JORDAN RUDESS: 'To Be Able To Play DREAM THEATER Music, You Can't Be That F***ed Up And Even Do It'

In a new interview with The Break Down With Nath & Johnny, DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess spoke about how the progressive metal giants have managed to avoid the stereotypical trappings of rock stars when it comes to tales of excess and debauchery. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, yeah, I think that everybody has their own flow of life. And certainly the different members have had their challenges, but as a band, I think it's always been pretty like stable. Nobody ever got to the point where it was just totally destroying the band or just, like, 'This is so bad,' kind of thing, or 'How are we gonna go on?' because of somebody's addiction problems, or whatever."

Jordan continued: "First of all, to be able to play DREAM THEATER music, you can't be that fucked up and even do it. I'm sorry. Maybe to some extent some people could, but I know that at one time [DREAM THEATER guitarist] John Petrucci and I were, like, 'Man, you know what?! It'd be cool to just have a shot here at intermission and see how that feels.' And we did that in the intermission and we went out, and at the end of the show, we were, like, 'You know what?! No.' It's not working. It just didn't do anything for us. It didn't make us feel good, 'cause there's a lot of concentration needed to play all these parts. So our experiment of doing that was, like, 'Okay, well, we're not doing that again.' Maybe after the show we'll have a drink, but not in the middle. That doesn't work for us with the kind of music that we play and who we are as people."

Back in 2017 — six years before he rejoined DREAM THEATER — drummer Mike Portnoy was asked when he realized that he had a problem with alcohol. He responded: "I knew many years before I quit. I would spend my entire day thinking about drinking. It became all-consuming, and I recognized that but I carried on anyway until [2000]."

Mike spoke in more detail about his battle with alcoholism in a 2017 interview with The Fix. He stated at the time: "I had my last drink on April 20, 2000, which was my 33rd birthday. It's just by coincidence that I quit on my birthday. I immediately, the next day, attended my first 12-step meeting, and from that point on I was completely determined to follow a new lifestyle, work the 12 steps, go through the program, and it became a huge part of my daily life."

Portnoy continued: "I was never a day drinker or drugger because I could never function responsibly that way. At the end of the show, that's when I would crack open my first drink, and I would go until I'd pass out at four in the morning each night, usually in the privacy of my home or my tour bus … Then it went from not drinking until after the show to not drinking until the encore, to not drinking until the keyboard solo, to not drinking until the opening band went on…it kept getting earlier and earlier."

Portnoy went on to say that he was grateful he got sober and didn't end up a rock and roll casualty like two of his idols, LED ZEPPELIN's John Bonham and THE WHO's Keith Moon, who both died of substance abuse at the same age, 32.

"The first thing that comes to mind is thank God I was able to turn my life around and be here for my kids and family, as well as my friends and fans," he said. "I look at John Bonham and Keith Moon, two of my heroes who died at such a tragically young age because of this disease, and I'm grateful I was able to make it out of the glass prison and be here today."

On DREAM THEATER's upcoming spring 2026 tour of Latin America, the progressive metal giants are continuing their "An Evening With Dream Theater" run that celebrates DREAM THEATER's latest album, "Parasomnia", by performing the LP in its entirety, as well as playing the entire seven-movement masterpiece "A Change Of Seasons" for the first time since Portnoy's return as well as other classics and fan favorites from the band's catalog.

DREAM THEATER played its first concert with Portnoy in 14 years on October 20, 2024 at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom. The drummer, who co-founded DREAM THEATER, played on 10 of the band's albums over a 20-year period, from 1989's "When Dream And Day Unite" through 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", before exiting the group in 2010. Portnoy returned to DREAM THEATER in October 2023 after being replaced by Mike Mangini, who played with DREAM THEATER across five studio albums and accompanying world tours.

DREAM THEATER kicked off its summer/fall 2025 "An Evening With Dream Theater" U.S. tour on September 5 at Santander Performing Arts Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The 30-city trek ran through October 25, when it wrapped in Long Island, New York.

DREAM THEATER launched the spring/summer 2025 leg of its "40th Anniversary European Tour" on June 3 at Logomo in Turku, Finland.

"Parasomnia" came out on February 7, 2025 via InsideOut Music. The LP was produced by John Petrucci, engineered by James "Jimmy T" Meslin, and mixed by Andy Sneap. Hugh Syme returned once again to lend his creative vision to the cover art.

"Parasomnia" is an eight-song, 71-minute set which was recorded at DREAM THEATER's DTHQ studio on Long Island, New York. It is the follow-up to 2021's "A View From The Top Of The World", which debuted at in the top 10 of Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums, Top Rock Albums and Independent Albums charts. Six songs on "Parasomnia" are over seven minutes and the closing epic "The Shadow Man Incident" clocks in at nearly 20 minutes.

The North American leg of DREAM THEATER's 40th-anniversary tour kicked off on February 7 at The Met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The trek was "An Evening With Dream Theater" and was the first tour of North America since Portnoy's return to the lineup,. The tour concluded on March 22 in New York City.

Portnoy, Petrucci and bassist John Myung started DREAM THEATER as MAJESTY in 1985, after meeting at the Berklee College Of Music in Boston. Singer James LaBrie came on board in 1991, while Rudess joined in 1999.

Prior to Portnoy's return to DREAM THEATER, the drummer and Petrucci worked together on the latter's 2020 solo album, "Terminal Velocity", and toured together. Portnoy and Petrucci also joined Rudess and bassist Tony Levin for a third studio album as LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT in 2021.