John Petrucci Quotes

One of the great bands we opened up for was Priest back in '89. That was really great because at that time we had never met them, never toured with them before. They were a big influence on Slayer, so to open up for them was really cool.

When I was touring with Ozzy, you know, when I was with Manson, we toured with Ozzy, so many times, we did Ozzfest a thousand times, and, you know, it seems like I'm always playing with Ozzy in one way or another opening up.

I couldn't imagine being in Slipknot and not going to Peru or Argentina or Moscow or St. Petersburg.

The band that I always wanted to tour with was Pantera, and we got to tour with them twice.

For three years, between 16 and 19, I was the opening-act-for-the-opening-act-for-the-opening-act, you know? And then I was on tour with Ice-T, Stetsasonic, EPMD, Sir Mix-a-Lot - legends - and went on to sell 160 million records. It still baffles me.

I was a huge 'Pyromania' fan. You would never expect it, but I was in love with Iron Maiden; I was such a huge fan. I went to a lot of rock stuff like Van Halen, too.

I've banged my head quite a bit. I liked Iron Maiden, Ozzy, AC/DC. And of course, Ratt and Poison.

When we toured... I was hungry to take out people like Jeff Beck in front of us; Fleetwood Mac, just before they hit; Heart, just before they hit.

Everything you need to know about Iron Maiden is onstage.

I love touring - I don't do it as often as I should.

We'll have these people hang out with us while we're doing our touring, and talk to them and let them speak their piece to the world.

So I've had lots of different bands over the years who have stayed with me for certain tours.

The best thing about being on tour is meeting the fans.

I grew up in Iowa, so we had Cheap Trick come through a lot, but some of the other acts were a little harder to find.

I've gotten to be part of a lot of incredible tours and have learned so much from the people I've had the opportunity to open for.

I love touring; if it were up to me I'd be touring all the time.

When I was younger, and Iron Maiden and Def Leppard and all that stuff was coming out, I was learning all those songs and trying to play guitar and develop my chops. I was a big fan.

The best part of touring has to be playing shows.

Gojira is my favorite band of all time; they're lovely, I've seen them live two times. I also love Mastodon and the Refused as well.

When Josh and I are recording a record, we're very mindful of how the music will manifest itself live. That's where we have to live every day. When we tour for the next record, I imagine there will be a new story to tell, and we'll introduce new characters.

There's been a lot of crossing paths with the Yes camp over the years for me. The first one was when Dream Theater and Yes toured together in 2004, which was a lot of fun.

It was weird [touring with them]. It felt more like we were playing for Phoenix. They asked us because they're fans of what we do.

Rock bands are a lot like football teams: If a guy is on drugs and messes up, get someone else who's proud to wear the uniform and be part of the team.

As with all other aspects of fiction, the key to writing good dialogue is honesty.

My favorite part is being engaged with somebody's story and life, and getting a laugh with people I have a tremendous amount of respect for or not, and being challenged by the immediacy of conversation.