Interviews : Dream Theater (James LaBrie) – 31/10/2009

After their successful first Australian tour in 2007, prog metal pioneers Dream Theater will be returning to Australia and New Zealand in December 2009. Metal Obsession got a chance to chat with James LaBrie about their upcoming Australian tour, a forthcoming solo album and other topics.

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Metal Obsession: It’s Megan from Metal Obsession, how are you?

JLB: I’m good. How are you?

MO: Good. Thank God it’s Friday!

JLB: We just got off stage about an hour and a half ago. We’re in Bologna, Italy right now. Friday could be Monday for me! It wouldn’t matter!

MO: How is the touring going so far on the Black Clouds… album?

JLB: It’s going great. The album has been doing really well for us around the world, it has charted extremely well. All things are great, especially considering the economical woes the world is experiencing right now, we’re tending to do be somewhat insulated or cocooned from that, everything’s doing great, knock on wood.

MO: You’re touring Australia in December, are you looking forward to that?

JLB: Absolutely not.

MO: No?

JLB: [laughs] No, I’m kidding! Definitely! We finally got over to Australia on the last world tour for the first time and it was a long time coming. We’re really excited that we’re going back within two years, and we want to really cultivate the relationship that we established in the concerts that we originally done. We are absolutely excited about this tour, I think it will be a very cool evening with the Australian fans in each city.

MO: On your last Australian tour, there was no support act. Will there be a support act this time around?

JLB: Yeah, definitely. I thought that it was already known, but we’re bringing out Pain of Salvation. They will be our support act. We’re doing one show in Auckland, New Zealand, with that show it’s only going to be us. But the Australian shows will be with Pain of Salvation.

MO: Do you know if there are going to be any local support acts or will it be just Pain of Salvation?

JLB: It’ll just be the two of us, Pain of Salvation and Dream Theater.

MO: On the album Black Clouds…, how have the reviews been for that album?

JLB: They’ve been amazing. When it initially came out, the album was extremely well received, it got critical acclaim, it was very positive. There might have been a few not-so-admiring comments, but I think that overall, it was extremely well received and we couldn’t have asked for better. We were very excited and very pleased with the reception.

MO: One song from the Black Clouds album that really grabbed my attention was the song A Rite of Passage. What’s the general theme of that song?

JLB: It’s about the Masons, the freethinkers, about the fact that I think there’s a lot of misinterpretation, a lot of ignorance when it comes to who the Masons are and about what they represent. It’s about being able to be philosophical, it’s about being able to be open-minded and free thinkers, and being able to question who and what we are in our existence and the way that we operate and cohabit. That’s basically what it’s about. A secret society erroneously misinterpreted.

MO: For your Australian tour, will your set list have a lot of songs from Black Clouds…?

JLB: It will have some songs from Black Clouds…, but obviously we have a huge catalogue that we can tap into, it’s always been about playing songs that really represent who and what we are as our career, and where we have been from the beginning up until the very present.

It’s definitely not going to be us just playing every song from Black Clouds…, first of all that’s something we will never do, unless we were paying homage to a particular anniversary or whatever, and we thought that it was necessary. But it’s always been about presenting the music and giving attention to who and what we are musically and those albums that have represented us being part of the evening.

MO: When you play live, you’ve also been known to play covers. Will you be playing any cover songs on your Australian tour?

JLB: I’m pretty sure that we won’t be. I think it will be about Dream Theater being Dream Theater and trying to present the best set list on each and every night that we’re there. It will be focussed on who we are. Something like that, is something that we’ve done when the timing was right for us to pay homage to a band that we felt was obviously their quintessential album, that particular band’s best, or inspirational album or essential part of their history.

It’s only been when we felt the timing is right and that we feel that that band is somebody we definitely fit in our set to do. But as far as doing that during our Australian tour, I personally don’t see that happening.

MO: You’ve released a solo album, and there are rumours that you will soon be releasing another solo album. Is that true?

JLB: Yeah, the rumours are true. Right now, we’re just finishing up writing the music, and I’m hoping in the new year start recording all the tracks, and there’s a tentative release date of June 2010. I’m pretty excited about it, and we’re feeling really great about the music on it.

MO: This year marks Dream Theater’s 25th anniversary as a band. Will you be doing anything to commemorate it?

JLB: I don’t think so, maybe we should wait until the 35th. What do you think?

MO: Maybe the 30th?

JLB: Or the 30th, yeah exactly. At this point, we haven’t talked about it, and I don’t see it happening. We did the big celebration with our 20th. I think it could very well happen, but I think that that’s something that the band has to discuss. We don’t feel like it’s something we need to do, or not. Right now, it’s not something that we’ve sat down and consciously made an effort to go either way.

MO: That wraps up the interview, any last comments for the Australian fans?

JLB: Yeah. Obviously we’re psyched. We can’t wait to get back over there. We hope that it will be bigger and better. It will be a great evening of music, the visuals will be fantastic. It’s going to be a lot of fun, we’re looking forward to it.

MO: Thank you for taking the time for this interview.

JLB: Take care.

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Make sure to check out Dream Theater this December in Australia and New Zealand. Tickets still avaliable through respected outlets.

DREAM THEATER 2009 Australian/New Zealand Tour:
Dec. 01 – Auckland, New Zealand – Civic Theatre
Dec. 03 – Brisbane, Australia – Convention Centre
Dec. 05 – Sydney, Australia – Hordern Pavilion
Dec. 07 – Melbourne, Australia – Palais Theatre
Dec. 08 – Melbourne, Australia – Palais Theatre
Dec. 09 – Adelaide, Australia – Thebarton Theatre
Dec. 11 – Perth, Australia – Metro City

www.myspace.com/painofsalvation
www.myspace.com/dreamtheater
www.ticketek.com.au