"The Count of Tuscany" concerns a meeting you had with a Count.

Yeah. "The Count of Tuscany" is about a trip that we took in the hills of Tuscany to a vineyard, and a castle that was run by a Count and his family. It just talks about the strange events that transpired over the course of the day. It's always been an interesting story that I've told to a lot of people, and I thought it would be perfect to put that into lyrics.

"Wither" discusses your fear of writer's block.

Not exactly. "Wither" is more about the process of starting something creative, and starting from nothing, whether you're writing a song, or a lyric, or a book, or a story, or whatever. When you're staring down at a piece of paper, or at a computer screen, or if you're painting, there's always that point where you're facing a blank palette, and the process that your brain and your emotions go through to get something creative out of you was always an interesting topic I thought.

"A Rite of Passage" concerns Freemasonry.

Yeah. Freemasonry has always been a topic of mystery, and intrigue. It's always shrouded in conspiracy, and is very similar to the Dan Brown novels - 'The Da Vinci Code' and all that. Freemasonry, and secret societies, are things that when you talk about them, not a lot of people know what they really are, and what it is. It's a very interesting topic. Anything that's kind of surrounded by conspiracy, and is a little bit dark, is very interesting, I think. There've been so many shows, documentaries and books written about it, so I always found that a very interesting topic. Finally, I worked that into a song.

Does Dream Theater have any plans to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2010?

I'm not sure if we really have anything planned right now, though I'm sure we'll plan something.