An Audience With Metal’s Visionaries Masterclass

Keyboards are often underappreciated in the world of metal. Haken’s Diego Tejeida grabs Dream Theater wizard Jordan Rudess for a song in the key of life...

Diego Tejeida: When I was a kid I wanted to play guitar because it was cool. Keyboards weren’t cool. But it changed over time when I realised what I could achieve.

Jordan Rudess: Exactly. We know, as keyboard players, that we can make almost any sound. The world is open, we can make a metal sound, a classical sound, an electronic sound or this or that. You have that power. Rock and metal is focused around the guitar, to the point where the general public aren’t even really aware of the role we play, which is why we do have to sit back a bit and that’s where the lack of ego has to come into it. Although if I do want to get into that role of manly rocker I just grab my keytar and go out front.

DT: A lot of people don’t consider it sexy though, do they?

JR: The keyboardist in rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t really get the attention of the female population, no. But then, we’re in quite a different situation in Dream Theater in that most of the people coming to our shows are guys anyway, so I guess I wouldn’t know!

DT: We know you love a keytar! There are people who think they’re just for showing off...

JR: Well, I had my own keytar made so it looks like a deadly weapon – I made it with a load of rocking sounds so that it has a lot of feedback potential. It’s not a wimpy sound like what most people imagine when they think of the instrument. Mine certainly isn’t the Sunset Strip kind of keytar that has given it a bad name in rock and metal!

DT: Guitarists get to show off, so why shouldn’t we?

JR: Oh sure! When I come to the front of the stage to play a lead, especially with my Zen Riffer, then that’s definitely at the forefront of my mind. To have that Hendrix, rocking, spin-your-head-around vibe. Those leads are made for us to do that, to be sexy and cool. And I really like getting into that role when the time comes for me to do it.

DT: So we keyboard players in metal bands face the challenge of having to compete with all that other instrumentation. How do you combat that when you’re writing your parts?

JR: It’s definitely a tremendous challenge – we have to let go of our egos a bit because there are different roles for us to fulfil. Some of those roles don’t put the keyboard, or what people perceive to be the keyboard, at the forefront. It might just be a supportive colour. One of the things I’ve developed as the keyboard player in Dream Theater is to come up with really heavy tones that some people might not know is the keyboard. It might change the tone of the song or complement the guitar but there is no way anyone would know that those sounds are created by the keyboard. But it all becomes one.

DT: I think people’s perception of the keyboard is changing in metal, but we still face challenges to be accepted. Wouldn’t it have been easier to choose the guitar?

JR: Well, I was trained as a classical pianist. One of the things that really changed it was hearing ELP’s Tarkus. A friend of mine brought that over and I thought “Oh my god!” I’d never heard those kinds of sounds coming from a keyboard. I’d heard the chord structures but I had never heard those noises. That made me think “Wow! I want to make those noises!” It made me want to open up that sonic world, where you weren’t just playing a note, you were bending it and warping it with the synthesis.

DT: How has your motivation and inspiration from music changed over the years?

JR: As musicians, true musicians, we get into this because we’re passionate and it wasn’t about career or money. For me, music has always been the most important form of self-expression. We had a piano in my family home and, for me, if I was feeling a certain emotion the best way for me to show it was to sit down at the piano and express it and get it out, and I think music still plays that role in my life today. It’s a career and we have to work out logistics out of necessity, yes, but that motivation has never really changed over the years.

DT: How do you manage to find your own unique voice with an instrument like a keyboard? Your sound and tone is always so amazing and recognisable.

JR: I always say to young musicians to listen to and take in lots of different styles. Listen to some jazz, some prog rock and then I think you’ll be more likely to come up with something that is more easily defined as your own. Because you’ve been exposed to a whole range of genres and you gravitate towards what suits you as an individual.

DT: And what was that for you?

JR: I came through a classical piano background and then began listening to a lot of electronic music. It’s at that point that I discovered prog rock and then I started to put those pieces together to find my own voice.

DT: What do you think are the main elements needed to be a musician?

JR: Going back to what we were saying before, to be open. It’s almost like you need to have these antennas to the outside world. To be able to receive. I guess it’s all out there, floating around, whether it’s in art or music or whatever creative thing you do, but you have to be open enough to accept it. To be creative you really need to be in a receiving position.

DT: So, in a parallel universe, if you weren’t a musician, what would you be?

JR: I was always going to be a creative person. I’m always painting or playing with graphic design, so I imagine that would certainly have come into it. In fact, the Pledge music campaign that I did for an album of orchestral compositions that came out on March 1, one of the rewards was an original piece of Jordan Rudess art. So I don’t think it would be too much of a stretch for me to stay involved in something creative in some way.