Jordan Rudess On Dream Theater’s New “A View From The Top Of The World” Album, New York, His App Company & More
Dream Theater — comprised of James LaBrie, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, John Myung and Mike Mangini — was in the middle of a sold-out world tour in support of its last release Distance Over Time and the 20th anniversary of Scenes From A Memory when COVID-19 brought the world to a stop. The musicians found themselves at home with LaBrie in Canada and the rest of the group in the States. Yet the quintet had just finished construction on DTHQ (short for “Dream Theater Headquarters”), a combination recording studio, rehearsal space, control room, equipment storage and creative hive.
With singer James LaBrie in Canada, he initially wrote with his Dream Theater bandmates via Zoom on a monitor stationed in DTHQ. In March 2021, LaBrie flew down to New York, quarantined, and recorded his vocals face-to-face with Petrucci. The A View From The Top Of The World album ultimately threaded together lean and uncompromising hooks with tried-and-true technical proficiency. Set for a global release on October 22, 2021 via InsideOutMusic / Sony Music, the 7-track full-length was produced by Petrucci with engineering and additional production by James “Jimmy T” Meslin and mixing and mastering by Judas Priest guitarist Andy Sneap. The animated music video for the album’s first single “The Alien,” as released in August 2021, hit over a million views within weeks, proving A View From The Top Of The World to be yet another commercial success for the group.
On October 20, 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess via Zoom, as embedded below. Beyond A View From The Top Of The World, we spoke about the band’s New York roots, what it is like to have a studio space of his own, how many Dream Theater offspring have entertainment career plans, Rudess’ success with creating music-oriented apps, and which members of Dream Theater are fans of KISS and Van Halen. More on Rudess, Dream Theater and the A View From The Top Of The World album can be found by clicking here, here and here.
About the Author
Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."
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