James LaBrie article-interview

Definition of God’s gift to metal in the nineties – Dream Theater. The band that stunned the genre with the release of their masterpiece, 1992’s Images And Words, and kept the buzz going with both the 1993 live EP offering Live At The Marquee and the video Images And Words: Live In Tokyo, has again delivered musical brilliance with the 11 tracks that make up the new outing Awake. Simply put, if the masters of classical music – Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven – were alive today, they’d be members of Dream Theater.

Those of you who are avid M.E.A.T. readers know the affinity we have for this supergroup-in-waiting. And, what makes this act even that more close to the heart of Canadians is the fact that Dream Theater’s singer, James LaBrie, is Canadian (the other members are guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, and drummer Mike Portnoy, who are from the New York/New Jersey area).

Recently returned from a knockout headlining appearance at Foundations Forum, LaBrie discussed the band’s present and promising future.

“We started writing in January,” begins LaBrie, “and wrote intensely right up until the time we started recording on May 18 down in L.A. at One On One Studio. We were constantly reworking things even up until the time we started working with the producers, John Purdell and Duane Baron, – they were even in the rehearsal studio with us for about a week for pre-production, taking notes and listening to us in the live sense.”

With LaBrie now a full member of the band – he joined Dream Theater after Images And Words was written (which was actually the band’s second album following their rare 1989 Mechanic Records debut, When Dream And Day Unite) – was there any change in the way they went about writing?

“It was pretty much the same way that Images And Words was put together,” states LaBrie. “There’s two ways it happens: one of the guys will come in with an idea or groove in mind. They’ll start it off and then everyone joins in jamming and expanding on it. Sooner or later, whether it takes three days or a week, we’ll have a composition. Or they’ll come in with completed songs. Also, a tape is always running at rehearsal and at the end they’ll sit back and listen to the tape – if there’s sections they like, they’ll expand on them until it becomes a song. For Awake, when they had completed a song they’d send the tape up to me in Canada and then I’d sit down and start writing melodies. I’d sit on the balcony, crank it on my walkman, and work on it from there. I then flew down to them and we started jamming the ideas out. Basically, I leave the guys alone when it comes to the music.”

Did you contribute lyrically on this outing? “There’s one song that’s mine, ‘Caught In A Web’, and Mike and I wrote ‘The Mirror’ together. Everybody participated in the others. I’m sure that as time goes on there’ll be more of my lyrics. This is not the type of band that is made up of guys who are like, ‘Hey, man, I want more’. As far as we’re concerned we use the lyrics that best represent the song. It’s also a case of where one guy in the band might be feeling really close to a song who wants to write the lyrics. Not necessarily is the singer supposed to be the lyricist. The lyrics should just be ones that apply to the song and really compliment it.”

“A common thread throughout the lyrics,” continues LaBrie, “would be that of becoming more in touch with your own existence and using that to your advantage – growing from knowledge and using it when dealing with others around you. However, it’s a lot deeper and dimensional thatn just that. The lyrics are dealing with relationships in many different facets.”

How does the album’s title, Awake, fit in? “It kind of explains it all,” states LaBrie. “Establishing a strong relationship with yourself which enables you to become more aware and awake of those around you, and being able to communicate on a higher level with others. And, at the same time, the music is also a reflection of that because we feel that the music is becoming more expressive – more alive, more aware.”

Style-wise, there was a more urgent, energetic, speed/riff driven sound to Images And Words, whereas Awake, while no less intense and metallic (if not more so in parts), is more groove oriented and melodically structured. Esentially, it exudes a searing confidence and conviction more evident than before.

“When we sit back and look at these songs, it’s something that we’re proud of,” LaBrie contends. “The priority for Dream Theater should be evolvement and growth, as individuals, musicians, and as a band. The more we understand each other makes it all flow together. We went into this album with a lot of knowledge after touring the world twice. You find it easier to express yourself. I think one of the most notable elements that someone is going to pick up on right away is that it’s a more agressive, heavy metal sounding album. It was somewhat therapeutic in a sense to get this aggression and frustration out. There is definitely a dark side to this album. At the same time there’s a lot of complexities and diversities still there musically. So it’s still Dream Theater.”

Some core listeners more into DT’s shred might be thrown off by the light-chorused song ‘Innocence Faded’, a much softer song than one might be expecting from them. “I think some people might say ‘What is this? Are they wimping out?’“, says LaBrie. “But people will have to realize that it’s just another side of us that we like and are very sincere in expressing.” However, that’s the four minute exception to what is otherwise 75 minutes of metallic intensity, which is being first leaked out with the single ‘Lie’.

Since the recording of Awake, keyboardist Kevin Moore has left the band. What led to his departure? “I think it has been maybe in the last year and a half that Kevin was going in a different direction,” LaBrie diplomatically states. “His whole musical direction has changed. He was finding more gratification out of working at home, and he’s recording stuff that is going more towards an industrial techno style. It wasn’t where we were going as Dream Theater. Kevin did contribute to this album, but he was not really involved when it came down to writing and constructing these songs. He was adding his bits and pieces here and there, but he wasn’t contributing as he was on the last two. So it gets to the point where that negativity, kind of like butting heads, is not conducive to the whole project. There’s no animosity between us – we all parted very maturely, and we’re still great friends with him. It just came to a crossroad where he had to go his way and we had to go ours. Obviously the passion and sincerity, on his part, wasn’t there anymore.”

For the Foundations gig, Jordan Rudes (Dixie Dregs) filled in on keys. Will he become a permanent member? “He’s an incredible musician and totally into it,” responds LaBrie, “but we just dont want to jump right into something. We have to make sure that someone is technically great, but at the same time has the right attitude and personality and chemistry. Who we take out on the road won’t necessarily be the new member.”

The first fans to discover Dream Theater were essentially musicians. On Awake, these musicians will be supremely impressed, yet will this outing make more of a mark with a mainstream audience? “We’ll still have quite a large number of musicians that’ll follow us,” stresses LaBrie, “but I think that in a sense it’s more accessible. There was no conscious effort to be more accessible. For the already Dream Theater fan, it’s very similar in parallel with Images in a sense that it’s not going to be an album you can listen to once and grasp – it’s going to take four or five listens. For those who are new listeners...well, because there’s a lot of heavy sounding music out now maybe people will accept us more easily. A good way that we like to be presented is contemporary without being trendy. What I really find exciting is that there’s a lot of bands out there experimenting with music. The whole musical direction is really exciting – there’s a real return to heavy rock guitar. Music is just getting back to being sincere. People are dictating what they want to hear and the industry is listening. That’s why you’re hearing so many bands, especially us, being given a chance.”

Speaking of chance, the “buzz” on Dream Theater in the U.S. and Europe leaves no doubt to many that this acclaimed act is poised to become the Yes/Rush of the 90’s. Does the band feel that a status of that nature is attainable? “I think that we can take it there,” LaBrie confidently proclaims. “The music that we’re doing lends itself for us to go there and do it seriously, with conviction. We’d all love to be a huge band. Whether or not that happens, who really knows? With a band like Dream Theater, as long as we continue to grow, and people grow with us, then that would be just as rewarding as exploding someday and becoming a huge band.”

Touring for DT starts in North America on October 20, with Canadian dates slates for Toronto (RPM, October 25), Montreal and Vancouver. Their tour mates for this will be none other than Toronto act I Mother Earth. After a Christmas break, DT begin a tour of Japan on January 14, then Europe, then back to North America.

At this point it comes to this reviewer’s mind of the time when I sat down to a Greek dinner with the members of Dream Theater at the now-defunct Eros restaurant across from Toronto’s Spectrum club – where they played their first Toronto appearance – and we were all wondering when/if the first record was going to do anything of substance (it had only sold 10,000 U.S. at that time). Now, nearly two years later, Dream Theater’s debut sold just under one million worldwide – just shy of gold in the U.S. – and they’ve received every acclaim possible for an act from both fans and peers alike. Now, with album number two released, and the band beginning this outing from a much different plateau – they’re nearly superstars in Europe and Japan, and on the crest of it in the U.S. – it must be both great and scary at the same time. “I don’t think scary...unless you’re starting to make me think and I’m going to be scared shitless at the end of the day,” laughs LaBrie. “It’s really gratifying and encouraging when I think about where I came from – Images shipped 8,000 for distribution, and this is going to ship close to 30,000 in the States. We started touring for Images in small places and by the time we were done we went to playing in front of 3,000 people or more per gig. So it’s incredible how far we’ve brought it, and how fast people became aware and embraced that album. Hopefully they’ll embrace Awake the same way.”