Is JP's solo album put on ice?

[rumborak]

Haven't heard anything in ages. I really liked SA, but I get the impression the successor might have been vaporware.
Or has there been news?

[RaiseTheKnife]

There was an interview last week or thereabouts where he talks about it, and expresses that he hopes to get to it sometime soon.

[Bolsters]

[Obfuscation]

^

[Aythesryche]

Over the last couple/several interviews where the question was brought up, JP basically says he's been really tied up with other things lately (DT mostly) but he will eventually get around to putting more of it together. He mentioned perhaps at the end of this tour. He also mentioned he already has a couple songs for it.

He mentioned how he always has bits and pieces of songs in his mind that eventually serve as nuggets for future material. Perhaps the stuff he originally had in mind for solo stuff just gets shunted to DT stuff instead or discarded due to the passage of time. Who knows what lurks in JPs head! IMO, I think a good bet for the sake of getting it done sooner than later is to just go into the studio and wing the rest of it. Bring JR with him and do something in the vein of An Evening with JP and JR perhaps.

 

[TheLordOfTheStrings]

Over the last couple/several interviews where the question was brought up, JP basically says he's been really tied up with other things lately (DT mostly) but he will eventually get around to putting more of it together. He mentioned perhaps at the end of this tour. He also mentioned he already has a couple songs for it.

He mentioned how he always has bits and pieces of songs in his mind that eventually serve as nuggets for future material. Perhaps the stuff he originally had in mind for solo stuff just gets shunted to DT stuff instead or discarded due to the passage of time. Who knows what lurks in JPs head! IMO, I think a good bet for the sake of getting it done sooner than later is to just go into the studio and wing the rest of it. Bring JR with him and do something in the vein of An Evening with JP and JR perhaps.

Lets also not forget this alleged project with Marco Minnemann. My initial thought was that JP was gonna get Marco to drum on his new solo album, but the way Marco talked about this "project" in a recent interview made it sound like it was definitely gonna be something separate from JP's solo album. So he's also busy with that.

[ariich]

JP mentions in interviews every now and then, but that's been the case for a couple of years. I'm not too fussed though, I didn't find SA very exciting.

[RodrigoAltaf]

 I really liked the songs he playd off the new album when I saw him with G3 in 2012. He had MM on drums, and the other two were Satriani and Steve Morse (with Dave LaRue).

[Perpetual Change]

Honestly, not sure why he needs a solo album anyway. It seems to me that, by and large, he is the primary contributor and writer for Dream Theater.

[mikeyd23]

Honestly, not sure why he needs a solo album anyway. It seems to me that, by and large, he is the primary contributor and writer for Dream Theater.

Because it would be an instrumental guitar album...

[ReaPsTA]

Honestly, not sure why he needs a solo album anyway. It seems to me that, by and large, he is the primary contributor and writer for Dream Theater.

I think JP feels the same way, which is why he's made no real effort to get it done.

[Perpetual Change]

Honestly, not sure why he needs a solo album anyway. It seems to me that, by and large, he is the primary contributor and writer for Dream Theater.

Because it would be an instrumental guitar album...

I guess, but he basically has a guitar solo in every Dream Theater song, as well as various lead parts, so it just feels superflous. I could see if he were like really dialing himself back in DT, but he's not. JP is obviously *the* driving force of the modern DT sound.

[TAC]

Agreed. I think in JP's mind's eye, he'd probably like to have another solo album but he doesn't appear to be motivated to get it done. He could've probably written and demoed it all in the last few years. I'm sure a professional drummer and bassist could easily learn and record it in two weeks. 

[Kotowboy]

Agreed. I think in JP's mind's eye, he'd probably like to have another solo album but he doesn't appear to be motivated to get it done. He could've probably written and demoed it all in the last few years. I'm sure a professional drummer and bassist could easily learn and record it in two weeks.

Didn't Mangini say that on the MullMuzzler albums he had two days in total to :

• Set up the kit in the studio
• Listen to all the songs
• Learn all the songs
• Record his drumparts
• Pack up & go ?

[kirksnosehair]

There's probably a financial angle as well.  Studio time is not inexpensive, and my guess is John's solo CD probably sold OK, but it was unlikely to be a big moneymaker, whereas creating stuff and touring for Dream Theater pays the bills.  I'm sure he wants to do another solo album, but I'm equally sure it's pretty far down his priority list. 


Truth be told, I'd prefer another Liquid Tension Experiment album

[TAC]

There's probably a financial angle as well.  Studio time is not inexpensive, and my guess is John's solo CD probably sold OK, but it was unlikely to be a big moneymaker, whereas creating stuff and touring for Dream Theater pays the bills.  I'm sure he wants to do another solo album, but I'm equally sure it's pretty far down his priority list. 


Truth be told, I'd prefer another Liquid Tension Experiment album

I'm sure JP has a quality demo thingy in his house. You mean he can't send it off to Dave LaRue and Marco Minnemann, and then convene in a studio a couple of weekends later? I'm sure JP can swing it. Now as far as distribution, I'm sure that's a whole other animal.


I'd take an LTE album too, but at this point, I'd be shocked if JP is part of it. The next one will have JR on it but not JP.

[Kotowboy]

I'm sure JP has the facilities in his house to record decent quality guitar tracks.

You don't need a big studio these days.

[Sacul]

I'd take an LTE album too, but at this point, I'd be shocked if JP is part of it. The next one will have JR on it but not JP.

Really? In a fan's Q&A I told Jordan that he and MP thought that a LTE 3 was possible and I asked him if JP was willing to do it. JR replied "I think with a little patience and time anything is possible!".

[TAC]

Which is basically saying that if MP wants to do an LTE album before sufficient patience and time has passed, it will not include JP.

[Sacul]

Which is basically saying that if MP wants to do an LTE album before sufficient patience and time has passed, it will not include JP.

I don't think so. I believe that he meant that JP needs time to forgive MP and accept to make an album with him.

[TAC]

Which is basically saying that if MP wants to do an LTE album before sufficient patience and time has passed, it will not include JP.

I don't think so. I believe that he meant that JP needs time to forgive MP and accept to make an album with him.

OK. I'm not seeing it that way. But we can agree to disagree.
It's cool..

[Tis BOOLsheet]

It's supposed to have come out for like a decade. I'm not holding my breath for it. When it comes out, I'll buy it, but I've basically given up on it.

[BlobVanDam]

Honestly, not sure why he needs a solo album anyway. It seems to me that, by and large, he is the primary contributor and writer for Dream Theater.

While his last album was all instrumental metal/hard rock, there was stuff in there that he hasn't and wouldn't do in DT anymore, especially the great bluesy rock stuff. I think DT have limited themselves to a small prog metal window now, so there's a lot more ground he could potentially cover in a solo album.

[ReaPsTA]

Regarding cost - The solo album could be made pretty cheaply if JP wanted to do that.  A lot of professional drummers have recording setups in their house.  Recording guitar and bass at your house is pretty easy.  But JP's mentioned in a couple interviews that he finds making music over the internet to be creatively unsatisfying.  He likes getting in a studio and recording because it makes for a production that, to paraphrase, is more than the sum of its parts.

I disagree, but it explains why JP isn't doing something like what KM, Jim Matheos, and Gavin Harrison do for OSI.

[Perpetual Change]

Honestly, not sure why he needs a solo album anyway. It seems to me that, by and large, he is the primary contributor and writer for Dream Theater.

While his last album was all instrumental metal/hard rock, there was stuff in there that he hasn't and wouldn't do in DT anymore, especially the great bluesy rock stuff. I think DT have limited themselves to a small prog metal window now, so there's a lot more ground he could potentially cover in a solo album.

I guess, but I think that's more a shame than anything.

[ZirconBlue]

Honestly, not sure why he needs a solo album anyway. It seems to me that, by and large, he is the primary contributor and writer for Dream Theater.

While his last album was all instrumental metal/hard rock, there was stuff in there that he hasn't and wouldn't do in DT anymore, especially the great bluesy rock stuff. I think DT have limited themselves to a small prog metal window now, so there's a lot more ground he could potentially cover in a solo album.

They've been excluding material that doesn't "sound like DT" since at least the SFaM or SDoIT days. 

[mikeyd23]

Regarding cost - The solo album could be made pretty cheaply if JP wanted to do that.  A lot of professional drummers have recording setups in their house.  Recording guitar and bass at your house is pretty easy.  But JP's mentioned in a couple interviews that he finds making music over the internet to be creatively unsatisfying.  He likes getting in a studio and recording because it makes for a production that, to paraphrase, is more than the sum of its parts.

I disagree, but it explains why JP isn't doing something like what KM, Jim Matheos, and Gavin Harrison do for OSI.

I agree with your post completely, but honestly it still wouldn't be that costly to JP to put down a solo record in a proper studio.  It would just have to be different than how DT does it, I'm sure he couldn't afford to set up in the studio, write the songs there, then start recording.  But he certainly could write the songs, send them to the drummer and bassist (whoever they end up being) and then exchange part ideas back and forth remotely.  Once they have a clear picture of what they want to do, they could get together for a few rehearsals and then load into the studio.  If he uses MM on drums, MM could probably set up and lay down his parts in three or four days, bass would probably take the same amount of time, maybe even less.  Then its just up to JP to finish everything else.

Thats a very doable scenario, in fact thats how my band is currently preparing songs that we want to eventually record because its just not feasible for us to rent a practice facility every week, we live an hour away from each other, etc...

All in all, I don't think financial cost is what has been keeping JP from releasing a new solo album.  I would suspect that he has been more focused on continuing DT's momentum in the last 4 years (since MP left) than he has ever been before, so it just comes down to time and priorities.

[Mebert78]

At about the 9:15 mark of this new interview, JP mentions he is still working on a solo album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eP0T60WJ0k

[Cable]

Well, considering he wrote SA mostly in 2001, and it did not come out until 2005? That was back then when MP was there to steer the ship. Whenever JP started talking about SA pt2, I would add 6-8 years as an expected release. :-)

[Ben_Jamin]

I can see what JP means by sending emails back and forth. He enjoys having everyone there to put their creative input at that moment and is spontaneous, plus its faster and you don't have to wait for them to send a reply which by then you might not enjoy it as much.

[Vahvahenki]

I hope that when he gets to it, he'll make Suspended Animation available again through his website. That one's been unavailable for far too long now.

[hefdaddy42]

Chinese Democracy came out.  Eventually.

[ToT-147]

I think DT have limited themselves to a small prog metal window now, so there's a lot more ground he could potentially cover in a solo album.

There's no small windows when you talk about prog metal.. That's one of the main essences of the genre: not to be "small", or limited, predictable, simple and plain (like the LT's girl's hair )..
In fact, I think DT music it's much more complex, diverse and ample than JP's solo work (judging, of course, only Suspended Animation and the three known songs of the next one)..

[BlobVanDam]

I think DT have limited themselves to a small prog metal window now, so there's a lot more ground he could potentially cover in a solo album.

There's no small windows when you talk about prog metal.. That's one of the main essences of the genre: not to be "small", or limited, predictable, simple and plain (like the LT's girl's hair )..

That is such a prog fan answer.
DT12 is not that diverse an album imo, regardless of what genre it's labeled as.

[?]

DT12 is not that diverse an album imo, regardless of what genre it's labeled as.

Agreed, although the album has grown on me recently. What I liked about ADTOE is that there are songs of varying lengths and styles - you got a few short ballads (FFH, BTS), some punchier songs (BMUBMD, LNF) and epics that are proggy yet not overlong (BAI, Outcry). On DT12 it feels like they tried to stick a bit of everything (metal, prog, ballady moments) into each song and keep them at a similar length, and that makes the album feel a tad samey.

E: fixed one abbreviation