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January 6, 2009
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ISSUE 20
Shy
Charade
Joe Lynn Turner
Paul Gilbert
Dare
Season's End
Darren Smith
Danielle McKee
Starbreaker
Kamelot
Scorpions
Legs Diamond
Heartland
Rich Ward
Doogie White
Averi
James LaBrie*
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A DREAMER UNMUZZLED
An interview with JAMES LABRIE by Phil Ashcroft
Dream Theater are in the pretty unique position of being entirely made-up of musicians who are stars in their own right. They've attained success entirely on their own terms, and have enough creativity between them to do other strong projects without affecting the incredible quality of their day job. On the eve of the release of singer James LaBrie's new solo album, 'Elements Of Persuasion', I caught up with the affable Canadian for an update on what promises to be another great year for his career.
Due to Dream Theater's record company, Elektra, previously refusing to let him use his own name, his previous two solo albums have been released under the names of Mullmuzzler and James LaBrie's Mullmuzzler - the new album is simply James LaBrie - so what's changed?
"It's just that they've become a little bit looser with their grip as far as what I do as a solo artist," he says frankly, although the continued upward spiral of Dream Theater's career must have bought him some leeway. "Initially they weren't too keen on me using my name," he recalls. "What they said at the time was "If you're going to use your name you can come to us", but it never really developed like that. It was always me being approached by other labels, and me thinking that these labels could probably do more for me. So the first solo album was just Mullmuzzler and I came up with that moniker just so I could keep peace with Elektra. And then I approached them again before the second Mullmuzzler came out and I said "Come on, you know, give me a little bit of slack here", and they eventually said that along with the moniker I could use my name - that's why it was James LaBrie's Mullmuzzler. Then this time I went to them and told them that my new label, Inside Out, just want me to use my name because the Mullmuzzler had been on a different label - so eventually Elektra said OK. I told Elektra that I was starting a new chapter on a new label and they said "What the hell". At the end of the day Phil - who cares? It's all about the music, but it's also just easier so that people know exactly what they're getting, if anything it's more immediate. This is James LaBrie, he's the singer from Dream Theater - so they think they'll know what to expect - so when they get the album they'll get a big surprise, right?" he chuckles.
James is just the latest in a long line of artists switching from Magna Carta to Inside Out, including his friends Magellan and Shadow Gallery - but despite strong rumours of unpaid royalties and death-grip deals on the part of his former employers, James is adamant that his reasons are less sinister. "Well, I can't really talk on behalf of other bands because I don't know their reasons, but for me it was just a result of having a very amicable conversation with both Pete Morticelli and Mike Varney and saying " I want to continue as a solo artist but want to see what my options are elsewhere", and they were very cool about it. I have nothing ill to say towards them, they just said "That's fine, if that's the route you want to take - but if you ever want to record for us again, you know where we are." It wasn't actually that short, it wasn't a five minute conversation - y'know "Goodbye - have a good life!" - it was a longer conversation than that but I'm just giving you a quick synopsis of it," he says sincerely. On the subject of his new label though, he sounds positively happy. "I had known Thomas Waber - who's one of the head guys at Inside Out - for a long time. He had been saying for years "Let me know when you want to do something, I'd love to have you as an artist on my label". Finally that time seemed appropriate and that's why I pursued it. As for the other guys, I don't know - maybe their situation and why they're no longer on Magna Carta was completely different from mine - but I can't speak on that."
As with a lot of albums these days (see the Starbreaker interview in this issue) the Mullmuzzler records were done mostly via e-mail and fed-ex, with music passing back and forth between people who work on their own - this time things were slightly more personal. "Yeah, there was still a part of that," he admits, "but initially it was me and Matt Guillory being physically in the same room and coming up with ideas and putting them together, then going back to our homes and sitting with these ideas and developing them until they were the songs they are today. There was a lot of making sure each song really had a purpose and really was strong, we really took our time on this album and really wanted to create something that was quite different from the other ones. The first thing people are going to notice is going to be the heaviness - and five of the songs we actually wrote with another guy, Brian Wherry from Boston, and he was great - he brought in some of the seeds for 'Invisible', 'Undecided', and 'Pretender'. We were able to sit down with this guy and develop them into the songs they are now. A lot of it was just me coming up to Matt with a hand-held tape recorder and humming ideas for riffs and melodies that were in my head - then we'd just write the music around my melody structures. Equally Matt would come to me and say "Check out these piano pieces that I have" or "listen to these keyboard chord progressions - lets go somewhere with it". That's basically how the songs came together, but there was more of being in the same room this time, which I think really helped bring the album to the way that it sounds. I think you can only go so far with the via e-mail and fed-ex mode, it's just all so discombobulated if you think about it - there's much more of a vibe if you're in the same room. It's all more spontaneous and exciting - that's the best part of songwriting - the spontaneity."
As well as the straight-ahead, almost 'Train Of Thought' style heaviness, there are all kinds of samples and loops that give the songs a modern twist - not in a "Look at me, I'm so hip" kind of way, but sounds that actually mean something within the songs. "It was definitely done purposely," he says emphatically. "A lot of it comes from our influences - I mean have you heard of an artist called BT? His music consists almost solely of samples and sounds. He's really ingenious when it comes to the things he can incorporate within a song, and it brings a much deeper level to it because of the sonics and the things going on. It becomes a kind of techno vibe in the purest meaning of the word - but the hard part is making it make sense in the way you want the music to go. It's not just thrown in there to be sweet or cool, it has to have a purpose - so we knew that incorporating these sounds into our songs it had to have a definite purpose and enhance the song - otherwise it's just silly. It sounds out of place if you're doing it for any other reason. It was something that we wanted to experiment with and fool around with to really give the album a bit more depth sonically, it's using a whole new bunch of ingredients to give the songs, and the album overall, a whole different feel. I've had a great response in the interviews that I've done - people are really appreciative that we did it so tastefully and not just for the sake of doing it. This was something that we really focussed on - we brought in something that could make it risky, but we kept it focussed and directed and it turned out fine."
Ten of the twelve tracks are one word titles, but James is quick to refute my theory that titles that aren't really descriptive usually lead to the songs being less memorable. "I understand what you're saying," he concedes, "but I think it could also give it the opposite - it gives people more freedom to interpret it as what it says to them personally. If you get into using whole sentences as song titles it becomes a little more pointed and less open to interpretation. You can interpret what one word means to you if it's repeated in the song - there may not be as much of a hook or a memory thing going on where it's hypnotic or magnetic - but I guess that depends on the individual. It just seemed to me when I was writing these songs that that's how I feel that they're best described. There are a couple in there like 'Slightly Out Of Reach' that gives you more of a direct message, and 'In Too Deep' also gives you an idea of what the lyrical meaning is."
Talking of lyrics, this is something that LaBrie obviously spends a lot of time on, and although I don't have lyrics with my promo, the impression I get is that they're a little less introspective than on his previous two CD's. The theme of the album though is incredibly deep. "It's to do with," he begins tentatively, "from the time of our birth to the time when we're old and die, what moulds us into the people we are, what influences us? The lyrics are about things that we're confronted with daily, and yearly, and through our lifetime - about the different stages of life we go through and how our personality and attitudes are determined during these different times. Some deal with religious overtones, like 'Undecided' and 'Pretender' are my way of saying that religion has created some tense situations around the world and really driven us into a precarious existence. They're about how religion really lends itself to misinterpretation and prejudice, and because of that we're living in a world that's at a very transitional and insecure stage. It's transforming, but is that in a positive way? It'll be interesting to see where the world is in 20-25 years time.
That's part of it, another is that we're struggling with our own mortality and as we get older the struggle is to comprehend and conceptualise the meaning behind it - the purpose of it all and what it says to us as individuals. For me personally I believe that the spirit does go on, and that there are many different dimensions of existence that we're going to experience. I think it is an eternal journey. I feel that consciousness itself is a very profound state - we're all aware of it but if you sit down and think about it, it is pretty mind blowing. I don't want to get too deeply into the philosophical approach to it, but basically it's my observation, my interpretation, my internalising with these thoughts of things around me that I see, or literature that I read, or media that we all are constantly barraged with each and every day. It's my way of expression, and I guess it's therapeutic because I'm getting it down on paper and I'm able to look at it and understand how it's influencing me and has helped create the person that I am. Basically that's what these lyrics are dealing with, most of the stories are fictional but are mostly based on non-fictional moments, like 'In Too Deep' which is about an undercover agent who gets into a Mafia family and is eventually betrayed and found out, and he's buried alive. That's the kind of thing - even though it may be deep or profound, it's a totally different approach and it's fictional, so to speak."
As well as Matt Guillory, bassist Bryan Beller, and drummer Mike Mangini, all of whom worked on Mullmuzzler, James has found an amazing new talent in young Italian guitarist Marco Sfogli. Sfogli however wasn't LaBrie's first choice.
"Well, originally we were looking at working with Andy Timmons," James confirms. "He's a great guitar player - but Andy and I couldn't co-ordinate our schedules. When I was getting ready to start recording and get the songs together from a guitar sense, he wasn't available, but hopefully Andy and I will work together at some point in the future because he really is a fabulous player. So it came down to us having to find another guitar player who could really embellish and give these songs their due form. Matt and I were listening to guitar players from all over the world, and they were all quite capable of playing but I didn't really hear anything in there that gave them a distinction stylistically, where they were coming from musically wasn't really moving me. So Matt told me about this guy from Italy that he'd been in touch with and thought he was really worth looking into, so I got some mp3's from Marco and within 10 minutes I was convinced that he was our guy. He's incredible - he's only twenty-four years old, he's precocious without having to say so - he sounds like he's been playing as long as he's been alive. He's definitely got those John Petrucci, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai influences - there's no doubt about it, I gave a copy of the album to John Petrucci and he came back to me and said "This album's great - and this Marco Sfogli guy - I'm a fan, this guy's incredible". I think he's definitely in the same league - even though he's as young as he is he still plays as well as these other guys. Even Marco has told me that he's majorly influenced by John, but I think at the same time he still has a style of his own - he's very distinctive. His musicality and melody sense is unbelievable, and his intonation is so dead-on and with so much expression and feel. He's very tasty, and that's what I think separates him from a lot of other players out there who may be able to play technically as well as him, but don't have that distinctive style of their own. He's a great find and a terrific and very cool guy, very smart and very mature for his age - that's why he plays the way he does- he's a very mature individual. It's going to be great playing these songs live with him because he's very capable."
In Dream Theater the focus is pretty much spread evenly over the five guys, so the extra scrutiny that solo shows will bring is not lost on the singer. "Well yeah, at some level that makes me a little nervous but I think it's an excited nervousness," he admits, "to be honest with you I can't wait. I'm ecstatic that I'm going to be playing the solo material live for once, and I think the material will lend itself to what should be a powerful and moving evening of music. I think it'll be great - I'm really anxious to let people hear me sing this stuff live because I think I'm at the strongest point I've been at vocally since 1993 when I ruptured my vocal cords. I think I'm as strong as I've ever been - I've been studying again for the last two years with a vocal coach so I think I'm at a very secure and confident point of my career. I'm very excited that people will get to hear this band live, and excited for myself that I get to play with different players - I haven't done that in fifteen years. Being with Dream Theater is always a great experience each and every night, but this will be different and refreshing, and hopefully it'll be a lot of fun."
James had intended to tour with the line-up that recorded the album, but unfortunately, due to other commitments a couple of changes have been forced on him. "Yeah, Mike Mangini can't play because he teaches at Berkeley music school in Boston and it's exam time," he explains, "but let me tell you he's extremely bummed out about it - he really wanted to do the tour but his commitment first and foremost is to the school. Hopefully next time we go out he says he'll do everything he can to be a part of it. So we have John Macaluso (TNT, Starbreaker, Riot, Ark) on drums, he's an incredible drummer - and we have Andy DeLuca who's a phenomenal bass player, he actually did one tour with Symphony X - he's a fabulous player from Chicago. Then we have obviously Marco Sfogli on guitar and Matt Guillory on keyboards, and myself singing, so it's going to be a pretty powerful band live and everyone is quite capable of making this come across in a good way."
The set list is being kept to strictly LaBrie material, although James is obviously aware that some fans may expect Dream Theater songs or something from his many other projects. "I've been asked that a lot - am I going to do some Dream Theater, or Madmen & Sinners, or Frameshift, or Leonardo?, and I said "No". It is what it is - I'm going out to do a solo tour and it'll be based entirely around solo material. That's the way I want to keep it - I want to keep the worlds separated. To me - because Dream Theater is still a vital and important touring entity itself - I want to keep that as Dream Theater. The other guys in the band wouldn't have been opposed to me playing some Dream Theater, but I think it makes for a stronger case that you get Dream Theater from Dream Theater, but from me and my solo band - that's what you're going to hear - the solo material. If I do another solo tour a couple of years from now, maybe I will pull out some Madmen & Sinners or Frameshift songs or whatever, but as it's my first time out I want to keep it focussed on that material only."
With the amount of other projects he's done recently, (Ayreon, Madmen & Sinners, and Frameshift, and that's just last year!) he's obviously aware that he's in danger of spreading himself too thin. "Yeah, I'm going to focus more on my own career," he says, "but obviously the priority will always be Dream Theater. Am I saying that I'll never work with someone like Tim Donahue again as Madmen & Sinners, or will I never work with Henning Pauly from Frameshift? I can't say never because I really don't know. The first thing that gets me involved with other peoples music is the music itself, so when I'm presented with music and asked if I want to be involved - if the music moves me then that gives me the excitement and intrigue that I need to become a part of it. I can never say never, but let me put it this way - I'll be much more choosy about it in the future - I will consider it much more than I have in the past. I'll be more selective about the things I involve myself in, try to keep it fresh and interesting and not come across like a rock'n'roll whore," he laughs. He hints also that maybe the other members of Dream Theater are thinking the same way. "I think that even they themselves are starting to think and to be conscious of "How much do I want to be filtering myself out here and there". I think it's something that might slowly turn itself out to mean more selective involvements and maybe fewer projects."
As a huge Max Webster and Kim Mitchell fan myself I was surprised that I couldn't spot Kim's unique guitar style on 'Slightly Out Of Reach' - the answer, contrary to the press releases, is that he isn't actually there. "See that's a mis-type," corrects LaBrie, "he has nothing to do with this album. How that came about was that when we finished writing the songs there was one song that I wanted Kim to come in and do a lead - because I loved Max Webster and some of his solo stuff was really cool, and he's a great guitar player. I got to know Kim a bit and he's a really fabulous and down to earth guy, and I asked him if he would like to do a lead on 'Slightly Out Of Reach' and he was really into it. So we got together one day and went out and had lunch, but when the time came for the recording schedule and me needing him to come in, he just couldn't get away from his other commitments. He was pretty bummed out about it and so was I, but unfortunately that got put up on an internet site - someone had heard that he was playing on my album somehow - but that's not true. It's also on the promo section of the Inside Out site and I've been telling them for a long time to get it off of there, but I guess they still haven't gotten around to doing that."
With the details of the new album covered, the conversation switches to the new Dream Theater CD 'Octavarium', which is apparently finished. "Yes it is," he confirms, "I believe all the mix was finished at the beginning of March - it's called 'Octavarium', which hints at the fact that it's our eighth studio album and there are eight songs on it. But yeah, it's done, it's mixed, and I can tell you that there are heavy parts on it but it's more Dream Theater getting back to our roots. I'm sure we say each and every time a new album is going to come out that it's the best thing we've ever done, but I'm sure this thing will speak for itself. I think it's as powerful an album as 'Scenes From A Memory' or 'Images And Words', and I think we've really touched on something great here and we're all extremely excited about it. Is there a lot of progressiveness about it? Absolutely! Are there some heavy moments? Yes! Is it eclectic? Sure! I think it's Dream Theater getting back to what Dream Theater was first and foremost known for, and we can't wait to start getting behind it and touring and supporting it." The fact that Dream Theater are pretty much left alone to make whatever kind of album they want is something the band are incredibly happy with. "I think we're in such a great situation that our fans have come to expect us to not repeat ourselves, to change, to push the envelope and be experimental, to really take those risks - and to be in a situation where people expect that - well, you couldn't ask for anything better," he laughs. "It's really such a great situation to be in."
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This interview was reprinted with permission from Fireworks Magazine.
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"Turn out the lights and shut the door. Pornographic monster on the floor, That's what you like, I'll come some more..."
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