James LaBrie interview (excerpt)

Rodrigo Altaf: Speaking of Dream Theater, the show in Brazil will be at the iconic Rock In Rio festival. I’m Brazilian and my friends are like, “Ask him about the setlist, because they have an hour to play. It’s gonna be a different setlist than the current tour. What are you guys planning if you can reveal anything?

James LaBrie: I can’t really reveal anything. Yeah, we only have like an hour and I will tell you this though: the first show being Rock In Rio, but I know that we are doing some other shows throughout South America. I think we’re playing in São Paulo, Porto [Alegre], I’m not sure – don’t quote me on these freaking cities yet – but I do know that we are gonna be playing another one or two shows in Brazil after Rio, and then we’re playing in Buenos Aires and then we’re playing in I think Chile, in Santiago. It’s not going to be a long tour, because I think we’re planning on coming back in 2023 and doing a full out South American run. But at this point we’re like, “OK so we’re down there, why don’t we at least do a few shows and get to at least a few key areas in South America even though we’re still missing?” because South America is huge. So we’ll come back in 2023 and do a more inclusive and full run throughout South America. As far as the songs that we’re going to be playing at Rock In Rio and the other shows, I don’t know because we haven’t really discussed it yet – that’s the honest truth. We’re all going to be together in a couple weeks in Europe, so when we’re on a tour bus and we’re on our way or when we’re on a plane to another city, we can discuss these issues and come up with what we think is gonna be the best setlist to play in front of that many people, and go out there and kick ass.

RA: By the way congratulations on the Grammy. I watched John Petrucci’s speech when he received the award. He seemed really emotional, and for us fans you know it’s a big moment as well.

JL: He texted all of us right after he got the award ,and he was like, “Guys, I hope I make made you proud and I spoke properly for all of us,” and I told him, “John you sounded like a pro. You did us respect, and it was so amazing to watch you accept this. You were extremely well spoken.” And he goes, “I was freaking out man! My adrenaline was pumping!” And I said, “Well you didn’t sound like you were freaking. You looked and sounded like a pro.” I said, “You look really good in that tux!” [laughs] He just said, “What a moment!” because he said, “I was just sitting there and I was thinking, ‘Are we gonna win this time?’” I guess the third time’s a charm, right? And he said, “And then I heard our name and I was like, ‘What the hell?!’” So he was freaking, but we all were. Like my whole family was jumping up and down in the house and we’re running around “Yee-hew!” and everybody was doing that. So we went out, we had a little bit of a celebratory kind of evening, so to speak. So we had a good time. And yeah, it’s another feather in our cap and another echelon or point of recognition, so it is cool and it’s a great feeling for sure.

RA: I have a question about the impact you have on the fans. I’ve been to a few meet and greets with you guys, and I’ve seen people do crazy things. Like I once saw a pregnant woman asking the whole band to sign her belly – that was in Spain. [laughs]

JL: Holy s***! I forget all about... [laughs] OK man! Wow! I vaguely recall that. Hey listen, I remember waaaay back in the Images and Words tour when we were all extremely young guys, and I remember women being a little more prevalent at those shows and coming up and asking us to sign other parts of their bodies and we would be like, “Not gonna happen, no f***in’ way.” Because, first of all, I was married at the time. I’m not sure if the other guys were on the Images [tour], but they were practically engaged – let’s just put it that way. So it was crazy because like people get really excited.

There was one show where this guy came and he had a freakin’ huge Dream Theater majesty symbol tattooed on his back. And I was like, “Holy s*** dude! How long did that take?” because I have a tattoo as well – I have a couple. If this one on my arm took 20 hours to do – I did it in two ten hour segments just because I had to go on tour. I couldn’t space it out even further. I would have, but I didn’t have that option. So he was like, “Oh yeah man, this took like 36 hours to do,” and I said, “So what did you do?” He goes, “Well I had to do it like six hours, six hours, six hours.” I said, “Oh my God! You were obviously sleeping on your stomach.” “Oh yeah! I had to!” It was crazy, it was huge! But some people are that passionate about the band. And we’ve seen several Dream Theater tattoos over the years where people are just so passionate about what they’re doing for the band. There’s a lot of great, beautiful people out there.

RA: You’re at a point now where every few years there’s an album released to celebrate or an album anniversary to celebrate. You did Images and Words, Scenes From a Memory. Can we expect something similar for Six Degrees or Octavarium for example in the future or not?

JL: Phew. Six Degrees is a freaking great album – it really is. I love that album and there’s so many great songs on that. If we could, I would love to pay homage to each and every one of those freakin’ albums. Especially something like Six Degrees, because that was a fan favorite. Octavarium another big fan favorite. Train of Thought even for more our metalhead fans, they love that album. I don’t know to be quite honest with you. It’s overwhelming because we have so many songs to begin with, and then trying to fit them in. We’re still playing a two-hour set every night, and even at that we’re going, “Holy s***! What about that song? What about that song? What about...?” and it’s impossible. We’d be doing like six hour shows [laughs] if we really wanted to satisfy each and every one of our fans. So to answer your question, I don’t know. I don’t know if we’re ever gonna get around to celebrating each and every album. I mean Scenes From a Memory was an iconic album for Dream Theater, so that’s why we decided to go out and play that. But as far as these other albums, I don’t know if they’re gonna be treated under the same umbrella of homage. I don’t know, but let’s just keep our options open at this point.

RA: Fair enough. Before I let you go and we wrap it up, as a long time fan I can’t not tell you how happy I was when Mike Portnoy came to see you guys play on this tour, and you acknowledged him in the crowd. What did that night feel like?

JL: Well what happened was my manager... this is, like, two hours before the show. You know the history with Mike and I. The thing is what was sad about that whole duration where Mike and I didn’t see eye to eye is that when Dream Theater started, Images and Words and Awake and that, Mike and I were best friends, way back. And then we started to fall apart, for several reasons. The details don’t matter, it’s just that we started to have a problem with one another. And so about two hours before the New York show, my manager texts me, and he said, “Listen, Mike’s gonna be there tonight. He wants to come back and see you. He wants to make amends. I don’t mean to do this.” And I said, “Frank (to my manager), you’re putting this in my lap two hours before I play in front of how many thousands of people in New York? Are you kidding me?”

So I thought about it, I went for a walk, believe it or not. I went incognito and I went for a walk in New York. And I walked the streets and I started thinking about it, and I said to myself, “You know what? Enough is enough. There’s enough hate in this world, there’s enough frickin’ negativity in this world. If Mike wants to come and see me, and make amends, then I should be receptive.” And I got in touch, and John Petrucci was also there. So he said, “Mike wants to know if he can come back and say hi to you.” And I said, “You know what? Yeah, let him know. Tell him to come back and see me after the show.” And that’s what we did. We chatted, we had a good, long discussion. We made up and gave each other a hug and did a picture together. And when I was out on stage before all that, I just said, “Hey, I just wanna let you guys know, Mike Portnoy’s here. Hey, welcome brother to the show.” And that was it.

The thing is that you get to a point in life where you can’t carry around that. Don’t carry around hate, don’t carry around negativity. We carried it around far too long, as far as I’m concerned, and it didn’t serve any purpose. It just served frickin’ division. It was very divisive and very damaging. Listen, just the other day Mike texts me, and he was like, “Hey James, I just wanna congratulate you on the Grammy. You frickin’ well deserve this – you and the band. Awesome. Kudos. Bravo,” all this stuff. And I text Mike back, and I said, “Frick man. Mike, that’s very admirable of you.” I said, “In my book, that’s pretty damn cool for you to say these things.” And he said, “Awesome, man. Love it.” So, it’s great to be back. We’re talking to one another, we’re chatting and all that stuff. And that’s the kind of world that I wanna live in as opposed to negativity, hate – it’s just not worth it.