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Is Petrucci a Nowhere Man or Street Fighting Man? Read on and find out (© David Atlas/Retna Ltd./Corbis)

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Derek says, I've noticed a strong shift towards metal on the past few Dream Theater albums as opposed to metal being just one of the many elements. I'm not complaining, but can we expect to hear a more experimental way of doing things in the future? Can we expect another concept album?

"Well, we like to constantly change and invent and think of every album as a new opportunity to do something different. So absolutely, people can expect more experimentation and changes.

"It's kind of what we're about. It's the spirit of progressive music in general - to not be stagnant. Obviously, you have to keep an identity, but at the same time you have to make subtle changes to keep it interesting, so from record to record there's a story to be told, as opposed to just a single story."

Julian Scott asks, If you had to go to Mars for good, which Dream Theater record would you bring along with you?

"It's the spirit of progressive music - to not be stagnant. You have to keep an identity, but at the same time you have to make subtle changes."

"Probably Scenes From A Memory. It means a lot to me because it's the first record I produced along with Mike; it's the first record that Rudess is on; it's a concept album. So yeah, it's kind of special to me."

Jeffrey Warzin wants to know the name of the program you use in the studio to record click tracks.

"In the past we used Digital Performer. But on the current album, on Black Clouds, we didn't do that; we just used the Pro Tools system to create a click track."

Ray asks, What's the best and worst part about being a father/family man in the music business?

"You could probably predict this one: It's spending so much time away from home. Trying to be a father and doing fatherly things when you're not home is very difficult. You do your best.

"My son had some music that he wanted to learn and I wasn't home - there were some complicated chords - so I recorded it on Logic and sent him an MP3 file; I wrote down the chords. You know, it would have been a lot easier if I was there 'cause I could've just showed it to him.

"You miss a lot of things - all their events and concerts, parent-teacher meetings, gymnastic meets and everything else. That's definitely the most difficult part."

Christopher has two questions: Do you have plans to release another solo album?

"Yeah, I absolutely will do another solo album. I'm not sure when exactly, but my last one was in 2005. A lot of people have been asking me about this. I'll definitely do another one. Absolutely."

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