Awareness comes in a junk-as truck in the desert

Blood is thicker than water. So the saying goes. Now, I always thought that just explained the way it pools in a foreboding coagulated mess way down in the crooked end of the toilet bowl, but that’s another story.

In this case we’ll use it in a not-so-literal sense... to describe that enigmatic bond between folks who shared the same womb address... something the Italians understand and the rest of us just accept in passing. See, I have a brother. Not such a unique circumstance, as many of you can probably relate. Only this brother of mine isn’t the sort that grew up on my shirt-tails, sharing all the things that brothers share (according to Disney). No, this brother grew up on his own, in a separate hemisphere and under different influences. He’s a bit like a guy you’d meet on the subway..., only he kind of looks like me and isn’t armed and dangerous.

We’ve never borrowed clothes from each other, never sat down in our adult lives to swap stories of how we came to be what we came to be... and of most relevance, we’ve never shared a CD collection in any stretch of the communal norm. That’s right: two distinct and arbitrary music tastes, transcending blood ties and economic restraints and developed totally independent of one another.

Now there’s a phenomenon for the genetics vs. environment crowd to mull over.

So once all this test-group madness was accomplished—and he had his taste and I had mine—there was a merging of the minds... or of the ears, that is. A trip back home put me in temporary possession of said brothers junk-ass truck, complete with tractor tires, mudflaps and most of the unused dirt of the Sonora Desert for aesthetics. Oh, and one other thing: A rickety portable CD player wired into the dash, playing a severely scratched up version of Dream Theater.

“Good god,” I thought, “this kid never even saw the ‘70s... what’s he doing listening to progressive rock in the middle of the desert?!?” I mean, is that safe?

That thought process, while being completely fictional in nature, led to yet another questionable line of bullshit that I will relate to you now... with a straight face, that is.

As the tires of that monster truck were effortlessly gliding over a 50-foot crack in the desert floor—or it could have been a garden hose... it all felt the same in that truck—the CD skipped and a voice came to me through the dangling speakers:

“Hear ye, hear ye, illegal motorist (crackle), your lack of faith in (static) prog rock (crackle) be right fucking (pop) misguided... (static)... Yon whippersnapper (crackle, static, wheeze) done got somefin’ ‘ere.”

“God? Is that you?”

“No (crackle) dumbass. It’s the (pop, swizzle) CB radio... bring my tru-(static) back, I’ve got to go to (screech, crackle!#?@!!) work.”

CW: Uh... my little brother is a big fan... in fact he wanted to pick this interview up in Arizona, but the timing was off... and his truck was dirty... so you’re stuck with me, and I’m new to Dream Theater... but willing to listen.

James LaBrie (Vocals): I’m surprised at that, you know... because you’re doing something like this magazine for Japan, and we’re huge in Japan. But anyways...

CW: I’d heard the name... sure, but I’d never been exposed to any actual music of yours. Like I said, I owe this pleasure to my brother’s taste... quite exciting, really. Wait, did you just say “we’re big in Japan?”

James: Yeah, we go there often... they really get into it over there.

CW: I’m looking around, but no one has really showed up yet... so thus far I’m judging your fans based on what I’ve seen from my brother, you know? I mean he and his mates are all into it, they swap disks and talk about it all the time... They’re fans almost to a Grateful Dead extent.

James: Oh, wow... and then they like somebody like us?

CW: Well, yeah... I mean, that’s what I’m talking about... their enthusiasm for Dream Theater, Transatlantic.

James: You mean in the same sense they’re dedicated? Like as in following a band, or are they into that kind (Ed: Grateful Dead kind) of music as well?

CW: The dedication... I mean in my generation it would have been Grateful Dead... more recently Phish, or the like... that kind of dedication... a kind of life-driving thing. That’s just the way he looks at you guys, from my point of view.

(A bee at our table is feeling the same attraction... Seeming more interested in James than in any other stingworthy target... And there were a few of us media folk there who could use a good stinging, I’ll be honest with you.)

James: This isn’t cool. I’m going to be stung before the show.

CW: I’m just trying to get a feeling for the crowd you guys are used to... I mean I’ve seen ONE of your fans... well, TWO, counting the bee, and I’m about to see a whole lot more. You see them at every show, so what’s your take on them?

James: You know what? The demographics of our crowd , at least when I’m looking out at them, go from anywhere from 17-year-olds to 50 plus...

CW: So all over the place...

James: Yeah... I think it’s still a matter of cultivating the audience that was once into the ‘70s... all the great progressive bands that were out then... a lot of the demographics that are into that kind of music, believe it or not, are still unaware of us. That’s why we work with (PR people), to start bringing a little bit more awareness to the band. Because it’s really hard. You’re talking about a band that... uh, the nature of our music isn’t exactly catering to radio format... not at all, you know?

CW: I don’t even know what IS in radio format anymore.

James: We’re the antithesis of uh... what is it? ...of radio. There was one point with ‘Images And Words,’ (1992)... there was a little bit more going on there, but ever since it’s kind of been like little dips here and there, you know? ...with radio support. It’s because of the kind of band we are, so we don’t really expect it too much.

CW: You tend to pick up your fans and keep them... at least from what I can tell, as opposed to bands you hear on radio that go up and down much more sporadically.

James: Yeah... that’s one of the beauties of being in a band like Dream Theater, that yeah... once somebody does get into the band they tend to stick with us. They expect change from album to album, they want to grow with the band. Just like Rush, you know, Rush is an incredible example of that. People just stuck with these guys the last 25 years, you know, it’s incredible.

CW: They’re still amazing... yeah? But you say you’re building up a fanbase... trying to get people aware of Dream Theater... what is it you would say to someone who doesn’t know anything about you... myself, for example, until a few weeks ago I didn’t know much at all.

Jordan Rudess (Keyboards): Dream Theater is a very unique band, in the sense that our fans, I think, are made up of basically three categories: You have the young kids that are so into music or they’re learning to play an instrument and they look up to us to uh... you know, keyboards or guitar... because there are not a lot of bands that are playing the kind of virtuostic things that Dream Theater does... you find that kind of thing in Classical music, or even in some kinds of jazz. So we have the young musicians. Then we also get the whole progressive rock audience... the people who used to be into Genesis and Yes and Pink Floyd... you know, and there’s a lot of guys out there that used to listen to that and don’t know that we even exist. So there’s a lot of people to tell, you know, “Hey! There’s a band out there that can satisfy your progressive cravings!” And last, you know, are the metal fans... we have a lot of chunky, ballsy stuff in our music. So it’s a real combination of those three things... so if you’re anywhere within those categories, it’s worth giving our band a listen and checking it out.

James: That’s where we get these really varied demographics, and it’s amazing to look out and have that great gathering of all these different generations, you know? It’s excellent. And for a band like Dream Theater, it’s really important for us to be out there, touring, getting into the cycle where we’re writing the music, recording the albums, and then getting back into the faces of the people... because that really is our biggest promotional tool. And then, getting in touch with all these media outlets is really another tool to kind of escalate that whole process.

CW: Well, we’ll do what we can... like we say, we’re just starting in the States, so we’re trying to jack up the fan base as well... kind of the same process.

James: We did a tour in March where it went over incredibly well... I mean, we were out playing like small theaters and that. But it was great to accomplish something like that, because it proved to a lot of people that even though this band is not on the radio every 10-15 minutes, we were still able to pull in anywhere from 1500 to 3000 people a night.... So that’s what we do, we try to get into the magazines... and one of the best things for a band like this is to be touring... bringing it right to the people, because that’s our strong point. I mean, the albums speak for themselves, but to be out live in front of the people and presenting this music in a live environment... I think it really shows them just how serious we are about what we do.

CW: I’ve heard instances where you do a bit of off-the-cuff setlist changes... last-minute stuff that fans seem to pick up on, like playing a full Metallica album for instance... in Spain, I think it was?

James: Yeah, we covered ‘Master Of Puppets’ completely from front to back. We like to do stuff like that, I mean, obviously we like to play music... or if you look into the style of our music, it incorporates many different styles of music or many different types of bands, you know... from the progressive to the hard rock to the heavy metal to the jazz to the classical... it’s uh... eclectic like. So yeah, to bust out one of the bands which we think is uh... you know, that was one of their classic albums, ‘Master Of Puppets’ was amazing, so... yeah, it kind of freaked the people out there, thinking they were just going to get Dream Theater all night. In fact, that’s already a bootleg... it’s already a full-fledged CD with a cover and everything.

CW: That’s another thing I was going to ask you... there seem to be a lot of bootlegs out there for you guys....

James: It’s unreal. Especially when you’re in places in Europe and Asia, you can go into stores and they have racks of CDs from many many cities that we’ve played in over the years... and videos and other things that are being presented.... And some of the packaging is scary, because it rivals our official releases, you know? It’s incredible, some of the packaging... double disk CDs with booklets that you take out... 10, 15 pages... excellent pictures and artwork... incredible. Especially in Italy... they’re really behind that, hahahaha... I wonder why, really...

Jordan: In Japan as well...

CW: Yeah, I imagine so, having seen that sort of thing first-hand....

Jordan: As a matter of fact, last time we were there... by the time we were leaving all the bootlegs were being released for the tour that we just finished. The last day of the tour, as we were hitting the plane, literally, they had like... as many shows as we did... seven or eight....

James: I think they were releasing the Yokohama show, which was our first show... wasn’t it? ...Something like that, it was ridiculous.

Jordan: They go into production immediately there... in fact they sent me all of them.

James: Did they?!?!

Jordan: Yeah, they sent me a stack of CDs...

CW: A lot of bands would be pissed off about that... I mean you’re laughing, but do you kind of write it off, let it go?

James: You know, it’s kind of split. A couple of guys in the band are into it, they love it for what it does... because it still – in some weird sense – promotes the band and makes people become aware of us.... In other areas, if you’re asking me personally, no. I’m not into it, because I think it’s somebody that’s taking something that we worked so hard to get to... to that point... to be able to release the music: First you gotta write it, that takes time... to release it, first you’ve got to get a record deal to do that... and then the touring, you know? And somebody goes there, with something exactly like that (pointing out our little bad boy MD recorder on the table), records it, puts it out, and makes money off of us.

CW: Hey... not a bad idea...

James: What’s more, it’s not a great representation of the night... of the sonics of that night, so there might be some people that might go ‘wow, I really want to go see these guys,’ or there might be people that are turned off from it... because of this sound quality. So I’m not a believer in that... I don’t support it at all.

CW: We’ve seen the other end of that... again, with bands like Phish, who actually encourage people to plug in and record their own copies of the show...

James: Yeah, and I think that’s great. Some people are into it, and think it can be a great vehicle for bringing people into the band and what they’re all about. I just... I just don’t see it, you know? I think there are other, better ways to get into a band.

CW: Yeah... I noticed lists of bootlegs on the Internet... people trading and everything like that.

James: Oh, man. I can’t remember the site, I think it’s like ‘galaxy’ or something like that... you can go there and get our whole catalog... if you want... it’s ridiculous.

CW: It really was an interesting thing about your band, though... We ran searches on all kinds of Napster clones and whatnot... expecting a huge load to come through, you know? ...But the only thing we could get our hands on was one Black Sabbath cover. So the bootlegs are out, but there’s not a lot of trading on the Internet going on... at least from what we could tell in our limited investigation... and even the one was a really bad recording, at that... voices in the background, static, shuffling microphone type stuff...

James: Yeah... I’m sure it was.

CW: On a totally different note, how was it playing with Satriani?

James: Excellent, you know? There’s a mutual respect there, we both really enjoy watching each other every night, and we both enjoy each other’s music... as far as sitting down and listening to the CDs. It’s excellent, you know... a real musical experience. For the people to be here, it all comes back around to ‘it’s all about the music.’ ... And King’s X... can’t forget King’s X. I’ve been a huge fan of them for... geez, man, for years.

CW: I was just going to contrast different kinds of bands... like with Dream Theater there’s a lot of music school... music training involved... very professional musicians, meshing well with Satriani and that class of musicianship... But then you come across bands made up of. you know... kids who taught themselves in a garage somewhere.... Do you find it difficult dealing with bands like that, who grew up in a different way, on a different level, perhaps?

James: Well, we don’t tend to really go out with any bands of that nature. But you know what? I don’t discourage them from trying to get into a band like this, because you know, if anything, it maybe brings about some sense of them getting a bit more enthusiastic with their instrument... it gives them a challenge... it might make them think about music in a totally different way. So I don’t know... I mean, I think there’s something here for everyone. Not all our music is incorporating an epic-type piece that’s very progressive.... There’s many different approaches that we take to our music. I’d even go so far as to say there’s some songs that are influenced by bands like U2, you know? Like I said, you can’t listen to one song with Dream Theater and think that you have an overall crystal-clear picture of what we’re about musically. In one album, there’s so many different types of music being approached, and talked about.

CW: Well, yeah, especially with this one... I’ve been listening to it straight for several days, and in itself it goes in many different directions.

James: Absolutely.

Jordan: (talking about different directions) Well yeah, I mean, let’s talk about setlists...

CW: OK, what about setlists?

Jordan: We play a different one every night... it’s my biggest challenge... trying to squeeze whatever songs onto my machines.

CW: ...And who makes the calls on what we’re going to hear tonight?

Jordan: Well, Mike... (Mike Portnoy: Drums)

CW: Heh heh... does he tell you ahead of time, or do you just find out when you walk on stage?

Jordan: We usually find out when we walk into the venue, but he tries to... because things usually get rearranged. But sometimes we get some advance notice. It’s cool, keeps the fans hoppin’... keeps the members hoppin’...

James: ...Keeps you on your feet, for sure.

...Not in a very long time has the Chain-Whipped staff sat through a concert of this caliber... and I do mean SAT. Yeah... they may get a bit edgy when we call up comparisons with Phish and Grateful Dead – in fact everyone we talk to with that hair-brained analogy tends to scoff at it, and us, and our mothers – but let’s face it: about six or seven thousand people SAT through the entire show right along with us... and we enjoyed it. It was actually quite nice to sink into a nice arse-molded stadium chair and absorb the music.

We won’t generalize completely, I mean, there were the die-hard Satriani fans, who couldn’t sit still and kept grumbling over their beers about how long it was going to take for “Satch” to come on... and there were moments when the crowd got to its feet for some particularly exciting moments... before settling back into the groove and the comfy chairs.

Dream Theater is the kind of band you watch and gape at... wondering how it is they do this or that, and knowing full-well that you’ll never be able to do it yourself... well, not without a lot of practice and a bit of that... what is it called?... motivation.

Mostly, we were impressed. And mostly, we were glad that little bro and his junk-ass truck had introduced them to us. And what about the other bits?... The inner qualms and undecided cringings? Well, we’ll disregard them completely and enjoy the moment... the “‘70s” moment, as the band put it: It’s been a long time since I, personally, have spent time in that decade... and come to think of it, I wasn’t paying much attention the first time around.

Welcome to awareness. Now what are you gonna do with it?