Originally published in Revolvermag.com · May 2023
Dream Theater’s James LaBrie: “We’re much more than progressive metal”
InterviewJames LaBrie9 min read
Frontman talks Animals as Leaders, Devin Townsend, Dreamsonic tour, more
text Eli Enis
June 15, 2023
James LaBrie has a big summer ahead of him. Tomorrow (June 16th), Dream Theater will kick off the inaugural date of what they hope is an annual tour package specializing in progressive metal. Dubbed DreamSonic, the ambitious trek pairs LaBrie and his Dream Theater cohorts with the prolific prog wiz Devin Townsend and the instrumental metal technicians Animals As Leaders.
For over a month, the three bands will be traveling throughout North America together, and LaBrie was palpably stoked when he touched base with Revolver a couple weeks before. We spoke with the frontman about his love for DreamSonic’s opening acts, his band’s vision for this unique tour, and the things that irk him about the way people describe Dream Theater’s music.
What makes DreamSonic different than past Dream Theater tours?
James LaBrie: Well, I think it’s been a while since we have really gone out and made something like a separate entity from our [usual business]. We regularly tour in support of the new album, and then we play songs from various albums throughout. I think we were talking about bringing something where the focus is on really cool bands.
And not only the musicianship and the technical prowess and all that stuff, but something that would be a package where people would say, “Hey, you know what? All these bands represent styles of music that I’m into, and I get to see them all in one evening.” We felt that this would be a cool representation.
Why did Devin Townsend and Animals As Leaders feel like the right bands for the inaugural DreamSonic support slots?
JL: If I start with Animals as Leaders, I mean, they’re all phenomenal musicians. But even their songs, if you sit down and you listen to them, it’s such a well-balanced offering. A lot of people are like, “Well, instrumental music’s not really my thing.” And I’m like, “Well, if you give it a bit of a chance to prove itself, you might find with certain bands that they do it beautifully.” And I think with Animals as Leaders, they do just that.
They’re doing well on their own. They can go out and do sizable venues, and people have really gravitated towards them. And I think it’s not just because, “Hey, these guys are amazing musicians.” I think it comes down to that there’s a groove in the music. There’s something that is substantial there that gravitates the listeners to want to hear a bit more.
What about Devin Townsend?
JL: We toured last year with Devin throughout Europe, and he’s a phenomenal musician. Great guy, very sensible and very, very intelligent, and I just love his stuff. And one of the things that we touched on, I said, “When I listen to your music, I just think it’s so vastly versatile and there’s just something there from each song, I can see that those are layers of you.”
He goes, “That’s really cool for you to say that.” He goes, “You know what I get tired of? I get tired of people referring to my music as absurd.” And he goes, “It’s not about that. It’s about me having fun, putting a bit of humor into at the same time. There is a goal. It’s not all random. There’s a purpose behind each and everything that I do. But why not make it entertaining and give it another layer for someone to sink into resonate with?”
I think that’s great. That’s also a part of why he is who he is and why his music, well, it definitely speaks loudly to me, and I know the other guys respect him and love him as well.
You said Devin gets irked when people call his music “absurd.” Are there any ways people characterize Dream Theater’s music that bother you?
JL: They might just go, ”Well, that’s progressive. They’re all noodling, and it’s these long, long songs.” And I’m like, “Oh my God.” Obviously you haven’t really listened to our album, as an album, and heard all the differences throughout each and every album, all the styles that we touch on. It’s not about the epic songs.
We love to play epics, and that has become a big part of our identity. I’m extremely proud and I’ll stand behind any one of our long songs – as some people refer to them – because I think that they’re brilliantly done. I’m not trying to sound pompous and conceited. I just really think that if you are going to do songs that are 12, 15, 20 minutes and so on, there’s got to be a purpose behind it. There’s got to be a ride there for the listener. There has to be the dynamics. Then people are going to walk away and go, “Holy shit! Wait a minute, 25 minutes just went by?”
But at the same time, you have a song from Dream Theater like “I Walk Beside You.” Come on, that could have been on radio. That could have been, as far as I’m concerned, a U2 song. So it says that there’s many layers to us. So when people say, “Oh, you’re Dream Theater, progressive metal,” I’m like, “Yes, we are. But we’re much more than that.” And progressive metal, I think it does describe who we are because there’s an edge to our music, but there’s a lot to us. There’s the diversity and it’s very eclectic, and we pull from several styles, and I think that’s shaped us into who and what we are.
Are there any songs or surprises you guys are planning to pull out during the DreamSonic tour?
JL: There will be. But I don’t want to reveal ... There’s going to be some cool stuff going on, for sure. We’re definitely looking forward to it. It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be a good hang with the bands and the members. Hopefully, we can have some barbecues along the way.
At one point, we were touring, I think on the last, or no this would’ve been prior to the pandemic, and one of our audio techs, he was big into smoking, so he actually brought out a smoker with him. So if we ever were in a place where he could set up in the back parking lot of the venue or whatever, we’d be out there enjoying a smoke.
That’s dangerous.
JL: It is. You want to wait until after the show tour or else you just don’t feel like doing it.
https://www.revolvermag.com/music/james-labrie-picks-favorite-dream-theater-songs-play-live
In advance of their current Dreamsonic package tour, Revolver asked singer James LaBrie to pick his single favorite Dream Theater songs to play live. He had many different answers, spanning obvious fan favorites and deeper cuts that they haven’t played in “a dog’s age,” to borrow his favorite turn of phrase. Read below to see his selections.
“Well right now, if you were to ask me, I’d say ‘Answering the Call’ is a great song. That’s from the new album. I really enjoy playing ‘A View From the Top of the World,’ too. Those two songs are from our latest album, but I think they show you that we’re still evolving, that we’re still hungry, that we still are proud of everything that we do.
“I know that ‘Octavarium’ has always been a favorite of mine. I love ‘The Glass Prison.’ We haven’t played that in a dog’s age, but I do love that song.
“[There’s] ‘Surrounded.’ I remember thinking about that just a little while ago, thinking that that song is a little more of a beautiful. Kind of surreal, expressionist, ethereal-like. I always liked playing that song. It’s from Images and Words. But it just always came over well. “Under Glass Moon,” too, from that album. I always loved playing that, or singing that, I should say.
“Then there’re songs even that we haven’t played in a dog’s age like ‘Anna Lee.’ I know that that’s something that, I think we played it out a few times, and that was when Derek Sherinian was in the band and that whole era. ‘Innocence Faded from Awake” was such a cool song. The whole instrumental breakdown section always reminded me of classic Kansas.
“We haven’t played ‘Learning to Live’ in a dog’s age, and that’s always a fan favorite. Then there’s ‘Metropolis One,’ that’s always gone over well as well. So, there’re several. I think it depends on my mood and where I’m at at that particular moment.”
https://www.revolvermag.com/music/dream-theaters-james-labrie-picks-2-bands-carrying-torch-metal
We asked the prog-metal singer which younger bands he thinks are currently carrying the torch for metal into the future, and two acts immediately came to mind. One of them makes sense given the type of music LaBrie sings in Dream Theater, but the other might come as a bit of a surprise.
“I think Architects are doing well,” LaBrie said of the U.K. metalcore titans. “My son turned me onto them, and then they played a couple shows with [Dream Theater]. They went out and did a couple of shows over in Europe with us. They were all fans, and they’re like, ‘Hey guys, we listen to you.’
“But I mean, we get that a lot. When we’re out, they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, man. I grew up,’ and I’m like, ‘Fuck you. How old were you? Five years old when you started listening?’ Anyways, I love the production of their albums. I think it’s superior. It’s just so well thought-out.
“I would say Periphery, too. I love those guys. Amazing musicians. I love everything they put out. It’s just well thought-out, and it’s a great representation of musicianship but at the same time, songsmith.
“I’m not necessarily always listening to metal music. Believe it or not, I’ll listen to Young the Giant or OneRepublic, or even listen to Coldplay and U2’s latest [albums]. So I actually purposely get away from maybe what it is that [Dream Theater] represent, with the metal and the progressiveness.
“But every so often, I’ll hear a band and say, ‘Wow, that’s intelligent. That’s well thought-of, and good for them. And hopefully they’re going to be around for a while.’ And if [Periphery] keep writing like that, I can’t see why they wouldn’t.”
We ask artists to pick the one standout cut from across their entire catalog that they believe is the best place for virgin listeners to begin their journey. Below, Dream Theater frontman James LaBrie does the honors. It’s a tough choice.
I think “Metropolis – Part 1” would do it. You would hear that our sound is not all about just balls-to-the-wall, and it’s more about creating an environment where it’s a great ride and it’s intense. It’s exciting, it’s dynamic. It’s something that speaks differently to you, but at the same time, it’s very intriguing.
And that’s one song that I still love to do whenever we do pull it out. I just think it’s a great tune. It’s an awesome tune. So definitely “Metropolis – Part 1,” I think it would sink some people into the band make them go, “Holy shit, what the hell’s going on here?”
https://www.revolvermag.com/music/dream-theaters-james-labrie-my-least-favorite-songs-play-live
We asked LaBrie if there’re any songs he doesn’t like to perform, for whatever reason.
For him, there aren’t any songs in Dream Theater’s repertoire that he groans at the idea of performing, but there are certain eras of the band’s catalog that can be incredibly challenging for him to replicate as his voice continues to naturally age.
“Well, anything off Images and Words is mildly unpleasant because I can’t sing like that anymore,” LaBrie says of the material on Dream Theater’s 1992 breakout LP. “I can’t sing in the stratosphere. [Those songs are from] 30 years ago.
“I’ll alter the melodies to fit into what my voice is these days, but I still love those songs. But for me to do ‘Another Day’ and sing that whole last verse and chorus, it’s like, yeah right!
“Any of the songs that I find extremely challenging would be from before I ruptured my vocal cords, anything that was [recorded] before December 30th, 1994. Before I did that, I was able to sing up in those higher registers, and it was nothing for me. It was effortless.
“But I still do fondly look at those songs from those albums. But I’d say that it’s more about the beauty of singing songs from any era... because I’ll just alter the melodies to make it work and still enjoy the vibe and still enjoy what the song represents to us, and to the fans.”