 a returning guest. Of course, Dream Theater's singer, James. One of our favorite Canucks. Yes. Yes, fellow Canucks. Absolutely. Hey, how are you guys? Great. Let me just start by saying congratulations on this solo album. I mean, I think this is your tea for the tiller man. This is a classic strong album. Wow. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. I have to tell you, you know what? The reviews and the reaction, the reviews have been overwhelming. And the fans, the way that they're talking about this, I mean, Paul and I and the rest of the guys couldn't be, we couldn't be happier. I mean, it's any artist's biggest reward to have this kind of reaction. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, hold on. We should plug it. We should plug it. Yeah, for sure. It's coming out May 20th. Beautiful shades of gray on inside out music. So it's coming out. You know, this probably will come out tomorrow, but the album will be released in two days from now. It will be on Friday. Yeah. So pretty psyched. Everyone's, yeah. And we just released the third single on Monday. And so that's out there right now with the video to accompany it as well. And yeah, so, hey, it's been great. You know, I'm hoping that I can take this thing, this incredible lineup out next May. I'm already talking. Promoters are already ringing my bell. And so they're, we're talking about trying to get out and do some live shows May of 23. So, you know, a lot of people unfortunately live their lives today in black and white. And I always thought life was gray is different shades of gray. And that was makes life interesting. So what's the significance of the title? The significance of the title is the human condition. So a lot of my lyrics are dealing with, you know, what it means to grow up as a to exist and to operate as a human being. And I've always said, you know, we're a fascinating entity, you know, the construction of us, the complexity of us. It is a beautiful, beautiful creation. But at the same time, why I brought in a beautiful shade of gray is because there's always seems to be a certain level of sadness that we always carry around with us, you know, and, and whether it's because we know that our existence is, you know, it's, it's brevity, right? It is, it's very, very brief. And to know that we, we don't know what happens when the lights go out. It's, it's something that we, we contend with and everyone on this planet thinks about it from time to time. And so I wanted to talk about that, you know, the ups and downs and challenges, the victories, you know, and the tribulations and all that. So I thought, you know, I'm reading through my lyrics and all my lyrics are dealing with, with, you know, relationships, growth, mental stability, you know, emotional spectrums. And I just thought, you know, I woke, I kept thinking about it per day. So I'd read through my lyrics and that one day, believe it or not, as I was waking up, that phrase came into my head, beautiful shade of gray. And I went, oh my God, that's perfect. That sums up exactly what I was trying to express through all my lyrics. Yeah. You know, the music, you know, first of all, I'm going to say what Alan just said. I'm going to reiterate it. It's a fabulous album. It feels so organic. Tell us about the musical direction for the people out there who have, you know, who don't know it yet, right? Well, so when Paul and I had our initial meeting to discuss the kind of album that we wanted to create, I was, you know, very, very sure of my direction. So I said, you know, Paul, I want to create an acoustically based album, very organic sounding. I said, let's just think, Zeppelin, all the way, you know, I said they're timeless. They're one of the most phenomenal bands that have ever graced this planet. And I said, and a lot of it had to do with this. It felt real. It felt as if you were sitting in someone's garage listening to this incredible musical entity. And I said, I want to capture that magic. I want to capture that magic in the writing. And I want to capture that magic sonically. So I said, this is what we need to do. And I said, you know, Paul was like all about it. He's like, oh my God. So initially what started out, it was like, I want to do an album. It's going to be acoustic guitar and vocals. And then we had written two songs and we were really excited. And I said, hang on, Paul. So I had a conversation with him. I said, ah, as amazing as this is, I think we're going to be overstaying our welcome. I said, you can only sit around a campfire so long unless there's somebody strum the guitar and somebody sing. I said, there needs to be a little more depth to it. And I said, we need a full ensemble. And that's how we brought in, you know, what became the rest of the guys, Markle, Christian and my son, Chance. And, you know, at that point too, it just gave us a wider palette, musical palette to work with. And, you know, I mean, obviously the song ideas and all that were always coming from Paul and I, and we were collaborating. And then, you know, when we brought Chance and he started getting involved too with the arrangements and he recorded all my vocals and I have a studio in the basement and my house. And so he was, you know, not to mention he was doing all the drumming and that. So we knew that, you know, no matter what, we wanted to really pay homage to the 70s, but it still had to be contemporary. You know, otherwise, you're just going to lose your audience. I mean, you know, unless you're, you're just going to play to that demographic, right, which is unrealistic. So, yeah. So that was, you know, that was what was our foundation, so to speak. And then we just built it from there. We built the house. Led Zeppelin 3. That's what you're talking about. Oh, yeah. Classic. But, but, you know, so, so, so doing that, doing that, it enabled us to, you know, be focused and, and just create and we, and here's the other beauty of it is that we took our time. You know, it was like, what else are you going to do today? Well, I don't know, go for another walk. Okay. And then sit down and keep writing, would you? Hey, Jim. Let me, let me tell you guys, we already have ideas going on for the next one. So, you know, it's, it's, it's amazing. You know, like Paul's like, Hey, I got this and I'm like, I got this. Oh my God. Oh my God. So just before continuing, can you just reset ahead that move your camera a little over? Center yourself a little more because you're falling off a camera there. Yeah. Oh, that's better. I'm always in the center. There you go. Wow. Okay. Actually, you know what, since we're at it, can you bring it down? Bring it down a little bit so you're complete there. Oh, there he is. You want to make you look better? Okay, go ahead. I got a question to work for this. You guys are making me work. I love Eden's Curse. Been a huge fan. Symphony of Sin from 19, 2013. I still listen to that. I still think that's an amazing album. So, you know, there was rumors that he was going to get Eden's Curse back together and then Nikolai went and joined Sirius Black. So, A, I want to know how you, you know, how you met up with Paul and went about writing this material and B, are you the cause that Eden's Curse is no longer formed? Yeah, I break up fans. This is what I do on my, on my time off is I, I create habit from fans and division. No, no. So, so what happened was in 2011, Paul contacted my management and are actually their label, Eden's Curse label, Contact and My Management. And because they suggested that they had this song called No Holy Man and they said, Paul, Paul said, well, my favorite singer, believe it or not, you can ask them in the world. Oh, there's James Lebris, but there's no way he's going to sing on our album. And the label said, how do you know that? Like, you know, like, it doesn't hurt to ask. And so they got in touch with my management. My manager called me and said, there's a guy who wants to talk to Paul Logan, he's from a band, Eden's Curse. And I said, I said, that slightly rings a bell. I said, but I can't really place them. And so I sat down and I talked to Paul and Michael at the time was their singer Michael Eden, right? Isn't that his name? Yeah. And so we had a lengthy discussion. They said, we have this song called No Holy Man. And they said, we would love for you to guest on it and sing like you'll sing half of it. Michael will sing the other half and you'll interplay with one another. I said, okay, that's fine. I said, let me hear the song for I always say that whatever artist asked me. I got to hear the song before I commit. And I heard the song. I was like, holy shit. This is a cool tune. I really like it. And a great sounding band. And so I went in, I recorded that song. And and then I got on the phone with I actually emailed Paul and I said, who's writing this stuff? And he says, oh, I'm the main composer. And I was like, oh, shit. I said, this is freaking great stuff, man. I said, it gives it gives a classical kind of nod. And to that era, and he goes, oh, that's a really cool man. And he starts rambling off all these bands he's into, Zeppelin as well. And so we kind of stayed in touch, Paul and I stayed in touch. And we kept saying we got to find a window of opportunity and write something together. So let's fast forward to 2020, February 23rd, our last show on the Distance Over Time tour. We didn't know that at the time in Glasgow. And February 24th, I'm walking through the, I'm sitting at Starbucks in the Glasgow airport and Paul Loeb walks by and says, James. And I look over and what? And he was at the show last night. I said, what did you email me? He goes, I did. I said, oh, shit, you got my old information. That's my fault. So I gave him my new information. We sat down. He goes, are you here rumblings about what's going on around the world here? There's a string of wires. He says, let me ask you, if this happens, what are you thinking? I said, I think you and I should write an album. And he goes, that's what I was hoping. And we did. Yep. All right. So you guys then, then you choose Rambalon as the cover. And oh, yeah, I'll get your big Led Zeppelin fan. But I mean, why Rambalon and not something else? No trepidation. Yeah. It's one of my favorite songs from them, believe it or not. But here's my, my original choice was, that's the way, that's the way, that's the way it had to be. Right? And, and, you know, that's an amazing song as well. And Paul said, you know, that's a great song. He says, I remember reading an interview with you and you said one of your favorite songs was Rambalon. I go, it is. He goes, why are we doing that? We could freaking knock that out of the pot. And I said, okay, no argument here. You know, not to twist my arm. Let's just do it. And that's how that came about. And it just fits so well on the album. I mean, you know, and again, you hear acoustic album, you figure, okay, a few songs have the acoustic guitar at the beginning, but this is this is really acoustic album. And I just love like a give and take, you know, that interplay between the piano and the acoustic guitar at the beginning. There's something you said when you strip away the distortion pedals, you know, just the pure motion and the parameters that you have on acoustic guitar. Well, this is the thing, you know, and there's another thing it's like Paul played beautifully. He did the sixth string, 12 string and bass acoustic bass guitar on this. So he's he's so talented. What a freaking talent. He's just a wonderful, wonderful musician and human being to boot. And here, we'll get more center for you guys. Because anyways, so because we're very anal about the center. I haven't noticed. I haven't noticed. But so so then that puts us to the next one. I knew that the only man that should be playing the solo should be Marco, you know, because to me, when you're playing acoustic and you and all your solos are acoustic, well, almost all the solos on the album are acoustic. That separates the men from the boys because you're naked, man. You're out there. You make a little blip blop blup. There's no room for error or, you know, compromise. So he did it. He did it. You know, I mean, Marco is a real genius. He's just such a unique, he has such command of his of his respective instrument. He's these phenomenally talented and a very humble and beautiful human being. Like, I mean, it's just like everybody in this band is Christian, you know, or we call chrism. You know, the keyboard player just just a sensational human being and such a great talent and and very musical. Everybody in this band is very musical. And that's what, you know, they were integral. Yes, Paul and I were writing this stuff, but they were integral to even bring it up to another, you know, like Marco expressing himself, Christian bringing in all that atmospheric sonic soundscape painting, motion, piano. I mean, that brought it more depth, you know, and then chance with his drumming and and and his his whole take on on the arrangements and stuff like that. And he recorded all my vocals and, you know, it's very, very dad moments, dad, but dad. Well, this is come on, dad. This is, I mean, I don't know if you know my son's band called falsett, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, you know, here's the things it was so funny. The first day that we started recording and he came in and he goes, hey, dad, I just want to let you know, you're going to leave James and Bree at the door, right? And I said, what do you mean by that? He says, man, I don't want to deal with James. I just want to deal with you, the musician, but no ego, no nothing like that. I don't I don't walk into any studio or I don't walk into any studio chance with an eagle because that's self-destructive. I said, that's just not who I am. And he goes, okay, good. And I said, hey, man, I'm your father. You didn't know that about me? And he goes, well, no, I just don't I've never worked with you in the in the studio in this capacity. And I said, there you go. I said, okay, we got that out of the way. And then boom. But you know, here's the thing is that that chance was always brutally honest with me. Like there would be some things that I do and I go, hey, I kind of like that what I did there. And he goes, really, I died. I think I think you should maybe tap into what you did on Glass Prison or I think you should tap into what you did. Family family could be more honest than than the yes people. Like my son's brutally honest with me. Yeah. And you know what? And they should be right. Otherwise, it's phony, right? Like, what are we doing here? Or you're just, you know, appeasing me. You know, come on. There's not enough phony, phony crap in the world to begin with. But, you know, um, yeah, so it was a real, a real treat to work with them. We had a, you know, like, I got to be honest guys, like at times I would, I would say, hang on a second, you know, I just finished singing a chorus or something like that. I'd say, hang on a second. I said, holy shit, man. Those last few lines that I just sang, I said, I couldn't help but thinking. I got my son sitting in the studio here recording my vocals. I said the same guy that I was holding in my arms as the baby 23 years ago, it just felt surreal at times. You know what I mean? I was like, I never, you know, if anybody said, do you realize like fast forward, you're going to be working with your son in the studio, you're going to be recording your vocals. You got right, right. I mean, we don't see that, right? We don't see, which is, that's a great thing, right? Well, I don't want to know my future. But it was just at times, it's kind of like, well, you know, I'm just sitting down and, and then sitting down and listening to the vocal when I was done the track and then saying, okay, what do you think? And, you know, on chance, go, well, you know, right there. And it was very, very cute. Like it might have been like one or two moments, you go, well, why don't you do a different inflection there, dad, or something like that? I don't know. That's what I'm hearing. I'm hearing this or dad, even go into like a false settle or something like that. I don't fall settle there. Well, give it a whirl. Like, why not? Let's experiment. And you know, some of the times it would work. It was like, oh, shit. That's perfect. You know, so it was a real treat. And it was, you know, you know, you can never stop. It's funny. But you know, and every musician will say this is, that's the beauty of anything that you're ever involved in musically. There's always learning. You continuously learn from it. You know, you always think, oh, I've been doing this for 30 years. I know all that there is to know. No, you don't. You don't. Because each experience is different. You grow with each musician you work with. I mean, I never worked with anybody like Paul. And I've worked with so many people, you know, and he's just a phenomenally talented and musical person. And just the way that he thinks about things. He's so meticulous. You know, he's so methodical. He's like, he thinks globally about what it is to sound and oh, well, maybe this should be open core, you know, open tuning. And this, this core to prevent any comeback. I mean, I'm looking at this and I'm experimenting. I'm like, holy shit, that's a great way to, you know, to get to our goal. And he was opening up me to, you know, like to think, well, wait a minute, if you're going that route, then maybe I can approach my singing in a similar style or my melodies that I'm creating on this album. You know, and it's just, you're always learning. It's always a learning curve. We all have different sets of ears, right? And that's what, you know, everybody can add something. But just, I mean, you just brought up so many points for me. I mean, Marco's playing hit me like a brick that solo just on that song alone. Unbelievable. Sure. Am I right? You know, that's got a little bit of a Michael sweet solo album feel to me. And then then you're talking about the falsetto, those high notes that you sing at the end of that song just blew my mind, you know, wait a second. Then he's got that sort of queen vibe going with the sort of the acapella stuff at the beginning of conscious calling, conscious calling, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Conscience calling. Right. We have time to add in from try it for a bit for some reason. I don't know why that time melody of the conscience calling melody. I was out in my garage. you know how we all go in our garage and go holy shit I think we need to purge you know so my wife and I are out there going get rid of this get rid of that get rid of this and all of a sudden you know I was joking with her about something haunting and I'm like this she goes oh my god give me a break and then I went da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da and I went whoa hang on a second I think I got something honey and I just laid it down on the phone and I threw it down on the phone and then in further conversation with Paul I sent it to Paul and he's like holy shit this is freaking awesome what are you thinking I said acapella he goes no kidding and and I said I got it I wanted to have a vocal orchestration and that's why I called in Henning Paulie and you guys just remember the project I did called Frameshia back in 2004 I did this and Henning Paulie he wrote it and he produced it brought me into sing on it and there was all these moments of like acapella and we did this one section and there was something like I don't know 90 vocals that I did uh tracks 90 tracks and so I called up Henning and I said Henning I got this melody I've got these words can you do the vocal orchestration for me I want to do that big choir thing again and I'm going to sing all the parts and blah blah blah and he goes oh my god yeah send it to me so he comes back and I'm not kidding you in three days he turned it around he goes well here's what I got with with your melody and your words and I'm like holy shit that's it you freaking nailed it thank you he's such he's such a talent and then uh I went in with Chance and we uh recorded 70 tracks for that yeah in the few minutes that we have left just uh two more maybe two dream quick quick dream theater questions uh there's a re there's a release or a re-release of the bootleg of number the beast coming out on the streaming service is that something you were involved in or not on the streaming sir you mean on the lost not forgotten archives I think what I read was the number the beast that night when you guys did the number the beast recorded it's coming out officially on the streaming services yeah okay I guess so yeah okay you know what guys we got so much shit going on I can't keep up holy smokes I mean you know I I'm going to assume that that's part of the lost not forgotten archives because we have this like where we're really releasing live shows from years ago you know we got some stuff that's going to come out soon with uh like Derek Chirinian his last show that he played with us we got like there's many many titles that we have in the works that are just you know um going to be coming out so that's I'm going to assume it's probably something that got by me I can just go on my site like any fan and look to see if that's a title that's coming I'm pretty sure it's official and because I remember it's recording that um that was done and wasn't that done in France it was I don't know it was 2004 maybe I'm wrong about the date I don't remember but all I know is that I read was it well maybe I'm completely wrong I think it was an I thought it was 98 maybe you're right you know what I don't know let us go to the website and take a look that's well prepared Jim you're all prepared why well well prepared listen guys listen you can't ask me any questions about dream theater I don't really know who they are okay got you okay okay how about that Grammy that was my second my last question about dream theater the Grammy you know that's big news you know about this right it's not a Juno I heard I heard yeah you know what guys I did that that was that was uh ridiculous I mean we uh you know I guess third time's term right um but uh yeah I mean we were up against uh some formidable uh uh guests there there's no doubt about it so you know it could have been anyone's and um the fact that we won is just an amazing amazing uh feeling you know we're all just absolutely thrilled and um another feather in our capsule to speak but geez yeah we didn't we never we really never did imagine I mean you know when we were sitting down on the ride in the tour bus last week or whatever we were talking about and we're like you know like just think about what what we got here guys I mean did rush win one did Genesis win one did yes win one you know and you start going around and you start thinking about all these bands deservedly should have one should have several they should have several tall one one by the way kitty oh yeah okay so there you go so hmm okay well he's progressive somewhat you know for sure he is you know another brick in the wall or not another brick in the wall what was it called uh aqua thick as a brick aqua yeah thick as a brick yeah hey james last time yeah go ahead go ahead no no last time we interview you we we broke the internet when you you know you told us that you were asked to join iron maid and so I just want to know if there's any more revelations you want to throw on us before wrapping it up like I don't know if you were subpoenaed to to go to the amber herd Johnny Depp anything like that you know first first of all I'm not going to waste my time going to something like that oh my god please are there more important things in this world you know hey you know aren't the more important things in this world and the fact that the people are struggling to make against me you know and then you're talking to two people I want 50 million dollars from you and I'm come on you know I mean hey listen you know I I understand um where they're both coming from and and you know are we ever gonna know the truth I don't think so you know but beyond that no I mean you know I don't know there's there's nothing to reveal that would be noteworthy and uh no man I'm just going to keep doing what I'm and just going to keep touring out here with Dream Theater and then like I said I'm hoping that we can put this this ensemble together next May and do some do some shows with this the solo thing so you're saying at the let's say Q3 Q4 you're expecting a solo some solo shows is that it in the next few months or when are you expecting to do some solo tour or so shows I'm saying that we're right now we're talking about the possibility of doing shows in May of 23 all May 23 out of a year okay okay I thought you were saying you missed me yeah oh god no yeah Dream Theater shows yeah no no because I'm out till June 1st with uh okay with this band I forget what's your name I don't know but the the thing is is that I have to be you know like let's face it Dream Theater is going to be out at least until you know I don't know we could be out a year from now but what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to so I'm finding out from management if there's going to be a window of opportunity in May next May so that I can get out and do you know two three weeks maybe in Europe and then find out when the next window is and then maybe do three weeks in North America you know it's select cities and places and that's it you know but it would be what they're trying to schedule for me in Europe right now for next May is they want to put me in cathedrals and churches and and small castles and it would be I told them I want to keep it very intimate so I said you know 500 500 people maybe a thousand at the most and so that it's it's just going to be a real exclusive you know experience experience for for the fans you know and and to maintain and or retain that that that acoustic notion that we've been doing since the beginning of this this album so you know it'll just bring more light to that fact and it'll just make it a really really uh you know intense evening sure a musical treat on that note everyone go pick up the new solo I think it's probably the best solo work that you've done in your career well well you know what I can't I can't thank you enough for saying that wow man congratulations I mean uh I thank you so much you know what that means the world to me thank you I really do merci beaucoup you know yeah but uh yeah um hey guys thank you and uh I really appreciate your show and I appreciate all you guys do you know you guys have been extremely supportive and uh listen that doesn't go unnoticed and I'm very sincere when I say James thank you so much thanks again have always a pleasure James okay guys awesome talking to you guys great interview and take care and look forward to talking to you again