Under The Radar

Dream Theater would love more media attention. But they don’t need it. They’re riding new CD Train Of Thought to a mostly sold-out tour

By Jordan Zivitz

Is Dream Theater a progressive-rock band? Let’s see...

Long solos? Check. Longer songs? Check. Aim-to-kill musicianship? That’s there, too. Time signatures that require an MIT scholarship to decode? Oh, yeah. So when James LaBrie says he isn’t singing with a prog-rock act, he needs to immediately qualify his words.

LaBrie doesn’t deny the proggy aspects of Dream Theater. He’d be a fool to. But, he says, “that’s not painting the entire picture.

“It’s just one small part of Dream Theater. Well, some people would say it’s one big part. It’s however you see it. But there’s also a hard-rock side, there are classical and jazz influences – there are many, many styles of music that create our sound. So when somebody says, ‘Oh yeah, Dream Theater – progressive-rock act,’ that’s not a true representation of what the band stands for.

“I’d rather people say we’re a heavy-rock band with progressive elements. That, to me, would be more accurate.”

It’s certainly more accurate on the recent Train Of Thought, the most aggressive album in the band’s nearly 20-year career. The group has never sounded more like the old-school metal brigade LaBrie raves about – Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica – although that’s all relative. This is no more a strictly metal band than it is a strictly progressive one.

Train Of Thought’s darker tone – and a few eyebrow-raising rap breaks from LaBrie – have led to accusations that Dream Theater has made an ungainly and untimely attempt to hop on the rickety nu-metal bandwagon. LaBrie denies this, while admitting the album is “hands down” the group’s most contentious work.

“When you put out an album this in-your-face and this relentless, there’s no question in your mind that it’s going to be controversial. Some people are going to immediately love it for what it is, and then other people are going to go, ‘Oh my God, I can’t wrap my head around this. What the hell is this all about?’ Which is good. Controversy is good.”

Also good: Dream Theater’s following.

The devoted lot might push the earplugs in a little deeper when LaBrie starts rapping, but are mostly willing to follow the group at least a few steps down a new path.

“People generally know that it’s unpredictable where we’re going to go with every album. That’s the beauty of a band like this: We have the freedom of creativity. We have the freedom to take the music wherever we want. That’s what’s given us our longevity, and I think that’s why the fans have stuck with us.”

In part, Dream Theater has earned that freedom by being practically ignored by mainstream media. The band has no big hits, little in the way of radio or video exposure, and is barely acknowledged by the printed press. There is, then, a carte blanche coming from the knowledge there are few expectations to live up to.

Still, LaBrie added, “I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say, ‘Wouldn’t it be a great thing if those media sources started picking up on us?’ Of course it would, because there are still a lot of people who are completely oblivious to the fact that we even exist.

“(Media indifference) is something that unfortunately you come to accept. ... You have radio, which is very corporate, and you have video, which is extremely corporate. A band like us is just uncool to those avenues, and they aren’t vehicles that carry us very well. So you have to create your own buzz.”

Extensive touring and a strong Internet presence have done that job. Tonight’s Metropolis concert was a rapid sell-out, and fans have been encouraged to travel to multiple dates by a constantly changing set list (which frequently includes covers, and very occasionally includes an entire album by, say, Metallica or Iron Maiden).

“I’d say 95 per cent of the shows are sold out on this tour, and we have to keep reminding ourselves that we basically haven’t had any promotion. It’s been word of mouth and the Internet, and some magazines that have considered us to be worthy of being talked about. So it’s a hugely successful situation, if you think about where we’re coming from.”

Dream Theater performs tonight at 8 at Metropolis, 59 Ste. Catherine St. E. There is no opening act. The show is sold out.