DREAM THEATER Singer Talks Next Solo Album

Vocalist James LaBrie of progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER recently spoke to the Attention Deficit Delirium about the progress of the songwriting sessions for his next solo album. "Right now, Matt [Guillory], I and the other guys are writing," LaBrie said. "We're about halfway through. I would say our main focus is that we want to raise the bar as far as the actual song compositions, so with the arrangements we want to see if we can better ourselves first and foremost. As far as the elements that we want to include or implement into the music, a lot of those elements will be familiar because we want to keep it consistent. It has to make sense and have a sense of continuity from where we left off, but there are some things that we're talking about we want to bring in that will bring in some intriguing kind of sonics to give it its own identity."

He added, "In as much as I want to make it so that it is known that it is me, at the same time I want to be able to experiment. I don't want to feel that I'm constrained or have to sound in this vein of music or I'm going to lose my listeners. I think if anything they want to hear new things, and that's what we did coming from 'Elements Of Persuasion' to 'Static Impulse'. It was all about that. Hitting them over the head with 'Static Impulse', I don't think a lot of them were expecting there to be the thrash metal or screamo vocals on a James LaBrie album. It also has to be sincere and genuine. Matt and I over the years have appreciated that approach, and what I said when we were actually implementing the screamo vocals into the 'Static Impulse' album was, 'I don't want to look at it like it's a vocal, I'd rather view it as an instrument. This instrument has a distinctive sound. Where can we bring it in and have it really embellish the direction of the song or that certain section?' So that's what we did."

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James LaBrie's solo tour — which was scheduled to kick off on November 26, 2010 in Charlotte, North Carolina and end on December 20, 2010 in Houston, Texas — was canceled "due to some unfortunate, unforeseen difficulties with securing work visas" for a couple of the members of LaBrie's band.

"Static Impulse" sold around 1,700 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at position No. 14 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"Static Impulse" was released on September 28, 2010 (one day earlier internationally) via InsideOut Music. The CD marked LaBrie's first solo effort in over five years.

Mixed and mastered by Jens Borgen (OPETH, KATATONIA),"Static Impulse" featured Guillory; Peter Wildoer from Swedish thrashers DARKANE on drums and screaming vocals; Marco Sfogli on guitar; and Ray Riendeau (HALFORD) on bass.

"I Need You" audio stream (taken from "Static Impulse"):

"One More Time" audio stream (taken from "Static Impulse"):

For more information, visit www.jameslabrie.com.