Jimmy Kay and Alex Dixon from Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke to DREAM THEATER Singer James LeBrie. LaBrie talked about the bands new album, the postponed North American tour and his Opportunity with Iron Maiden in the past.

When asked about the postponed North American tour
“It just came down to how comfortable we were with going out and we were getting kind of mixed messages. from promoters, our agencies and all across the board. When you put together a tour the amount of money that you put into a tour is astronomical and the kind of production we go out with is pretty big, it’s pretty substantial. So we were getting a lot of indication that the bands that had been going out were out for a week or two then somebody in the band or crew would come down with Covid and the whole camp had to be shut down, that is financially disabling for any tour. If I want to be completely honest with you it was not  a unanimous decision there three of us that said no we are not going out and there  were two of us who said come on let’s do it and that’s what it came down to, it was a majority vote we’re not about to go out.”

When asked about the new album
“I think we always stood true to ourselves first and foremost. So there is an identity  there is a familiarity there so when people spin any given Dream Theater album you can identify with it, immediately. A lot of fans that have heard any snippet of the new album,  have said wow it seems to be reminiscent of some older classic Dream Theater. We definitely reached back into our roots. We knew before going into the studio we wanted to write an epic, everyone was on board for that. So when you know you are going to do something like that it opens up all the possibilities for the rest of the album to unfold as such. This album was like let’s get back to not having any parameters that we need to be concerned with consciously and just let’s write what we feel to create a classic Dream Theater album and I think it really does stand on it’s own.”

When asked if he ever was asked to join Iron Maiden When Bruce Dickinson left the band
“Absolutely, at the time we were looking at being managed by Iron Maiden’s management. You have to remember I was in a very bizarre situation. Dream Theater already recorded Images and Words, we were looking for management and we were trying to set up a tour and get out there and we met Rod Smallwood.  We were playing darts and Rod Smallwood took me aside and I remember him saying to me, I just want to throw something at you and he had his assistant with him too Mark at the time. And they are both standing there going, what do you think about being the singer with Iron Maiden. And I said What?  What are we talking about here? I am confused?  Are you not here for the reason that you might start managing Dream Theater or are to get me to become the singer. So I just said no, no way. I am going to tell you the reasons why I’m not going to do this and they said what is that. And I said, one Dream Theater, that’s it, period. I remember thinking I am not going to go out there and sing Iron Maiden every night even though I think they are a great band and Bruce is a great singer. No Thank you.  I needed to create something that I created from the beginning, even though I was not on the first Dream Theater  album. It was all respect, they totally got it and we moved on.”