{"id":8242,"date":"2011-11-07T07:00:15","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T11:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=8242"},"modified":"2011-11-08T12:24:11","modified_gmt":"2011-11-08T16:24:11","slug":"blowin-wind-with-dream-theaters-jordan-rudess-i-love-the-idea-of-using-technology-to-find-ways-that-we-can-be-expressive-in-new-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=8242","title":{"rendered":"Blowin’ Wind with Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess: “I love the idea of using technology to find ways that we can be expressive in new ways.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess is one of my all time favorite musicians. In my opinion, he totally changed the face and shape of the “keyboardist” roll in heavy metal music. What at one time was a “behind the curtains” position in heavy metal music, Jordan has brought the keyboard and all his other toys to the forefront to prove to be as important an instrument as any other. I had the extreme pleasure to talk to Jordan backstage before Dream Theater’s Atlanta performance. At the time, his new app GeoSynth had yet to be released and I got to be one of the first to see and play it which was an honor. We also talked about how he got into metal music, his latest and past iPhone\/iPad music apps and his respect for Kip Winger. This was without a doubt one of my favorites to date. Hope you enjoy this one!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Jordan, welcome back to Atlanta. It\u2019s really cold out there today so it must feel like home to you huh?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah it really does. I was just thinking that today feels like a cold New York day. It\u2019s cold and windy. It\u2019s nice [laughs].<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Jordan, thanks so much for taking the time to meet me. I\u2019d like to start out by saying that we all know that Mike Mangini has been well received and loved by all so I don\u2019t want to dig on that topic. I want to know about you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Very cool. We can certainly do that [laughs].<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

So how does a Julliard educated pianist end up playing progressive heavy metal music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a really good question. I started out picking up the piano by ear which quickly lead to more of a formal background. I went to Julliard and was very serious about it. Everyone thought I was going to be a classical pianist. I was always very into improvising and other stuff as well. My mom would bring me home sheet music from theater so I had my head in a lot of places. Then I discovered rock n\u2019 roll and started listening to Beatles records. When I was 19 I left Julliard and I didn\u2019t quite know what I wanted to do but I got really into electronic music making wild crazy sounds on the synthesizer. I was all about just playing wild electronic music. I started to get into progressive rock bands like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Genesis. Somewhere along the line I had some friends turn me onto the more metal type of stuff like AC\/DC, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. I didn\u2019t listen to a whole lot of metal but enough that I knew what was going on.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Those bands are almost anti Julliard in a way.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah but I really liked it [laughs]. I thought it had a cool vibe. Even though I was a very straight ahead kind of classical kid, I had to have my rebellion at some point. It didn\u2019t really happen at 16 or 17. It happened at 18 or 19 [laughs]. I discovered Black Sabbath and that helped me to get some angst out.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

At what point did Dream Theater come into your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was looking for something really cool to do so that\u2019s how I ended up here.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

You were offered the Dream Theater gig once before though and you turned it down. Why didn\u2019t you hop on board the first time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a different time in my life and a different time in Dream Theater\u2019s life as well. They were doing a lot of touring and they looked like they were going to go out on the road for a really long time without any breaks. At the time I had a lot of things going on at home. My wife and I had just had a child and that was a big factor. The other was that I was offered a job playing with the Dixie Dreggs which wasn\u2019t as demanding and still allowed me to balance my life. I also had a job working for Kurzweil (piano company) that had just come together. I felt like if I stayed home I could be with my kid, I could do my thing at Kurzweil and get that income and also enjoy my gig with the Dreggs. It was a hard decision because I liked the Dream Theater thing but it didn\u2019t seem like I should drop everything and just go there. It wasn\u2019t until being asked to do the Liquid Tension (side band featuring John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy and Tony Levin) albums, having fun doing them and having them be successful that Mike and John came to me and asked me again. At that point a lot had changed. I got to know the guys, my kids were a little older and things were just different so it was a better time. It was all about timing.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Getting to work with the Dixie Dreggs must\u2019ve been awesome. That led to you working with Rod Morganstien who is an amazing drummer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh yeah, he\u2019s a great drummer and one of my best friends in the world.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

That connection also lead to you working with Kip Winger. He gets a lot of flack but he\u2019s really an awesome musician. How was it working with Kip?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Right. I haven\u2019t done much with Kip as of late but he and I get along really well. At this point he\u2019s a classical composer and he\u2019s amazing. He\u2019s such a talent and he blows my mind. He sang on my \u201cRoad Home\u201d album. He did the Gentle Giant song [laughs]. He sang on \u201cTarkus\u201d by Emerson, Lake and Palmer too [laughs]. Man, anyone who puts him down just doesn\u2019t understand him or doesn\u2019t know just who he is. He\u2019s an amazing musician.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

So what does Jordan Rudess listen to to wind down after a long night of loud, heavy music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like a lot of mellow music. I think generally I gravitate towards things that are a little bit more calm. I certainly don\u2019t listen to metal really. I listen to things like Porcupine Tree, Blackfield or Pink Floyd. Something calm. I love Sigur Ros. Do you know them?<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Yeah, I love Sigur Ros. The Icelandic Pink Floyd!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah. I hear they broke up which I\u2019m pretty sad about. I also like Radiohead, Coldplay. I just like things that are flowing and mellow. I get enough loud music in my life [laughs].<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re off the road, do you like to get together with friends and just jam sometimes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A friend of mine is always telling me, \u201cMan, we\u2019ve gotta play!\u201d and I say, \u201cMan, I\u2019d love to but at the end of the day all I want to do is something really quiet and mellow [laughs]. I don\u2019t want to jump into another intense gig and hear anymore loud noise [laughs].<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

But you\u2019ve done some really great guest appearances in your spare time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, I really enjoyed playing on Steven Wilson\u2019s last album \u201cGrace For Drowning.\u201d When he thinks of me for his solo albums, the first thing he asks me to do is to play my Steinway piano at home and lay down some tracks for him. I love doing that.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

As a keyboardist, you\u2019ve always embraced technology and seem to always be on the cusp of the ever changing trends. Some people will argue and say that all this technology can make you a lazy player. Do you feel that it makes for a lazier musician?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, a lot of the technology that I use actually has to be played. It\u2019s not like you\u2019re just sitting in front of a computer. I totally believe that there is a new generation of musicians that can make music with their computers. I\u2019m not one of those guys that says, \u201cOh you\u2019re playing a computer. That\u2019s not really music.\u201d I am absolutely the opposite. Whatever your craft is, if you\u2019re good at it, if you can make what\u2019s going on inside your imagination turn into sound that we can hear, the more power to you. You\u2019re a musician. I think there\u2019s a lot to be said about someone who can express themselves through a physical instrument be it a violin, a guitar or a piano. Certain kinds of things flow on different instruments that there\u2019s really no replacing that. But with technology, I love it because I find that there\u2019s other ways to express yourself like I do with the apps (iPhone and iPad based music apps) now.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Jordan, I love apps. I was pretty skeptical about them but I played a bit with the Hexatone app and it was pretty bad ass.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I actually have a brand new one that\u2019s about to come out. It\u2019s called GeoSynthesizer and it\u2019ll be out in about 10 days. You\u2019ll be the first one on your block to check it out [laughs].<\/p>\n

Jordan demonstrates GeoSynthesizer<\/strong>
\n<\/object> Rudessclip 01<\/a> by thegreatsouthernbrainfart<\/a><\/p>\n

I was just processing guitar sounds. So late last night I was on the phone with a friend of mine to get this together to submit to the store tomorrow. I was thinking, \u201cShit, I don\u2019t have any guitar sounds\u201d so I called up my friend and said, \u201cI know it\u2019s late at night but can you record a couple of tones for me\u201d [laughs]. Here, give it a try.<\/p>\n

The Brainfart plays GeoSynthesizer<\/strong>
\n<\/object> Rudessclip 02<\/a> by thegreatsouthernbrainfart<\/a><\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Man, what an honor. I got to be the first kid on my block to play this! Man, I sound like I know what I\u2019m doing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] And now you\u2019ve got it recorded. It\u2019s probably the fastest playing app out there. You can really feel like you\u2019re doing something in real time.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

I really love playing with these apps Jordan. These apps are also a learning tool as they have notes and chords notated out so that the user can actually see what it is that they are playing. Like they know that this is a \u201cC\u201d and this is a \u201cD\u201d and so on.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exactly. You don\u2019t need to come at this knowing how to already play piano. This could be a new instrument and it should be. It\u2019s another way of thinking and expressing. In many ways I think that it makes things easier. You don\u2019t have to have big skills or strength to press down keys or strings. You can have something like this that you can just play and do all these cool sounds and effects.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

I really love your attitude and your desire to aid future up and coming musicians.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love the idea of using technology to find ways that we can be expressive in new ways and find ways that we can be more expressive. The app Morphwhiz comes out of a lot of the experience I had with other kinds of controllers and I\u2019m really excited about it because it\u2019s this kind of vertical grid that I think is a super expressive way to play an instrument. It\u2019s a new idea. It kind of stems from my use of the Continuum.<\/p>\n

Jordan Rudess Demonstrates Morphwiz<\/strong>
\n<\/object> Rudessclip 03<\/a> by thegreatsouthernbrainfart<\/a><\/p>\n

What the lesson is here, my real reason for pursuing this whole thing is that through these new technological devices, we\u2019re able to see new ways of being expressive with music. It\u2019s not just getting more technical and away from music. The amazing thing here and the gift here is that you\u2019re actually able to be even more organic through the technology which is what we are looking for.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

I find that apps like these are helping to create a whole new breed of musicians. I have never played keyboards because I never had the patience to learn a new instrument but these apps really seem to novice to jump right into it and get excited.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Totally. I don\u2019t have any problem with the idea of giving music to everybody. It\u2019s exactly what you were saying. You can take this and feel like, \u201cWow, I can make some music with that\u201d and you can get the enjoyment of it. It doesn\u2019t mean you always have to be a professional musician but maybe you will be. At least you can take this and into that music space and get some music out of it. Also, a professional can do things that you can\u2019t do on other instruments as well which is the cool part about it all.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

So if I download these apps to play with, can I call you or email you for some pointers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah. Sure, why not [laughs].<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

You have become somewhat of a keyboard hero in the same way that guitarists have their guitar heroes like Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page and so on. Who are some of your keyboard heroes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh I definitely have some keyboard heroes. People like Rick Wakemen and Patrick Moraz. Keith Emerson is a big hero of mine. Those are the guys that when I got out of Julliard and classical music I looked towards them. Keith Emerson had so much power playing \u201cTarkus\u201d and some of the Emerson, Lake & Palmer stuff I had heard. I liked how Rick Wakeman fused some of the classical elements with mini Moogs and that proggy kind of sound. Those ideas meant a lot to me.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Are you starting to hear some of your influence in any up and coming musicians?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, I do hear it sometimes. People will sometimes send me a YouTube video or CDs so yeah, it\u2019s definitely having an effect.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

How does that feel for you as an artist?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pretty cool actually. It\u2019s trippy [laughs].<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Ok Jordan, here\u2019s a curve ball for you. If Hollywood was to make a movie about Jordan Rudess, who would play you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh wow. Well, I hope that Johnny Depp would play me because I like his style [laughs].<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

I heard that you will be doing a solo performance at The Iridium on November 12th in New York.\u00a0 What can fans expect from a Jordan Rudess solo performance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a great question. They can expect to hear all sorts of things. I was just thinking today, \u201cWhat the hell am I going to do on November 12th?\u201d A friend of mine books that venue and he\u2019s been asking me to play there for a while. I\u2019ll just be getting off the road so I haven\u2019t thought about exactly what I\u2019m going to do. I\u2019ll definitely have my Kronos (keyboard) there and an acoustic piano. Maybe I\u2019ll play some progressive rock melodies and maybe even something from \u201cNotes on a Dream\u201d and maybe a bit of my classical piece \u201cExplorations\u201d as well. I\u2019m still figuring it out. I\u2019m not going to go out there playing the heavy rock stuff [laughs]. It\u2019s going to be a nice, pianoy kind of evening with lots of other sounds and some cool visuals. You should come to the show [laughs].<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Sure. Can I crash at your place?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] Absolutely. [laughs]<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

Jordan, thanks so much for taking the time out to do this evening. I really had a blast taking with you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s very nice of you. Thanks. I had a good time as well. I look forward to checking out your website.<\/p>\n

The Brainfart & Jordan Rudess<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess is one of my all time favorite musicians. In my opinion, he totally changed the face and shape of the “keyboardist” roll in heavy metal music. What at one time was a “behind the curtains” position in heavy metal music, Jordan has brought the keyboard and all his other toys to the forefront to prove to be as important an instrument as any other. I had the extreme pleasure to talk to Jordan backstage before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[632,688],"class_list":["post-8242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-dream-theater","tag-jordan-rudess"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}