Metal On The Rise

One of the quietest buzzes around the Toronto metal scene was the scoring by James (Kevin) LaBrie, former lead singer for Winter Rose, of the lead singing spot in relatively unknown New York based art metallers Dream Theater. But, on July 7th, the mystery surrounding this gig unfolded with the release of Dream Theater’s second album, and first on Atco/Warner, the to-be-a-masterpiece entitled Images And Words.

In all positive senses of the term, James ‘scored’. He landed into what may surely be the most critically acclaimed and influential art metal band ever heard since Queensrÿche. Simply, this record floored me from first listen – and I truly ain’t saying this ‘cause I know James. This is amazing; it may take some time, but this is one brilliant album that is sure to make Dream Theater huge!

James grew up in the Midland, Ontario region, and, in 1982, he moved to Toronto and joined a band called Trance, which he remained in until 1984. In the summer of ‘85, he joined Coney Hatch, replacing the departed Carl Dixon. This stint lasted ten months into 1986, deciding to leave when he became restless at Coney’s lack of progress towards recording another record. In ‘87 he joined the street rockish outfit Shock Candy, and later went on to The Hunger – the latter was where he met up with guitarist Rich Chycki. Together in April of ‘88 they began Winter Rose, and remained together until early ‘90, when, frustrated at scratching at the seams of a record deal, but unable to attain one, the band disintegrated.

It was during the Winter Rose days that James began to see response to his vocal ability. Upon an action by Lee Aaron, who Winter Rose were touring with, she told Pierre Paradis of Aquarius Records (and manager of Voivod) about James. He, in turn, asked for James’ material. Upon receiving it he offered James a solo deal, but James was still mindset upon Winter Rose. A few months later, Pierre, who was in contact with Mechanic records – who worked Dream Theater at the time – was informed by Mechanic that Dream Theater needed a new vocalist. Pierre told James to send a tape, which he did as Winter Rose was disbanded by then, but a member of Dream Theater told him he was to late – that they’d got a singer. But a call a week later from Mechanic turned up the fact that Dream Theater may not have found a singer after all, and, after another call by the band, they asked James to come down and audition. Flying him down to New York in January of ‘91, it was during his second day there that they offered him the job. Two weeks later James was in the studio cutting a demo with the band, which was the key ingredient to landing the band a deal with new label Atco.

Dream Theater, by the way, had auditioned over 300 singers in over two years to pick James as their vocalist. It was rumoured to be one of metal’s most coveted open vocalist slots. James tells of his entrance into the band, “When I came in, they pretty much had this record written. I just helped a bit with the melodies and such. I just walked in and did my thing.”

But he wasn’t totally convinced to be a part of Dream Theater from the beginning. “The first album, when I heard it, sold me on their musicianship, but not on their songwriting,” admits James. “The first album was more into self-indulgence, or a ‘musician’s musician’ album. They’ve all known each other since childhood, and were all students of Berklee, so they were out to impress. But, when I heard the advance material of this album, that’s when I was sold. This one was more into songs – the material is more mature, more emotional, and for everyone, yet it still retains the high quality of musicianship.”

But one thing is undeniable – Dream Theater is unique. Describing their sound is something that James, now doing worldwide interviews on the subject, is still struggling to achieve.

“The way I describe the band is that we’re like, Yes, Journey, Genesis, and Rush meets Metallica and Queensrÿche,” says James in no simple terms. “It has all those elements in it. It has the progression in it, but it also has the raw edge to it. All the band members are influenced by these bands, and a couple are really into thrash. There’s a lot of elements going into the making of Dream Theater.”

It’s doubly difficult to describe the music when, in all relative terms, you’re just a hired gun for the moment. Relays James, “I haven’t really been around when they go through their writing mode, but they tell me they just jam and whatever sounds good they work on, and slowly but surely pieces just come together. Their philosophy is just to do things that come from the heart.”

The only obstacle in the path of Dream Theater (who were once originally named Majesty – which goes a long way in describing their music) was their deal with Mechanic/MCA, which they disparately wanted out of, and achieved after months of aggravation and legal hassles. Though privately James has a lot to say on the matter, and not very positive ones towards Mechanic, he sums it all up tactfully as “(Mechanic/MCA) didn’t understand what Dream Theater was all about.”

But the worldwide metal media does, as Dream Theater is being besieged by incredibly positive response to their advance tapes, and CD advance of their lead track. “People are just eating our advance tape up,” states James. “Everyone we’re talking to is floored. Our song, ‘Pull Me Under’, is number three on metal radio in US just from our advance CD sampler alone – and it’s not even the radio edit! In many places it’s the most requested tune. It’s incredible!”

While that track is, at 8:11 long, a definitive album track, Dream Theater possess two incredibly impressive ballads in “Another Day” and “Wait For Sleep” – one of which will probably be a single down the line. But, as James puts it, “We have to play it safe from the beginning. We have to let people know that we’re a progressive band, and not a singles act.”

Continues James, “This album is the kind that has to be nurtured. It’s going to be a slow climb. I mean, look at Queensrÿche – they’re an inspiration to this format. What’s cool is that our management realizes this about us. They’re excited at the prospect of us three albums down the line – they think that with our name, and material, that we could become a huge concert theatrical band. This band’s material also knows no age limits – we could be more than 40 and still be doing this material successfully, like Rush.”

Speaking of management, Dream Theater scored big here with their choice. “Two weeks before we went in to record the record, we met with Merck (Mercuriadis) from Sanctuary Music (Iron Maiden, W.A.S.P.), and he told us that they were really into us, and asked us to think about it. It wasn’t until we were done recording the album that we took a look at all the management offers we’d received, and, from it, after looking over all the pros and cons, we decided that Sanctuary would be the best for us. I must admit it was pretty wild for us to be getting a deal, and recording an album, without having management.”

After all is said and done, the question remains this: Why a band like Dream Theater, and why now? “I think that people have reached the saturation point with the thousands of bands that are indistinguishable,” states James. “All these bands are trying to make that big pop single in a commercial sense, and sell units, whereas bands like Skid Row, Queensrÿche, and Metallica that are making it on their own laurels. I think people are looking for something different – something refreshingly new musically, and intellectual lyrically. I know we fit into this – you can instantly tell that we’re original, and that we’re not trying to follow what’s trendy or happening.”

Referring to Skid Row, James now joins the ranks of Sebastian Bach and Bonham’s Daniel MacMaster in leaving Canada to pursue a career. And, just like Baz and Daniel, James didn’t go looking for the US gig – it came looking for him. “The Music scene in Canada to the US is like night and day,” tells James. “The attitude is so much different, and the opportunities are so much greater – bands from Canada have to come and gig here to experience it. But I didn’t go looking for a gig in the US – it just happened. I wasn’t one to leave Toronto to move to the US to find ‘fame’. I just happened to be ready when the opportunity knocked. And, now that I’m in a band from New York, I’m still going to reside here for the time being. I’m totally connected to Canada, and always will be.”

Looking back, what are his thoughts now on Winter Rose – a great band that, in all essential purposes, should have been signed. “Winter Rose was great – we had great tunes,” recalls James. “Rich (Chycki) and I are great friends, and, somewhere down the road, we plan on working together once again. I’d like to eventually do a solo album, whether it be three years or ten years, and do some of the songs from Winter Rose, as I feel those sons are timeless. I still haven’t said goodbye to those days.”

Though I’ve used “James” throughout the story, his real first name is Kevin, but, according to “James”, “I changed it to ‘James’ – my middle name – as there were already two Johns, and a Kevin. It’s funny – I can tell when I get a call from the US, as they say James instead of Kevin. I’ve gotten used to it now, but it was weird at first. I’m going to change my I.D. around to James so that I don’t have any problems in the future.” The members mentioned are guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, keyboardist Kevin Moore, and drummer Mike Portnoy.

The future for James looks amazing at the outset for his new career with Dream Theater. Once the record is out, the road is the next step. “We going to start locally in the east US for four to six weeks,” says James, “then we’ll be going out on bills with headliners – we’re not sure with who first, but ELP has been mentioned. We may play some dates in Europe before Christmas, but we’re being highly considered as the opener for Iron Maiden on their European/Japanese tour, which isn’t until the New Year. We did a gig on June 8th at The Ritz with Iron Maiden – they’re totally into our band big time.” A Toronto club show is being discussed, but nothing has been set up.

Bottom Line is, according to James, “Everything is going great – I’m totally psyched! I’m now feeling like a 100 percent member of the band. Everyone in the band, and around the band, is really great. I couldn’t be more happy. I guess I’m finally getting my rewards. I’m 29, and I’ve been doing rock music since I was 13 years old. If anything, my perseverance has prevailed big time. If anyone from here was to ask me for advice, I’d just tell them to keep on going and trying, and not to listen to what anybody else says. If you believe in yourself, and have the talent to back it up, it’ll eventually work out. That may sound cliché, but it’s the truth.”