Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess had a chat withMetal Shrine about theDream Theater sound, the parameters within that and how Spotify is making life almost impossible for new musicians. Read below!
With a band like Dream Theater, is there ever a limit to how far you can stray from the sound youre known for? Or do you always have to keep it within the Dream Theater boundaries, so to speak?
Jordan Rudess: The stylistic window. First of all, Dream Theater is a fairly wide stylistic world and there are a lot of things that can be included, be it a little honky tonk thing or a slightly jazzy thing, so there are many possibilities. There are certain things that really dont go or dont fly inside the Dream Theater window. The best example of a band that completely does what youre referring to, is Radiohead. They create these songs and then next thing theyre an electronic band doing weird stuff. Dream Theater does not work that way. Weve worked very hard over the years in creating this window of parameters and its kinda a common ground for all of us as musicians to create this particular kind of music. An example is that many years ago, I remember I had just gotten an amazing percussion library of native instruments called Battery with great electronic drum sounds. I came into a Dream Theater writing session and we started off jamming and I was playing these really cool sounds and we had a great, great jam and it was really funny and we all ended up laughing at the end, which was really cool. I remember Mike Portnoy saying That was amazing, but we could never do anything like that!. It was just too different and too odd.
Could that ever limit you as a musician?
Jordan Rudess: As a musician I have all kinds of projects I do on the side. I just finished and orchestral album and earlier I made a solo piano album that is really, really gentle. I do my electronic music and my solo piano music and when we come together as a band, I know its time for Dream Theater. But if we look at the bigger picture, on this latest album we have the Illumination theory and in the middle of that one it goes into this very lovely orchestral and sensitive thing, which is a new thing for Dream Theater. I wrote this music that I probably would never picture would go on a Dream Theater album. Things do change and we become more relaxed. Things are possible, but its an appreciation and respect for who we are.
How do you feel about the music business? Are you optimistic or pessimistic?
Jordan Rudess: I would say that Im excited about it from one point of view, being someone who enjoys technology and appreciates all the different ways of discovering music and to get music out there and the fun things you can do within the social media aspect. That said, I cant help but be really upset about the fact that it seems harder than ever for a young band to make it. maybe its because theres just too much stuff and too many ways and people get lost and dont know where to look for a band. Its such a wash of stuff and youre looking at this service and that sevice, Spotify and Bandcamp. And you hear about the kinda money some of these streaming services pay the musicians and its really, really concerning. I have Spotify and I listen to it and I think its really cool, but as an artist starting out, thats really upsetting. The world, the industry has to rethink how thats going. Its not gonna allow creative musicians to survive. Its easier to get the music out there, but how are you gonna make money off of it and how are you gonna get anywhere? Everybody I talk to is basically saying or agreeing that its just harder.
Check out the rest of the interview at Metal Shrine
