THE MASTER IS AWAKE !

BUT DORMANT DURING THE PANDEMIC DAZE — HAS CAPPED OFF HIS RECENT BURST OF MAD CREATIVITY WITH A BLAZING NEW DREAM THEATER ALBUM, A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD. BELOW, HE FILLS US IN ON THE CHALLENGES OF PRODUCING, HIS FIRST-EVER RECORDINGS WITH AN EIGHT-STRING — AND EXACTLY HOW HE REMEMBERS HIS PARTS ON STAGE WHEN A SONG CRACKS THE 20-MINUTE MARK

FOR JOHN PETRUCCI, THE QUESTION ISN’T SO MUCH, “WHAT DID YOU DO DURING THE PANDEMIC?” RATHER, IT’S “WHAT DIDN’T YOU DO?” EVER SINCE GLOBAL LOCKDOWNS KEPT MUSICIANS OF EVERY STRIPE OFF THE ROAD FOR MUCH OF 2020 AND WELL INTO THIS YEAR, THE DREAM THEATER GUITARIST HAS BEEN BUSIER AND MORE PROLIFIC THAN EVER. HE WROTE, RECORDED AND RELEASED HIS SECOND SOLO ALBUM, TERMINAL VELOCITY; SOON AFTER, HE GOT TOGETHER WITH HIS LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT SUPERGROUP MEMBER (BASSIST TONY LEVIN, DREAM THEATER KEYBOARDIST JORDAN RUDESS AND FORMER DT DRUMMER MIKE PORTNOY) TO BANG OUT LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT 3, THEIR FIRST RECORD IN 22 YEARS. THE GUITARIST ALSO PARTNERED WITH IRON SMOKE DISTILLERY TO INTRODUCE HIS FIRST SIGNATURE BOURBON WHISKEY (ROCK THE BARREL), AND BE EVEN CAME OUT WITH HIS OWN BRAND OF GROOMING PRODUCTS. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT PETRUCCI’S NEBULA LINE, DEVELOPED IN COLLABORATION WITH CAPTAIN FAWCETT, INCLUDES BEARD BALM, BEARD OIL AND MUSTACHE WAX.

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Between work, whiskey and hair care, has he had time for anything else?

“Oh, sure,” he says. “Like everybody else, we’ve been watching a bunch of Netflix. There’s so many good shows nowadays, although we did recently rewatch The Sopranos. That was a lot of fun.”

He admits the past year and a half hasn’t been without its challenges. In fact, Dream Theater were deep into a world tour that was slated to stretch to the end of 2020 when they were forced to cancel the remainder of their dates. “For us, the economics of staying off the road were no small thing,” Petrucci says. “Our livelihoods come from touring. We established that years ago, because we’re not the kind of band that relies on massive record sales and radio hits. While we’re fortunate to have that loyal fan base that comes to our shows, to see that suddenly shut down was pretty