James LaBrie
You Can Never Stop Learning

03.01.2011

47-year-old James LaBrie sings for Dream Theater, arguably the most famous progressive metal band in the world, and can be called a legendary person with good reason. Therefore an interview with James doesn’t need a detailed introduction. The only thing worth mentioning upfront is that we called the singer shortly before the release of his second solo album “Static Impulse”, which is quite a departure from the music people usually expect from James. In addition, the interview occurred on a dark November evening when the relations between Dream Theater and their former drummer Mike Portnoy reached a critical point, and the label responsible for “Static Impulse” basically banned reporters from asking any questions related to the singer’s main band. However, there were still more than enough issues to discuss with James …

First of all I’d like to ask you about the title of your new album – why “Static Impulse”?

“Static Impulse” is like a metaphoric description of human beings. We’re very complicated and unpredictable and controversial. We’re impulsive and affective and extremely precious species. So I felt that with some of the lyrical content and music with hidden dynamics we kind of described through both the music and the lyrical content how senses are talking for the whole emotional spectrum of humans. We kind of summed it all up with the title, so to speak.

The cover of the album looks quite unusual for a metal album in the traditional sense. Could you say a couple of words about it?

Then again, it’s the extension of the lyrics and of the title. There’re a lot of organizations, whether it’d be religion or just certain dogmas or whatever, that influence who and what we are, and it creates a lot of ignorance and a lot of misunderstandings. So if you look at the picture there’re a lot of different groups or types of people, and they’re all in their own zones. There are circles of comfort. We all exist in a kind of “zone” that we feel we’re most connected with. It all might be a little more conserving or a little mellower than most of the graphic extremes that most metal albums have.

There’s a message for your fans on your website. You wrote that you want your fans to tell you what they think about the album. Have you got any interesting opinions so far?

Overall the reaction on “Static Impulse” has been incredible. It’s been very-very positive. It had a critical acclaim around the world, and most of the reviews have been excellent and very favorable. And the fans overall really love the album. I haven’t seen anyone out there saying, “Maybe you should have done this or that…” All I’m seeing is just how much they appreciate it. So it’s been a great reaction.

You wrote the songs for the album with your long-time songwriting partner Matt Guillory. How does working with him differ from working with your bandmates in Dream Theater?

Oh, well, it differs! Matt Guillory and I, we write everything. We are the guys who do everything, we write all the music together, we produce the albums together and we talk about the artwork and the presentation and how we want it to be presented. So basically it differs quite a bit. In Dream Theater we have five guys working together. And my solo project is just me and one other guy writing all the music, deciding what it should be.

All the screamed vocals on “Static Impulse” are performed by Swedish drummer Peter Wildoer. Why don’t you sing screamed parts by yourself?

Originally we were thinking about that. Originally I was going to sing the parts that Peter is doing now. I was going to sing with more rusty, aggressive voice, much like I did on “Wake Up”. But then Matt and I wanted more classic metal approach to the music, and for it to be more authentic we wanted Peter to do those vocals.

By the way, you’ve got a very international team. Peter is from Sweden, your guitar player is from Italy… How did you get to know all of them?

Well, Peter… When we were looking for a drummer we wanted to have a real metal kind of drummer for this album. And Jens Bogren who ended up mixing the album suggested Peter to us. He said, “You know, that guy is an amazing drummer, he also sings great death metal vocals” – so that’s how we knew he can do that as well. Marco Sfogli was also on “Elements of Persuasion”, my last solo album. He knew another keyboard player that Matt had stayed in touch with. And when we were looking for a guitar player Matt was made a word of Marco, and so when we started to listen to Marco’s playing, it was undeniable that the guy was an incredible guitar player. That’s how we got him into the band. And Ray Riendeau, the bass player… We originally wanted him to come on tour with “Elements of Persuasion” – there’s been a short tour… We knew of him through his work with Rob Halford and we knew that he was an amazing bass player, very musical and extremely talented. So that’s how the band was formed. You’re right, it’s an international band. Rob is from the U.S., I’m from Canada…

Are these musicians a kind of “dream team” for you? Do you want them to stay by your side in future?

Yeah, absolutely! They’re all phenomenally talented, they’re all fantastic players – each and every one of them. So definitely I wanna continue working with them and hopefully when it comes time to do another solo album I would love to have these guys playing on the album. They’re also great people, very down to earth, very intelligent, very well-spoken… Just real good people. So I would love to continue working with them, absolutely.

You say that your lyrics are “observatory”. Why? Is it because of your temper or life experience or something else?

When I write lyrics, a lot of my inspiration is just from being very observant… The things that I see every day in life, whether it’s some stuff that I’m watching on TV, news or movies or TV programs or whatever, or whether it’s a book that I’m reading or whether it’s the interactions that I have with my family and friends and other people in the industry… All these things kind of feed into things that I wanna express lyrically. And that’s really the basis of my lyrics.

You not only wrote the songs and performed vocals for this album, but you also were a producer. Have you ever thought of producing some other bands?

Yeah, I would love to produce other bands. And that’s something I’m looking forward to do. I would love to produce a great Russian band. (laughs) There’re a lot of great musicians out there, there’re a lot very talented people. They just need a bit more interaction or a bit more objective opinion to come into play when it comes to being in the studio and creating music. I actually produced all of my solo albums, and it’s something I would love to get into and I would like to start doing it at some point, but I just didn’t have any opportunity at this point.

You’ve already mentioned Russia, and I just can’t help asking you about it. What were your impressions of our country when you were here with Dream Theater?

Oh, it was amazing! We’d been talking about it and touring it for so long, and finally it happened. And the fans were amazing over there, and the reaction was incredible… Everybody was singing the songs and was very animated… (laughs) So yeah, it was a great experience. We had a great time… We thought it’s gonna be like that, we thought it’s gonna be just a great event for us. And that what it was. We had a lot of fun.

Did you enjoy your signing session here in Moscow? Did you get a chance to talk to your fans?

Yeah, I remember that session. It was interesting. We did a big interview before it and then signed some stuff for the fans… Yeah, it was cool to be that close, that intimate with the fans even talking with them. It really showed how passionate they are and how much they appreciate what we do. So it was really cool to meet them. And it was cool to have this opportunity to be able to sit down and get the truest sense of who and what they are.

Actually I’ve got a question from your Russian fans concerning that signing session… Was it the band’s decision that only those fans who bought your CDs in that very store could get the autograph or was it due to Russian promoters? I mean, some of the guys there already had your albums and wanted to sign them, but were not allowed to take them into the store.

Wow, you know what? I had no idea that that was going on. I didn’t know that that had happened and that they were told they had to buy the CD in the store to get it signed by us… It had absolutely nothing to do with the band. The only thing I can imagine is that it was made for the store to sell more CDs… Maybe the promoters wanted it to be that way. I don’t know. I really don’t have any answer for that. And I don’t agree with that. I think that if the fans had already bought the album they should have been able to get there and have those albums signed. They shouldn’t be made to buy another one. But that’s my opinion.

As far as I know you had a lot of vocal training in the past. Do you need it now? Do you feel like you still can improve your voice?

Yeah, you know what? Luciano Pavarotti said, “You can never ever stop learning how to improve the voice and learning how to make your voice a better instrument for you”. I truly believe that you get out of it what you put into it. So yeah, I continue to study here and there. Last year I studied with a guy whose name is Jaime Vendera, he’s an amazing vocal coach and he showed me a lot of things, a lot of ways to keep the voice in shape touring all round the world. I also worked with a lady who’s name is Victoria Thompson, who has a fantastic voice. Actually my daughter studies with her, she also takes vocal lessons. And she showed me a lot - how to keep the voice in shape and how to make the voice a more variable and stronger instrument. To everyone who’s doing that thing I strongly suggest that they study, that they continue the study and they continue to look for ways of making their voice better and improving the range and making the voice a better thing. It’s something that you can always be learning and always bettering, as far as I’m concerned.

You sang the main parts for rock operas like “The Human Equation” or “Leonardo – the Absolute Man”. What’s the difference between singing some character’s part in rock opera and singing in a band?

When you’re doing an album like “Leonardo – The Absolute Man” you become that character. It’s one character by showing and trying to emulate who and what that person is or what we come to know that person to be and trying to really sincerely through the voice convey their emotions. That’s what I do with the album like “The Absolute Man” or like “The Human Equation”… you know, being that particular character. I really study who that character is or what they’re trying to be and I really try to become that emotionally. You can feel that and get that emotion through my voice. And when I do Dream Theater or my solo albums… Each song is a character. Each song is another character, is another voice that I need to create. It’s another way that I need to express myself. That’s the difference in between singing for Dream Theater or my solo album, for instance, and singing a rock opera.

Do you want to perform as a character of some rock opera or musical on stage? Or maybe you’d like to write your own rock opera some day…

Yeah, I would love to, just because it’s really theatrical and dramatic. I would love to do at some point “The Phantom of the Opera”. And maybe I’d do “Les Miserables” or “Jekyll & Hyde” – I would love to do that. But it’s just the matter of putting everything aside and go and be a part of the production for six month or whatever. It’s just a matter of making the time for me to do it. But I would love to try and be a part of that at some point of my career.

When you were a boy you played drums. Do you sometimes play them now?

(laughs) No, you know, I really haven’t played drums seriously since I was seventeen years old. It’s been a while. (laughs) I can only imagine myself getting behind drums. Now I think I’d be extremely frustrated. I wouldn’t be ever playing like I used to. But you know, it’s interesting enough that my son takes drum lessons and he plays drums. I sat down behind them a couple of times and I can tell that I really lost a lot of what I was able to be as a drummer before. But I still love the instrument and it was the drums that showed me the appreciation for the rhythm, for the rhythmic sense, that is also behind every chord of music, it’s very rhythmically based obviously. And I think having that understanding really gave me an advantage for being a singer and doing the kind of music that I do. I’m very thankful that I did play drums seriously from the age of five. It was extremely helpful.

You sang for quite a number of tribute albums to famous bands. Are there any other bands you’d like to record a tribute to?

To be honest… I mean, I love singing other bands’ songs. But to be honest no, not really. I’d much better prefer singing Dream Theater songs, because that’s me, that’s who I am, you know. That’s something I love doing and I’d better sing my own stuff. I have a great appreciation to other bands and other singers, but I want to create something as a singer, too, and sing the songs where I’m the voice behind the song. I didn’t mean that I had no fun singing Rainbow’s or Queen’s or Metallica’s or Iron Maiden’s or Deep Purple’s songs… But personally I’d rather do my own stuff, whether it’d be my solo material or Dream Theater.

Don’t you feel like your solo career may come in the way with your band’s career?

The priority will always be Dream Theater. I would never let my solo career interfere with Dream Theater’s. Or whatever I might be interested in. So it would never happen. And I think that the great thing about my solo career is that I’m able to show all around the world who I am as a writer – it shows more of me than just being a singer. It shows some other music that I love, that I appreciate. So it helps me to grow as a musician, because it’s another platform for me to express myself as a singer and also as a writer. It helps me to evolve.

They say that you were going to tour with your new album in America, but you had some problems…

Yeah. Unfortunately we were gonna tour through the States and do a couple of shows up in Canada, but some of the work visas for two guys in Europe couldn’t get visas to get them into the States and Canada. So we couldn’t get them visas in time to start rehearsing and then eventually to start touring. There’s nothing wrong with them, but the process has taken much longer than we’d anticipated. So in future we’ll make sure that we won’t have complications like that.

Is it different for you to perform as James LaBrie as a solo artist and to perform as the vocalist of Dream Theater?

It’s just the nature of the songs… I mean my solo songs are different, and though there might be similarities between the music from my solo albums and the music of Dream Theater, they still sound quite different from one another. It brings quite different experiences when I’m on stage singing just through the nature of music. And the fact that I’m playing with different people. When I’m on stage with my solo band it’s different, because I’m playing with a different drummer, guitar player, keyboard player and bass player. And once again when I’m with Dream Theater it’s different because I’ve been playing with those guys for twenty years. There’s comfort, there’s predictability in how we interact with one another and what we expect from one another. So there’re different experiences for sure, but they’re both extremely fulfilling and rewarding.

Is there even the slightest chance for your Russian fans to see you live here in our country with you solo band?

I wouldn’t think so, not at this point, because in January I go back into the studio for Dream Theater and we’ll be working on the next album. Unfortunately not this time. But I really do hope that at some point in future I will come and bring my solo band with me and we’ll be touring through Europe and into Russia as well. But now I have to say “no”, it’s not gonna happen. I’m really sorry about that.

Well, then just a couple of words for your Russian fans…

I would like to thank you for your incredible support. You’re supporting who we are as Dream Theater and who I am as a solo artist. We as Dream Theater are looking forward to go back to Russia and doing more shows over there and getting in front of more Russian fans, because we know that we have incredible fans there. We wanna go there and we’ll make sure that we do that with our next world tour. So we’re looking forward to seeing our Russian fans again and having a great evening of music.

James LaBrie on the Internet: http://www.jameslabrie.com

Special thanks to Maxim Bylkin (Soyuz Music) for arranging this interview

Interview by Ksenia Artamonova
Questions also compiled by Ilya "MuumiPeikko" Gutin
November 9, 2010
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