DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung recently spoke with Joe Charupakorn at Premier Guitar about the band#s new album, A Dramatic Turn Of Events. An excerpt is available below:

PG: Tell us about the writing sessions for the new album.

Myung: "It reminded me of the early days, when it was just me sitting in front of John and Jordan [Rudess, keyboards] and saying, 'I’ll play this part, you play this part, and we’ll record it.' A lot of the early stuff was stuff I would first work on with John and Kevin [Moore, original DT keyboardist] and then we would bring it to the band. But once our [1992] album, Images and Words, took off and went gold, we were just like this machine. We started touring and writing and doing everything together. So, in some ways, this was like we were back to the beginning. It was a combination of writing as a group and not as a group. The sessions were really mellow and laidback. We were all playing at acoustic volumes, which made the dynamics of the communication different. It felt less on the go and more meditative."

Petrucci: "I had stuff that I worked on ahead of time—demos, songs, and my riff library—but, ultimately, John, Jordan, and I went into the studio and wrote together. As we were writing, we demoed it all. I programmed the drums using Superior Drummer in Logic. After we finished the songs, we sent them to Mike Mangini. About two-and-a-half months later, when we came to record, he had templates of all the songs—all the tempo maps and markers. It’s pretty incredible to watch and record somebody like that. He came in and brought everything to life. It’s a lesson for all professional musicians out there—not only about being incredibly skilled and gifted, but also about being prepared."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

As previously reported, the band's new album, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, has entered the charts in more territories around the world. The complete is as follows:

Holland - #2

Germany - #3

Italy - #3

Austria - #5

Czech Republic - #5

Norway - #5

Switzerland - #6

US - #8

Canada - #9

New Zealand - #17

UK - #17

Dream Theater have also checked in prior to their North American tour which began on September 24th in San Francisco. Check out the clip below:

Their tour schedule is now as follows:

September

28 - Vancouver, BC - Queen Elizabeth Theatre *
30 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kingsbury Hall

October

2 - Chicago, IL - Rosemont Theatre
3 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
4 - Pittsburgh, PA - Trib Total Media Amphitheatre *
6 - Toronto, ON - Massey Hall *
7 - Montreal, QC - Place des Arts *
8 - Quebec City, QC - Pavilion de la Jeunesse *
10 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre *
11 - Morristown, NJ - Mayo Performing Arts Center *
12 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre *
15 - Albany, NY - The Palace Theatre (with Periphery)
16 - Philadelphia, PA - Merriam Theatre (with Periphery)
17 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
21 - Pompano Beach, FL - Pompano Beach Amphitheater
22 - Cleawater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall
23 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
25 - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theater *
26 - Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall *
27 - Dallas, TX - Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie

Shows marked as * feature special guests TRIVIUM

Meet and Greet and VIP packages will be available for all North American tour dates at VIPNation.com.