(Tony Levin, John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess)
Pictures were taken during the recording sessions(photo by Kosaku Nakamura)
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Born
on July 12, 1967, John Petrucci was raised in a musical family in
LongIsland, New York. Although his parents do not play instruments,
his oldersister played piano and organ, his brother plays bass and
his younger sisterplays clarinet. While his sister inspired some of
his interest in music,John says the main reason he picked up the guitar
was because all the kidsin his neighborhood were playing and it looked
like fun.John started taking guitar lessons when he was 12 years old
and has sincebecome one of the world's most recognized new guitar
players. |
 Read about the making of the first"Liquid Tension Experiment" album by Magna Carta, featuring Jordan with John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater and Tony Levin of Peter Gabriel and King Crimson. |
Jordan Rudess entered the prestigious Juilliard School of Music at
the age of nine for classical piano training. At age of nineteen,
he began to include the rapidly developing world of synthesizers in
his recordings and performances. Today, Jordan is a recording artist,
composer, producer and performer. |
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Mike Portnoy was
born on April 20, 1967 and raised in Long Beach, New York,where his
interest in music started at an early age. "My father was a rockn' roll
disc jockey, so I was always surrounded by music constantly. I hadthis
huge record collection when I was real young and loved the Beatles andthen
later on Kiss. It was inevitable that I'd become a musician."Although
Mike taught himself how to play the drums, he did take music theoryclasses
in high school. During that time he began playing in local bandsIntruder,
Rising Power and Inner Sanctum, the latter of which released theirown
album. Mike left the band after being awarded a scholarship to attend
Berklee Music College in Boston. Mike says his biggest influences are
Rush drummer Neil Peart and the lateFrank Zappa. Other favorites include
drummers Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colaiuta,Simon Philips, John Bonham and
Keith Moon and bands such as The Beatles,Queen, Yes, Metallica, Jellyfish,
Iron Maiden, U2 and Jane's Addiction. Heis also a fan of rap music. |
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Tony Levin was born
in Boston on June 6, 1946. He grew up in the suburb of Brookline and
began playing upright bass at 10 yrs old. In high school, he picked
up tuba, soloing with the concert band. He also started a barbershop
quartet. But he primarily played classical music on the upright, most
notably performing at the White House with a youth orchestra for John
and Jackie Kennedy. |