The founding member and the guitarist of Dream Theater, John Petrucci has talked about his latest album, ‘Terminal Velocity‘ with his former bandmate and the great drummer, Mike Portnoy, as he opened up about how it felt to reunite with him.

As you may know, Portnoy and Petrucci have not been working together since Mike left Dream Theater in 2010. With Petrucci’s solo album project ‘Terminal Velocity,’ the old bandmates have come together to produce some great works again.

The album was released on August 28 by the Sound Mind Music/The Orchard. This is Petrucci’s first solo album since 2005‘s ‘Suspended Animation.’ In addition to Portnoy, Petrucci worked with the bass guitarist Dave LaRue on the album and recorded the songs with longtime engineer James ‘Jimmy T’ Meslin.

During a recent interview with ‘Coffee With Ola!,’ John Petrucci has expressed his feelings on how it was to work with his very old and close friend Mike Portnoy. Has been knowing each other since 18 years old, John said that working together was so easy going and so cool, not like a business.

Petrucci also revealed that Mike Portnoy came to his studio despite the pandemic situation on the East Coast in the U.S. Spent a week there, John said they had so much fun and Portnoy did a killer job.

Here is what John Petrucci said during the interview:

“It was really great for me to have Mike play on the record. I hadn’t done anything musically with him since he left Dream Theater over 10 years ago. And it was really just fun, because it’s different when you’re in a band with somebody.

Really, we grew up together — we met when we were 18. And you’re in business together. It’s different than when it’s, like, fast forward, now it’s, like, my friend is playing drums on my album. It was so easy going and so cool.

He was able to come to my studio despite the pandemic situation on the East Coast in the U.S. It was safe for him to come to the studio — he doesn’t live that far from me. And he spent a week, and we had fun. And he did a killer job.”

He continued:

“These songs take a lot of different skills, I think, as a drummer — some are uplifting and happy; some are metal; some take double-bass chops; some you’ve gotta do a shuffle; some are blues; some is Latin feel.

And it’s just a testament to Mike‘s playing — he knows how to do all that stuff. And he came in, totally easy going, did it. We had fun. And I’m really happy that he did it.”

You can check out the rest of the interview below.