Jordan Rudess Interview with Lithium Magazine

[JayOctavarium]

DO IT!!!!!!

[rumborak]

Awesome!!!

[bosk1]

DO IT!!!!!!

I plan to. 

[TheGreatPretender]

What's wrong with the lava lamp question? 

People never ask fun questions during interviews. Which is the reason I rarely ever read any of them.

If it was me doing the interview, I might ask it. Or if she was a big fan, that'd be a different story.
But for someone who had to do research right before the interview because she doesn't know too much about the band, I think asking something like that would be a little pretentious. The lava lamps don't mean anything to her, she doesn't share that inner joke that DT members and DT fans share. Heck, I wasn't a fan during that period of DT's career, so I think it might not even be appropriate for ME to ask something like that.

[BFRedrocks]

I just saw that MP's band The Winery Dogs are playing on the same stage and day as DT for Sonisphere (I think that's the right event) this summer.  If your friend could, I'd be interested in hearing if there was any chance they would let MP sit in on a song during that show.  Thanks!

[theseoafs]

With the interviewer not being a DT fan, I don't want her to ask about the lava lamps.  You can't make an in-joke if you're not in on the joke.

Interviewer:  Where did the lava lamps go?  [Blank stare]
JP:  Wh... what?
Interviewer:  Where are the lava lamps?  Did Devon take them?  [Flatly, no cadence of joke]
JP:  What lava lamps?
Interviewer:  I was told to ask about lava lamps.
JP:  Well, we had some lava lamps onstage a while ago sometimes, and now we don't.
Interviewr:  Oh.  That's funny.  Anyway...

[Jaffa]

With the interviewer not being a DT fan, I don't want her to ask about the lava lamps.  You can't make an in-joke if you're not in on the joke.

Interviewer:  Where did the lava lamps go?  [Blank stare]
JP:  Wh... what?
Interviewer:  Where are the lava lamps?  Did Devon take them?  [Flatly, no cadence of joke]
JP:  What lava lamps?
Interviewer:  I was told to ask about lava lamps.
JP:  Well, we had some lava lamps onstage a while ago sometimes, and now we don't.
Interviewr:  Oh.  That's funny.  Anyway...

This actually made me want her to ask about them.     Get a video of JP looking utterly perplexed and uncomfortable, GIF the hell out of it, new forum meme. 

[TheGreatPretender]

This won't be a video interview, since they only gave her permission yesterday, so she doesn't have time to hire a videographer. But yeah, theseoafs has the right idea.

[BlobVanDam]

Asking a question about lava lamps would make you sound like some DT hipster living in the past. I'd rather hear about recent things that the fanbase generally wants to know. I think Invisible's questions were great.

[KevShmev]

What's wrong with the lava lamp question? 

People never ask fun questions during interviews. Which is the reason I rarely ever read any of them.

True that. I won't call any of them out here, but some of the ones posted are so vanilla, and some are ones you know the band isn't gonna give a good answer to, so asking it is just a waste of time. 

The lava lamp question might not be current and is a bit silly, but so what?  What's wrong with fun?

[Invisible]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the lava lamps question, but I also don't find it particularly interesting, especially considering it's an interview that's meant for other people to read, it's more of a Meet & Greet question than a interview question IMHO. You could throw it to "lighten the mood", but it doesn't hold that much of a general interest I think, I consider myself to be a hardcore enough fan and I don't know what you talking about . If all of your questions are about small, very hardcore fan details like that I think your interview is going to provide a lot of "fun facts" but lack some real substance. But then again, there's no universal right and wrong when it comes to doing these. At least my questions I think they are general enough to get attention and most of them haven't been asked before as far as I'm concerned. And any answer is good answer, if you ask for instance:

- Do you consider bringing different influences that aren't metal or progresive rock to the next albums, like jazz fusion or blues or electronic, to name a few? Are some styles or ideas off the table in the writing sessions?

And the answer is: "Well... you never know... everything is a possibility" Then the meaning is clear: No chance in hell. And I wouldn't have thrown that question if I haven't heard Mangini said something along the lines "Dream Theater haven't exhausted all the possibilities yet, for example, some bluesy stuff, we've never done something like that"(it's not an exact quote, but he said something along that line), so I thought it would be interesting to ask JP about that.

All my questions, even for the setlist, aim to at least have a hint of where the band is right now and where is heading, which is my main concern at least. But like I said, there is no universal interest, everyone is different.

[TAC]

Generally, the type of thing that interests me are things like setlist construction. Who suggested what, who didn't want to play a certain song, or who fought for something that was included and why.

[Invisible]

Generally, the type of thing that interests me are things like setlist construction. Who suggested what, who didn't want to play a certain song, or who fought for something that was included and why.

Yeah, that would be great. I always thought it would be cool to drag the band members here and make each of them do a Top 50 , it would make a really cool read.

[rumborak]

You could throw it to "lighten the mood", but it doesn't hold that much of a general interest I think

Obviously you don't want to ask only questions like that, but I think it would be a perfect lighthearted closing question. Probably gets a laugh out of the guys just thinking back to it. Interviews are always so dry.

[Aythesryche]

I'd ask JP this question worded in this fashion "John, now you dont have to name any song in particular, but do you feel that there are any songs that are indefinitely out of the option list to be played live? Or is it simply a matter of the fact that some certain songs have yet to make their rounds in the playlists since you have yet come up with a playlist that would suit playing those songs?"

Also ask if John is planning on buying the new BMW i8 since he's a big BMW fan.

[hefdaddy42]

Ask Mangini his favorite brand(s) of cigar.  I'm dying to know.

[rumborak]

I think an interesting question would be how involved DT are in the non-musical stuff, e.g. T-shirts and videos. That is, are they actively involved in the production cycle, or is that something RR does?

[ToT-147]

What songs that aren't on the current set list were possibly considered?

In fact this one was already answered by JP in a previous interview.. He just named one song, mostly because the question wasn't exactly like yours.. It was precisely about that song: Only a Matter of Time.. He (pun) literally said it was only a matter of time (in the setlist) the reason why they couldn't handle to do it.. Here's the link to a previous question it has to do with the one that matters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=y3ffybW-Svc#t=315

[TheGreatPretender]

She said she only used 2 of my questions, which is a bit of a disappointment. And she only interviewed Jordan. We'll see how it turned out. I'll be sure to post it here, once it's posted.

[Invisible]

She said she only used 2 of my questions, which is a bit of a disappointment. And she only interviewed Jordan. We'll see how it turned out. I'll be sure to post it here, once it's posted.

It's all good man , thanks for giving us the opportunity . Look forward to see it!

[TheGreatPretender]

My friend says she's about half way through transcribing it, but she doesn't like doing that stuff, so I'm actually going to transcribe the second half of it for her later on today, then send it back to her and then it should be posted before long.

EDIT: Just finished the transcript! It's a really good interview! Not gonna spoil anything for you guys, but JR talked about quite a few different, interesting subjects. And she dropped my name when asking one of my questions!   

[TheGreatPretender]

And it's live! She omitted my names from the transcript, but that's all right, haha.

[KevShmev]

Good interview.

Interesting that he said that nothing is off limits to play live, as a lot of us figured something like The Best of Times would be, but I guess not.

Also, good to see his praise for Kevin Moore.

[hefdaddy42]

Good interview.

[Invisible]

Good interview! Some really good questions.

And what a great guy, his opinion of Kevin Moore shows how much respect he has for other musicians. I hope they release more backstage footage as well, but apparently it's not on their plans, unfortunately

[TheGreatPretender]

Good interview! Some really good questions.

And what a great guy, his opinion of Kevin Moore shows how much respect he has for other musicians. I hope they release more backstage footage as well, but apparently it's not on their plans, unfortunately

He has been filming fans and stuff as usual. He came by while we were waiting in the VIP line, so, we'll see.

[son_ov_hades]

Awesome to hear his thoughts on Kevin Moore! I'd love for them to collaborate at some time.

[?]

Nice interview I like what Jordan said about KevMo

[theseoafs]

lol my lame question was asked.  Should've been the lava lamps.

Nice interview.

[TheGreatPretender]

lol my lame question was asked.  Should've been the lava lamps.

Nice interview.

Considering she only interviewed Jordan, I think that would've made the lava lamps question even more inappropriate. It's like two people discussing an inside joke that NEITHER of them are in on, lol.