Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess

Jordan Rudess is one of the most unique keyboard players out there today. His latest solo effort Feeding The Wheel is a mind expanding journey through the musical recesses of the mind. Jordan proves his worth on his instrument as a member of Prog giants Dream Theater. He is intelligent, polite, humorous and insightful. 

Special thanks for the interview goes to all of the folks at Magna Carta and Kayos Productions.

Jeb: I want to talk about Feeding The Wheel.

Jordan: What is that?

Jeb: It’s a new album.

Jordan: I will have to check it out (laughter).

Jeb: This is a different album for you.

Jordan: Some of the other stuff I have out is more improvisational based. Secrets Of The Muse is more based on piano improvisation. Feeding The Wheel is an album that was a real chance for me to express myself musically. It was a chance for me to write the kind of music that I wanted to write. It is an album thats foundation is in progressive rock but also includes many other styles and suggestions that are keyboard based. It is music that is designed to take the listener on a ride. To get the most out of it the listener has to make a commitment. I think that is true with most good music that is generally different than what is in the mainstream these days.

Jeb: Were you involved in the cover as well?

Jordan: A friend of mine is an artist who is named David Mattingly. He does some great work. He is on a lot of big science fiction books. He gave me a lot of his artwork books to look through and get inspired. I knew I wanted to do something in his style. I saw something in a similar vein. We started to discuss the concept behind the album and what kind of things that I wanted included in it. We went back and forth a few times and we finally went with what is there.

Jeb: The concept seems personal to you.

Jordan: It is very personal. It is the way that I think and I had the chance to express that. The idea of feeding the wheel is the idea of taking control over ones journey through life. I feel we have choices along the way to nurture and sustain ourselves. We have choices to nurture ourselves and give ourselves energy which in turn has an affect on the kind of actions we take. The wheel is the journey that we are on and the concept of feeding it is whatever we are doing to perpetuate it.

Jeb: You have said that a lot of people don’t even realize they are on the wheel.

Jordan: They don’t but they are!

Jeb: It will perpetuate without their realizing it but by injecting their own will…..

Jordan: You can have some control of the direction of it.

Jeb: How did you come to that realization?

Jordan: That type of the thought is what I am into. It is metaphysical thinking. That is a pretty basic concept. It is a mom and pop type concept but not a lot of people are aware of the phrase ‘feeding the wheel.’

Jeb: The first song “Quantum Soup” is one of the best tracks on it. The shifting of musical styles is mind boggling. How do you approach that as a songwriter?

Jordan: That was one of the first songs that I wrote for the album. I wrote everyday for about a week. I kept coming back and seeing what I had and the vibe on that was were I wanted to go. My writing comes to me in a lot of ways. Sometimes I will just be sitting at the keyboard thinking about it and improvising while other times I will be out on a walk or driving in the car and get and idea. I have to call on my cell phone the musical idea to my home answering machine. Other times I wake in the morning and roll out of bed and grab a pencil and write some stuff. I try to keep myself as open as possible. I knew I wanted “Quantum Soup” to be an adventure. I was willing to let it go wherever it wanted to go. I wanted it to be really intense and full. I wanted it to take some cool turns. I wanted it be thematic at the same time. My goal as a composer is to take you on a journey. I want to keep the journey somewhat connected. If it goes into a jazz element or a big band thing then that is just a stop along the way. You then return and continue on the path.

Jeb: How long does a song like that take from inspiration to the finished product?

Jordan: That particular song took about four days. To lay down the keyboard parts took another three days. Generally to lay down keyboard parts to any of my progressive songs takes two to four days. I have things written and then I orchestrate it.

Jeb: You have a lot of great guest artists on the CD as well. When Billy Sheehan comes in do you let him have free reign or do you tell him ‘this is what I want.’

Jordan: Billy played on “Crack The Meter.” I basically laid a chart out for him because he was not going to have that much time to get wild with it. I didn’t tell him what to do but I sent him a bass part that I wrote on the synthesizer to use as a guide.

Jeb: The old critique of progressive music is that it is intricate and hard to play but lacks emotion. I don’t find your CD to be that way. The songs will feel warm and then cold. You are able to intertwine emotions and technique. Does that come natural to you?

Jordan: First of all the whole Prog Rock scene is in a very strange place. It is partly the critics fault and partly the musicians fault. When somebody mentions Prog Rock to somebody then they are automatically ready to shoot it down. I wonder why that problem exists? I am in the field and I have thought about it a lot and I think the reason is that the musicians that play Prog Rock are trying to recreate what really has already been. In other words the artists that they produce could very well be playing a Genesis song. There is not much different between what many people are doing. That creates a problem. Somewhere along the line somebody called it Progressive Rock and the word progressive is supposed to mean moving forward and pushing the limitation and making something new. The musicians have not really done that. Progressive Rock has become a dinosaur concept. One is forced to relate Progressive Rock towards a fashionable concept. People put it in that category and is was never meant to be put in that category. It is not designed around the concept of pleasing any mainstream and commercial ear. With all that said, I think that Progressive Rock is a very strong musical style for someone to make a very strong musical statement and there is a lot of life in it. If someone is truly progressive then they are taking the idea or the mainstream or more futuristic ideas and putting them in their style. You can take classical harmonies and rhythms and all the ideas around you and come up with something new. People are going to look to Genesis and Yes because they were doing amazing things and they broke new ground. They decided that I/IV/V chords were not enough within the energy structure of rock and they wanted to bring in some new sounds. There is nothing wrong with continuing to bring that in and put that in the soup. The biggest problem is that it has not been done enough for people to wake up and say, “I’m getting this.” One of my goals as an artist is to forge ahead and use some of the new sounds and try to do some new stuff and not sound like Genesis. I have no desire to play organ like Keith Emerson of ELP. It is for that reason that I don’t hardly ever use and organ or mellowtron sound. I don’t think we should waste time looking backwards. In my band Dream Theatre, I will do that to tip the hat but we also move forward. Feeding The Wheel is a chance to take that and just run with it.

Jeb: Why didn’t these tracks become Dream Theatre tracks?

Jordan: The Dream Theatre tour was over when I wrote all this stuff. I was asked to do a solo album so that is when I started writing and this is what came out.

Jeb: Did you get Terry Bozzio on the album from both of you being on Magna Carta?

Jordan: Yes. All of the guest artists worked on their own. I sent Terry some midi’s and some charts down to Texas and he had four or five days to do all of his parts. He really did a great job.

Jeb: I don’t mean this to sound silly but I have interviewed Terry, Billy Sheehan and Steve Morse -- who are all on Magna Carta -- and you guys all have a lot of brains for being rock stars! Do you have to be really smart to be on Magna Carta?

Jordan: It takes a certain amount of openness and intelligence to do this stuff. It is almost like composing classical music. It is kind of like the classical music of our day. What is 21st Century classical music? I think that rock is definatly valid in the grand musical picture.

Jeb: What is next for you?

Jordan: I am going to give up the keyboards and take up the bassoon (laughter). What is really next is the Dream Theater world tour. I am really busy programming all of my sounds and learning some of the old Dream Theater catalog and getting ready for the tour.

Jeb: Has the computer become another instrument for you?

Jordan: The computer is a very valuable tool. I use it for all of my recording. I have been using the computer to record my keyboards for twenty years -- ever since the whole thing started. I am very comfortable with it and I have no qualms about using the tools and getting the most out of it.

Jeb: How did you get hooked up with Dream Theatre in the first place?

Jordan: I auditioned for them 8 years ago and they wanted me to join but I didn’t. There were a lot of things going on in my life and I didn’t want to give them all up to go on tour for a year. It was a great offer but I also had an offer from The Dregs the same week. I decided it would be better for me to be a little more low key and join the Dregs with Steve Morse, Rob Morganstien and Dave LaRue. For me it was just a mind blowing gig because they were some of my heroes -- Rob still is. He is one of my favorite drummers. A couple of years later I got a call from Magna Carta telling me that they were interested in using me on the Liquid Tension Experiment. That was John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy and Tony Levin. The four of us went in the studio and we made two albums and we discovered that we had a really great connection. Our compatibility level was extremely high both musically and personally. It became evident that this team should be doing more than side projects. They approached me again and asked me if I wanted to join Dream Theater and I was like, “Well, yeah I do!” About two weeks after I got out of the studio with Liquid Tension I began recording for the Scenes For A Memory CD with Dream Theater.

Jeb: Is it true that you are really a frustrated guitarist?

Jordan: Frustrated because I don’t get a chance to practice! When I play it I have a lot of fun because I think I can play it fairly well. When you hang around guys like John Petrucci then you might as well not! They don’t prevent me from playing but I am so busy….. I did play some on Feeding The Wheel CD. There is a track called “Shifting Sands” that I played on this little element in the middle. There is a bass line and then you hear this backward guitar thing-- that’s me.

Jeb: The electric guitar and keyboard can really marry up together if done right. To me that seems strange because they are such different instruments.

Jordan: The keyboard is a funny instrument because this day and age it can be anything. It can make any sound. If you know how to pick the right sound then the keyboard can be anything.

Jeb: As a guitar player that was a big fear when that capability came along. We were afraid that the keyboard would replace the guitar.

Jordan: I don’t think the rock guitarist should be too scared. They will just play louder than everybody else! (laughter)

Jeb: As a keyboard player, you knew that you were going to be in music from a young age. Are there any influences that you had as a keyboard player that might surprise people?

Jordan: Patrick Moraz was the reason that I needed to buy a mimi-moog. Jan Hammer was an influence. They are the big rock keyboard influences that were out there. I was going to be a classical pianist until I was 18 and a friend of mine made the mistake of bringing over a Moog Sonic 5 and put it on my table right in front of me. It really blew my mind and I had to have one. It changed everything.

Jeb: No more Beethoven!

Jordan: Not much! One of my hands is to busy turning the knobs!

Jeb: Who is a guitar influence for you?

Jordan: Jimi Hendrix is a major influence in my music. Steve Vai is the modern day Jimi Hendrix. I like Robert Fripp. I enjoy guitar styling. I think Eric Johnson is amazing. Those guys are some of my favorites.

Jeb: Where do you see your music going in the future? What other bag of tricks do you have that you have not already explored?

Jordan: Have you heard Secrets Of The Muse?

Jeb: To be honest, I have not.

Jordan: Well, there you go (laughter)! At this point you have heard most of what I am into. I think you are going to be very surprised when you hear my piano improvisations that I have put out as they are entirely different from Dream Theater or Feeding The Wheel. They are more gentle, flowing type of music. I am into the techno thing that is going on. Not so much the dance side of things but the stuff where they are really getting wild on the synthesizer. There is a lot of stuff that people should be aware of. I think in the future I am going to be very interested in putting out stuff that takes that element and puts it into the Jordan Rudess musical world.

Jeb: Just to “Go where no man has gone before!” (laughter)

Jordan: Start the music (begins humming Star Trek theme)!

Jeb: What CD in your collection might surprise your fans?

Jordan: I have a fairly large classical selection. I don’t know how many of my fans listen to classical music. I listen from everything from classical to techno to progressive to straight ahead rock to some jazz. I just went to see Aerosmith and they blew my mind. I have CD’s representing all of those styles. I have crazy acopello all female European groups in my CD collection. I think my CD’s would surprise my fans a lot. The Dream Theater fans would probably be really into it because they are really demented! I put out a lot of different stuff and they seem to be really into it. I think I landed in the right spot because they are a perfect audience for what I do.

Jeb: I think Dream Theatre exemplifies what Progressive Rock should be. Nobody does what they are doing.

Jordan: I think it is important for Dream Theater to continue on that path and to continue doing things that are fresh and new. One thing that is interesting about Dream Theater and is more challenging than my putting out a solo album is that Dream Theater has fans all around the world and they all have different expectations because they all have different visions of what Dream Theater means. Therefore, if Dream Theater is interested in keeping that audience then we have to keep that style but at the same time if we put out the same album over and over again then it would become extremely boring. It is our job in the band to grow, expand and to educate our fans and bring them with us on a very cool musical ride. Nobody wants to stagnate. If they do then we are not interested in having them for an audience. I would much rather have a vibrant thinking and feeling audience that can go with us and feedback to us so we can have a cool energy loop and keep making cool music.

Jeb: Is there anything else that you want people to know about?

Jordan: I have an online conservatory that is a technique I figured out where I can be working with people and teaching people wherever they are in the world. I have a few hundred different kind of files. There is notation and there is text. All of these files show things like rhythm, harmony, melody, technique, improvisation and ear training. I try to give people an inside look at the way that I build my musical world. I show the kind of exercises that I do as well as the way that I shape bass lines. There is some inside views to some of the riffs that I play on certain records. I would like people to check it out. They can get to it from my website which is www.jordanrudess.com .

Jeb: I appreciate it Jordan.

Jordan: All right dude. Thank you and take care.