Originally published in Metal Wani · March 2018
Jordan Rudess interview (excerpts)
InterviewJordan Rudess4 min read
On whether Dream Theater’s next album will be musically inspired by the band’s recent “Images, Words & Beyond” tour, which saw the pioneering group celebrating the 25th anniversary of its milestone RIAA-gold-certified album “Images And Words”:
Jordan: “Certainly going back to ‘Images And Words’ was meaningful for us. And it was great for the fans. It was an exciting show. You could see in the fans’ faces and their energy that they were super pumped up and into it. And being that we do have our next album to look forward to, having done that tour and experienced the magic of that album, yeah, I think that influences and kind of brings us closer to our roots a little bit, the foundation of what the band was all about in those days and what really made the biggest statement for who Dream Theater is. So it’s kind of cool that we did that. And now, come around May or June, we’re gonna get into the studio and really start putting together something else – the next album – and it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
On Dream Theater’s plan to work on material for the follow-up to 2016’s “The Astonishing”:
Jordan: “We’re just gonna go in and we’re gonna throw around ideas and write some music for the first period of time and then take it from there.”
On the musical direction of Dream Theater’s next album:
Jordan: “I think that we’re interested to just put our heads together and find something that we feel is really representative of who we are. Yeah, I think maybe a little bit on the heavier side. Certainly nothing like a concept album, since we already did ‘The Astonishing’ and we had a lot of fun, and it was a wonderful, creative project. Now I think maybe [we’ll be] returning a little bit more to the roots, and that probably involves a little bit of a harder approach, I guess, to the sound, but never losing sight of the melody. Dream Theater is Dream Theater – it’s always a stylistic blend of a lot of different things. But all I can say about it at this point is we wanna kind of figure out what the core of who we are and what the music is and just kind of present that.”
Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess talked about the struggles of being an artist in the wake of recent suicides in the rock realm, telling Metal Wani (transcribed by UG):
Artists are interesting people. Being a creative spirit might mean you are open in some ways to more things that are around you. Being an artist kind of involves almost having antennas to the outside world and allowing things to flow through you so they can be expressed outwardly. And I think it’s that process of being a more sensitive kind of open individual that sometimes makes it more challenging to just kind of have an ordinary life. And whether that involves... in no way do I endorse any kind of drug use per se, but artists are looking for creative ways to create a feeling to get to different vibes. Sometimes in a negative way that will lead to drug abuse. An artist is being kind of this free, glowing character. And it’s not the easiest role in the world. Yes, we all want artists to be really together and just responsible and all that kind of stuff. But when you have personalities that are like beautiful paintings or whatever... In a lot of cases it’s like a delicate flower and we have to be careful. And the other issue - and it’s an interesting one - in today’s climate of the internet and the way people interact and create an abuse... People are so rude to artists over the internet. The internet’s like a forum for people to sit in hiding and say whatever they want, just to cause trouble. And they don’t realize that a lot of times the artist is also on the same pages, and it can be very hurtful. I have a lot of friends who are artists who in varying degrees have been affected by this and people don’t understand what they say. Even though they might be in their little hiding place behind their computer in their house. What they say has an effect. You can’t put stuff out into the world without it having some kind of an effect on everybody else. So I guess a message to anybody who might be listening is - be careful when you’re out there. Artists are, as I said, sensitive people. We’re trying to create whether it be music or something visual, and we’re human beings. It’s a wonderful thing to be an artist, so be careful about how you’re attacking artists. It’s had a lot of negative results on our artistic community.”
Is there any play for Liquid Tension Experiment to come back and do some record?
“There’s no plan for it, but you never know in life what’s gonna happen.”