Jordan Rudess interview (excerpts)

Speaking to Artisan News, the band’s keyboardist, Jordan Rudess, said: “Things are really kind of intense in Dream Theater land. We’ve made our way through our album process to a good point now. We’re still finishing up and doing some stuff. I’m actually doing some keyboard tracking. It’s intense; it’s definitely a strong process. And I’m out here just working away.”

Asked whether having drummer Mike Mangini involved in the songwriting process this time around has made a difference in the new CD’s overall sound, Rudess said: “It really has. This is the first album where Mike Mangini has been there and really part of the writing process. He’s such a sweet guy and he has so much energy, and it’s just great to have that energy involved when we’re writing the music, ‘cause he’ll come up with stuff that’s really cool. We’ll be composing along our merry way and stop to maybe look at the next part, and he offers this other perspective which we never had in the same way that we have it with him, which is that he has a super math brain — a rhythmic math brain; he’s really an expert in that field, more so than myself or John Petrucci or anybody in the band — so he can say, ‘Guys, if you play 10 measures at 7, and if you play triplets five times, and you do this and that, it’s all gonna equal out in 21 measures. Go ahead and try it.’ And at first, we’re , like, ‘What?’ But he kind of sees that; he sees that map.”