Tony Levin interview (excerpt)

Justin Beckner: One of the projects that you were on that I loved a lot was the Liquid Tension Experiment. I think I’ve interviewed everybody who was in that, except for you, and they’ve all had very glowing reviews of your work in that band. So, I’m curious what your thoughts are on that project.

Tony Levin: What are they going to say? It’s a good band, except for the old guy. He can’t keep up with us. [laughs] But we’re good friends. I’m not surprised that they spoke well of me, and I will speak even better of them. We’ve had quite a long life considering we haven’t had the chance to do much touring together and only a little chance to do recording. Those three guys are virtuosos on their instrument. I get around, and I can play my instrument quite well. But I’m not in their league technically, and we all know that. We don’t discuss it, but we know that. And they obviously tolerate me playing catch-up. I’m used to being the guy in a band context who’s the first one to learn stuff.

I’ll give you a good example. We get together. This has happened many times. Specifically, the last time we got together during 2020, the lockdown year, and we’d said, “We’ve got to make a new album.” And John Petrucci was all set up and he’ll say, “OK, I got this riff. I got a new idea and it’ll sound like this...” This blizzard of notes. And Jordan listens and then Jordan is playing it. He just learned it just that quick. So he’s already playing it with both hands, and I’m like, “Could you just play those first [few measures]?” And I’ve got a pencil and music paper, by the way, because, if I could play it, I still wouldn’t remember it when it’s 30 seconds later and the riff is still going. So I’m literally saying, “Could you slow down the first eight notes for me?” But then Jordan says, “You know what? That reminds me of this riff.” And Jordan does the thing, and John learns it just as quickly as Jordan did. So now, the piece is two minutes long, and Mike says, “Well, then we go into this,” and these guys have composed three minutes of stuff, and I’m there in a different room in the bass chamber with the headphones on with my pencil, and I can’t play the first riff. So that’s the way we write. And, at some point, I’ll catch up and I’ll learn the stuff however long it takes me and whatever I have to do I’ll learn it.

But at some point, they’ll say, “OK now, Tony, give us a King Crimson kind of riff.” And I’m like, “Well yeah, I’m gonna play a bass part.” Not fast like theirs, but, you know, some riff. That’s the way the pieces quickly grow to be 10 minutes, 12 minutes long. Meanwhile, the pencil’s on the music stand, but I can’t play the first minute of a piece. Sometimes, I never do. We did one piece, I forget the name, it was kind of the main piece on the album before the last one, and I just sat out the first riff rather than spend the six months or whatever it would take me to learn to play it. I’m honored to be in the group with them.

I like being challenged, as you could tell, having talked to me for a little bit. It’s when we play live that the challenge gets really real. The last tour we did, which was quite a while ago, I pretty much did nothing but practice for the six months before it to not embarrass myself on stage with them. I’m OK with it, but I didn’t nail all the riffs, especially that one that I never learned. I didn’t embarrass myself. I felt good being on stage with them. So they’re great players. They kicked my butt. They’re great guys.

JB: Yeah, very, very good. I hope to see more from you guys. Are there plans in place for anything?

TL: Not currently, and probably not for a while. You never know. But with that kind of... I don’t know what you call it... I call it a collaboration. It’s on the cusp between being a band and a collaboration. But with anything that’s not your main band, you have the issue of the guys who have their main band, Dream Theater, [who are] writing, and they’re going to tour for, what, a year? So they can’t do that, and if you’re in different bands, then it could be many years between [jams]. At least nine months before, if not a year before, we have to all be willing to say, “OK, let’s take April and devote it to the Liquid Tension Experiment.” So, on the horizon, one hopes, but we don’t know. Not next April, for sure.