JOHN PETRUCCI

on to a lot of music by friends or older brother types growing up, which is how I got into ’s record. I heard and it was like, ‘What the hell is this?!’ – growing up as a teenager on Long Island, there was a lot of rock radio that would play stuff from Zeppelin to AC/DC, but I wasn’t totally familiar with Yes before that. I turned into a gigantic. I was good friends with [Dream Theater bassist] John Myung already when I first heard . I fell in love instantly with the whole sound – the dual guitars, the soloing, the artwork… everything grabbed me. They were such a big influence; not just in terms of sound, but professionally; the way they run things is something to truly be admired – we take a lot of pages from the Iron Maiden book. I also remember hearing on the radio around the time had come out, through singles like . A friend of mine was really, into them and he made me go back and listen properly, starting with . I didn’t know that really progressive side of the band at the time so that changed my world completely.