DREAM THEATER Singer: 'We're Not Just A Progressive Band'

Steve Newton of Straight.com recently conducted an interview with DREAM THEATER singer James LaBrie. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

On the prog-rock genre:

"I think that it's definitely trying to make a resurgence. There are bands that really care about the quality of music that they're writing, and that just don't want to go down the same avenue as most of the bands you hear on the radio today. Unfortunately, radio basically says to a lot of the listeners out there that what you hear is what music is. There's so much more to it."

On how his band has been pigeonholed somewhat by the length of its material:

"When a lot of people hear the name DREAM THEATER, they automatically think, 'Oh, that's a progressive band they've got these long, very involved, meandering songs. Granted, we do have songs that are a little longer than most bands would even attempt to write, but at the same time, we're not just a progressive band. We're hard rock, we're heavy metal, we're classically influenced, we're pop-influenced. With that stylistic diversity, there's a lot more to offer, which gives us that potential to break into these 'hit' areas, but unfortunately they've eluded us."

On LaBrie's lyrics for the song "Prophets of War", a damning indictment of Dubya's disaster in Iraq:

"That song is about the frustration with the powers that be for having their ulterior motives create such a horrific, no-win situation. Basically the message there is that we really have to start questioning our politicians no matter who they are, where they are, and what they're saying because it is our right. I think people have forgotten that the power is in our hands, and that if there's enough voices behind it, we will see things change rapidly."