James LaBrie interview

Jenn: You come from Midland and you’ve made it to international stardom. Did you always know that music was going to be your career?

James LaBrie: I think I was tenacious enough to wanna do everything that it took to see it fulfilled. I knew at a very young age, around five years old, that’s when I started singing and I was also playing drums at that age. I was just captivated by music, period. I grew up in a very musical home and music was playing all the time. We had piano, there’s guitars. So I was exposed to it on a constant basis, everyday basis, so it was just something I think that naturally I gravitated towards. I know that by the time I was ten and twelve years old it was just everything that I thought about, in fact daydreaming in school was my problem. It interfered or monopolized my time.

J: When you find yourself back in Midland, do you get the sort of hometown boy feel or do you have those Star Trek people approach you?

JL: It’s a bit of both. For the most part, my wife and I have retained friends that we did grow up with around here. I do encounter when I’m out in various stores, people come up and say, “Hi James. How you doing? Can I get your autograph?” And it’s good. Everyone is really low key and respectful, so I think that’s what makes it OK. If anything, living back in the area just reminds you of your humble beginnings. It keeps everything grounded, and I think fortunately enough I never really forgot that. Being able to do what we’ve done and sold almost 15 million albums and tour around the world, that’s fantastic, it’s incredible and sometimes I shake my head and go, “Wow! I really did it’ll make this happen.” But at the same time, I don’t forget and it’s helped me remain who and what I’ve always been, and just I want to be real. I think being around people that know me as my previous self, as Kevin and not as James, that’s a good reminder.

J: What’s next for a Dream Theater?

JL: Dream Theater will go back into the studio in New York in February and start writing and recording. Usually that’s about a five month period of doing that, Monday to Friday; we take our weekends off. Then hopefully, there will be a late fall 2015 release and we don’t want to start touring until 2016 to support that. We’ll engage and start another world tour probably right around this time next year.

J: Do you work on your solo project, the James LaBrie band, simultaneously?

JL: I had done that in the past and at this point we’re not blocking in anytime soon to start writing, but that can always change within a month or two; we will see how we feel. I don’t want to have the next James LaBrie album come out until it will coordinate itself so that Dream Theater’s tour is starting to wind down, the album comes out, it sets that up, and then I’d like to do a fairly extensive tour with the solo band, because we haven’t done a tour with us since 2005.

J: To close this out, what would your advice be to young musicians here in Midland or in other rural areas or in all over Canada and the world, what would your advice be?

JL: I think first and foremost, be honest with yourself. We all know at the end of the day if we have something that’s unique, if we are really, really exceptional at what we’re trying to put out there as an artist, whether you’re a singer, piano player, guitar player, composer or whatever. I mean if you know for sure that you have what it takes to be on the world stage, then by all means be tenacious and stick with it, and do what it takes to get recognized, to get noticed. The beauty of today is that the young artists of today have technology at their fingertips. They can record themselves put it out on YouTube; if the right person sees that, it’s the catalyst to getting themselves into a position to get a label deal and to get a release and to start being recognized. So I think it just comes down to if you think you have it, believe in yourself and stay dedicated and do all that it takes to get to that point where there’s the recognition and reality with your aspirations.