Liquid Tension Experiment is an instrumental supergroup formed by Mike Portnoy at a request from Magna Carta records. It consists of four members: Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, and Tony Levin. Three of these members have been members of Dream Theater, although when he joined Liquid Tension Experiment, Jordan Rudess had not yet joined Dream Theater, and Mike Portnoy left Dream Theater during 2010.
Liquid Tension Experiment has released two albums, Liquid Tension Experiment and Liquid Tension Experiment 2. They have also released two albums as Liquid Trio Experiment, Spontaneous Combustion and When the Keyboard Breaks: Live in Chicago. Spontaneous Combustion was the result of jam sessions by the other three members of the band while Petrucci was with his wife, who was giving birth. When the Keyboard Breaks: Live in Chicago is a live recording of a concert in Chicago when Rudess' keyboard malfunctioned, and the other members of the band jammed while Rudess was on the phone with Roland. Additional Liquid Tension Experiment live recordings are available through Portnoy's Ytsejam label and website, www.ytsejamrecords.com.