"we are a very stable type of people that work hard on our music and care about it a lot"

The Berklee College of Music graduates have become the most commercially successful progressive metal band worldwide. With over 8 million audio and video releases sold so far, Dream Theater have spread the word about their masterly instrumentalism and musicianship to every corner of the globe.

Now with their 10th studio effort -'Black Clouds & Silver Linings'В  the five American virtuosos are about to confirm their leading place in the pantheon of contemporary rock music.

It was produced by drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci. And we are talking to their keyboardist - Jordan Rudess.

an interview conducted by Vassil Varbanov

LET’S START WITH YOUR NEW ALBUM ‘BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS’. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT? ANY GOOD?
Ha ha ha, yeah. I think it is OK. Actually I think it is one of our best albums and I’m very proud of it. I had to listen to it a lot because I had to learn everything I play on it for the tour because I’ll have to play it again. And listening to it I’m feeling very good about it.

HERE COMES A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION. FORВ LOTS OF PEOPLE PROGRESSIVE MUSIC HAS ALWAYS BEEN SOMETHING FOR THE ELITE AND SOMETHING BORING. BUT YOU GUYSВ SOMEHOW MANAGED TOВ  MAKE IT FAR MORE ACCESSIBLE. AND AFTER ACHIEVING SUCH A THING, WHAT IS THE BIGGESTВ CHALLENGE FOR THE BAND NOW?
Wow! I don’t know. I guess the challenge is to keep coming out with really great music, music that is not only true to Dream Theater, our spirit and soul, but also music that people are really gonna like. This is not necessarily hard for us, becasue this is what we do. But because this is a crazy world and there’s so much music out there so everything is possible. And the goal is to keep producing really good music and make it something that's successful, but also really true to ourselves.

THE NEW ALBUM IS ONCE AGAIN PRODUCED BYВ PORTNOY ANDВ PETRUCCI.В DID YOU EVER HAD THE DESIRE TOВ GET MORE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION?
Well, the way that Dream Theater works right now is that there are three main writers of the music – myself, John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy. So I feel very comfortable in the role of a composer and also keyboardist in the group. The production I also feel comfortable letting John and Mike do it. They are very good at guiding the Dream Theater ship. And what I mean by that is that they have a really firm grasp of what a Dream Theater album should and could sound like. And I really trust them to make those calls. They have been here since the beginning and they know what made the group successful in the first place.

And I think they have aВ really strongВ feeling with the kind of direction that will continue to makeВ the groupВ successful in the real world. So this is how I feel about it.

OBVIOUSLY GUITARIST STEAL THE SHOW INВ A ROCK BANDВ ANDВ SINGERS TOO. DID YOU HAVE MOMENTS INВ YOUR WHEN YOU HAD THE BURNING DESIREВ TO GRAB THE GUITAR?
Yeah. I had a really strong moment to grab the guitar kind of recently when we were out doing the Liquid Tension shows, that’s the side project of Dream Theater. My keyboard went broken during the show and I went to John Petrucci and I grabbed his guitar and I played some solos. So, I had the desire and I took some immediate action.

THE KEYBOARS ARE YOUR BIG THING AND OBVIOUSLY THE GUITAR TOO. BUT IS THERE ANY OTHER INSTRUMENT YOU THINK YOU ARE GOOD AT? ALL OF YOU AT DREAM THEATER ARE THE EPITOME OF AMAZING INSTRUMENTALISTS...
I also play an instrument called the continuum – it is something that’s seen with me on recent Dream Theater tours, sort of a fretless keyboard. I have practicing on it for quite a while. The other instrument that I am very involved right now is the iPhone – you can do amazing musical things on that.

MEANWHILE PEOPLE CONTINUE TO SAY THAT THE MOST PERFECT INSTRUMENT IS THE HUMAN VOICE. TO WHAT EXTEND DO YOU FEEL CONFIDENT ABOUT SINGING?
On my first rock solo album which was called ‘Listen’ I sung a lot of stuff. And if you go back and research my catalogue you can hear me sing. Well, I’m not James LaBrie, I’m not what you call ‘a singer’, but I can sing correctly. Of course it is not something I have ever done with Dream Theater and part of the reason is that when I joined the band they were a very established group in a business point of view and in terms of their ways, so it was never a topic in the group. But I do love to sing and probably will sing in the future in my own albums and other places.

PLEASE TELL US, WHICH IS YOUR CLOSEST FRIEND OUT OF ALL THE OTHER FOUR PEOPLE IN THE BAND. BUT PLEASE DON’T BE LIKE ‘OH, WE’RE ALL FRIENDS, WE’RE LIKE FAMILY’ AND SO ON…
You want to know but you don’t let me tell you.

YEAH, BUT IT’S NOT LIKE CHOOSING BETWEEN YOUR KIDS HERE, YOU CAN SAY WHO YOU’RE CLOSER WITH THAN THE OTHERS.
Lets pot it this way – when we’re out on the road, which we are a lot, I hang out most of the time with James. We get along very well and go to dinner and do stuff together. We have a similar kind of social feel out on the road. It’s wonderful about Dream Theater, and I’m not just saying it, is that we get along very well. It is one thing that helps the band together and moving forward. It is an unusual situation because we’re not people who are involved with a lot of partying and drugs. I’m sorry to disillusion any of the fans out there who are imagining that we’re having some amazing parties after the show in the bus, but we are a very stable type of people that work hard on our music and care about it a lot.

OK, WE GET IT, YOU’RE NOT MÖTLEY CRÜE. AS FAR AS I REMEMBER OUR PREVIOUS INTERVIEW WITH YOU WAS TEN YEARS AGO, SO NOW WE WILL DARE ASK YOU THE FOLLOWING QUESTION – WHICH ONE OF THE TWO PREVIOUS KEYBOARDISTS IN DREAM THEATER’S HISTORY DO YOU PREFER - KEVIN MOORE OR DEREK SHERINIAN?
Ha-ha, that’s funny. I think I have said many times that they are both very good players. And it is hard to pick one instead of the other, but I know that Derek is still much more involved with playing the keyboards than Kevin, who is more involved in sonic stuff, working with synthesizers and very interesting ambiences and also singing. He is a very talented musician. They are very different.

THESE SHOULDN’T NECESSARILY BE A LOGICAL EXPLANATION – WHICH OF THE TWO PLAYING STYLES DO YOU FEEL CLOSER TO YOUR OWN?
Let’s put it this way – I think Kevin had a greater keyboard influence on Dream Theater. He established more in the role of keyboards in the band. Derek did a wonderful job but never put it as a statement in the band, he made a statement for himself after he left the band in Planet X and stuff like that.

LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING SECOND SHOW IN KAVARNA. DO YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT SETLIST FOR FESTIVALS AND OTHER SHOW? I MEAN, OF COURSE YOU DO, BUT TELL US WHAT THEY ARE.
We will definitely have a different setlist. When we play a festival the amount of time is shorter, so we have to be conscious about it when we put together our setlist. And Mike, who puts together the setlists, puts a lot of effort into that and they are very thought out. And there is nothing random about it at all. He checks what we played at the same place the previous time we were there. I think you can expect a nice balanced combination of our albums even for the shorter amount of time we will play.

YEAH, BUT YOU’RE LIKE THE HEADLINERS OF THE LAST DAY OF THE THREE-DAY FESTIVAL.
Oh, so the length will pretty much stay the same.

THESE MEET ‘N GREET PACKAGES THAT YOU SELL TO FANS FOR THIS TOUR – DO THEY SELL WELL?
That’s a good interview question for my manager. I have no idea how the sales go at this tour.

OH, WE ALMOST FORGOT TO ASK YOU WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CLASSICAL COMPOSER?
Well, if I have to answer from a piano player’s point of view my answer would be Frédéric Chopin.

BECAUSE HE IS REALLY ROMANTIC?
I think that it is because he really understood the piano and the way it resonates. And I can really relate to his music when I play it on the piano.

rights Tangra Mega Rock

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