M.B. Hi John. Let's start by talking about the two pieces of music you recorded at your home studio recently.

J.P. Sure.....Well, basically all the lead tracks are a Dual Rectifier head through a 4x12 Rectifier cab, straight in, no effects, just miked with one Shure SM57. I recorded it on a Mackie 24 track board and an Alesis ADAT.

M.B. Are you using the Mackie board's mic preamps or are you using something else like a Neve module?

J.P. No, just the Mackie and when I mixed it down I used a Lexicon PCM80 for the effect, which is basically just for reverb. That was the lead tracks. For the rhythm tracks, I used a Heartbreaker head, miked the same way, dry. I recorded two tracks, left and right. Then I used a V-Twin and went out of it's record output direct into the Mackie and recorded again the same part left and right.

M.B. For the rhythm, what mode were you in on the V-Twin.

J.P. I was on the red channel lead mode. I set it for a very overdriven creamy sound, that's what I like that pedal for. The sound that I recorded from the Heartbreaker was more tight, not a lot of distortion but a lot of definition and so combining the two made for a pretty thick spectrum.

M.B. I know that live you were using a Tri-Axis for quite a number of things. Is that still part of your live set-up?

J.P. Yes, I still use it in different contexts. One of the rigs I use is just the Tri-Axis, 2:90 and a PCM80. When I do clinics and things like that, that's the rig I use. It's great. Another thing that I'm doing, and I think we have a schematic of it [see rack system diagram] is to use the Tri-Axis and the Heartbreaker through a Mesa High Gain Amp Switcher. I take the output of the Tri-Axis into one channel of the Switcher and the Slave output of the Heartbreaker into another. The combined output of the Switcher goes into my effects in series and through to a pair of 2:90's. One of the 2:90's drives a pair of 4x12 Rectifier cabs for left and right stereo and the other drives my 2x12 wedge cabs. Then I take the speaker output of the Heartbreaker into another 4x12 Rectifier cab that's in the middle of the stereo cabs for a dry signal. So it's like a 3-speaker set-up. 

M.B. Do you do considerably different things for studio than you do for live? Is it two different systems or do you take elements of the live system and elaborate?

J.P. For the studio I usually end up using different combinations depending on the song. The last album we did, Awake, I used two tracks of the Rectifier, then two tracks of a Mark IIC. The same sort of thing that I'm talking about
with the V-Twin. For some songs I use just the Tri-Axis, like on bluesier songs. For clean sounds I use the Tri-Axis. I think I used a Blue Angel for one of the songs. It depends on the part and what I'm trying to do...and then live I try to
emulate that, not by using all the different amps, but just by different effects and stuff like that. At one point I was using four different amps through the Amp Switcher, two Tri's a Mark IIC and a Rectifier. They were all on at the same
time!. It was a cool sound, there was a definite cool combination of all these different things going on at the same time.

M.B. What are your current projects?

J.P. Actually, we're writing our next record. We're going to be recording it in a couple of months and it will come out early next year.

M.B. Do you know where you're gonna record it yet?

J.P. In New York...we're not sure of the studio yet.

M.B. Do you think this album will be a progression from where you've been or are you thinking of something different? How would you describe the kind of writing mode that you're in? Or writing mood?

J.P. There are a lot of things that are different. This is the first album we're writing with a new member in the band, a new keyboard player. He's from a different perspective than Kevin.

M.B. Who is the new keyboard player? Is he somebody that people will know from elsewhere?

J.P. His name is Derek Sherinian. He went to Berkeley around the same time that we did. He had a couple of side man gigs. Hired gun gigs...he played with Alice Cooper and Kiss and stuff like that but this is his first full time band.

M.B. How has that affected the writing?

J.P. It's different, he's just a different person, a different writer. His background is more blues, jazz. He's influenced by a lot of guitar players, like Allan Holdsworth and Van Halen. He's a more aggressive player and he's injected a lot of energy and fire. A good writer. So you're gonna see a different perspective just from that element alone.

M.B. Is he a good analog guy?

J.P. Oh yeah, totally. In fact he's really into that...he's into both analog and digital. He has a Korg endorsement, so he has the latest Trinity and all that stuff, but then he has his double-decker B3 with the Leslie and he's totally into that
vibe too.

M.B. So you'll be doing some Deep Purple covers!?!

J.P. Right, exactly (laughs). But it's cool. The writing mode has been really good. We have a lot of material. We have way too much for the album, unless we do a double album. And it really ranges. There's some stuff that is very typical of what a Dream Theater fan might like us for...which is the progressive, long songs, instrumental, wacky, heavy stuff. We've written stuff like that, It's a lot of fun, then we've written stuff that's a lot simpler. Simpler arrangements, simpler
form and that's kinda cutting to the core. The concept on that was instead of trying to make something multi-layered and multi-thematic, just take one theme...one lyrical theme...or one emotion and portray that in a simpler way.

M.B. Just kind of distill it down?

J.P. Yeah, and that comes from being influenced by like...U2, Peter Gabriel, Don Henley and guys like that, they just write great songs.

M.B. I remember the last time we spoke, I asked you what you think some hardcore Dream Theater fans find unusual about your influences. One of the things that you said...you named a whole list of people...pop artists that you felt were influences that you really liked, that were nothing like what people had heard from you up to that point. The last album that you were about to make, you thought would be a lot simpler in some ways, do you feel that you accomplished that?

J.P. There were moments that were simpler. All in all it actually ended up coming out heavier but there were definitely moments more in that direction. I think one of the major changes that this band has made is that we've learned how to groove more. How to lock into fields and grooves and create a song around a specific groove. Like the Red Hot Chili Peppers would do...or whatever. One of the things we normally do is that we change fields, we change grooves. We don't lock in for a period of time where you can get into it.

M.B. Well, it's more symphonic than groove-oriented.

J.P. I think that's one of the major changes we've made. We've still kept that symphonic vibe on some of the songs, but even within those songs we're taking grooves and we're extending them and locking into them for longer periods of time.

M.B. Where do your influences come from in terms of getting into that groove? Is it from listening to different people or is it just something that you guys feel from having played together for so long

J.P. I think it's more from something that we feel. It's almost like....I always call it hypnotic. You get into this thing that repeats and the thing that makes it intense is the repetitiveness of it. It's hypnotic and a little psychedelic. That's something we've added into our style. You can hear that on Awake too, it has that hypnotic, psychedelic vibe to it. We've incorporated that more and more.

M.B. Is there anything that you want to add about the equipment? Obviously you like using Mesa Boogie equipment. Have you had a good relationship with the company?

J.P. Absolutely! It's been great. One of the things that's most valuable to me in working with companies endorsement wise, is in the support. It's not necessarily like it's free gear but when we go into the studio, I have all the options...the latest stuff. It's there. Whatever's new, whatever came out, whatever I want to use to experiment, it's there.

M.B. Like they're looking after you for that period. You don't have a set plan of what your going to use but you need all the colors?

J.P. Yeah, that's the advantage. The normal guy wouldn't have access to all the new technology, or in the case of the Blue Angel, the old technology. That's what I consider to be really valuable. Also being on the road, playing in all the different countries, Mesa have been really great about supplying cabinets overseas or getting stuff out to us "Red Label" and things like that...it's the total support. That's so important for me and that's why we get along so well and I give it back. I talk about Boogie...I talk about the gear, every opportunity I have. Even in the instructional video, I did a whole section with a rundown of all Boogie gear.

M.B. I hear you have a new instructional video out. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

J.P. Yes, it's on REH and it's called "Rock Discipline". I think it's two hours long and it's filled with lots of stuff. It has a whole rundown of the gear. It's an older rig that I have, but it's still really cool. I keep changing things!

M.B. Do you surf the Net at all? Do you get out and look at that stuff?

J.P. A little bit...not major league. I play some games. My latest fave is Duke Nuke 'Em.