Originally published in Metal Wani · July 2017
Jordan Rudess interview (excerpts)
InterviewJordan Rudess2 min read
Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess discussed the current state of music with Metal Wani, saying (transcribed by UG):
It’s interesting to see what’s going on with the music world. Right now there’s that whole djent style of music that people listen to. Players who are playing stuff that’s totally incredibly fast, and so complex and kind of mind-blowing. That’s interesting. At the same time, you’ve got other styles that are so huge, like the whole EDM thing. In a world that’s moving very, very fast, it’s hard to say how things are gonna shift. So I will say one of the things that has maintained Dream Theater for so long is the spirit of melody and an emotion in the music. We have our metal side we play, we can play fast and technical when we want to, but the thing that’s given us a career and enabled us to reach so many people in so many countries are the melodies and the beauty of the music, and the heart in the music. And that sometimes gets forgotten. A lot of musicians could get confused with thinking that they have to become technical or, I don’t know... Somehow I find that in a lot of music the heart, emotion, melodic elements are just kind of missing.
Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess was asked by Metal Wani to single out young musicians he’s a fan of, to which he replied (transcribed by UG):
I’m a fan of some of the younger progressive bands. But I should talk about keyboard players that really are up and coming. I have a couple of prodigies who I’m very supportive about. One whose name is Gerald Peter, who is now playing in Cirque du Soleil. He’s an amazing progressive keyboard player, and he’s working a solo album now - it sounds amazing. And the other young keyboard player is actually someone who I brought into the Dream Theater fold, and has been conducting with Dream Theater for ‘Breaking the Fourth Wall.’ His name is Eren Basbug, a Turkish young keyboardist and orchestrator conductor. Those are two keyboard players to watch out for.