani’s Carl Rourke for an in-depth conversation about what lies ahead. The pair spoke about John’s lineup of Mike Portnoy on drums and Dave LaRue on bass, who and how Meanstreak came to be the opening act, Dream Theater plans for 2023/2024, and much more.
Asked whether a tour and lineup of this kind requires a different kind of preparation, John shared,
“As a guitar player doing a solo tour and having all the weight be on me, there’s probably more preparation in terms of practicing and making sure I’m in tip-top shape to get it. Because it’s just a trio and the guitar is featured. But I have such a great band playing with me that they carry so much weight. Between [Mike] Portnoy on drums and {Dave] LaRue on bass, it’s just gonna be fantastic.”
“I love playing as a trio. It’s a different type of vibe. There are no vocals, no keyboards, no rhythm guitar. It’s just guitar, bass, and drums. It’s in your face! It’s cool. There’s no hiding. Maybe a little bit more time practicing! [Laughs] Making sure I get all the notes right as often as possible. [Laughs] ”
With many fans excited to attend John’s upcoming solo shows, others across the pond have been begging for the tour to find its way to Europe, Asia, and even further again. John talked about whether this was a possibility.
“Unfortunately not in the near future. Because I do know what the Dream Theater schedule looks like for next year, and it’s pretty hefty. However, when there is another little pocket, I would love to take this over to Europe. To Asia. I think it would be so much fun. For me, as many times as I’ve done the G3 tour experience with Joe, and played as a trio with my solo band, and I’ve done that many, many times, I’ve never done a solo tour. I’ve never booked a John Petrucci tour.”
“So this tour is kind of like getting my feet wet, which sounds funny at fifty-five years old, but it’ll be fun and if there is an opportunity next year at some point to say, hey, listen, Dream Theater is not touring. I’ve got these two months and I can make it happen, I would absolutely love to do that.”
Cited as the first all-female metal band, Meanstreak found themselves with a reunion on their hands and, more recently, as the opening act on John’s solo tour. John spoke about the endearing history of Dream Theater and Meanstreak.
“It’s so special to me. In some ways, the bigger deal is not that I’m doing a solo tour, it’s that Meanstreak is there! So, the history is that, back in the day when my wife and I were dating, she was in a band called Meanstreak. Now, the band is comprised of my soon-to-be wife. Mike Portnoy’s soon-to-be wife. And John Myung’s soon-to-be wife.”
So basically, three members of Dream Theater married three members of Meanstreak. We all kind of got married in the same time period. We all attended everyone’s weddings. We all sort of had kids around the same time. Our families are very tight. When you hear about bands being families, I mean these are relationships you have forever. Whether Mike Portnoy is in Dream Theater or not, these are family relationships.”
With much online speculation that has seen many fans convinced that Dream Theater aims to release a new album in 2023, John took light on the subject, clarifying confusion and sharing plans for the band in 2023 and beyond.
“I would say that that is not gonna happen. Once you start to lay this stuff out you can see it really clearly. The fact is, the truth is that Dream Theater, like many bands, like all bands on the planet, had two years there where we just could not play live. We were at home and there was nothing we could do about it. And now that it’s opened back up, there’s a lot of playing, a lot of touring that we would like to do. So far, in support of ‘A View From The Top of the World’, we’ve gone to Europe, we’ve done the U.S, only two shows in Asia, and only four shows in South America. So in the bigger picture, when you look at the touring Dream Theater generally does, we do a lot more than that.”
John concluded by saying,
“2023, I know we’re starting out returning to Europe, and we have some more legs to do. So, I would say, just kind of thinking out loud with you here, I couldn’t see us back in the studio until this time next year. So, I would debunk a Dream theater release in 2023. I would say 2024, for sure. Unless something drastically changes and we’re just like [Laughs] but I don’t think so. I think we’re psyched to make up for lost time and play a lot more concerts out there”
