Lines In The Sand

Jordan Rudess provides an update on Dream Theater’s plans and hits back at online allegations of miming.

27 May 2022

With Dream Theater continuing to tour the globe in support of their A View From The Top Of The World album, the band have honed their setlist to a selective number of songs. It’s an approach that’s led to some online criticism from fans who relished rotating setlists and the unexpected live covering of band’s other albums.

“You know, there’s a real balance there,” he smiles. “In the old days, Mike Portnoy would slip a piece of paper under my door the night before a gig that would say, ‘Oh tomorrow, we’re going to play all 25 minutes of A Change of Seasons. That was really tough. You’d walk onstage and you would hope that you’d figured out the song. There’s something about that which is cool and the fans loved it. But our approach these days is more like a Broadway show. It’s very similar because we are really dialled in. It’s very organised, well planned out and people are getting a really great show.”

During the American leg of their tour, allegations and footage surfaced online that claimed that singer James LaBrie was lip-syncing his lead vocals. These claims were rapidly denied by LaBrie onstage and Rudess is also quick to reject such contentions.

“Well James is definitely singing but he also has harmony vocals in the background like every band. So yes, excuse the French, but that’s bullshit. I think what we’re doing is no different to anybody else. If there is a harmony part that John [Petrucci, guitar] can’t sing or whatever live, James did it and we have it running. So that’s pretty much what it is. James LaBrie is definitely singing and he is not miming anything.

“Are there support vocals on the backing track? Yes, definitely, but he’s singing all the main parts. Doesn’t everybody do that? It’s really funny. Dream Theater has these fanatic fans that are totally invested. Of course, they’re sitting behind their computer and they want to feel like they have the power, as everybody does these days, to be a professional critic. We just seem to bring that out [laughs].”

Following the tour, the band are set to hit the studio once again to write and record their next album. But does Rudess, like many musicians, ever begin to tire of the seemingly endless write-record-tour cycle?

“Luckily, I’m a musician that loves both playing live and being in the studio,” he enthuses. “I really do find the studio to be a wonderful headspace. I really couldn’t say which I prefer but I appreciate both. As far as the write, record, tour process, that schedule makes sense to me. You’ve done touring so you naturally go to the studio, get into that headspace, get creative and write your music. One thing automatically leads into the other. There are musicians who are always in the studio and they are not live performers. They may be writing music for television or something like that. For me that could get boring.” RW