'Absolutely incredible:' Local singer, progressive metal bandmates capture Grammy

James Labrie called the news “absolutely incredible.”

Shortly before posting to his Twitter account, the local musician’s band Dream Theater had just taken home the Best Metal Performance for The Alien at the recent Grammy Awards.

Labrie, who attended Midland Secondary School and played in several local and Toronto-based bands has long been the lead singer of the progressive heavy metal band known for its deep musical exploration and unique time signatures.

Added the 58-year-old Labrie: “Big thanks to our whole team, our families, all our fans, and to The Recording Academy.”

This marked the third time the U.S.-based Dream Theater had been nominated for a Grammy. They came away empty handed in 2012 and 2014.

The Alien is the first song from A View from the Top of the World, an album that was written and recorded during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In accepting the award at last week's ceremony in Las Vegas, Dream Theatre guitarist John Petrucci called the honour “absolutely insane.”

“You know they used to tell us our songs were way too long, we used weird time signatures and there were too many guitar solos. In fact, this song (The Alien) is in 17/8 so try to tap your foot to it. But we just won the Grammy so I’m glad we didn’t listen.”

Dream Theater was formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. Labrie became the band’s lead singer in 1991. The current lineup consists of Labrie, Petrucci, Myung, Jordan Rudess and Mike Mangini, who replaced Portnoy in 2010.

And after playing a number of shows stateside earlier this year, the band is set to soon depart on an extensive European tour where they’ll play to thousands of fans in large stadiums and arenas across the continent.

The European portion of their Top of the World tour kicks off April 20 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Labrie is also releasing his fourth solo album next month. Beautiful Shade of Grey is due out May 20.

"My co-writer and partner on the upcoming solo album is Paul Logue from the band Eden's Curse," Labrie told his Facebook followers. "We’ve been friends for over a decade now and talked about doing something together for years!"