Liquid Tension Experiment is drummer Mike Portnoy (Transatlantic, Sons of Apollo, ex-Dream Theater), guitarist John Petrucci (Dream Theater), keyboardist Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), and bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel), recently announced their first album since 1999 titled LTE3.
So why after 22 years would Liquid Tension Experiment decide to reunite? Portnoy explained in a recent interview with Revolver that it was a combination of time passed after his split with Dream Theater, and being bored during COVID-19. The latter of which finally gave the quartet some time to write and record after years of talking about it… so thanks COVID-19, I guess?
"The main reason is the insanity of 2020. The pandemic and the lockdown is pretty much what allowed it. But we've been talking about it for many, many years. It's been 10 years since I left Dream Theater, and it didn't make sense to do LTE while I was still in Dream Theater. Because it was three members of the same band.
"Then after I left, it took many years of healing and all the drama to pass and the dust to settle before the relationships with John and Jordan got real good again. And musically, Jordan and I played together a few years ago on the Cruise To The Edge, and then obviously John Petrucci and I played together last year for his solo album. So it seemed like the time was right to finally do it.
"And the pandemic, for better or worse, gave us a window of opportunity where none of us were on tour and we could actually align the schedules and do it."
Liquid Tension Experiment will release LTE3 on March 26. Pre-orders are available here.
