{"id":18355,"date":"2013-09-30T03:57:20","date_gmt":"2013-09-29T17:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=18355"},"modified":"2013-09-30T03:57:30","modified_gmt":"2013-09-29T17:57:30","slug":"jordan-rudess-of-dream-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2013\/09\/jordan-rudess-of-dream-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\n\u201cThis is an album we can really put our stamp of approval on it and this is something we can really call Dream Theater because we felt like this is so representative of where we are as musicians and as people that if anybody asks \u2018what is Dream Theater all about?\u2019 well in 2013 this is our presentation, it\u2019s who we are, it\u2019s totally us.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Bio: Roadrunner Records has announced the eagerly anticipated new album from the legendary\u00a0Dream Theater.\u00a0The<\/em> <\/em>first self-titled collection in the GRAMMY\u00ae-nominated\u00a0band\u2019s nearly three decade career follows 2011\u2019s acclaimed \u201cA Dramatic Turn Of Events.\u201d That album \u2013 highlighted by \u201cOn The Backs Of Angels,\u201d which earned the iconic band its first ever GRAMMY\u00ae Award nomination (in the \u201cBest Hard Rock\/Metal Performance\u201d category) \u2013 proved one of Dream Theater\u2019s most successful, making top 10 chart debuts in 14 countries, including the Billboard 200 \u201cA Dramatic Turn Of Events\u201d was hailed for its ambition, complexity, and sheer melodic power, with Japan\u2019s influential BURRN! naming it as the year\u2019s \u201cBest Album.\u201d Keyboard virtuoso Jordan Rudess filled us in on the band\u2019s new self-titled album, the creation and changes as well as big moments and the future\u2026<\/p>\n

Now this is always hard to do, but is there one word for you that sums up the new album?<\/strong>
\nOne word\u2026 the word that comes to mind is Powerful.<\/p>\n

In all seriousness though, let\u2019s say you\u2019ve got a new listener, never heard Dream Theater before, how would you best describe the album to them to entice them?<\/strong>
\nI would say it\u2019s an album that\u2019s very progressive and first of all I would give it a kind of stylistic identity, I would say it\u2019s progressive metal, with really great players and lots of melody and good hooks and just a lot of stylistic interest.<\/p>\n

In terms of the musical aspect of the release, did you set out to do anything differently compared to previous releases?<\/strong>
\nWe wanted to make an album that had material on it that was perhaps a little bit more to the point of concise, a lot of Dream Theater songs can go on for quite some time, they\u2019re long and they\u2019re almost like classical compositions in a way. In this one certainly there\u2019s a twenty two minute track on the album \u2018Illumination\u2026\u2019 however there\u2019s a lot of stuff that is a bit shorter, although we weren\u2019t trying to be quote unquote commercial, we were trying to take our style and not take anything away from it, any of the value if you will, the intensity of our playing, but we were trying to make songs that were a little bit more cohesive.<\/p>\n

Not really your 3:30 radio edits\u2026<\/strong>
\n*laughs*<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the idea behind naming the album, well, not really naming it but a self-titled release?<\/strong>
\nWell we decided to self-title it because we feel that we\u2019re at a point in our career both personally and musically where we\u2019re very clear, we\u2019re very unified, we feel very strong and also very proud of what we\u2019re doing. When we started to put this material together we felt like you know what? This is an album we can really put our stamp of approval on it and this is something we can really call Dream Theater because we felt like this is so representative of where we are as musicians and as people that if anybody asks \u2018what is Dream Theater all about?\u2019 well in 2013 this is our presentation, it\u2019s who we are, it\u2019s totally us.<\/p>\n

My standout track on the album is \u2018The Bigger Picture\u2019 which is just a monster, so in looking at the bigger picture, is there a message that the band is trying to get across with this album?<\/strong>
\nWell I can\u2019t really speak from a lyrical context as I don\u2019t write the lyrics, and usually when I listen to music in general I don\u2019t pay that much attention to the lyrics, so as far as a lyrical message you\u2019d probably have to ask one of the other guys. But I guess again from my point of view it kind of goes back to my first answer, where we\u2019re trying to take the Dream Theater style and really hone it in and get really direct and make an album that was not only very progressive and virtuosic and all that side of Dream Theater, but also really listenable and that could bring you in and give you a big musical hug if you will.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also some instrumental\u00a0 work on this album which we haven\u2019t heard for a while, why was the right time to do this again?<\/strong>
\nActually there\u2019s two on the album \u2018False Awakening\u2019 and also \u2018Enigma Machine\u2019. So \u2018Enigma Machine\u2019 the bigger one, we love to do instrumentals, it\u2019s something we\u2019ve always enjoyed very much and we thought you know what guys, it\u2019s time to do another one, it\u2019s been a while and we really should, it\u2019s been a while as you said. Dream Theater a lot of what we do is about the musicians and the playing, so we wanted to put one out there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On playing, you mentioned the 22 minute \u2018Illumination Theory\u2019 before, how did that come about?<\/strong>
\nWell you know in planning to do something with some more concise type of stuff we also recognised that we are \u2018Dream Theater\u2019*laughs* there\u2019s a whole big progressive side and epic side to how we\u2019re perceived and who we are and so we wanted to have that be part of our presentation, so we decided to go all out and create something that was deeper, extended and that song totally gave us that personal satisfaction and go in the direction to get our ideas down like that. One of the things that\u2019s really fun about that song is it\u2019s got a middle section that gets all mellow and spacey that you can kind of float away to and then it\u2019s a mixture of ambient electronic going in to what\u2019s a real string ensemble in the middle before it before it picks up again and starts to rock.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve also got the \u2018Live at Luna Park\u2019 DVD coming, tell us a bit about that and why that was the right show to release?<\/strong>
\nWell, there\u2019s a lot of parameters involved in that kind of thing. One, we wanted to find a place that we hadn\u2019t done a DVD and some place that would also be a great Dream Theater sort of exciting, upbeat place, and South America is a really hot bed for Dream Theater, I think it\u2019s one of the places in the world where to them 7\/8 time is like 4\/4 or something, they think we\u2019re like The Beatles or something in some of those countries, so it kind of made sense to us to do it there. Of course you could say there were more logistics to do it in South America, we had to make sure everything was lined up with the recording and video and all the different aspects so we had to fly a lot of people in, but the audience down there and specifically in Argentina, they\u2019re so kind of like hot blooded they like it so much and we figured this would be a great place to do this DVD, so we recorded over two night and indeed it was a great audience, they were very supportive, they were very into it, and that\u2019s how we got this \u2018Live at Luna Park\u2019.<\/p>\n

Stepping in for Mike P would\u2019ve been quite daunting, but has new Mike M found his footing yet after the last album?<\/strong>
\nYeah Mike M, you know losing Mr P if you will was of course at the time very intense for everyone and it was unclear at the time how we were going to get back on our feet again, although luckily it was a decision that the band had made to bring in some people to audition for us and then of course to make the documentary that most people know about. What was great for us was when we put the word out we started to get all these messages from really great drummers that they wanted to come and audition for us, and then the reality of the audition and seeing these guys come in and play, quickly went from wondering to what was going to happen to us, what our future was to thinking wow, there\u2019s light at the end of the tunnel, there\u2019s some good stuff and of course Mike Mangini was the first one to walk in the room for the auditions, he came in the morning and pretty much blew our minds and changed our entire outlook on the future.\u00a0 Then after doing an album and after a year of touring with Mangini, he just fit in so beautifully and the audience reaction was great, we enjoyed him so much he\u2019s not only a great drummer, he\u2019s very funny and he\u2019s got a good heart and so we were all set to go into the studio and take it to the next level with him in the room and of course him being in the room gave the whole project and extra spark of life, just because of who he is musically and personally, and it kind of put us in a situation where we could put the Dream Theater self-titled stamp on it to where we feel that good about things.<\/p>\n

It\u2019d be remiss of me to ask about an Australian tour, any chance we\u2019ll see you here in the near future?<\/strong>
\nYou know I don\u2019t have anything confirmed yet, but I can imagine we\u2019re going to come there because it\u2019s a very important album to us and I mean we haven\u2019t been there in a while, so my guess is we\u2019ll see all of you on this next word tour.<\/p>\n

In your fourteen years with the band, has there been a moment that stands out above all the rest?<\/strong>
\nYou know, I remember all the big moments naturally, especially when you do the home town gigs for me, those are always very meaningful, especially when we started, I remember a New York show, I think it was my first one, they started to chant my name, I was like wow this is pretty cool. Then of course we played later on in my time with Dream Theater we played at Radio City Music Hall, that was really, really intense and it\u2019s one of the most beautiful hall\u2019s and it\u2019s right in my home town, those are the kind of the things that definitely leave an imprint. Also, when we do these DVD\u2019s, it\u2019s such a big deal when we go into a production like that, there\u2019s so much preparation and though that goes into these things, you get really excited and it makes you a bit nervous and there\u2019s cameras and stuff it\u2019s hard to forget that, it makes those kind of experiences landmarks in my career or anybody\u2019s really.<\/p>\n

What does the remainder of the year have in store for you?<\/strong>
\nWell let\u2019s see, I just released an album with Tony Levin and Marco Minnemann the other day, because when I finished off the Dream Theater album I jumped into a project with those guys, so doing some promotion for that as well as the Dream Theater album. I\u2019m working with a company in the UK making a new kind of keyboard which is called the c-board, which is the evolution of the piano keyboard as we know it, so between that and my app company, you might know that I have a company called \u2018Wisdom Music\u2019 that makes apps for things like iPhones and Windows devices and all kinds of stuff so that always keeps me very busy. I just signed on to do a Mozart piano concerto, actually two piano concertos with an old Julliard mate of mine in December and stuff like that.<\/p>\n

Essential information<\/h2>\n

From: <\/strong>Long Island, NY, USA<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong>\u00a0 John Petrucci – guitar, John Myung – bass, James LaBrie – vocals, Jordan Rudess – keyboards and continuum, Mike Mangini – drums<\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> Dream Theater (Out Now \u2013 Roadrunner Records Australia)<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> \u00a0www.dreamtheater.net<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t