Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater Gives The Background About Their Latest Release

  • Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater Gives The Background About Their Latest Release
    POSTED

    Jordan Rudess of prog-metal giants Dream Theater had a chat with MusicPlayers.com about the bands latest self-titled release and how the guys go about coming up with a new album!

    MPc:SoDream Theater, self-titled album. 12th studio release, I believe. Tell me about it. Give me the background, in your own words.

    JR:Well, we were excited to get into the studio and make an album, especially with Mike Mangini coming in, for the first time to join us. [Editors Note: When Mangini joined Dream Theater, the songs forA Dramatic Turn of Eventshad already been written.] Theres always a lot of built-up excitement as we move towards the studio, think about what we want to create, where its going to be created, and all the different factors that go into getting yourself in the right head-space and physical place to make an album.

    So when we got in there, we extend a little bit of patience before we start, like, jamming like crazy people. We generally sit down and get out some large pieces of paper and start to write down the ideas for the album, concepts, what were trying to achieve The first couple days of a Dream Theater recording session are almost like going to school, because we tend to be very organized. So thats what we did for this one.

    MPc:How much is written, song wise, before you get together? Is it a case where you write a bunch of things and John writes a bunch of things?

    JR:Well, when were on the road we do all these sound checks, and sometimes at the sound checks we can try out an ideanot that many things, but theres a handful of cool things that we stop and record and then go back to, and include in the album. So its definitely little parts that were able to say, Hey, remember that day in Frankfurt, Germany or something where we had that cool idea? So there are those things. But a lot of things are done right in the studio, a lot of the music is written right there. So thats kind of the way things come up.

    Most of the music is written by John Petrucci and myself, and we kind of feed off each other, a lot.

    MPc:Now tell me about “Enigma Machine.” It’s been a while since we heard a real hardcore instrumental.

    JR:Yeah, we wanted to create an instrumental, its been a while. And we wanted to come up with an instrumental that was a little bit more to the point, a little shorter than previous instrumentals. But also, that really had [something] kind of catchy, almost like a the theme. We wanted it to be like a, I dont know, like a television theme or something, that really had its own kind of hook to it. So I kind of felt like I got a bit of an assignment, you know, to come up with a riff that was a really catchy, cool riff.

    I woke up in the middle of the night one night, and basically had that main riff in my head and I jotted it downactually I sang it into my iPhone at the time. And in the morning, when I woke up I went, Wow. I wonder if that was a cool idea? [Laughs] So I listened to it again, Dun, nun, dun, danana [hums the riff] I think when I first wrote it, it was more of a dotted time thing, more jazzy [Jordan serenades me again]. So I played it for John and he was like, Yes! Thats great! So we took it and the song was born.

    Check out the rest of the interview at MusicPlayers.com


    SHARE THIS ON

RELATED POSTS

Submitted by Site Factory admin on

Jordan Rudess of prog-metal giants Dream Theater had a chat with MusicPlayers.com about the bands latest self-titled release and how the guys go about coming up with a new album!

MPc:SoDream Theater, self-titled album. 12th studio release, I believe. Tell me about it. Give me the background, in your own words.

JR:Well, we were excited to get into the studio and make an album, especially with Mike Mangini coming in, for the first time to join us. [Editors Note: When Mangini joined Dream Theater, the songs forA Dramatic Turn of Eventshad already been written.] Theres always a lot of built-up excitement as we move towards the studio, think about what we want to create, where its going to be created, and all the different factors that go into getting yourself in the right head-space and physical place to make an album.

So when we got in there, we extend a little bit of patience before we start, like, jamming like crazy people. We generally sit down and get out some large pieces of paper and start to write down the ideas for the album, concepts, what were trying to achieve The first couple days of a Dream Theater recording session are almost like going to school, because we tend to be very organized. So thats what we did for this one.

MPc:How much is written, song wise, before you get together? Is it a case where you write a bunch of things and John writes a bunch of things?

JR:Well, when were on the road we do all these sound checks, and sometimes at the sound checks we can try out an ideanot that many things, but theres a handful of cool things that we stop and record and then go back to, and include in the album. So its definitely little parts that were able to say, Hey, remember that day in Frankfurt, Germany or something where we had that cool idea? So there are those things. But a lot of things are done right in the studio, a lot of the music is written right there. So thats kind of the way things come up.

Most of the music is written by John Petrucci and myself, and we kind of feed off each other, a lot.

MPc:Now tell me about “Enigma Machine.” It’s been a while since we heard a real hardcore instrumental.

JR:Yeah, we wanted to create an instrumental, its been a while. And we wanted to come up with an instrumental that was a little bit more to the point, a little shorter than previous instrumentals. But also, that really had [something] kind of catchy, almost like a the theme. We wanted it to be like a, I dont know, like a television theme or something, that really had its own kind of hook to it. So I kind of felt like I got a bit of an assignment, you know, to come up with a riff that was a really catchy, cool riff.

I woke up in the middle of the night one night, and basically had that main riff in my head and I jotted it downactually I sang it into my iPhone at the time. And in the morning, when I woke up I went, Wow. I wonder if that was a cool idea? [Laughs] So I listened to it again, Dun, nun, dun, danana [hums the riff] I think when I first wrote it, it was more of a dotted time thing, more jazzy [Jordan serenades me again]. So I played it for John and he was like, Yes! Thats great! So we took it and the song was born.

Check out the rest of the interview at MusicPlayers.com


News id
191866
Blog Thumbnail
Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater Gives The Background About Their Latest Release
Slug URL
jordan-rudess-of-dream-theater-gives-the

KEEP IN TOUCH!

Join the Maniacs mailing list now to hear about the latest releases, tours, competitions & more.

terms

By submitting my information, I agree to receive personalized updates and marketing messages about Maniacs and their record label based on my information, interests, activities, website visits and device data and in accordance with the Privacy Policy. I understand that I can opt-out at any time by emailing privacypolicy@wmg.com.

Thank you!
x

Welcome to the Maniacs mailing list!

Customize your notifications for tour dates near your hometown, birthday wishes, or special discounts in our online store!

terms

By submitting my information, I agree to receive personalized updates and marketing messages about Maniacs and their record label based on my information, interests, activities, website visits and device data and in accordance with the Privacy Policy. In addition, if I have checked the box above, I agree to receive such updates and messages about similar artists, products and offers. I understand that I can opt-out from messages at any time by emailing privacypolicy@wmg.com.