Don’t Keep This to Yourself!

After several attempts of trying to schedule time for an interview, James LaBrie and I finally caught up in my home town of Houston, Texas. He’s quite a busy person these days as I found in a tiny corner of the Aerial Theater on the evening of August 23, 2000.

Nicole Stachowicz: So how are you doing?

James LaBrie: Good. It’s a little crazy dealing with so much stuff right now. Dealing with this tour, and I’m dealing with trying to coordinate recording for my next Mullmuzzler project, and then... it’s too much.

NS: I’ve noticed, and a bunch of other people have said that your voice has been really “on” this tour, and I wonder if you’ve been doing anything different, doing different exercises?

JL: I’ve been smoking a lot of cigars and... (laugh) no. Actually, I do smoke cigars but only when I’m at home. What I’ve been doing is basically I’ve been just getting a lot of sleep. I get at least ten hours of sleep a night. I’ve been trying to eat as good as someone can while you’re on the road because there’s a lot of fast food junk that you’re always being bombarded with constantly while you’re on the road. But I’m trying to eat better, I’m getting the sleep, I’m exercising, and I’m just really looking out for myself. I’m not having any drinks while I’m on the road. It used to be that if there was a day off that I’d have a few drinks or whatever. And I’ve made it a point to smoke a cigar while I’m on the road because I really am into cigars. I’ve stopped all that, and when I’m on the road, I keep myself completely clean, and when I’m at home, I’ll have maybe two cigars a week just because I enjoy it. And I prepare myself for the show and keep my energy level up, and it’s been really good, knock on wood, or whatever there is, that it keeps up.

NS: This is a sort of technical question. What is the secret of going from “chest voice” to “head voice” without cracking?

JL: I think that has to do with finding how to place the notes properly. I was taught, even before I started studying opera, I found a way to do that. I just found a way to come from what you’re regarding as your “body” notes into your “head” notes. It’s just a matter of making the transition from your lower notes to your higher notes without there being any glitch or noticeable change in the timbre or tone of your voice and keeping it bright and constant-sounding without any noticeable change. To be more technical for people out there trying to figure it out, what I was taught was called “the mask” in opera, and what it does is it shows you through the power and breathing control of your diaphragm – using your diaphragm as your power and projection of your notes, the sustain of your notes, the endurance for your voice – you learn how to bypass what most people rely on – the throat – to sing. You’re taking your notes and you’re using the bone structure in your face to resonate and give your notes a sound. So that’s why all singers sound different. Even if you’re singing improperly, you’re going to have a sound, and it’s usually based around the structure of your face, the bone structure, the teeth. The teeth are real big in the actual sounding of your words. It also helps if you enunciate really well to understand the words, which a lot of singers don’t, especially in a live setting. Most singers are incredibly hard to understand if you’re trying to hear and listen for the words because there is more of an open sound live. The acoustics aren’t as tight, and you’re not as focused. To try to keep all of that in perspective live is a lot to concentrate and focus on, which I try to do all the time, but depending on the night and the way you feel and the acoustics and the environment you’re playing in, it’s not totally left up to you to control. But anyways, what I do is I take my notes and I push them. You have your cleft, which is where your chin lies, and that’s your lower notes. And then your vibration comes through the way your chin area sounds in the bone structure. Then you have your cheeky notes, which is obviously what it is, the cheek bones and the nose, and you get your notes from in there, and they have a certain sound. And then all of your higher notes are called passaggio, which is Italian for “passage way.” And all of these notes stem from your forehead and up, and these are all of the higher notes that you hear. Generally it’s all in visioning, so it’s not something that’s an extension of oneself, it’s organic. So it’s really hard for me to explain to you how it works. It’s a matter of practicing, practicing, working on this, and then eventually feeling where you are actually pushing the power, which is your wind or your breath, your air, up into this area that we call the mask and sustaining the note with power and projection and giving you a sound that is very appealing. Even someone like Luciano Pavarotti one time gave a raw description of voice. He said that a singer is someone who has learned how to control yelling. I found that really interesting to come from someone like him. But it is true. If you were to call somebody “Hey!” down the street, basically you said something that you’re holding: “Hey!” It’s a matter of taking that and making it sound good. That comes through control and experience and learning how to work and use your voice in a very appealing and attractive way so people like what they hear. It isn’t in a lot of today’s music, unfortunately, but there are some great singers out there. There are definitely a lot of very cool rock singers out there.

NS: I was asked to ask you this question. In the past, when you make a mistake early in the show, how do you psych yourself out of it?

JL: Basically I say, “Well, OK. There, I screwed up.” You’ve got to move on. You can’t linger on the fact that you made a mistake, and we all do. Unfortunately, the voice is something that people identify with much easier than any other instrument because we use it constantly, so you can immediately identify when a voice cracks or when a note doesn’t come out. (kids yelling in the hallway) Example. (laughter) So at first it was hard when I screwed up a note or when I had a crack in my voice. At first it was hard being really frustrated and then trying to get my head away from that situation and moving on. And now, I’ve just learned that if you have a bum note, just move on. You still have the rest of the show, and people still have the rest of the show to listen to. Unless you’re out there, and you’re sick or you’re tired and you know that this is as good as it gets, then you just sit and grin and bear with it and try and give the people the best you can give them and hopefully they’re going to appreciate you’re trying. I’ve seen all my favorite vocalists in my life – I’ve seen Freddie Mercury, who is probably my favorite, I’ve seen Steve Perry from Journey, I’ve seen Lou Graham, Rob Halford, I would have liked to have seen Marvin Gaye, Sam Cook, Nat King Cole, vocalists of that nature too, but whenever I did see these vocalists, I had to see them several times just because I was into their voice. They all had their great nights, and they all had their bum nights. Freddie Mercury was the best. He learned how to control. He knew that “OK, tonight I’m not going to be able to sing these high notes.” So he would avoid it, do another melody. But I even saw him on nights where he would be cracking. He wasn’t happy to be out there, let’s put it that way. But he was a professional and he did it as best he could. And all of them – Lou Graham has a fantastic voice, Steve Perry – I’ve seen them on good and bad days. It’s something a singer is always faced with – making sure that he keeps himself in as great a shape as they can so that they can give 100 percent at every show so that people are walking away going “Wow! That was amazing! Sounds just like the CD or even better!” You’re under a lot of pressure. Not that anyone else in the band isn’t because we all are. We all have to give the people what they come to expect. But a vocalist is always at the mercy of the instrument being organic, and there’s a lot of factors and a lot of elements that can affect the way that it might perform on any given day. You learn how to be pretty sure that if I stick to this regiment or if I stick to this kind of schedule as far as sleeping and exercising, then I can pretty much guarantee myself that 90 percent of the time I’m gonna have a great show. There’s always everything else that comes into play that sets that balance off a bit. But that’s life.

NS: Well hopefully tonight will be great.

JL: No, tonight will be s***. (laugh) No, tonight should be good.

NS: Do you ever keep up with the message boards on the Internet?

JL: No, I really don’t. I’m the kind of person who has a computer like everyone else, and I use it a lot for business being back and forth with people in the business that I’m in, but I try and spend as much time as I can with my family when I’m at home. So usually I’m on the computer late at night when everyone else has gone to bed, and I’ll take care of what needs to be taken care of. And then I’ll browse too. I’ll go on to the Dream Theater site and see what people are saying or what’s going on or what’s exciting. But I haven’t really been on a message board for at least a year. So I’m kind of hearing it second hand from maybe Mike Portnoy going, “Everybody’s freaking out on this. This is great.” Which is kind of cool. It’s the old way, but hey, it still works. Not to say that I won’t get more involved in that area and be more curious as to what people are saying or what people are interested in because I am. I’m very much interested in what our fans are into. It’s our fans that basically at the end of the day allow us to do what we do. It’s not me trying to disassociate myself from them, but it is me trying to stay centered and well-grounded in the sense that reality is a healthy attitude for anybody to keep things in perspective, to keep my music career in perspective and my family. Obviously my family is priority, and music is an extremely close second.

NS: And you don’t have your own Web site?

JL: Yeah I do. There’s a JamesLaBrie.com. It’s handled by two people Jennifer Williamson and Rob Bowen, and they both work it. Actually, we’re speaking right now. It’s interesting that you talk about a message board because we might in the near future, although once again I’m extremely busy out here with Dream Theater until November, and I’m right in the process of finishing up writing the next Mullmuzzler, and then in November/December and most of January, I’ll be recording that album, and then I’ll be jumping right into another Dream Theater album. But right now I’m speaking with my webmasters about maybe setting up a message board so I can keep in touch and answer the odd question here and there with people. But yeah, it’s JamesLaBrie.com.

NS: I wasn’t sure if that was official or not.

JL: No, I’m in touch with these people all the time now. Actually, they’re coming to the Connecticut show, so it’s good.

NS: You’ve done a lot of side projects that have paid tribute to other bands. Which project was your favorite, and which band was your favorite?

JL: Queen. Queen was my favorite.

NS: Was it called Tie Your Mix Down?

JL: It was Dragon Attack. I did Sheer Heart Attack and... my mind’s escaping me... and another song. But what were you saying? Tie Your Mix Down?

NS: Well, I couldn’t find Dragon Attack, but I found another Queen tribute that had you on it, but it was a remix, sort of a dance remix.

JL: Wow.

NS: Like the Tom Sawyer remix that Mike plays during intermission.

JL: What song was it?

NS: There were two songs. [I couldn’t remember at the time, but the songs were Sheer Heart Attack and One Vision.] I wish I had brought it with me.

JL: I wish you had, too, I’d listen to it. That’s amazing.

JL: Oh really, eh? I have no idea. (long pause) Oh wait a minute! I remember somebody telling me this in Germany as well saying that the company that had released that album originally was thinking about doing something with certain songs on the album, so I guess they grabbed the two songs that I did and what everyone else did, and they were going to put them into a different sort of mix. Now, they didn’t say dance mix or anything like that to me. Oh wow. Oh my God, what’s going on?!? (laughter) Well I’ll have to check it out someday and see what they did. Does it sound cool?

NS: It sounds pretty cool.

JL: What’s the album called?

NS: It’s called Tie Your Mix Down.

JL: Oh, like tie your mother down. OK I’ll have to find that one... The other one I really enjoyed doing a lot was the Rush one [Working Man]. I just wish it hadn’t caused so much controversy from the Rush camp because I love the band. I still think they’re incredible, and I can’t wait until they put out another album. And the other one, obviously, that I really enjoyed was the Emmerson Lake and Palmer one. I had a lot of fun doing that. Trent Gardner, who I worked with for Mullmuzzler and Age of Impact, was really involved the rewriting the new feel and the new groove that he put around the Emmerson Lake and Palmer songs. So it was great to work with him again.

NS: How did you meet Trent Gardner?

JL: Well, first he called me up to do the Age of Impact album. But then I met him at a show we were doing in Palo Alto. He came to the show and he was backstage with Mike Varney, who is from Magna Carta. And Trent came up to me, and that’s when he said “I’d like you to do this, and I’d like you to also get involved with this, and can we do this and that...” I thought he was a fantastic guy, really well-spoken, and just an extremely nice guy. So that’s why I actually called him when it came time to do Mullmuzzler. I wanted to write a couple songs with him just because I liked his stuff. It was very distinctive and very unique. It worked so well that he and I are writing a new song right now for the next Mullmuzzler, which will be tided James LaBrie’s Mullmuzzler. So it won’t be so much of an educational process for people to go “Who the hell is Mullmuzzler??” It did really well for me worldwide, but a lot of the labels in other territories of the world would call me up and say “The album is doing really well. It would be doing incredible if your name were on it.” It was an educational process. People are coming into the store and going, “Mullmuzzler? Who’s that?” And then they move on. If they had seen “James LaBrie’s Mullmuzzler,” they would have been able to identify with who it is and what the music would tend to be like, which would encourage more sales. What I would like to do eventually after the second one is released is somewhere down the road do some select dates with Mullmuzzler, maybe do a few shows in the states, a few shows in Europe, a few shows in Japan, and just let the people see and hear it live. The music has incredible energy behind it, and the players are excellent.

NS: You’re going to keep the same musicians?

JL: Well pretty well right now it looks like everybody’s in. I’m just working on one person whether he’ll be able to do it. His schedule is really funky, so if he’s not available in recording, then unfortunately I’ll have to find someone else that’s just as good. But we’ll see. I’m hoping he can work it into his schedule, but [if] he can’t, that’s life. We’re all extremely busy these days. Unfortunately sometimes there’s schedule conflicts. It’s not something I can wait around for him to make work, so I’m hoping right now he’s working it out and can do it. We’ll see.

NS: And when will this be in stores?

JL: We’re shooting right now for February. So hopefully we can attain that goal and keep everything on schedule. But it’s going to take a lot of work on everyone’s part to really pull together on it, but I think we can do it. I’m obviously going to be producing again, and obviously I’m involved with all the writing again, and obviously I’m singing all over it.

NS: You’re going to write the lyrics again?

JL: Yeah. So it’s really going to be my baby once again. But the only reason that I’ve ever seen it come out the way the first one did was because I had fantastic people to work with. Everybody was very professional, very open minded, was very accommodating to what my vision was for it and my goal. One Vision! How do you like that? That was the other song I did on that Queen album. One Vision. So there you go. So I’m excited that we’ll be able to maintain that working relationship.

NS: Two more quick questions. Leonardo: the Absolute Man. That’s another one coming out?

JL: That’s actually being mixed right now. I gotta tell you, I’m so incredibly excited about that. Once again working with Trent Gardner. He called me and said, “Listen, I’ve got this rock opera, and I want you to be the lead role. I want you to be Leonardo.” And I said, “Send me a tape. Let me see what you’ve got in mind.” So he sent me the stuff, and I called him back immediately and said “I want to do this!” This was right up my alley because it was involved in an operatic sense. Although I’m still singing more from a rock background, and then there’s certain colors of opera that I’ll get to do, but I’m basically trying to keep it a more rock-accessible style of singing. But I’m really excited. Right now they’re mixing. Terry Brown is mixing of course. They’re hoping for an early 2001 release, I don’t know when. I was just speaking to Trent the other day, and they’re putting the final... they brought in an orchestra to play on a lot of this stuff, so he said that was being finished two weeks ago, and he told me this week is when they’re finishing the mix. He said that it’s going to be absolutely mind-blowing, or it’s going to get all screwed up in the mix. (laugh) It’s just a really incredible piece. It’s really unbelievable. Steve Walsh is one of the other singers on it. There’s like 15 characters on it. I’m still waiting to get all the information on it, everyone that was involved, who did what and where. But I must say that I think people are really going to like this. It’s really incredible. I’m really psyched. I can’t be more excited. It should be good.

NS: And last question. The next Dream Theater album...?

JL: Well, we’re all talking that we’d like near the latter part of January to start getting into the mode, getting into the studio like we did with the last album and writing and recording right there. And as far as direction, we have a pretty good idea where we want to go, but unfortunately I don’t want to talk about it right now because we’re still in the process of finalizing exactly where we want to go and how we want to approach it and what kind of album we want to give people. I can tell you that it will be extremely musically intense once again. We will not let our fans down. We’re on a roll here, we liked the response to the last album, it was incredible. We realized that the fans really loved it, and we’re going to keep moving in that direction that everyone came to know Dream Theater as, as a progressive rock band.

NS: Can I ask if it will be song-oriented or another concept album?

JL: No, no, it’s going to be song-oriented. We’re not going to do another concept. I think we’ve taken the concept as far as we can. Now maybe in 5 or 10 years down the road if we feel that yeah that would be something really interesting to approach again and to challenge ourselves with once again, then maybe so. But right now and maybe for the next little while, I don’t think so. I think it makes more sense for us to go in and write an incredibly musical and intense album but with songs.

NS: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

JL: You’re welcome. Take care and enjoy the show.