Planet X - Universe (2000)
Inside Out Music

1. Clonus (4:14)
2. Her Animal (4:46)
3. Dog Boots (3:35)
4. Bitch (5:20)
5. King Of The Universe (8:15)
6. Inside Black (5:11)
7. Europa (4:20)
8. Warfinger (5:38)
9. Chocolate (5:52)
10. Pods Of Trance (4:48)
11. 2116 (4:39)

Derek Sherinian - Keyboards
Virgil Donati - Drums
Tony MacAlpine - Guitar
Tom Kennedy (guest) - Bass

After working on Derek's solo record, he approached me about putting together a band. We called this band Planet X. We recruited Tony MacAlpine and after searching for a bass player, we decided we would just keep it as a trio. This was the beginning of an important period in my development as a writer of progressive music. It started with OTV, then Derek’s record, and now I felt even more responsibility. It felt great to have a vehicle to be able to express this side of my musical personality, and have the world listen to it.

What a revelation when I first heard Tony play piano! We were tracking at the Leopard room, and Tony sat down at the piano. He was playing a Chopin etude with the ability of a concert pianist! I was amazed. This was true genius. Not only was he a virtuoso guitar player, but he also a great pianist. I asked him how many of the chopin etudes he knew and he casually said "All of them of course!".

Back to the record - I think my favorite track is "King of The Universe" but we don’t play it live. Maybe I will put it in some of my own shows in the future.