James LaBrie interview with Kyo, 2011-07-11

[Dynia]

Awesome stuff. Some nice details about the album. It's a pity they are not going to perform LtL, though I i can understand that. It sure is a demanding song to perform, especially for JLB.
I just hope they will play it in Katowice

[hefdaddy42]

Awesome interview!

[perfey]

Wow.  That's some really good stuff.  Props to Kyo for asking some of the tough questions in a very respectful way.  And props to James for being candid and respectful.  He really shed a lot of light on quite a few aspects of his and the band's relationship with Mike Portnoy, dispelled a lot of myths and misperceptions, and confirmed a few things fans have only really been able to speculate about before.

A very, very interesting interview. Thanks a lot. 

Agrees.

[JimmyJava]

Thanks a bunch - great interview!

[KevShmev]

Great interview.  Thanks for posting it, Kyo!

I am not surprised that it was just coincidental about there being no Portnoy-penned songs on the current set list.  I think most of us knew that already, but naturally a few speculated that it was done on purpose.

Very interesting, though, his comments about never needing advice on how to sing and Portnoy trying to grab the limelight with his on-stage antics instead of focusing on playing.  

And that is great to hear that Scarred is one of his favorites to sing.

[Aniland]

80 minutes... 

Petrucci - Build Me Up, Break Me Down + Beneath the Surface
Myung - Breaking All Illusions

I'm surprised you did not ask if The Shaman's Trance or any other songs is an instrumental.

[TheSilentHam]

Very good interview.

Very interesting, though, his comments about never needing advice on how to sing and Portnoy trying to grab the limelight with his on-stage antics instead of focusing on playing.  

I was a little suprised by these comments too. They weren't bad, but a little bit more off the high-road than in previous interviews.

[phentalmyst]

i find the JM lyric situation very interesting. MP kept saying he was trying to get JM to write, yet JLB says he never felt invited. hmmm...

[stryker]

And that is great to hear that Scarred is one of his favorites to sing.

Great to hear indeed! 

[chrisbDTM]

And that is great to hear that Scarred is one of his favorites to sing.

Great to hear indeed! 

too bad, i remember petrucci said he doesnt like playing it. he said the crowd doesnt get into it.
id LOVE to see scarred

[Guitalguy]

Great and interesting interview, good job!

[TheGreatPretender]

Great interview, but no video? Some of the things, the actions described in the interview sound like they really deserve to be seen.

[SystematicThought]

Sad that he is no longer in touch with Mike, but not unexpected. MP was kinda nasty towards JLB towards the end of his run in DT  and post-breakup.

However, they really sound like a band now. It's not one member running the show, everyone is working together.

[ich bin besser]

I think the video will be coming up. I'm sure Michael will keep us update.  

[TheGreatPretender]

Sad that he is no longer in touch with Mike, but not unexpected. MP was kinda nasty towards JLB towards the end of his run in DT  and post-breakup.

However, they really sound like a band now. It's not one member running the show, everyone is working together.

Post breakup? What did he say post breakup? Not to bring up old negative stuff, but I haven't heard anything of the sort, and I'm just really curious.

[chrisbDTM]

blabbermouth posted an interview with the headline to the effect of 'JLB not sad about MP's departure'

MP took it out of context and deleted all talks of James' solo album from the MP forum etc. etc.

[iamtheeviltwin]

Sad that he is no longer in touch with Mike, but not unexpected. MP was kinda nasty towards JLB towards the end of his run in DT  and post-breakup.

However, they really sound like a band now. It's not one member running the show, everyone is working together.

There was definately some subtle digs at Mike about certain aspects of the performance, songwriting, studio work, and willingness to express themselves.  Sounds like JLB and JM both were feeling quite "out of the loop" during the studio process.  Kind of matches with the vibe that people have gotten from the last album especially in regards to the motivation and effort by both JM and JLB.

Heh, guess people can put that "complete song" rumor to rest...although it seems like there were other factors in play that kept JM from participating.

[SystematicThought]

Post breakup? What did he say post breakup? Not to bring up old negative stuff, but I haven't heard anything of the sort, and I'm just really curious.

He deleted the Static Impulse thread over at his forum and wouldn't allow threads discussing the then planned Static Impulse Tour. He said that he couldn't tolerate JLB's words and that MP was 'seriously' hurt about JLB's comments. It all started over a blabbermouth headline that stated that James was not sad at all about MP leaving. It was completely taken out of context as JLB said in the full interview that he was energized and excited for the future, and wasn't dwelling on MP's departure.

Just another case of MP overreacting. And blabbermouth of all things.

Sad that he is no longer in touch with Mike, but not unexpected. MP was kinda nasty towards JLB towards the end of his run in DT  and post-breakup.

However, they really sound like a band now. It's not one member running the show, everyone is working together.

There was definately some subtle digs at Mike about certain aspects of the performance, songwriting, studio work, and willingness to express themselves.  Sounds like JLB and JM both were feeling quite "out of the loop" during the studio process.  Kind of matches with the vibe that people have gotten from the last album especially in regards to the motivation and effort by both JM and JLB.

Heh, guess people can put that "complete song" rumor to rest...although it seems like there were other factors in play that kept JM from participating.

They kind of screwed JLB in the BC&SL sessions. He was about to fly down to New York to work with them and MP emailed him back saying they finished the album. So basically, the last album that JLB was apart of the writing was Systematic Chaos

[KevShmev]

Very good interview.

Very interesting, though, his comments about never needing advice on how to sing and Portnoy trying to grab the limelight with his on-stage antics instead of focusing on playing.  

I was a little suprised by these comments too. They weren't bad, but a little bit more off the high-road than in previous interviews.

Well, the singing thing can't be a surprise to anyone who saw the Making of SC documentary.  JLB looked more than a bit perturbed by the way Portnoy, as producer, was critiquing his singing. 

[TheGreatPretender]

blabbermouth posted an interview with the headline to the effect of 'JLB not sad about MP's departure'

MP took it out of context and deleted all talks of James' solo album from the MP forum etc. etc.

Ohhh, okay. Yeah, I remember that.

Honestly, it sounds like they're so much better off without him. Not to turn this into a "Hate on MP" thread, but it's cool that LaBrie actually openly talked about these things. The labels and companies are so touchy these days that it's like, "Oh, well, I can't really talk about this because it's not nice."

[SystematicThought]

Well, the singing thing can't be a surprise to anyone who saw the Making of SC documentary.  JLB looked more than a bit perturbed by the way Portnoy, as producer, was critiquing his singing. 

I was just watching that this weekend. "The delivery wasn't that great" "Try doing it this way" "Sing it the way I tell you"

Where were there comments about stealing the limelight though I must have missed that

[bosk1]

Very good interview.

Very interesting, though, his comments about never needing advice on how to sing and Portnoy trying to grab the limelight with his on-stage antics instead of focusing on playing.  

I was a little suprised by these comments too. They weren't bad, but a little bit more off the high-road than in previous interviews.

Well, the singing thing can't be a surprise to anyone who saw the Making of SC documentary.  JLB looked more than a bit perturbed by the way Portnoy, as producer, was critiquing his singing.  

That isn't entirely accurate.  It was Pornoy, JP, and Paul Northfield together (but primarily JP!) jokingly critiquing his singing.

[KevShmev]

Where were there comments about stealing the limelight though I must have missed that

It was in his answer to the first question.

How does it feel to be the undisputed frontman of the band for the first time in 20 years?

The undisputed frontman? You know, I mean... it was such a weird dichotomy, if you think about it. It's funny, you mentioning that, because we, the guys in the band, we were talking about that everything is much more balanced, everybody is in their role or in their position. So it's where things should be on stage, where it's not somebody in the background trying to grab the limelight when maybe they should just be grooving or whatever. But I mean, that's his character, that's just his personality. He's big and he wants to be in the limelight. But unfortunately the problem with that is that it takes away from the bigger picture – and that is the band as a unit. And a lot of people have been commenting on that since we started out on this tour, saying ,,it feels more like I'm watching a band, with somebody up front singing and interacting, everybody else just back there and (makes drumming and guitar playing gestures). Everyone kind of assumes what they're doing. And then there's always moments in the night when there is the spotlight on these other members and it should be. But it creates more a balance. And we were talking about this, we were saying ,,you know, this is really cool" – it feels like a unit. So it's a lot better.

[SystematicThought]

JP and Northfield were light in their criticisms. MP is rather direct and blunt in his. However, that most likely wasn't intentional as that's just MP.

@Kev: Yep, I kind of glazed over the first part of the interview 

[erik16]

Interesting that the song JMX has written lyrics for seems to have been written in the studio, together. So far all songs with JMX lyrics have been his demos except for Fatal Tragedy which was a concept anyway.

[Nick]

Awesome interview, thanks Kyo.

[TAC]

Here's the transcript: https://www.prog-sphere.com/2011/07/11/resurfacing-an-interview-with-james-labrie/

My computer will not let me open the link.

EDIT..I'm good!

[Blackfield]

You could see in some of Jordan's videos on youtube that things were not well in their relationship. Myung - Portnoy is obvious, but even Labrie started to distance himself. It was really only Jordan, Petrucci and Portnoy hanging out.
It was a good call by Mike suggesting the break (regardless of what later happened). I think we where not far from Labrie (or Myung) leaving the band. The breakup was necessary and it needed to be Mike that left.
I would not want to hear the next album if change didn't happen.

[chrisbDTM]

You could see in some of Jordan's videos on youtube that things were not well in their relationship. Myung - Portnoy is obvious, but even Labrie started to distance himself. It was really only Jordan, Petrucci and Portnoy hanging out.
It was a good call by Mike suggesting the break (regardless of what later happened). I think we where not far from Labrie (or Myung) leaving the band. The breakup was necessary and it needed to be Mike that left.
I would not want to hear the next album if change didn't happen.

but alot of jordan's videos are him and JLB walking around cities. the best one to showcase the relationship is when MP said something like 'Im pretty sure i havent talked to JM in over a week"

[TheGreatPretender]

It was a good call by Mike suggesting the break (regardless of what later happened). I think we where not far from Labrie (or Myung) leaving the band. The breakup was necessary and it needed to be Mike that left.

Yeah, I definitely agree with this.
I mean, if LaBrie had quit the band, I definitely wouldn't be looking forward to the new album, regardless of who replaced him.

[TheSilentHam]

Very interesting, though, his comments about never needing advice on how to sing and Portnoy trying to grab the limelight with his on-stage antics instead of focusing on playing.  

I was a little surprised by these comments too. They weren't bad, but a little bit more off the high-road than in previous interviews.

Well, the singing thing can't be a surprise to anyone who saw the Making of SC documentary.  JLB looked more than a bit perturbed by the way Portnoy, as producer, was critiquing his singing. 

Yeah wasn't surprised he felt that way...just surprised he said it now.  Since MP left, DT has been pretty careful about MP comments.  Maybe things are loosening up a bit.

[bosk1]

Wow, so James squashes a lot of long-time rumors, only to have some brand new ones sprout up to take their place.    

It is highly doubtful that James had any plans to leave the band.  He said in the drummer documentary and in some interviews already that he was completely jazzed about getting ready to go into the studio to work on a new album, and that Portnoy's suggestion about a hiatus was like a punch in the gut (or "running 100 miles per hour into a brick wall," as he said in the doc).  That hardly sounds like someone who was on the verge of quitting the band.

[Nick]

You know what else he's said?

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWK.

[TheGreatPretender]

Wow, so James squashes a lot of long-time rumors, only to have some brand new ones sprout up to take their place.    

It is highly doubtful that James had any plans to leave the band.  He said in the drummer documentary and in some interviews already that he was completely jazzed about getting ready to go into the studio to work on a new album, and that Portnoy's suggestion about a hiatus was like a punch in the gut (or "running 100 miles per hour into a brick wall," as he said in the doc).  That hardly sounds like someone who was on the verge of quitting the band.

Yeah, that is true. Plus unlike MP, half the reason why the others DIDN'T want to take a break was because it's their main source of income. MP always juggled a million things at once. The others, apart from the odd side project every few years, DT has been their bread and butter.

[metropofreak]

I really like how JM is much more involved now. And I think he is much happier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfPSRb8btjA&feature=BFa&list=HL1310408669&index=135

Check out 12.48 when he gets a pat on the back from MM, its just kinda nice because i dont think I've seen that happen for a long time