Dream Theater's upcoming self-titled album will be released in less than a month (Sept. 24), and band members are making the press rounds. In a new interview, guitarist John Petrucci made an interesting comment about playing on the same stage as former drummer Mike Portnoy.

After leaving the band a few years ago, Portnoy recently said he'd rejoin Dream Theater "in a heartbeat." But vocalist James LaBrie shut that door, saying " I don’t see it ever happening; it’s not gonna happen."

And while that door might be closed, Petrucci seems to have opened another one. When asked by Metal Shrine if he could see Portnoy's band Winery Dogs opening for Dream Theater if Portnoy asked, Petrucci seemed open to the idea.

"Yeah, I mean … I said this a long time ago," Petrucci commented. "When you play with somebody for that long, I don´t see that you would never see that person again. I can picture us playing a festival or something and we have history involved with all of our ex members. Sounds like a club! (laughs) I think the best thing to do is keep that type of thing friendly. It´s just the way to be in life, you know, but the next tour we´re doing is just 'An Evening With Dream Theater,' so there are no opening bands."

Petrucci also talked about working with current drummer Mike Mangini in the studio while recording the new album: "Jordan (Rudess, keyboards) and I were working on this part for some time and it was pretty intricate and there´s some syncopations and crap going on and Mike´s sitting around. 'Hey Mike, you wanna try something today? and then he just plays this unbelievable thing and we´re all just laughing, going, 'What planet do you come from?.'"

Dream Theater don't currently have any North American concert dates listed on their schedule. They will launch a European tour in January of next year.

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