Mike Portnoy Calls James LaBrie’s Vocals “Annoying”

The vocal stylings of Dream Theater frontman James LaBrie are, uh, let’s say “an acquired taste.” Sure, they’ve outright alienated some casual listeners (like me!), but even a hardcore DT fans have expressed issues with LaBrie’s approach. LaBrie is the band’s weakest link.

Which was what made Liquid Tension Experiment so great: the instrumental quartet included 3/5ths of Dream Theater, which meant it had all of DT’s good qualities and none of their bad ones.

And hey, Dream Theater fans may be reading this and thinking, “Fuck you, Axl, James is great.” And that’s fine. But y’know who agrees with me? Mike motherfuckin’ Portnoy.

The former Dream Theater drummer was part of LTE, along with fellow Theater Dreamers John Petrucci (guitar) and Jordan Rudess (keyboardist), as well as bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson). During a recent interview with Brazil’s Rádio Kiss FM 92,5, Portnoy said the lack of LaBrie is “what made [Liquid Tension Experiment] good”:

“It was like Dream Theater without annoying vocals. It was perfect.”

That would be funny enough on its own, but adding to the humor somewhat is that Portnoy may or may not have known that he was on the air when he made the remark… it’s honestly hard to tell if he was kidding or not when he expressed surprise about being mid-broadcast.

You can watch video of the moment in question below and decide for yourself. Then head to the comments section to either be a dummy and defend LaBrie’s honor, or, more wisely, agree with the view held by Portnoy and myself. Dream Theater are on tour right now. Get dates and tickets here.

[via DreamTheaterForums.org]