Here's a nice interview: https://loudwire.com/jordan-rudess-new-dream-theater-album-tour-plans-more/
Thanks!
Here is a snippet from the interview:
Dream Theater are back working on new music and have been for a while. Just wanted to see how things are progressing toward the next album. JR: We’re doing very well. We’re kind of in the homestretch of the whole thing. I was just finishing some keyboard tracks and we have some more things to do, but we’re definitely looking at the finish line at this point.
You’ve got one album cycle under the belt with [drummer] Mike Mangini and he had to get up to speed with that last record, but how’s he progressing within the framework of the band? JR: Having Mike in the room with us as we were doing the writing and everything was such a wonderful thing. The man has such a strong energy and such a great player that it made a big difference to our process to have him there, have him contributing ideas.
The way I see it is like, he’s such a specialist in his area. He’s got such a rhythm math brain and that addition to what Dream Theater already has in the composition department was so cool, ’cause we’ve been able to do things I’ve never done before. There’s some stuff on the album that I’ll rhythmically is very, very cool.
With a new piece to the puzzle, does it give you a renewed sense of energy at this point in the band’s career? JR: Oh for sure. Anyone who’s heard this album or stopped by the studio, you’ve just got to smile at the drumming, it’s so outrageous. He does some fills that are like, ‘Oh my God!’ (laugh) I can’t help but almost like laugh."