James LaBrie interview (excerpt)

Question: How did you actually go about gathering the guys you have on this album? Was that through people you know, or is that with people putting you in touch with them?

James: I personally got in touch with them. Mike Mangini – the drummer, used to be with Extreme and that, and Dream Theater back in ‘95, did a festival with Page & Plant, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Black Crowes, and Extreme. At the time I was hanging out with Mike Mangini and Gary Cherone, this was when Extreme was still together back in ‘95, and I got along really well with Mike, and Gary – they were really nice guys. But I remember watching Mike on stage and I thought “wow – this guy’s a terrific drummer!”, and we kind of hit it off on a personal basis, so when it came time for this I called him up and said “hey Mike, I’m doing a solo project, are you interested in playing drums?” and he said “yeah – count me in immediately!” And at the time he was working on the new Steve Vai album, and he said he happened to be working with Mike Keneally, who was also working on the Steve Vai album. So I said “Have Mike give me a call if he’s interested in playing guitar on this.”, and Mike Keneally called me the very next day and said “yeah – I’d love to do this if you want me to do this.”, and I said “absolutely!”, and then from there – I don’t know if you’re aware of Mike Keneally’s solo band “Beer For Dolphins”!?

[Question: No I haven’t].

Well, Mike used to play with Frank Zappa, so his solo project was very much in that vein, very much Frank Zappa, very provoking. Anyway, I knew that from hearing Beer For Dolphins I really wanted his bass player – Bryan Beller because he was a very mature, very melodic driven bass player, instead of showing how many notes he could play he had a more mature experience and very fine tuned approach or sound as a bass player, so I really respected that, and one thing I said to everyone before I got into any of these songs and when I started to bring this music to the players, I said “Look – all the music on this album has got to be very groove oriented; it has to be very rhythmic. I want it to be first and foremost a hard-rock album, and then with a lot of feel and interesting things going on in a progressive sense here and there throughout.” So everyone was very much aware of that. So instead of everybody trying to get more self involved and showing their chops, I said “No – you gotta stay very groove first, and then we can add a little spice here and there, when it’s necessary.” And these guys pulled it off. Matt Guillory, who I also wrote 3 songs with, and who I wanted him to play on the whole album because I think he’s a terrific keyboard player.

Question: Would you consider yourself more of a rocker or a more of a prog-artist type?

James: Well, a lot of people ask me that same question when I’m doing Dream Theater interviews, and they go “what do you consider Dream Theater?” and I say “well, first and foremost everybody thinks that of the progressive side of Dream Theater, but when you get down to the core of Dream Theater, it is a rock band.” We are a rock band that I think, fortunately, have been noted for our complexities and our technical abilities, which obviously are going to bring in a very lush progressive side of things. And it kind of makes us stand out like a sore thumb, but that’s a good thing. But you know we’re a hard rock band, and so I would consider myself or Mullmuzzler a rocker – if you wanna say that.

Question: You have Terry Brown on this thing, I’m a Rush fan, and I know so are you.

James: Yes – absolutely!

Question: How much of an influence did he have on you, as far as the way the album came out?

James: Well, he was the engineer and he did mix the album. And I brought Terry in, everything else was pretty much done – the songs were already written, everything was pretty well recorded, except there were a few things that we threw on when I was recording my vocals. I brought Terry in when it was time for me to start recording my vocals, and the reason I brought him in is I knew he had incredible experience, and he was a delight to work with the first time I met him when I sang background for “Life In Still Water” [??] for Fates Warning, anyways that’s was the first time I had met him, and that was back in 90 – 91, and I felt that he was a very cool person, but the best thing about it was that he made me feel very comfortable in the studio. And that’s really important because when you’re in the studio it can be a very high stress environment, so you need somebody to kind of keep a balance – a cool air, and a calm air happening within that environment, and to make it a little excitable at times. So that’s why I brought him in, because I thought it’d be really cool, and he could be the objective ear for when I was singing instead of it being anal with myself, I like to have someone else tell me ‘yeah that sounds great’ or ‘that’s the mood, da da da.....’. In fact I enjoyed working with him so much, that I brought him to my vocals for the new Dream Theater album. Have you got that yet?

Question: No I haven’t yet , but have read a lot of good talk about it.

James: I think it’s our best album ever, definitely!

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Question: Now you guys are starting Europe, what do you think of the state of progressive rock and the fan base over there compared to over here? Because I know over here a lot of scene just sucks totally, so....

James: The US is a little better, I mean like the last album sold over 200 Thousand – 250. And we also went Gold in the States – this was with “Images....”. But, granted you are correct – in Europe, and in other parts of the world, South America, the South Pacific rim – those places are rabid for progressive music, they’re so in to it, it’s unbelievable! So yeah. But you know it’s very interesting that I find when we’re playing down in the States that the fans are just crazily into it as anywhere else in the world. And the same stands for Canada. Obviously myself, being a Canadian I would love to see a little more recognition up here, and I know there are a lot of progressive heads, it’s just that a matter of being noticed and getting some recognition. Maybe this album will be the album!? I mean, it took Rush a few albums before everybody started turning their heads, so we’ll see what happens. I would like to see North America more in to , and I know that the people are out there that are into this type of music, it’s just a matter of timing in the industrial sense as well.

Question: Have you got any radio play this way with this album?

James: Oh yeah! You wouldn’t know it in Canada, but I just got e-mail today – “#1 added” on most rock and metal rock radio down in the States. The first single is “Home” from the new Dream Theater album. It’s getting great response. We’re really excited. And there’s just a really cool buzz because when we did that whole secrecy thing, so it’s created a really cool thing, you know! But now everyone’s talking crazy about it, and it’s something else. The reception from the journals worldwide has been just unbelievable! And I don’t say that lightly because it’s been overwhelming. But then again, we were really excited, and we knew we have something here that we’re ecstatic about, and we can’t wait to get out on the road, and start touring it. It’s a concept album, so what we’d like to do is get out and play the album from beginning to end, and really set it up in a big production sense. When we go over to Europe we’re going to playing in front of anywhere from 3000 people a night to 10 000 people a night, and usually in the States it’s about anywhere from 1500 to 3000 a night, so it’s a little different.