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?
LABRIE 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?
LABRIE 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?
LABRIE 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?
LABRIE 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.
LABRIE: It is. You want to wait until after the show tour or else you just don't feel like doing it.
