Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess has not only been hard at work on the band’s new record Distance Over Time – he’s also been working on a solo album.
It’s titled Wired For Madness and it’ll be released on April 19 via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group on April 19.
Rudess is joined on the record by his Dream Theater colleagues James LaBrie and John Petrucci, while Marco Minnemann, Vinnie Moore, Guthrie Govan, Joe Bonamassa, Rod Morgenstein and Elijah Wood also feature.
Rudess says: “It is not a concept album, however the title track does have a story that I was envisioning while writing it.
“The idea was about a guy who wanted to go about a transformational process involving becoming partially computerised and robotic.
“His functionality as a human was noticeably diminishing and he takes advantage of a modern medical procedure to ‘upgrade’ and extend his physical and mental capabilities.
"Through the course – or curse – of this process he becomes more and more separated from the outside ‘normal’ world, allowing the computer front end to take over much of his day to day tasks and decisions.
It's not a concept album, however the title track does have a story that I was envisioning while writing it
Jordan Rudess
“This leaves his mind free to travel between madness and spiritual enlightenment. After an angel visited him, the listener is left wondering whether he is experiencing true enlightenment or if he is moving out of the physical world to the next dimension.”
Rudess also reveals that “there’s even some blues” on the album and adds: “Just Can’t Win is a dirty blues song. The Dream Theater guys call me Blues Man because, at 8am, after sleeping on the tour bus, I sound like a reincarnation of an old blues man soul.
“I called in Joe Bonamassa and a full brass section to help make this song really happen. For my prog fans, this is Jordan Rudess in an alternate universe!”
To mark the announcement, Rudess has released a lyric video for Wired For Madness Pt 1.3 (Lost Control) which you can watch below.
Jordan Rudess: Wired For Madness
1. Wired For Madness - Part 1
2. Wired For Madness - Part 2
3. Off The Ground
4. Drop Twist
5. Perpetual Shine
6. Just Can't Win
7. Just For Today
8. Why I Dream
