In The Presence Of Dream Theater Part One: James LaBrie

The last time we interviewed James LaBrie, we were sitting in the balcony of the Astoria in London a few hours before he played the Mean Fiddler next door on the Elements of Persuasion tour. Much has happened since then – the release of Octavarium and most recently Systematic Chaos, an album that has possibly ushered in a new era for DT. The band’s profile has risen dramatically with a new generation of fans seemingly joining the old hardcore such as ourselves! At the beginning of June, sitting in James’ dressing room at Newcastle City Hall, much of this was still to become apparent; this show (their first in Newcastle) was a warm up for their appearance at Download 2007 the following day and came very early on the Chaos in Motion world tour.

We had taken a time out from hanging with the large number of Voicees who had congregated at the pub up the road from the venue to see James and he did not disappoint with a great interview, covering much ground from the perspective of an artist and a band about to engage on a round of touring that would see them through to the middle of 2008. He was on good form, relaxed, laughing and joking: hopefully you’ll get a flavour of that in this, the first of our interviews bookending the 2007 legs of Dream Theater’s touring to support Systematic Chaos.

RP: Well, welcome to the UK when it’s warm for a change!

JLB: Thank you! Yeah, that is a change! No kidding! Usually we’re here in like the fall or winter; so that is nice.

RP: So how have the first few dates of the tour been then?

JLB: Excellent! I mean there’s not much to talk about, we’ve only had four shows, but it’s been great. Y’know it’s the whole thing of getting in contact with the fans once again and us dusting off the cobwebs and all that stuff, but for the most part it’s good. I think we’re in a groove now, it was our first time in Croatia the other night, so that was excellent. They were a great crowd, an unbelievable crowd...

KP: How many people were there?

JLB: I dunno, I’m thinking 3 or 4,000, but they were SO loud, at times I couldn’t even hear myself think! Unbelievable. but great!

RP: It’s been over a year since Radio City now, do you feel that you personally, and as a band, were ready to get back out on the road again?

JLB: Yeah, granted we were back together in September to start writing and recording for Systematic Chaos, but I think it just gets to a point where you go ‘okay. I’m getting a little antsy here and a bit restless. I need to get back to doing what we love to do!’

RP: Was it refreshing to have had that summer break beforehand?

JLB: Absolutely, I think we all needed it. We definitely needed it. ‘Cause it had been constant for so long – we would tour; take a short break, like three months and then we would be right back in it. And normally, it just so happened that all the tour cycles were always happening throughout the summer. So we were barely spending any time with our families. So it was getting a little old real fast! So, it was necessary that we said “you know what? We just need to cool our jets for at least a half a year and I’ll see you guys in six months!”

RP: Do you think the fact that you had taken that break helped things in terms of writing for the new album? Did you feel like, really enthused?

JLB: Well, I think we were all excited to get going on it. I think the difference with this album than with previous ones was the fact that we, generally speaking, on other albums would discuss a direction that we felt that we would go, or we would have somewhat of a game plan. or there would be already some ideas on tape here and there, some riffs and ideas in that sense. This was very organic the way we started, instead of trying to work to a grand scheme and try and follow down that path only, (it was a case of) let’s just go in the room and see what happens.

KP: So that was quite a contrast from Octavarium, where you were working to the octave structure?

JLB: Yeah, right. Because obviously there was a lot of discussion even before the first note was played, but with this one it as basically get in there and sit down in the room and see what starts to fly out! Then from there. when the ideas come and you have basically what you think is the blueprint or the first song, or what you might label as the first piece, that kind a feeds where you wanna go and in what direction.

RP: A lot of artists say that they feel that the studio Is kind of a sterile environment, we were noticing, especially watching the Systematic Chaos Special Edition DVD, it doesn’t seem that way with DT....

JLB: No.

RP: You talk on there about the vibe in the studio. is it an exciting and inspirational place for you?

JLB: Yeah! [laughs] I don’t go in there thinking like I’m going into a doctor’s office or anything like that! I mean it’s our world at that point. We go in there, it’s very comfortable, and it’s all about the band and the music. Granted you have your humorous moments, and that’s what keeps everything balanced, but I’ve never thought of it as being sterile or something that’s uninspiring, because we’re there and we’re focused on the one thing; First of all, we are comfortable, that’s very important. I mean when we were doing Train of Thought; we were in a rehearsal studio, and to me, even though that served that purpose on that particular album, that was a little uncomfortable, because there were other people walking around, there’s other bands maybe on lower floors, way down at the other end of the hall. but it just didn’t feel like we were completely disconnected and being able to isolate ourselves and just focus in on that one particular need, being the music. It was a little distracting.

RP: Do you find it difficult to change gear between studio and then playing live?

JLB: No, because I think there’s always enough time in between to prepare yourself for whatever. I think with touring. even before you get together with the band to rehearse, you’re at home and you’re already starting to think of that world and preparing yourself the best you can for it.

RP: Now talking about Systematic Chaos itself, there’s a lot of vocal experimentation going on, there’s the effects and you’re using very aggressive phrasing here and there. Also, Mike has an increased vocal contribution...

KP: We feel like ‘Constant Motion’ maybe comes across as a duet between the two of you...

JLB: Yeah well, because he’s singing underneath as well...

RP: What does that bring to the album in terms of creativity from your perspective?

JLB: Well I think there’s a bit more... depth to it. I look at stuff like that as more like when I used to listen to Alice in Chains, they’d have that whole thing going on where there’d be like thirds or fifths being sung underneath what Layne Staley was doing. So I look at it more like that, it just brings a bit more tonality to it, because Mike’s voice and my voice are like night and day. He’s more there for a textural thing and it brings a bit more depth to the actual vocal presentation. And I’m comfortable with that. I don’t think that it obscures what I’m doing vocally or melodically and it just sits in the right spot. We always like to experiment and see what we can do to make the song a little different, with different presentations. I mean who knows. maybe I’ll go back and do the next album with the lead vocal and the odd harmony. When we did Train of Thought, it was me singing everything, all the backgrounds, everything. So it depends on what that album is saying to us and what we feel that we want to achieve.

KP: Generally in the past where there have been songs with ‘call and answer’ kind of sections, it’s been Mike who wrote those lyrics. You’ve obviously written the lyrics to ‘Prophets of War’ where Mike is doing that spoken stuff underneath, when you were writing that did you think “Oh that’s what Mike should do”?

JLB: Yup! Totally. I wrote those words and I approached him and I said “Look. this is what I’m thinking for this section, and I want you to do it” “F**k yeah! I’ll do it! You don’t have to ask me twice! I’ll f**king do it right!” But, yeah, I was at home and I was writing the melody for that song and the lyrics and then it got to that part and I thought it would be really cool to be like some spoken thing but rhythmically, it has to be rhythm-based. He was really into it, if he didn’t want to do it then I would have because I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew that he’d take it, I knew he’d take the bait! [laughter] For sure!

RP: Talking about ‘Prophets of War’, it’s obviously very topical in its subject matter. Is that something lyrically or concept-wise that you’ve been thinking about for a while or...?

JLB: No. It’s loosely based on a book I read called ‘Politics of Truth’. Joseph Wilson, who was once an ambassador for the United States, wrote it. He was ambassador in Nigeria and Iraq. He was ambassador in Iraq during ‘Desert Storm’. But basically he was talking about how the ‘powers that be’ can persuade people into believing and can deceive people into believing that which isn’t true and isn’t necessary. And y’know this whole thing that started with Iraq was something that was preconceived by a few people, who are in my eyes... well I’m not going to say it.. It’s loosely based on it, but what I wanted to do, which I’ve also done with ‘Sacrificed Sons’ is I’ve stayed neutral. I’m not tooting the horn for one party and then the other party is completely wrong. What I’m doing is I’m just shedding some light on a particular subject and I’m wanting people to...

RP: To think?

JLB: Yeah! Think about it! Make up your own mind what you think is right and wrong. But the whole war there, that thing, it’s barbaric the fact that we’re trying to say that we’re so civilized and we’re advanced and meanwhile we resort to violence and horrific acts to try and resolve our differences or misunderstandings.

RP: At the other end of the lyrical content. John Petrucci’s contributions are quite a lot more fantasy-oriented...

JLB: Yeah, absolutely they are!

RP: It’s quite a turn around...

JLB: Yeah, it’s different! I mean, he has touched on fantasy in the past, whether it be with a song like ‘Under a Glass Moon’. but then again he’s also touched on things that are scientifically based. He likes to bounce around! Like ‘The Great Debate’ that was all scientifically based.

RP: We thought it was interesting, because it feels like it’s been a long time since something like that had been seen in Dream Theater lyrics.

JLB: Mmhmm, yeah. I think noticeably since When Dream and Day Unite, they were writing songs like that. But y’know it’s different. it’s totally different, it’s almost hard. I mean it’s going in that direction and BIG time! I’m talking about vampires and dark lords...

RP: That should be quite fun live, the whole ‘Dark Master’ sections...

JLB: It IS fun! Oh yeah! I can’t wait to do that! [laughs] That’s gonna be FUN!

KP: So how is that for you? Because you’re sitting here saying it’s very different and I know last time we spoke to you, you talked a lot about how you try to take on the lyricist’s motivations to sing a certain song.

JLB: Well, it’s the same thing. I’ll ingest the lyrical content and what the message is, and then I’ll speak to the lyricist and say “Is there anything literal that you want to tell me to help me create this character?” I basically approach it in the same way; I just thoroughly understand what the lyric’s about before I sing it so that I can become whatever I think is going to convey that message.

KP: So I guess it’s kind of like in Scenes from a Memory, in that was all basically... made up(!)

JLB: Yeah; well. I mean, Scenes from a Memory was really the first album where I was starting to get into that headspace, where I really wanted to create characters more than just sing, rather than ‘let’s just sing it and make sure it sounds good’. With Scenes, I knew it was a conceptual album and I knew that each piece had to really speak strongly, so since then, it’s just become a part of me. With each and every album I wanna be creating something different vocally and presenting myself. It keeps me interested and it keeps me excited, and hopefully that also translates to the listener:

RP: Mike has said that the album is ‘not too sappy or too proggy’. A lot of the reaction suggests that Systematic Chaos, has bridged the gap between the styles of Train of Thought and Octavarium...

KP: You could say that those two albums split the DT community into their two traditional halves...

JLB: Yeah well I think that’s always been our situation, Images and Words really attracted the progressive heads to us and then Awake, I mean at that point in time that was a very heavy album for us to present to our fans, but it also attracted all of a sudden all these people who were more keen on heavier stuff to the band. So all of a sudden we had this dichotomy of the progressive heads and the heavy metal heads at the same show. Each waiting to hear the music that they liked that we present! And I think that has continued the whole course of the way. To me, the difference between Train of Thought and Systematic Chaos is that Train of Thought was us saying basically “This is going to be our heaviest album” and it was relentless and bombastic and in your face from beginning to end and then with Systematic Chaos, what I feel anyways, is that when the music was coming together or when I hear it now and reflect on it, the two worlds are coming together: There’s classic rock influences there, there’s progressive and there’s the heavy metal, and I think the way that they intertwine is what keeps it more balanced and means it has a broader scope and a deeper feel, musically than Train of Thought or even Octavarium, which was more down the progressive angle. But that’s why I find this album, I mean all of us find it very satisfying and we are proud because we’re bringing it all together:

RP: Do you have a favourite song on the album?

JLB: My two favourites would be ‘In the Presence of Enemies Part II’ and The Ministry of Lost Souls’, those two are really hitting me. Well from there, I guess it would be ‘In the Presence of Enemies Part I’, and then probably to ‘Prophets of War’ believe it or not, and then it would go to The Dark Eternal Night’ and ‘Constant Motion’ and then ‘Forsaken’. And there’s nothing wrong with ‘Forsaken’! Don’t get me wrong here, but if I had to choose, that’s the way the songs are sitting with me right now, ask me again in 6 months and maybe I’ll say I don’t have a favourite!

RP: What are your hopes for the new album?

JLB: Well first and foremost, I hope that the fans love it! That’s our goal. And I think on the other side of it, I think it’s exciting that we have a new label behind us, that really gets us, understands us and is very excited to be working with us. So I hope that that relationship, and the strength of their belief shows. So that we get in the faces of more and more people. Because I think that even though we’ve sold like 6 or 7 million albums. I think there’s so much more for us to accomplish as far as bringing the awareness of this band to many more people, who would dig this kind of music. I mean a great example of that is when we were out with Yes, I remember touring with Yes. and then we’d go onto the chat boards from the Yes site. And there were people on there flipping out, going “I just went and saw Yes tonight and they had this band that I never even knew about and they’re called Dream Theater and I’m going out to buy their stuff!” And I’m thinking to myself “How the hell can you be into a band like Yes...” and sure they’re a lot lighter and they always have been. but they’re progressive and those elements ring true with us as well, but that’s really bizarre to me that you can appreciate that kind of music, but you’ve never encountered Dream Theater? Nobody has ever said to you, “Oh well if you like Yes, there’s something here, a little bit more edgy, but progressive and I think that you would really appreciate it. I mean it’s a bit different, but it’s still in that vein of music that you appreciate.” But they didn’t. They didn’t know!

KP: That’s something that’s been really striking to us here in the UK, the turnaround that RoadRunner has brought. You guys are just everywhere. And we’re sat there going “Yeah, yeah! We knew already!”

RP: That’s something else we wanted to discuss. Already it’s very obvious the jump in the whole promotional aspect and the rise in Dream Theater’s presence.

JLB: We’re seeing it in the magazines already y’know...

RP: Like the big Metal Hammer poster this week? (July 2007 issue)

JLB: Yeah exactly! Which was really bizarre because we’re nowhere on the front. There’s a big f**king poster of us inside and we’re like “what?!” We’re a little surprise!

KP: It’s been all over our board, with people going “yes it’s the one that doesn’t say DT on the front!”

JLB: I know! It’s like “Are we in this one? I thought we were supposed to be in this one”. Dave Mustaine on his fricking bike! I mean c’mon! Just say somewhere there... But yeah, we’ve definitely noticed it, not just here in the UK; they really are proving to us everything they said. When we first met with them they said “We’ve watched you guys, we’ve followed your career from the very beginning. shortly after you signed with Atlantic.” And we’re like “Really?” And they said “Yeah, we were keeping a close watch on you because we wanted to see if Atlantic would pick up the option and if not, we were going to approach you.” And they did, because they picked up each option, but they said “We knew along the way that there could have been so much more going on with you guys. We couldn’t believe it that they weren’t capitalizing on your popularity just from self-motivation and working relentlessly on the road.”

KP: I noticed they had you over here prior to the tour doing some videos and interviews and things, so that’s kind of more work for you...

JLB: We haven’t done that since Awake. The last time we came over to Europe like that was Awake.

KP: So how did you find it?

RP: Is it something interesting and exciting to do? To get the opportunity to get out and vocally promote the band?

JLB: Yeah! Absolutely! I remember when Frank, our manager. called me and Mike up and said “They want you to go to Europe. Are you in? I told them I didn’t know...” And I’m like “What?! Let’s go and do what we’re supposed to be doing to get an album out there so that people can become aware!”

RP: So how does it feel to be playing Donington finally? Obviously that’s a big thing...

JLB: Yeah, it feels great! Once again. the presence of being with RoadRunner and that whole association with them, I think was really instrumental in orchestrating something like that. It’s great, I mean we’re really excited about tomorrow and I can’t wait to get this show tonight over with! No, I’m kidding! I’M KIDDING YOU! [laughter] Still, we can’t wait to get there. And then we go to Poland.

RP: Should be nice and warm there, Poland in the summer is always hot.

KP: Mind you, we came to see you there in 2002, and it was really hot until we got to Krakow and then there was torrential rain and we got drenched. You arrived fairly late that night...

JLB: Yeah, we arrived late that night because they weren’t going to let me in!

KP: We’d heard there was a problem at the border, was it you?!

JLB: Yeah, it was me! Can you believe that?! I was like “wait a minute, it’s usually the other way around”, the Americans get everyone riled up and all that and then they’re like “Oh you’re Canadian? Come on in!” But they were like “Where’s your work papers?!” and I’m like “What are you talking about? [whispers] Which work papers? They’re not letting me in!” Oh, it was a MESS! Rikk (Feulner. DT’s tour manager) and I were just talking about that earlier. I said “Rikk! Am I okay this time?! We’re going to Poland!” He said “Yeah, you’re taken care of, don’t worry about it!” [laughter] I said “Maybe I should just leave now, so I can get in there!”

RP: The other big thing, apart from Download, is obviously the Wembley Arena show coming up in October. Is that a big deal?

KP: What does Wembley mean to you, as a non-Brit?

JLB: Well, we’re all aware of Wembley Arena, everyone is. Wembley Arena, Wembley Stadium. When we were told “they want you to play Wembley Arena” we felt wow, that’s amazing for us to do and accomplish that in the UK. Because there was a good period of time, where we couldn’t be arrested coming in here and it felt like there was no anticipation for us to come here and the places that we were playing were really depressing and we were at the point where we were saying “If we don’t go to the UK, that’s fine.”

RP: Wembley is a bit different from the Forum in Kentish Town...

JLB: Yeah!

KP: My first show, you came to my university in Manchester and you played in a really small room within the Students Union...

RP: You could barely get the gear on the stage...

JLB: Yeah, yeah * cringes* Oh my God... So it’s come a long way! And we’re all really excited about Wembley Arena, I mean you can’t not be. And the fact that is comforting for us on this whole tour is the fact that we know that our label is going to be working hard with the promoters.

RP: Laying the groundwork?

JLB: ‘Cause a lot of the promoters on previous tours would say “We were trying to get in contact with the people that represent you, your label, and there’s no response.” Now the promoters are coming up to us and raving “Oh it’s amazing! The label guys are calling us going ‘this is what you need, this is what you get!’ bam, bam, bam!” Already we’re seeing that and that’s what’s going to make things different. We’re all sitting in a good spot right now, we’re all excited to get out there, we’re excited about the album, we’re excited about the tour and, knock on wood, it’ll be good.

KP: Okay, I’ve been put up to this, this isn’t even my question...

JLB: Ohhhh yeah...

KP: I think it’s because it’s a bit of a girly-type question. It’s just that you guys all look very ‘metal’ these days, you’ve stolen Richard’s beard design...

JLB: Yeah I was thinking of Richard one day and I thought “Yeah, that’s me!”

KP: When I was looking at the video from the studio, you all appear to have turned up to the studio looking like that. Did you? Or is that just what was filmed? You all look a lot more ‘metal’ than previously, it seems to be darker...

JLB: Well for me, I had done this (his beard) back in 2001 for a very short period of time and I remember; I think I said to Mike “You know, I’m thinking of growing my facial hair... “ and he goes “Do it! I think that’s really a cool look for you man.” And it’s funny, because the last week that we’ve been out Mike would see the odd picture of me from before I had this and he’d say “I can’t even look at that and think that’s you! I can’t wrap my head around that. It doesn’t look right. This is the way it should be. This is the way you should look. Just keep that!” And for me, it’s no problem, because I like it and my wife likes it. But I think as far as ‘looking metal’, I think we just wanted to have a look that we felt was a strong statement.

KP: Do you think you look more congruous as a band?

JLB: I think we look cooler as a band now, I don’t think it was necessarily us going “Yeah! We’ve gotta be METAL!” with the leather and the chains. I think it was just like “C’mon guys, can we try as hard as we can to look like a cool band?!” When I look at some older pictures it looks like we’re very complacent and we’re like “yeah we’re in this band and this is the way we look and take it or leave it.” What’s the harm of saying “Yeah we’re in a band and we care about the way that we look”?

KP: Do you think it helps with promotion and attracting the younger kids?

JLB: Yeah and the fact that the label was like bam, bam, bam, “We wanna do a big photo shoot with you and then we wanna do videos with you. So if you guys could really be prepared for this, because this is really going to be something we’re focusing on.” So that was really inspiring. That was the incentive, right there, to say “Okay, this is serious, we can’t show up looking like we just walked out of 7-Eleven or fricking Starbucks! Let’s seriously go there and try and look cool.”

RP: What has it been like to be back doing the whole video thing after so long?

JLB: You know what? I gotta tell you, to me personally, I still think the best vehicle for Dream Theater is the DVD. I really do. As far as the videos, I’m not saying it’s not going to work, I’m not saying it’s not a great thing, because it’s cool. It just seems really that that whole world is so contrived. You’re not able to be really what you are; you’re trying to act in a certain way and ‘Look at the camera!’

RP: Kind of like playing the game?

JLB: Yeah, yeah exactly, and that’s never been us, we’ve never played the game, because no one’s let us in it! [laughs] You know? While videos are a cool thing, and if it does something to bring more people into our fanbase, then that’s a beautiful thing, if it doesn’t then it’s not really going to surprise me because it seems a little forced to me. Whereas, a DVD capturing us live on stage, that really shows us, that’s natural!