DREAM THEATER's JAMES LABRIE Explains How He Earned 'Pirate' Nickname

In a new interview with Alicia Atout, DREAM THEATER singer James LaBrie explained the origins of the nickname "Pirate," which was given to him by one of his bandmates. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I have a proclivity of being somewhat… I guess I can be moody at times, but normally I'm usually straight and even and a real nice guy. But there's this tendency of me, depending on what's going on on the road, and it's usually if I'm not feeling well — like anybody — I can get moody. So Jordan Rudess, our esteemed keyboard player… One day I was in one of those moods, just, like, 'Hey, just leave me alone. I'm dealing with stuff. I've got a really wicked cold,' and whatever; that whole singer syndrome bullshit that goes on. So he started calling me, he goes, 'No problem there, Pirate.' And I looked over and I go, 'What? What did you say?' And he called me a pirate, 'cause he goes, 'Well, you're like an angry pirate.' And I said, 'Okay. Whatever.' And then he just started calling me that all the time. So the days went on, and he'd just say, 'Hey, Pirate.' And then somebody else on the crew would hear him and they'd go, 'Oh, Pirate. What, are you calling James 'Pirate'?' That's how it started — like, seriously. It was that easy… It's nothing like the band started going, 'Hey, man. James, you remind me of a pirate.' It all came from Jordan. And it stuck… Well, he calls me 'Captain' sometimes too. 'Hey, Captain.'"

DREAM THEATER kicked off its "Top Of The World" 2022 North American tour on February 2 at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona. Fan-filmed video footage of the concert can be seen below.

The rescheduled dates for DREAM THEATER's postponed North American leg of the "Top Of The World" tour will run seven weeks before ending in Austin, Texas on March 21. The tour will also make stops in Los Angeles, California; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; New York City and Dallas, Texas, among others, and will mark the first live performances of music from DREAM THEATER's latest release, "A View From The Top Of The World". ARCH ECHO is the opener on all dates in the United States and FALSET will be the opener on all of the dates in Canada. Information on tickets for all upcoming shows as well as VIP packages can be found at www.dreamtheater.net.

Last November, DREAM THEATER was announced as one of the "Best Metal Performance" nominees at the 64th annual Grammy Awards, which will be held on April 3, 2022 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The progressive metal legends were nominated for their song "The Alien", the first single from "A View From The Top Of The World", which came out in October.

DREAM THEATER's previous Grammy nominations were for the song "On The Backs Of Angels", from 2011's "A Dramatic Turn Of Events" album, and the single "The Enemy Inside" from 2013's "Dream Theater".

"A View From The Top Of The World" marked DREAM THEATER's second studio album with InsideOut Music/Sony Music. The artwork was created by longtime cover collaborator Hugh Syme (RUSH, IRON MAIDEN, STONE SOUR). "A View From The Top Of The World" was produced by guitarist John Petrucci, with engineering and additional production by James "Jimmy T" Meslin and mixing and mastering by Andy Sneap.