Jordan Rudess interview (excerpts)

On the release of “Wired For Madness” coming right on the heels of the release of Dream Theater’s new album, “Distance Over Time”:

Jordan: “Dream Theater does a lot of touring; they do a lot of recording; but there’s always breaks in between. There happened to be a substantial break in between tour and recording, so when I saw that, I jumped on it and went, ‘Wow – I can actually get some writing done for my solo album.’ These kind of projects – these big rock/electronic/call-it-what-you-will projects – they’re really intense [and] time-consuming, and I need to see a block of time to even get into it. I did see that, and I began to work intensely on that. As it all worked out, my album was composed, recorded, ready to come out before the Dream Theater album, but in talking to InsideOut and Mascot, we all kind of collectively decided that the better timing would be to wait until after. The timing seems to actually be really good and effective – it kind of propels both things, because I get to talk more about the Dream Theater album and I get to talk about my solo album. It’s pretty exciting.”

On Dream Theater’s current “buzz”:

Jordan: “It’s been a very exciting time between the new Dream Theater album coming out and being Top 10 all around the world, plus the fact that we’re touring with ‘Scenes From A Memory’. That’s a favorite Dream Theater album, and the shows are sold out. There’s a big buzz. I have to say that this is a really exciting, wonderful time, and I feel like in a lot of ways, it’s a reward for a lot of hard work. If you look at from a Dream Theater perspective, the band has been together about 30 years. I’ve been with them for 21 years, so this is so wonderful to have this come back. Careers go through these arcs, and this happens to be this wonderful high point for all of us that we are grateful for and we’re enjoying.”

On whether reuniting with former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy on this year’s Cruise To The Edge bodes well for the prospect of a Liquid Tension Experiment reunion:

Jordan: “Everybody is into it. We all kind of agree that it would be cool. It’s more a question of timing. It’s a combination of finding the right time to do it. Everybody has got so much on their plate with a list of things that they want to do, have to do. This is something that we want to do, and we will do at some point, but scheduling-wise, that’s the complication.”