In Conversation with James LaBrie

[JiM-Xtreme]

Well, I guess that answers that!

Still, I'm surprised that this seems to be a relatively little known fact about the great man. It's quite the claim to fame if you ask me.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

James in his prime would have been an awesome asset to Maiden. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he didn't leave DT, but it would have been amazing.

Although, he was right by stating Dickinson is the definitive singer for Iron Maiden. Although James would have brought something cool and different to the band, it would have hardly replaced Bruce's signature voice and Maiden's signature sound.

[Mosh]

Maybe he would've gotten an audition, but there's no way he would've gotten into Maiden. Steve Harris has a ton of pride and was strongly against a singer who wasn't British.

I don't think it would've been a very good fit anyway. I can't imagine him sounding very good on the stuff Maiden was doing in the 90s.

[TAC]

Yeah, let's not overstate what happened.

[TheGreatPretender]

Hey guys! I just got back! It was pretty damn awesome! Very welcoming and intimate atmosphere.

First of all, let me just say holy crap, I knew that Midland was a small town, but talk about being out in the boonies! Thank heavens we live in the age of portable GPS.

Anywho, so, overall, it was pretty much stuff that most DT fans would know, he talked about his upbringing, the career, the albums, the throat incident, stuff like that. If you've read the book, you'll pretty much know everything he said.
Except one little inconsistency. According to his recollection, DT ended up discovering him by accident when someone passed along a live bootleg of Winter Rose to them. He didn't mention sending his photo, CD and stuff like that, although maybe that's what he was talking about.

So yeah, unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to record it, but there were a couple of things he said that I haven't heard before and found quite interesting:

One, they were talking about his vocal stamina, and when he gets to the best condition of the night, and he said that whenever the setlists are put together, he sits down with whoever puts them together and basically says, "These are the songs I could do at the beginning of the night, these are the songs I could do in the middle, and these are the songs I could do at the end," to make the best use of where he's at. I found this to be very interesting. I didn't realize that they actually put that into consideration, although I can't say for sure how long this has been going on.

Another awesome thing is regarding the new album. It seems as though this album will be going in some particular direction. Could even be another concept album. Basically, when asked about what the future holds he said that DT is going into the studio in February to write the new album, and then he said, "I can't say more than that. I know what album we're recording, but I can't say." So there's already a direction, it seems.

And yeah, the awesome guy that he is, he came out after the show to meet people, so I gave him a CD compilation of the vocal stems from Awake, as a souvenir, and got an awesome picture with him. Great experience!



If there's anything else you guys wanna know. Whether he talked about this or that, shoot!

[RaiseTheKnife]

Thanks for the detailed report!

[YtseJamittaja]

Haha, great gift!!  And great post, thanks! Sounds like a concept album if he already knows what they are doing... Hmmmm....

[BlobVanDam]

Knowing what they're doing doesn't directly imply a concept album (nor does it rule it out). It just means they know what they're doing. You could say that about many DT albums, such as ToT, as opposed to an album like SC where they said they went in and just wrote what came to them (yet still ended up in a certain direction).
Not saying it excludes a concept album, I just don't know why everyone loves to jump on that every time a new album cycle rolls around.

Oh, and thanks to TGP for the facts!

[TheGreatPretender]

Oh, and thanks to TGP for the facts!

Always a pleasure! 

I'm not suggesting that it's definitely a concept album, but it also seems like it had more intention than just something like DT12, with its shorter song format + epic at the end. Either way, they've done albums with preconceived ideas, and they've done albums without preconceived ideas, and they've done albums where they had some vague ideas and ended up with something concrete once they were in the studio. This time, we know which one it is and I can't wait to find out what the idea is.

[Kotowboy]

If they know what type of album they want to make going in - it might simply be " all ballads " or " All long songs " or " double album "

Doesn't automatically mean Concept every time.

[the_silent_man]

Did he say whether or not he'd be contributing lyrics this time?

[BlobVanDam]

Did he say whether or not he'd be contributing lyrics this time?

It would be far too early in the process for them to have sorted out lyrics, however, the primary reason he didn't contribute lyrics on DT12 is because he'd already written lyrics for his solo album. I would expect we'll get JLB lyrics this time around.

[SeRoX]

Thanks TGP. That was a great read.

[TheGreatPretender]

Did he say whether or not he'd be contributing lyrics this time?

Now that you mention it, they didn't talk about him writing lyrics at all. Not on the previous albums, not on solo albums, not his general approach... Well, that was a missed opportunity.

[ariich]

Thanks for that TGP!

Basically, when asked about what the future holds he said that DT is going into the studio in February to write the new album, and then he said, "I can't say more than that. I know what album we're recording, but I can't say."

Oh god, let the Metropolis 3 speculation commence.

[Mladen]

Great story, TGP. 

[hefdaddy42]

Thanks for that TGP!

Basically, when asked about what the future holds he said that DT is going into the studio in February to write the new album, and then he said, "I can't say more than that. I know what album we're recording, but I can't say."

Oh god, let the Metropolis 3 speculation commence.

No no no no no

[Art]

Nice report and cool pic! 

[Stef1]

TGP great report thanks for posting.
Was wondering how many people roughly where present, and did the majority appear to be DT fans or local Canadian who came along with an interest to what a local "celeb" had to say?

[?]

Nice report and cool pic! 

[mikeyd23]

Sounds like a great time, thanks for the post!

[perfey]

Thanks TGP. That was a great read.

[TheGreatPretender]

TGP great report thanks for posting.
Was wondering how many people roughly where present, and did the majority appear to be DT fans or local Canadian who came along with an interest to what a local "celeb" had to say?

Yeah, this was something I also wanted to mention. I'm not really sure how many people the place sits, it's a very small hall, so maybe 300 or so, would be my estimate. And I was happy to see that the place was pretty full. I didn't really see any empty seats, so if there were any, it would've been like the odd one here and there. His whole family was there, and what seemed like a lot of his old friends, so that was cool to see. Gave the whole thing a very homey atmosphere.
From the looks of it, most of the people were local, although I'm sure quite a few of them are familiar with DT's music, I heard some talking about it.
As far as I could see, there were maybe 20 DT fans from out of town, or at least around 20 people who looked like they were out of towners, and had a very "metal head" or "rock fan" type look to them. Though I could be underestimating.

For those who may not have been familiar with DT, they actually played quite a few sound and video clips of the band. There was a general snippet montage of various songs that his son, Chance, put together, to showcase James' range and style. They also played many clips from Breaking The Fourth Wall, showcasing the musicians, James performing, the orchestra and choir, as well as The Looking Glass in its entirety. So people got a fairly decent introduction to DT.

At one point, they were discussing the Enemy Inside video, and how they collaborated with that one organization that deals with veterans with PTSD on it. And they wanted to show the clip from the video, but the techie accidentally got the lyric video with the dude with pixelated out face instead. The host played it up as if that's what he was intending to show all along,  , but when talking about like, the scenes from the video, and stuff, the clip obviously didn't get across any of it. So that was probably the biggest flub of the evening on their part.

Also, another little thing... Apparently, James hates this picture.

[Calvin6s]

Oh god, let the Metropolis 3 speculation commence.

Clearly it will be Metro Gun 33-1/3

[Anguyen92]

Did he mention anything regarding The Theater Equation on how it's going to play out?  It is just them doing the album in its entirety or doing some dialogue in between or something else?

[TheGreatPretender]

Did he mention anything regarding The Theater Equation on how it's going to play out?  It is just them doing the album in its entirety or doing some dialogue in between or something else?

No, he didn't mention anything like that, but it was brought up. I don't know about dialogue, but there will definitely be some stage direction. He says he won't have that much rehearsal time with them, pretty much a week, but he's in talks with them over skype, so he'll get his stage directions and things like that by those means. But considering that he didn't bring up any dialogue, I'm guessing it's just going to be the album.

[Stef1]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions in such a detailed way.

[TheGreatPretender]

Always a pleasure.

I just remembered another cool part. He was asking James about his vocal style, and how he developed it, and JLB told an interesting little story. He said that when he was young, and he'd sing a lot, he'd always be singing in the shower, and he'd be singing Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, and his other influences, and apparently his father told him that while he sounded great, he was sounding too much like those other guys, and he needed to find his own voice. (Something I think a lot of singers, myself included, have to face at some point.) So apparently, he'd be walking around the house, just trying various different things with his voice, and I'm paraphrasing here, "until one day, I just did something and I found it really opened me up and allowed me to project my voice a lot easier. And I thought it sounded cool."

[fischermasamune]

One, they were talking about his vocal stamina, and when he gets to the best condition of the night, and he said that whenever the setlists are put together, he sits down with whoever puts them together and basically says, "These are the songs I could do at the beginning of the night, these are the songs I could do in the middle, and these are the songs I could do at the end," to make the best use of where he's at. I found this to be very interesting. I didn't realize that they actually put that into consideration, although I can't say for sure how long this has been going on.

When and who? In that case was it Mike Portnoy who decided the setlist for each concert? Some hours before the concert?

[TheGreatPretender]

When and who? In that case was it Mike Portnoy who decided the setlist for each concert? Some hours before the concert?

It sounded like he was talking about present tense, so I'm guessing he means currently with JP.

If they did do that with Portnoy, I'm guessing this would have been done at the beginning of the tour, which would basically have given MP a selection of songs which he could plug into the beginning, middle, end part of the concert. At least that's how I understood it.

[New Millenium]

TGP: Were you the one in the second row seated next to us?

JLB had the assembled crowd in stitches a few times through the evening. When he talked about the early days of touring and "living in a van down by the river" (but he claimed that as vocalist HE got the bed) and other experiences (a loaf of bread and peanut butter & jelly were sustenance in those lean bar scene days).

He also had the place howling when they showed the "American Idol" video and then he explained what that was really all about.

He demonstrated what a consummate pro he was when on a few occasions the moderator (Fred Hacker) got a few album and DVD titles wrong but JLB never skipped a beat and answered the questions on cue. Hats off to FH that night....he asked the pointed questions and kept the evening flowing along nicely.

JLB was very gracious afterwards taking time with everyone in the foyer to take pictures and sign things. My son and I got a number of items signed and we also chatted with him a few times. All in all a wonderful evening and kudos to JLB for making the night a memorable one. Hopefully they do this again sometime in the future. 

[Ravenfoul]

Awesome, thanks for the recap guys.

[TheGreatPretender]

TGP: Were you the one in the second row seated next to us?

I was indeed in the second row... I don't know who I was sitting next to, lol. Does my picture look like the guy who was sitting next to you? 

[New Millenium]

My son had the purple Aeropostale sweatshirt on and was seated right next to you. I believe when you first came into the hall and made your way to the seats you asked me if the seats next to us were vacant. I said "yes" and then made a comment about how appropriate as they were playing "Vacant" on the sound system at the time. 

We went to the pub next door after the night was done and sure enough JLB showed up there with family and friends. He was just as gracious chatting it up with everyone.

[Calvin6s]

Sounds like a very unique event that could only take place in a town with direct JLB history.

<tongue in cheek> Did this happen?

JLB:  Well, that reminds me of ...
Moderator:  What was that aboot?
JLB:  Can I finish?  The fact is ...
Moderator: Answer my question, buddy
JLB:  Can I finish? What I was saying ...
Moderator:  You Canadians and your beady eyes
JLB:  I resent that.  I find that racist.  Can I finish?
JLB:  As I was saying.  I apologize for Bryan Adams.

Did JLB mention if he had any music education background?