Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) Interview

Colin Legerton recently had the opportunity to interview Dream Theater’s Keyboard master, Mr. Jordan Rudess. In this interview Jordan talks about the upcoming tour with Queensryche and future Dream Theater and solo projects.

Colin Legerton: So, this summer you have the tour lined up with Queensryche and Fates Warning. Is that just going to be in the States?

Jordan Rudess: Yes, it’s just in the States, and it was just literally announced the other day.

CL: Are those bands that you enjoy?

JR: Well, I just found out about Fates Warning actually when I started getting involved with Dream Theater. I knew nothing about them before about four years ago. I’d heard talk of them, but I don’t have any of their CDs or anything. I have heard them, and I’ve seen video of them, only because of the other guys. I think the other guys in Dream Theater were friends with them, and there was some relationship there. And Queensryche, I had only known the commercial part of Queensryche until I met Dream Theater, again, and they had told me that Queensryche is a big influence, and so I went out and bought, like Operation: Mindcrime to hear what it was that they were talking about.

CL: So you’re not really big into all the metal stuff?

JR: No, I’m not. I mean, I like some of it, but I don’t shop for it. My background is more in classical music and also in progressive rock, things like Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant, ELP...

CL: Oh, I’m a big Gentle Giant fan...

JR: Right on.

CL: What do you find yourself listening to mostly these days?

JR: Well, I still listen to my favorite progressive rock things, like that. And I just got the new King Crimson album, which is awesome, really, really good. And I saw them live: best I’ve seen them in a long time. And I listen to a lot of electronic music. Things like Autechre, Aphex Twin, Dntel, Boards of Canada... Porcupine Tree, which is not electronic, but more progressive and a newer band, are excellent.

CL: And if you were setting up a tour, who would you want to tour with?

JR: All of those groups! (laughter)

CL: All of them? That would be quite a festival!

JR: Yeah, it could be a whole thing. It would be totally cool.

CL: And you guys, Dream Theater, are working on a new album now?

JR: We are. We’re in the writing phase actually, and pretty soon we’re going to leave that phase, since a lot of the music is already put together, and we’re going to start recording and overdubbing, and all that kind of stuff. That should last for another few months.

CL: So this is different? For the last album you were writing and recording at the same time, right?

JR: Yes, this is a new approach. This approach actually goes back to what they did back even before I was in the band. When I met Dream Theater, it was through Liquid Tension Experiment, pretty much. Actually, I had an audition for Dream Theater, this is a whole other story. I auditioned for Dream Theater about eight or nine years ago and ended up not going with Dream Theater, but I got a call from Mike and he wanted to know if I wanted to do Liquid Tension Experiment. So, when we started to do Liquid Tension Experiment, we started to write and record all at the same time. So, we’d write something and then “OK! This is written, let’s record it.” And so, just recently, for this album, we were like, “why don’t we try this other approach? We’ll go hash out things for a while in the studio, and then take it to record after it’s lived with us for a little while: after the music has matured.”

CL: Are you doing the inspiration corner again for this album? I think Mike had said that he had a bunch of albums he was listening to a lot to get ideas...

JR: Oh, right, I know what you’re saying. We haven’t really done that. The inspiration corner these days is really Mike’s iPod. He said the other day, “this iPod has any song you could possibly mention on it!” So we did a test, where I’d say, “do you have... King Crimson – The Red Album on it?” He said “Yes!”

CL: Did you manage to stump him then?

JR: Yeah, I had a couple things that he did not have on there. I said, “Do you have Gentle Giant – In a Glass House?” And he said “no.”

CL & JR (in unison): He’s missing out! (laughter)

JR: You and I know he’s missing out.

CL: It’s a classic.

JR: Yeah, it’s a great album. It was one of the ones we brought for our car listening today actually.

CL: Ooh nice.

JR: Yeah, I picked it out. And, as we go, there’s a few things we’re bringing out to listen to and get inspiration from. This album... this project for Dream Theater has been very internal, private, if you will, in the sense that we haven’t really spoken about the nature of the album: where, how we’re doing it, to anyone, because it’s such a crazy, internet world filled with so much communication and we’re looking to pull back a little bit and actually have a little bit of space. And I think it’s a good thing, because if we wanted to we could be in there with video cameras and broadcasting the nightly sessions on the internet, and letting people hear our ideas live over the internet. But we’re going the opposite route and saying, “we’re doing our thing. We’re creating this album. It will be out in September or October. And that’s what’s happening.” And I think it’s especially good for people like Mike, the drummer, and myself. We spend a lot of time on the internet, and we’re very active on it. I usually keep a touring diary and all. And it’s a lot of fun and I’ll definitely continue to do that, but with this project it’s been really cool because it lets us focus a little bit more on what we’re doing, and just put our heads into that space. And then when it’s time we’ll open it up and talk about the process, and release the video and tapes...

CL: So it’s being taped for later?

JR: We have, of course, the media stuff going on while we work.

CL: Do you guys have any big goals for this album?

JR: To see how many notes we could actually put on there. (laughter) I think 3 million. It was 500 on the last one, and we’re going for... See how many meter changes we can actually get away with...

CL: As progressive as you can get...

JR: Yeah right, as progressive as we can make it. (laughter) Not really.

CL: Do you think you’re going to play some of the songs on the tour? Which is going to be before the album comes out, it sounds like...

JR: That’s a good question. We were just talking about that the other night and there’s really no specific yes or no or maybe. That kind of thing is usually up to Mike, he takes control of a lot of that type of stuff in the group. And I was thinking for sure that we wouldn’t play anything, and then the discussion came up the other day, and made me think, “oh, wow, maybe it’s even being considered.” So, I dunno. It’s possible, but I wouldn’t count on it.

CL: Now that the whole band’s getting together and writing, is James in it? I hear he’s not usually involved in the writing.

JR: As long as I’ve been in the group, and even before that, I think he’s not really a participant in the writing process. He’s always come through with some of the lyrics at the end and even some melodies. With this album, he’s put some more energy into being there and being part of it. It’s been a different way of working. He’s actually been around the whole time. What happens with Dream Theater is we’re very into our compositional stuff, and it’s mostly John Petrucci and I are writing the notes, and Mike is busy kinda shaping, being the architect of things. That’s really how the time is spent. And John Myung is occasionally throwing in the cool riff or something. There’s a certain dynamic which we’re pretty much used to.

CL: Speaking of writing lyrics and all, I heard you write some lyrics and you sing a bit too. Are you going to be doing any of that in the future?

JR: I might do some singing. My first solo album was called Listen and I sung on it and I wrote all the lyrics and it was a lot of fun, and I’ll probably do something like that again, maybe on my own. As far as writing the lyric part, Dream Theater is a very established entity. When I came into the group, I realized that there’s a lot of different talents that make up the group. For a while at the beginning, I was thinking that I need to put my whole ability in here, every part of me. And I realized that’s kind of a waste of energy, because, not only can other people cover it, but they don’t want one guy coming in and doing all that stuff. Everybody has their space, and for me to push my lyrics on the group and say “here’s my lyrics!” would almost be like invading somebody else’s space, because, for instance, John Petrucci really likes writing lyrics for the music. He feels like he’s actively involved in being the lyricist for Dream Theater. So if there’s another lyricist, it would not sit well. It would be a tough battle for me to start getting lyrics brought into the group.

CL: Well, I think Dream Theater is one of the rare bands that has almost all of their members writing lyrics though.

JR: Yes, but if you look at the last album. John wrote all of the lyrics except for a couple of things. James contributed one song, and I don’t think John Myung wrote anything for the last one.

Bert Baldwin: James wrote two songs. James wrote Blind Faith and Disappear.

JR: But John wrote most of them. Mike also contributed a song or two. Same thing with “Scenes from a Memory”: the other guys contribute, but John is writing most of the words. I guess the point is that, yes, I do write lyrics, I haven’t written lyrics in a while, and I’m not really that anxious to start contributing, because it’s not even an environment that would be all that accepting of my lyrics.

CL: Maybe for another project in the future?

JR: Yeah, certainly. I would like to. I’m interested in being creative and writing lyrics is certainly part of that process. As a kid I used to write a lot of poetry, and then I started to write songs, and I’m interested in doing that. It’s not my main interest. I don’t feel like I have to write lyrics. If I did, I would be pushing the lyrics onto Dream Theater. As far as singing goes, I would like to sing, and I would like to start doing some backup vocals. There again, I’m not interested into pressing that either. Yes, I can sing. I can sing on tune. And it would be cool, but I’m in a group with a lot of talented people that do a lot of things, so there are certain places where I’d kind of like to keep my space. I’m definitely going to be playing the keyboards and making special effects and things like that, that’s really my department as well. Working with the electronics, like on “Scenes from a Memory” for example, all the sound effects you hear are all done with my abilities and technology. And I’m really interested in that, that’s my place.

CL: Your forte?

JR: Yeah. For sure.

CL: With a lot of bands like Gentle Giant though, you see amazing things that they do with multiple singers. I think one more backup singer could be good.

JR: Yeah, we’ll start doing (hums On Reflection)

BB: With a little bit of the Spock’s Beard influence in there too...

JR: They have their Gentle Giant moments, don’t they?

CL: You only use one keyboard: you get great sounds out of it, but do you feel you could more if you had two maybe, so you could do two different things at once?

JR: Well, I couldn’t get more sounds.

CL: Different texture maybe?

JR: And I couldn’t even get more textures, because, I use one keyboard, but I have a number of racks. I use Korg racks, a number of Kurzweil racks, and these days I’m using a Novation...
(To Bert): What’s my Novation’s product name?

BB: SuperNova 2

JR: Thank you. SuperNova 2. Which are all great sounds. And I can control all those sounds from my own keyboard. So, through the magic of MIDI, I can have a split where I have a Korg on this octave, and the Novation in the middle and my Kurzweil sounds up top, and then at the press of a switch I’m doing something completely different. And also, the Kurzweil instruments, and the Korgs too, are very intense samplers, and I have an amazing library of samples from everywhere and anywhere, so the Kurzweils really could sound like anything. So I’m not limited as far as texture goes or possibilities when you start dealing with a sampler. For me, the beauty of having many different kinds of instruments is... well, there’s two things. One of which, is like, on the Korg there are a lot of sounds that are immediately accessible. You want strings, you just go over to the Strings category on a Triton or something and you go and cycle through forty string sounds. And that’s cool. I mean, if I wanted to, I would just go get a CD-ROM of strings and load it into my Kurzweil, and for all I know it could just be some Triton strings that are sampled, and I’d have that. I come from a school of actually trying to get more out of one piece of technology than spreading myself thin and having a lot of keyboards, and maybe knowing a little bit about this one and knowing a little about that. I’m not into that. And the one thing that’s even frustrating for me about using all the stuff I have now is that I’m starting to think, do I know how to use this Korg or not? Am I deep enough into it? A person can’t possibly put his entire mind behind that many different boxes, because each one of them is a world of possibilities. I spent a lot of time with a Kurzweil and I feel like I understand the technology very well, and that I’ve gotten a lot out of these machines. So, that’s where I’m coming from. I want to dive into the technology and make a lot of things happen. In the show that I’m doing tonight though, with Rod, I am using only one keyboard, and that’s all. I’m not using any racks. And that’s an example of what you can do with one machine, especially in the performing environment. I’ve loaded in whatever samples I need and textures, and I’ve spent the time to program the sounds, and sometimes the sound is incredibly huge and there’s all kinds of sound effects going on, but it’s coming out of one machine.

CL: It makes it a little easier live too, doesn’t it?

JR: Well, playing on one keyboard makes a lot of sense to me, just on a control standpoint. Because, if I have a lot of keyboards, I wouldn’t be making any more sound, because I could MIDI to all those keyboards, and the problem with that being that I have to jump from one keyboard to another. And, while that might look very showy, often if you see somebody playing multiple keyboards, when they lift their hands off of one to go play the next part, generally the release of that section of music gets chopped off and they’re on to the next thing. So you keep hearing these gaps of the sound. It happens all the time, they’re playing duh duh duh duh duh (last one cut short), and they’re on the next thing. For me, that’s fairly sensitive to transitions. I don’t like to have weird gaps. I’d rather sit there, hold the chords, hit my program change pedal, and the next thing I play is a new sound. That’s what I do.

CL: It helps the flow...

JR: Yeah, it helps with the flow, and that’s what I do in all my projects. I’ve been doing that kind of playing for years, just programming so my sounds are incremental.

CL: Have you been working on any new lead patches?

JR: I have a very cool new lead patch. I actually developed it in and around the last tour. It’s a sound that is very interactive, because it involves all my sliders and my wheel and pedals and buttons and brings in different harmonics and stuff. It’s really pretty cool. It’s the feeling you get with a guitar on full volume and distortion. You know, if you let it go it’s gonna go crazy. My synthesizer patch kinda feels like that.

CL: It’s got a kind of guitar feel to it?

JR: In that sense, yeah. And it could sound like that too, because it’s an all-out intense sound and it’s got harmonics happening and it’s like a... guitar. It’s got that sound like Derek Sherinian’s lead. It’s that concept where it’s on a keyboard and you’ve got overtones. But this has so many different things happening. I get four overtones on the slider, if I press a switch I get a lag that I programmed so you hold the key for a certain amount of time until the harmonic comes in. And I programmed it so that once the harmonic comes in I can play legato until I lift up and then if I restrike the key it reattacks the harmonic that’s gone. So there’s all this cool stuff built in. Then I’ve got a pedal that does wah-wah, and a wheel that cycles me through the overtones. It was a big programming project.

CL: Sounds like it. So is there going to be a lot of that on the new album, you think?

JR: Probably. I’ll probably play some of that. I haven’t quite gotten to my leads yet, but when I do, I’ll throw some of that on there for sure.

CL: Sounds good. Are there any projects you’re thinking of in the future, or anyone you’d like to work with who you haven’t yet?

JR: Well, there’s projects I’m thinking about. There’s some very interesting projects. I’m developing a project right now with Apple, O2, Mackie, and Kurzweil. It’s a project involving surround sound. We’re all kinda putting our heads together, and those companies are being very supportive of me going into the studio and developing a surround music project around OS 10 for the Apple, and it’s gonna be pretty cool. It’s a new interest of mine, and I’m anxious to get involved with surround. And I’ve got the support of all these companies, so we’re going to have a pretty amazing party doing that. As a matter of fact, it’s possible I may be writing the music to this show, a theater piece. I’m thinking about taking this whole effort and applying it to that. Almost like a Cirque d’Soleil kind of experience.

CL: That sounds exciting. Are you gonna be working on that while the Dream Theater stuff is going on?

JR: Exactly. Yeah.

CL: That sounds like it’ll keep you busy.

JR: Yeah. Watch me juggle numerous projects at the same time! That’s what keyboard players do: they play with one hand, they do the other, they do pedals, they do projects. It’s a polyphonic kind of thinking.
(To Bert): You want to be part of this interview? Ladies and gentlemen, Bert Baldwin!

BB: Hi.

CL: We were talking a little about the Dream Theater dynamic. Is there anyone in the band that you’d say you’re closest with?

JR: Well, I get along very well with all the guys. When I’m on tour and we’re hanging out, I usually end up hanging out with James a lot. We’re very close personally. But I really get along with the guys. John Myung is a very nice guy. He doesn’t socialize too much, so I don’t get a chance to hang out with him too much. And Mike, when we’re on the road, is very too himself. He likes to hang out in his room a lot as well. And Petrucci is often very involved in doing his projects. He’ll be doing his guitar thing or on the internet. So James and I usually end up hanging out and going for walks and stuff. When Bert was on the road with me, he was my companion and we would do that. Bert actually ran the video for “Scenes from a Memory.” And Bert is actually going to be joining us on this next tour, because Dream Theater is going to be getting into the world of multimedia and graphics again. So he and I are working out right now all the finer details of that.

CL: It’s going to be an extensive show?

JR: It’s going to be very extensive. I don’t know if you saw “Scenes from a Memory,” but we’re upping that in a big way and going for the full multimedia experience this time.

CL: And that’s going to be for the summer tour?

JR: Well, we’re looking at that right now. The summer tour was just announced and we’re figuring out the production level of that, what’s available, and what we should do. We want to do full media for the summer tour. I can’t say 100% for sure that we’re going to at this point, but we’re looking at it.

CL: And then, you’re thinking fall for the new album coming out?

JR: Well, I guess if all goes smoothly, we could be releasing an album in October or something like that. It’s possible, with these things you never can tell, it might be December, or who knows.

CL: And then are you going to do a full worldwide tour again?

JR: Whenever the new album comes out, very soon after that, a few weeks after it comes out, we’ll be on the road. We’ll go to Europe first and do our world tour hop.

CL: Any reason why Europe is the first stop?

JR: It just usually is.

CL: It just kinda works out that way?

JR: It’s a good place for us to get warmed up and into the flow of things. It seems to make sense.

CL: Are there any Dream Theater songs that are your favorite to perform live?

JR: It depends on my mood I guess. I really, of course, like the instrumental things. This medley we did on the last tour, this Instrumedley, was pretty wild. Dance of Eternity, stuff like that, is always cool.

CL: The pretty intense, fast...

JR: I like the stuff that has the musical and technical challenge to it. That’s always fun. Dream Theater’s music is so varied. The Spirit Carries On is just such a great vibe to play. At one point I’ve got this Taurus bass thing happening in my pinky and these organ chords and the choir and I sit there and I play this thing and think, “wow, this is pretty cool.” And that song, the energy of that can really lift one up on the stage when we play it. I was enjoying playing Erotomania last tour with that really crunchy organ sound. I spent a while learning how to make that. My synthesizers didn’t automatically do that sound, so I had to find it and program it. So once I got it, I was like, “Yeah! This is cool!”

CL: In closing then, any thoughts on the new album you’re working on? Anything to leave us with?

JR: Well, I could leave you with the fact that I wish I could share more about the new album but it’s really our company policy to keep it a little bit quiet about what we’re doing and the direction. So, I hope everyone is nice and patient, and I appreciate the support and the patience in that regard. We’re definitely gonna provide some stuff that’ll be worth the wait. The writing is going very well. The writing is going fast and furious and we’re having a lot of fun. Thank you.

CL: Thank you!

JR: You’re welcome.