DREAM THEATER's JAMES LABRIE: Touring Has Been Our Biggest Promotional Tool

Cutter of Envision Radio Networks' "Hangar 19" podcast recently conducted an interview with vocalist James LaBrie of progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Asked about the band's longevity and continued success, LaBrie said: "I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we've been relentless as far as touring, and that has been our biggest promotional tool, along with being with labels that understood us and especially now with Roadrunner, who are on top of who and what we are and what we represent and what we're trying to achieve and realizing that it's not just something you throw out to radio and you hope that it's going to hit; there's much more to making a band like DREAM THEATER successful. I still think one of the most powerful tools for the band is the fact that we do tour like we do and that we have an incredible fan base worldwide and we go get the support from various means, like what I'm doing right here [referring to the interview] and magazines and the Internet and word of mouth. But it's been quite the ride, and it's been with a lot of work, but we do realize that we're in a very fortunate situation and the success we have is something that we cannot take lightly."

DREAM THEATER's latest, self-titled album sold around 34,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 7 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD arrived in stores on September 24, 2013 via Roadrunner.

In a November 2013 interview with Screamer Magazine, LaBrie elaborated on the reasons for DREAM THEATER's ability to maintain such a strong connection with its fans. He said: "I think a lot of it has to do with [the fact that] DREAM THEATER kind of cultivated our base from the very beginning through incessant and relentless touring around the world. We'd do an album and then we'd follow the album with a tour that lasts anywhere from a year to a year and a half and then we'd take a few months off and then we're back in the studio. So it's almost like a 2-3-year cycle that we've kept up since, basically, 1992 when we came out with 'Images And Words'. So I think that really gained us some notoriety around the world. As far as North America goes, a lot of that has been through making sure that we get into as many areas as possible every time we tour and building the audience that way. And I think, basically, that is what we've attained throughout the many years — building our audience from being known as a live band, a live entity — and that's really helped to create this awareness of us."

Interview (audio):