Frontman James LaBrie opens up for the first time on the band's spirituality (and more)
By Trevor Harden, trevor@RockOm.net
Dream Theater has had one of the longest and most influential careers in all of modern progressive rock. Considered by many to be metal's alpha dog in terms of musical technicality and composition, it is no wonder the group's hardcore fan base is enormous, ecstatic and dedicated.
Black Clouds and Silver Linings arrived as Dream Theater's tenth studio album upon its release by Roadrunner Records on June 23rd. As you're about to see, the band considers it to be a return to their roots, exploring familiar musical and lyrical themes from DT's past. Throughout Black Clouds, as in the rest of their material, frontman James LaBrie shows off his tremendous vocal range through sweeping melodies and heartfelt delivery, singing lyrics that explore the spectrum from real-life experience to philosophical struggles.
In this exclusive RockOm interview, LaBrie shares his impression of the new album, discusses the group's team-based songwriting process and, for the first time, opens up about his personal convictions as well as the spirituality in Dream Theater's members and music.
RockOm: You guys have had quite a career and have a prolific catalog of music. With this new album's release, what would you say you’re most proud of on Black Clouds and Silver Linings whether it be one of the songs, something you communicated or something musically or vocally?
James LaBrie: I think it’s showing that I’m continuing to grow as a vocalist. What I always find exciting is I’m able to take the music and the lyrical message, through literal meaning and through my own interpretation, and make it my own so that emotionally and expressively it can become something sincere. It’s something I am really passionate about and it’s important for me to convey that. With this album especially – not that I haven’t on other albums – I think I landed on something that was really cool [in that way] and I think it shows.
Musically I think the album is incredibly reflective of Dream Theater’s roots. It’s a collection of who and what we are today and who and what we’ve been. I think that you can go back to songs such as “Learning to Live” and you can hear elements of that. You can hear parts of Awake, parts of A Change in Seasons, even from Scenes from a Memory. When you get into a song like “A Nightmare to Remember” it seems very linear and like a movie unfolding before your eyes. Because of that, it’s made the album very powerful and very personal. When we look out there and see the reception we’re getting from the fans, but also because the album is selling incredibly well for us in today’s environment, I think it goes to speak for itself and that we’re not the only ones who are feeling it. We’ve touched on something we can all be proud of.
RockOm: As Dream Theater really is a group effort with everyone contributing musically and lyrically, do you always agree with the lyrics that one of your other band mates has penned for you to sing? If not, how do you deal with that?
James: If something was written that I thought was very offensive and literally pointing out someone’s fallible qualities then I would definitely say something. I would say, “You know, I’m not comfortable singing this. If you want to somehow convey it some other way, then great.” But we’ve never crossed that bridge and I hope we never do. A creative environment is intense to begin with and you don’t need anything else to aggravate the situation.
I’ve always found that I sit down with the lyric, I read it and I have it say to me what it says to me. We all interpret things slightly differently because of our own experiences. So I take that first and I internalize that. Then I will go to whoever the lyricist was and get a literal meaning from them so that I’m absorbing exactly what it is that he is trying to say. From there, I will go away once again and I will sit with all that has been said and I make it eventually become who and what I am. So I’ve never really found it to be contrived, forced or insincere when I’m singing something. I’ve always found myself feeling, “This is how it moves me. This is the emotional strain that it has pulled from me. And this is how I’m going to express it.” I think that’s the only way to do it. If I was trying to be who and what the other lyricists are and how they’ve been affected by their experiences, I think it would be too mechanical, too forced and too insincere.
RockOm: From the earliest Dream Theater albums with songs such as "Voices" to more recent songs such as "In the Name of God" and now with "A Rite of Passage,” you guys have always peppered your lyrics with religious and spiritual imagery. This is done as both pro-spirituality and looking to one’s self for the answers as well as condemnation of religion’s negative aspects. Does the band have some sort of common ground when it comes to these philosophical and spiritual matters or is everyone more or less individual in that regard?
James: We’ve never actually talked about this. Let me first say, I respect anyone’s religion because it’s up to the individual what you pull from that. If that makes you feel more connected and more grounded then it’s always doing something good. It’s the reverse of that, when it starts to become something prejudiced and something judgmental that it no longer serves a valid purpose.
You know [guitarist] John Petrucci is probably the most conformed religious person in the band. He’s very much Roman Catholic and his Catholicism is extremely important to him and his family. And yet John will actually question the validity of religions and just how positive they can be is always open for debate because there’s so much corruption around organized religions. I think that’s healthy because when you stop questioning something – even if it doesn’t make sense to you – that’s when it becomes very scary. It then becomes more cult-like and you’re no longer thinking for yourself; you’re just doing what you’ve been told is correct. So I find it very fascinating to a degree that many of John’s stories and lyrics – like “In the Name of God” where he questions all these cult figures – are based around this figure that has all the answers and is the only way to eternity.
As for myself, I was raised Roman Catholic. My mother still goes to church religiously every week and my father passed away a few years ago but he did as well up until his passing. But I remember when I was 16 or 17 thinking, “This doesn’t connect with me any more.” There were too many questions, too many contradictions as far as I was concerned. So I started to get more into books like those by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer and stuff that I felt was a little more open-minded and was for the good of humankind. I’m interested in understanding, first and foremost, who is within. Don’t turn that voice off, listen to it, because that really is your enlightenment. I think when we go to existential means to find the answers, our direction and our purpose, that’s when things get cloudy. If we look further into ourselves we all as a world community would be able to communicate much better and there would be more harmony throughout the world. There’s no doubt in my mind.
People should have philosophical questions. There’s not one day that goes by that I don’t think, "This existence, this consciousness is so bizarre... and space and what’s beyond space." You can get into some really crazy and frightening thoughts if you want. But I think the goal is to surrender yourself and know that what this all is is beyond comprehension. I don’t think it is something we’re supposed to figure out at this point. I do think that there is something absolutely mind-blowing and incredible that awaits us beyond this physical form because… what the hell is this, you know? [laughs]
Everybody goes, “Oh, well this is all random.” This is all random? Look at space and look at the fact that the sun is where it is and we are where we are. Is it just a fluke that we’re just so many millions of miles from the sun that it’s the perfect setting for creating this planet as it is with organisms? Maybe so, but then again there’s supposed to be another ten million planets throughout the universe that are capable of holding life as we know it here on this earth. So, I don’t know – that’s pretty immense.
RockOm: I understand you’re a big fan of literature. What are you reading right now and/or what was the most profound book you’ve read recently?
James: I’m reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It’s based on this man that is thought to have been simple-minded but then when he speaks with other people he’s brilliant. He’s so wise that he floors everyone and they’re captivated by his speech. Everyone is magnetized by his wisdom. It’s set in the 19th century and the only reason he was thought to be “the idiot” is that he suffered from epilepsy and through frequent episodes, his body and mind had been drained. It’s just an interesting book and it gets into that whole love territory and how he immerses himself into that is really interesting.
RockOm: I’d like to ask you about a few of the themes and songs on Black Clouds. In the song "Wither" you sing, "Like reflections on a page, the world's what you create." Is that something that you subscribe to or experience?
James: I think it’s something we all experience. Through our experiences, we do create who and what we are and what we become. Because of those experiences, that’s what inspires the making of the character that we are, giving us the personality that we take on. So yes, who and what you are is a reflection of the experiences you’ve gone through that then creates the person in front of you.
RockOm: "Shattered Fortress" seems to me to be a song about shedding away your previous understanding of the world, maturing and adopting a new and more noble understanding. What does this song mean to you?
James: Well it’s the final chapter to the [Twelve Step] Suite that Mike Portnoy has written dealing with alcoholism and addiction. Yes, it’s about being assured that you are in a place that is much better than where you just came from. That you are much more insightful as to what really matters in life. Through that experience you realize all your mistakes and realize that no one is infallible. But what you’ve done is you’ve bettered yourself to a point where your life experience is much more rich and satisfying and mature.
RockOm: ...and then that opens you up to want to help and serve other people, according to the last line in the song as you sing, "I am responsible when anyone, anywhere reaches out for help."
James: Yes, absolutely because you’re setting an example for others in saying, “Look, as tough and as miserable as life became for me, this is where I am today. Nothing is impossible. You can do it as well and look to me and call upon me for strength if need be.” Anyone can exist within this realm, which is a much better place to be than living out the heinous acts that people take part in when they’re susceptible to such addictions.
RockOm: Let’s conclude with a question about performing. How do you describe those nights when the band is spot-on and connecting with one another so that you remember that night, that town, and those songs above all other shows? In other words, when you’re on and in the zone, what transpires making those concerts different from the others?
James: I don’t know! We used to go out there and say, “Oh, this is going to be a great show” but we don’t do that anymore because when we did it would always end up to be a cluster. We’ll come off and say, “What the hell happened there? There were clams here and clams there.” So I think it’s just you get into a zone where it’s a cohesive endeavor and it’s effortless. You’re finding that you’re up there and you’re responding to the energy that you’re getting from the crowd and you reciprocate that and it just makes for a really memorable and explosive evening.
You just can’t explain the times where you go on stage and you feel great but meanwhile something happens where you come off stage and wonder, “What happened? The night before we had such and incredible show and tonight we had a sub-par show.” For the most part, it’s unexplainable. Each one of us prepare ourselves before we go out on stage. We do what we know has become our ritual in order to prepare us to be in our top form and nine times out of ten it works for us. We might have that tenth time that for whatever reason it just doesn’t want to cooperate.
But on that note, I think that the voice has been on my side [so far this tour] and I think I’m singing better in my career than I ever have. I will go so far even to say that the band is playing better than we ever have our entire career – right now. I think we all kind of feel that way.
Thanks to Roadrunner Records
Photography by Tom Crenshaw; Atlanta, GA
Tags: A Rite of Passage, Black Clouds and Silver Linings, Catholic, Catholicism, Dream Theater, Fyodor Dostoevsky, In the Name of God, Interview, James LaBrie, John Petrucci, religion, Shattered Fortress, spirituality, The Idiot, Wayne Dyer, Wither
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