James LaBrie interview (excerpts)

Chuck Marshall: First off, I want to congratulate you on the Grammy for ‘The Alien.’ Three times the charm for you guys, which is fantastic. How does winning a Grammy impact you as an artist?

James LaBrie: I think it's great to finally get. There’s a couple things that go through my mind immediately. It’s great to get the acknowledgment and recognition from the Grammy Academy – there’s that part of it. And then at the same time, that the Grammy is recognizing and acknowledging this kind of music, this kind of musicianship. Not that they haven’t. I mean, there’s jazz artists, blues artists, and fusion, and everything you can think of, folk... That’s all going on as well where those bands rightfully, and those artists rightfully, are being awarded this type of an award of recognition. So I think it’s great for a band like Dream Theater to have this, because it not only speaks for this kind of band, or who and what we are in our entity. It speaks volumes for many, many other similar bands.

-----

CM: As an artist, you're in a challenging career path. How do you stay resilient?

JL: Well I got reptilian skin, that’s what! [laughs] F***ing internet these days is toxic – freakin’ horrible! I think really what it comes down to, if we were all very true to ourselves and we all listened to our inner voice more often, and realized that we’re all unique, we’re all individual, but at the same time, we’re all very similar. And it’s to understand oneself. It prepares you better for, as you said, the adversities in life. I think that the better understanding you have of yourself, the stronger you are, the more resilient you are, the more confident you are – and calm. The longer we live, I think everyone should evolve into that place of tranquility, so to speak. When I’m writing, I’m very observant. I think I’ve always said the best of comedians are people watchers, and they’re incredible at that craft. They know and they can pick up on the slightest little body language.

-----

JL: It’s things that I observed. Documentaries that I’ve watched or books that I’ve read that give me that palette, so to speak that I can go and then I can pen some words that I feel, not only myself, but most people around the world are gonna go, “I completely relate to that,” or “I’ve gone through that.” Because I do – I think that we all experienced a lot of the same experiences in life. And it’s how we go about them, or what we learn from it, and do we become stronger because of it.

-----

CM: What's your favorite Zeppelin album, and why?

JL: I can’t do that, that’s cruel for you to put in there. It’s I, II, III. Look, seriously, Zeppelin I, II, III. The way that I look at it is these guys came out in 1968 with Zeppelin I. And then 11 years later, the last album In Through the Out Door. So you think about their catalog, you think about what they created in 11 years – that is phenomenal! And I’ve always said that if these guys came out today, they would blow the doors off of anyone and everyone on this planet. Because if you look at the guys, respectively each guy in their instrument was the best of the best. I mean, Robert Plant – one of the greatest voices in rock ’n’ roll. John Paul Jones – incredible bass player, very musical, keyboard player, organ, all that stuff. Then you got John Bonham, one of the greatest drummers that ever freakin’ graced this planet. And then, on top of all that, you got Jimmy Page – writer, producer and mixer. Like, what? What the hell’s going on? And these four guys met on this island called the United Kingdom? Give me a frickin’ break!

I remember as a kid growing up and listening to Zeppelin, I was just, “[What] the hell?” Even at a young, tender age just going, “Wow!” Being at school, I remember I couldn’t wait to get home, get into my bedroom and play some Zeppelin songs or Deep Purple or Queen. These bands were phenomenal, and everything was fresh back there. You were able to experiment and it was new. You were able to push the envelope, and it didn’t matter because that was cool. In the late ‘60s and ‘70s, hey man, you had to go against the grain. You could not be one of the conformists. You had to be able to say, “No, it’s about individuality, and it’s about expression that comes from the core of who and what we are.” That’s what made those guys who they are, and that’s why there’s nobody else like that decade. I would say from 1968 to 1978. And let’s face it, I know that disco came out and that s***, but there were amazing artists that were going on. Pink Floyd, Rush, Genesis. There was so many bands to think about – like even the f***ing Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan and all this s***. What is going on here? There were so many incredible artists out there.

-----

JL: I was fortunate enough, back in 1995 when Dream Theater was out on the Awake tour, and we did this huge festival tour back then, throughout Europe. And it was Page and Plant, they were on it. It was a freakin’ crazy, crazy festival tour. It was Page and Plant, Joe Cocker, Black Crowes, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, and the list went on and on. And we’re like, “How bizarre and eclectic is this?” But that’s cool. And then Dream Theater, “Let’s throw in this progressive and crazy s***.” And it was amazing because it really was the full celebration of every kind of music you can think of was going on there.

And I remember bumping into Robert Plant and Jimmy Page off and on during that tour – it was funny, it was great. One of the days I was sitting in the bar, and I don’t drink when I’m on the road, but I was just sitting there, having a soda water or something like that, and all of a sudden Robert Plant comes up and he says, “Hey man, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was watching you guys the other day. You guys sounded really cool, man.” He goes, “Hey, by the way mate, you have a cigarette?” I said, “No Robert, I don’t smoke.” He says, “Good on you, good on you,” and then he moved on. Then he came up to me once in a while throughout the tour, and Jimmy Page as well. “Hey man, yeah, how you doing?” And these guys are so cool, and I’m looking at these guys going, “These guys are icons.” Even back then, they were already legends. I’ve always said this: the coolest thing I think anybody can be is real and down to earth, and these guys were freakin’ totally cool, they were down to earth. I think they had Ringo Starr’s son playing drums for them at the time, and what a phenomenal drummer! Then they had all those vocal and percussionists – they were out in the fields every day, smoking those big, smoke shop things, where there’s smoke in the big long tubes – what’s that called?

CM: The hookah?

JL Yeah! They’re all out there smoking that – not Robert and Jimmy – but their accompanying bandmates. And it was so cool. They were just like, laid back, “Hey man, what’s up?” You’d walk by, like, “Rock ‘n’ roll!” These guys are just living life. Who cares? They’re on stage now or later, and they’re freakin’ kicking ass. It’s like, “What? This is crazy, man!” But that is pure rock ’n’ roll. That era was so instrumental and so inspirational to me, and they really created who and what I became and wanted to become.