JORDAN RUDESS On Next DREAM THEATER Album: 'Fans Will Find What We Have Been Working On Interesting'

DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess has confirmed to Norway's Varden that the band's next album will not be released before early 2016. He says about the follow-up to 2013's "Dream Theater" CD: "The good thing with this band is that we always manage to change the direction a bit. I think the DREAM THEATER fans will find what we have been working on interesting."

Asked where and his bandmates draw their inspiration for the music that they create, Rudess said: "You know, things changes and develops. My relations to DREAM THEATER and the guys in the band have gone through many changes. People have come, and people have gone. Transformations like these keep things a little bit fresh. To get a superstar drummer like Mike Mangini is one of the changes that has been incredible. You learn so much from playing with such skillful people."

He continued: "Music is life for us. We are not a fashion band. We are real musicians with a huge interest in trying new things on our albums. I am just lucky to have found this particular combination of dedicated guys."

Rudess also made it clear that he never drinks alcohol before going on stage with DREAM THEATER.

"That would be impossible," he said. "The music is simply too complex. I have a big responsibility towards my colleagues in the band, and not at least to the audience. If you have a beer before the show, the chance of fucking up increases. It is okay to make a mistake, but mistakes are hard to defend if you have contributed to it beforehand."

"Dream Theater" sold around 34,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 7 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD, which arrived in stores on September 24, 2013 via Roadrunner, earned DREAM THEATER its second Grammy nomination, for "Best Metal Performance" for the single "The Enemy Inside".