At g1, guitarist John Petrucci headlined a fan plea (“Please don’t go after Maiden!”) and talked about Dream Theater’s latest album. “A View From the Top of The World”, their 15th, was released last year.

Humorous and serene, the 55-year-old virtuoso American musician explained what he does to maintain the vigor of his performances and recalled when he was a boy who struggled with his guitar to extract sound: “My hands weren’t strong enough.”

g1 – What can your fans expect from the Rock in Rio concert?

John Petrucci- This is our first time playing Rock in Rio. Although we have been to Rio several times and played several times in Brazil, we have never played at the festival. So we’re super excited. We’re on tour in support of our latest album, so fans can expect a shorter version of our “Top Of The World” tour setlist, as we normally play for two hours. The show will be a bit shorter than that. And that’s going to be one too many, I think. We’re playing after Iron Maiden, right? Which is going to be interesting… It’s probably going to be quite late. But I hope everyone stays to see us.

g1 – You will close the first day of Rock in Rio, the ‘metal day’, the famous ‘Metal Day’. Is there a difference for you to be in the last group of the evening?

John Petrucci- Well, that’s interesting. We’ve done this before, we know the kind of vibe at festivals is different than it normally is at your own gig, because there’s a lot of bands, these quick scene changes. We’ve been in this situation before: we’ve played after KISS has played and stuff like that. So it’s really hard to play after Iron Maiden. [Risos] I mean, I love Maiden. But we are sure that all our fans in Brazil will be happy to finally be at the festival. Then it will be fun.

g1 – Yes, it will. And what do you know about Rock in Rio? When I say “Rock in Rio”, what comes to mind?

John Petrucci- For some reason, I imagine “Rush in Rio”. This famous performance of Rush in Rio [show da banda canadense no Maracanã, em 2002, mas fora do festival]. I just imagine this giant outdoor crowd in a beautiful setting. It all looks so fun, it looks like it’s crowded. That’s what I think.

g1 – I read that you recorded the album ‘A View from the Top of the World’ in your own studio. How did that affect the sound of the album?

John Petrucci- Before this same year [2020], I recorded my solo album ‘Terminal Velocity’ there. It was the first thing we recorded there and I thought it went well, it sounded good. So we did the ‘Liquid Tension Experiment 3’ [álbum da superbanda de metal instrumental Liquid Tension Experiment] this summer and it went well too.

So with these two discs, we fixed all the bugs in the studio. So when Dream Theater went to record there, we knew we could make a great record. It’s a really cool space, just ours. It’s our private hangout with a cool vibe. Everything is very comfortable and relaxed. I think the three albums we’ve done so far sound amazing and that’s after recording in some of the biggest studios in the world. It has a lot to do with our great engineer Jimmy T, our great producer Andy Sneap and all the work they did on the record. Without these guys, it wouldn’t sound so good.

g1 – Where is the workshop? Is it near your home?

John Petrucci- Yes, it’s not far from my house. It’s on Long Island [a leste da cidade de Nova York], where the group formed. This place is very suitable.

g1 – How cool. I liked the lyrics of ‘The Alien’ [novo single] and it got me thinking about colonizing other planets and life beyond Earth. Do you think we’ll be alive to see this happen?

John Petrucci- Well these lyrics were written by James [LaBrie, vocalista do Dream Theater] and he said he was inspired by an interview he saw with Elon Musk, where he talked about terraforming and everything.

I don’t think this will be something that happens in my lifetime, but I can definitely see us moving towards this in the future. And you know what? Why not? Why not explore? What else is there beyond the earth? Everything is possible, right?

g1 – Yes. And how do you stay in shape to play the guitar while keeping the intensity?

John Petrucci- There is only one answer to this, and that is practice. I still play guitar a lot and just try to keep my rhythm. The music that Dream Theater composes and performs, and my own solo music and stuff that I’m into… all of that is not… easy. You have to be musically fit for the tour. Practice is therefore nothing less than essential.

g1 – I know you also exercise a lot besides playing the guitar, don’t you?

John Petrucci- Yes, it’s true. I just got home from the gym, and it was a good workout. I keep doing this and I try to stay in shape, I try to fight the effects of aging and it makes me feel good. It’s also good mentally. And you feel strong when you have to do something like put a suitcase in the overhead compartment of an airplane. You don’t feel like your back hurts, your back hurts.

g1 – And you can spend two hours in a row putting on a show…

John Petrucci- Yes, working out definitely helps with that.

g1 – I know you are a fan of ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Game of Thrones’. And these two sagas have won new series, new spin-offs. Are you still interested, are you going to watch?

John Petrucci- I’m still a big fan. In fact, we… my wife and I watched “House of the Dragon” last night. I found the episode great. I was so happy that we were back in the world of “Game of Thrones”. So I’m excited about that and this new “Lord of the Rings.” I think the series premieres in South America, so I’ll have to find a way to watch it. [Risos]

g1 – Yes, it’s early September, you’ll be there…

John Petrucci- I’ll arrange to see the hotel then. Do you like this kind of series?

g1 – Yes, yes. I think the ‘Lord of the Rings’ one, I’ll watch it… Let’s get back to talking about guitars, how many do you have? Do you always like to play with the same one?

John Petrucci- I have as many guitars as you can imagine from all these years of collecting. I constantly change who I play with. But at home, I have a lot of them and I play more of them, I get them every day. But the great thing about these instruments is that they are all equally amazing. So it doesn’t matter which one… people even say “so what’s your favorite?” These are all my favorites. It’s like having a collection of, I don’t know, Lamborghinis. All are “cool”.

g1 – And the more the better.

John Petrucci- Exactly.

g1 – I heard that the first song you played on guitar was “Hey Hey, My My”, by Neil Young. What do you remember from this day?

John Petrucci- I remember going to Kevin Moore, our first keyboard player who lived around the corner from me, and I started playing this riff, you know? I remember playing guitar… and I think people who play guitar will realize that at first it’s really hard to just play one chord. I remember, I still remember, even though it was a long time ago, that I didn’t even know how to do an eyelash. My hands weren’t strong enough or I had trouble switching from one basic chord to another. Until you learn this skill and get strength in your hands…it’s a bit difficult, but that was a long time ago. Then I finally learned how to do it.

g1 – I think you could live wherever you wanted and choose to live in the same city where you formed the band. Can you tell me why you chose Long Island?

John Petrucci- You know, it happens to a lot of people. You tend to live where your family is. So you prefer to be close to everyone. Here in New York [estado americano onde fica Long Island] it’s where I was born and raised, where most of my family grows up and raises children. We wanted them to be close to their grandparents and cousins ​​and aunts and uncles and… So we stayed here, but obviously there are so many beautiful places in the world to live for sure.

But you tend to live where your family is and you take root there too. But beyond all that, I love New York. I love this area, I love the east coast and the fact that we all have the changing seasons and you can experience it all.

g1 – It makes perfect sense. My last question: what would you say to Iron Maiden fans so that they don’t leave Rock in Rio to see the Dream Theater show?

John Petrucci- [Risos] Please don’t go after Maiden! We promise you we’ll put on a great show for you. I’m actually a huge Maiden fan, so I can’t wait to see them. Dream Theater toured with them and it was great fun. That was many years ago, so it will be great to see them again. But to all Iron Maiden fans, I say stick around because Dream Theater has a great show for you.