James LaBrie interview (excerpt)

8 - With such control of decisions, one would imagine that the control you have in Dream Theater and the control you have in Mullmuzzler are different. How pronounced are these differences and how do they reflect on the way your work with each of these bands?

James: Well, with Mullmuzzler I have tons of control, but it’s all very open-minded; I’m very open-minded when I’m writing songs with the other guys in the band. With Dream Theater, it’s five guys, and it’s very instrumental... when it comes to writing a song everybody is in it. But in Dream Theater my role is different; with Dream Theater the other four guys are writing the songs, writing the music, and then my involvement usually comes in when the vocal melodies of the songs are being written. That’s where I start coming in, and when the lyrics start to get written that’s where I come in, and obviously, when the songs are being sung, I definitely come in. (laughs) So I play a different role in Dream Theater than what I play with Mullmuzzler. In the latter I produce, I write the songs, and I also sing, so they’re both different worlds, and I get a different kind of satisfaction from one than I get with the other. They’re just two different worlds.

9 - Now, after having recorded two albums with Mullmuzzler and a primary role in writing the songs, haven’t you ever regretted that you can’t play any instruments such as the guitar in order to get your ideas across more easily?

James: Well... yeah, some days I do, some days I’m like “Gosh, I should have picked up the guitar or I should have picked up the piano,” but when people were picking up the guitars and playing the guitar or the keyboards well, I was being very serious about my voice.

I played the drums from the age of five till seventeen, so I think that that really gave me a great sense of rhythm; that really helped me, and especially with music from a band like Dream Theater. It really helps to have a pounding sense of rhythm being in a band like that. So in that sense, it really did help to play the drums all those years, but what can I say?

When I want to write a song, basically I get the ideas in my head and I put them down on tape, just like “click... ok [Ed.note: starts singing a heavy riff... and there’s no way in hell I’m notating it on a pentagram],” you know what I mean? And I’m getting my idea across, and then that tape goes to the person I want to write the song with. And so I get the point across and then eventually we develop it into the song I’m hearing in my head. So I get there, and I can do everything that I want and don’t have to pick up the guitar and need to learn how to play rhythmically...