DREAM THEATER Keyboardist: 'We Write The Kind Of Music We Like And Have A Lot Of Fun Doing It'

Chad Bowar of About Heavy Metal recently conducted an interview with DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

About Heavy Metal: How did the response to "Systematic Chaos" compare to your expectations?

Jordan Rudess: This is been a very different kind of album release for us in every way, at least since I joined the group. There's been a lot more marketing, more of a general buzz about things. I've seen the group reach a new level. Even before the new record company started to do anything we started to get to this other place where more people seem to know about DREAM THEATER. It's hard to completely judge by what you read or by what people tell you how the album is being received. In a way, it's more like time will tell. There's a magazine in Europe that is a pretty big music magazine that reviewed our album. They gave it a 100. The magazine has been around for 10 or 15 years and have never given a 100 before. We've been getting amazing press. Critics have been saying it's great, but occasionally you'll read a critic that doesn't like it. But it's DREAM THEATER, it's not your standard fare. It's a little more demanding, it goes a bit deeper.

About Heavy Metal: "Systematic Chaos" was your highest chart debut ever in the U.S. I guess you don’t need to be on a huge label to have commercial success these days.

Jordan Rudess: The cool thing about Roadrunner is that they have that independent kind of mindset, but they have a lot of power. Just after we signed with them, they were bought by Warner. They went from being owned by Universal to being owned by Warner. It's a funny weird thing, because we were just released from a contract by Warner. We were OK with it all because Roadrunner operates independently, and they are very effective in what they do.

About Heavy Metal: Other DREAM THEATER members have said "Systematic Chaos" was a fun album to record. Do you agree?

Jordan Rudess: We did have a good time. We just write the kind of music we like and have a lot of fun doing it. What it's all about for us is following our musical vision, just do what we think is best. I think that is a really positive way to go about creating, and it creates a good time all around.

About Heavy Metal: Tell me about your upcoming solo album.

Jordan Rudess: It is scheduled for release on September 12. It's called "The Road Home", and it's an album where I covered some of my very favorite and influential progressive rock tunes. I also play a piano medley of some of the classic progressive melodies, and I wrote an original piece which I originally wrote for the DREAM THEATER album. We had this idea along the way that we are each going to have a little solo spot on it, but we wrote too much music. And since I was only one that actually had gone out and done the solo piece, I decided to put it on my solo album and it worked out well. I have been collecting quotes from the various musicians from the original bands, and that's been fun.

Read the entire interview at this location.