Bruce Dickinson’s opinion on Dream Theater

One of the most influential Heavy Metal vocalists of all time, Bruce Dickinson was a fundamental element in Iron Maiden becoming one of the best-selling bands in the genre. Over the decades, Metal music has gone through many transformations and numerous subgenres have emerged, revealing new musical possibilities.

One of these is Progressive Metal, which received some influence from the British band as well. From the 1980s onward, elements of Progressive Rock became increasingly evident on every Iron Maiden album, largely due to Steve Harris’s long-standing passion for the style. Throughout his career, Bruce has had the opportunity to see many of these bands and has shared his opinions on them, including Dream Theater, one of the most important acts in the genre.

What is Bruce Dickinson’s opinion on Dream Theater

Bruce Dickinson is a big fan of Dream Theater and when asked which was his favorite “Iron Maiden-influenced band”, they were the one he picked. “I just think they write some pretty cool tunes and are a very good live band. They do their own thing without sounding like Iron Maiden,” he told Revolver magazine in 2004. According to the band’s frontman James LaBrie, Bruce was a fan of their music since the early 90s when they had the opportunity to be Maiden’s opening act.

“(…) in June of ’92, we backed up Iron Maiden at The Ritz in New York. I remember Bruce Dickinson came out on stage after we had performed and he made a point of it. He said, ‘Man, let’s hear it for f*cking Dream Theater! These guys kick ass!’ I remember we were just like, ‘That’s cool!’ Because they all haven’t even come out yet. So we were like, ‘Holy shit – right on, awesome!’ And when he came up saying, ‘I love you guys, this is the first album…’ – all this stuff, it was crazy!” James LaBrie told Everyman Podcast in 2020.

At the time Dream Theater was promoting their breakthrough album “Images and Words” (1992), which had the hit “Pull Me Under”. According to LaBrie, Dickinson was not the only member of Maiden who was a fan of their work. “(After ‘Pull Me Under’) Everything just started blowing up for us and it was crazy because if that song hadn’t done that, I swear to God. Our first gig was, I believe, The Limelight and we had gone out in the summer.”

He continued:

“So before the album was released we did like five shows in June, and one of those shows was at The Ritz in New York City where we backed up Iron Maiden and we went on and we frickin’ kicked ass. And I remember Bruce Dickinson said ‘Hey, you got to give it up for these guys. These guys are frickin’ amazing. What an amazing band,’ you know? And Bruce was already a fan of the band and so were a couple of the other guys in Iron Maiden. They were fans,” he said in an interview with Metal Injection in 2022.

They recorded “Perfect Strangers” and “The Trooper” with Bruce Dickinson

Bruce became a good friend of the band over the years and even recorded with them. In the mid-1990s, after their European tour promoting the album ‘Awake’ (1994), the band flew to London to take part in a special event. So they were invited by Dickinson to appear as special guests on his BBC radio session at the time. One of the tracks they performed together that day, which was broadcasted, was a cover of ‘Perfect Strangers,’ by Deep Purple, Bruce’s favorite band.

A couple years later, Bruce was a guest at their show in Los Angeles, in 1998. That night he performed with them “Perfect Strangers” and the Iron Maiden songs “The Trooper“, “Where Eagles Dare” and “Killers”. The tracks were part of the band’s “Official Bootleg: Los Angeles” album that came out in 2003. His friendship with the band continued over the years and in 2009 he welcomed drummer Mike Portnoy as a guest on his BBC Radio 6 show, “Friday Rock Show with Bruce Dickinson”.

James LaBrie refused to audition to replace Bruce Dickinson in Iron Maiden in the 1990s

When Bruce Dickinson decided to leave Iron Maiden in 1993, the band was looking for a new vocalist and they considered many names before choosing Blaze Bayley. One of them was Dream Theater’s James LaBrie, who recalled that story, saying it was the group’s manager Rod Smallwood who approached him, inviting him to audition for the band. “Yeah, well, there are two main points here. The first point is: I was already in Dream Theater. We had already recorded the (1992) album ‘Images and Words’ and to me it was not appropriate. This was a band that I had 100% belief in that if we play the cards right, we’re going to experience longevity in this career that you can come and go within three to five years.”

“That seems to be what the average is for most bands out there, which is really unfortunate. But that being said, I was already in Dream Theater, we were about to release the ‘Images and Words’. To me, it was just bizarre, it didn’t make sense. But the other point was… This was one of the main points I made to Rod and Mark, was, ‘You know what, guys? I’ve been down that road before.'”

He continued:

“As amazing as Iron Maiden is, I was in a band in Canada back in the mid-’80s. They had already had three albums out and was called Coney Hatch. I went in and started singing for them, started recording new songs. But when I was out, live, to me, in the back of my head, I was like, ‘OK, I’m having a great time. I’m out here on stage, there are lots of people in front of me. I’m doing what I love to do – sing.’ So there was that part but the other part to me was: I’m always going to be imitating who this guy is. That was Carl Dixon, the original singer.

“I said, ‘I’m a glorified jukebox hero, that’s what I am.’ So I said, ‘No, I want to create my own.’ I knew Dream Theater was a force to be reckoned with musically, it was almost ineffable. That was my reason. I saw something here where I was going to be known as the singer. Neil Peart came in for Rush on the second album, I came in for Dream Theater on the second album. People aren’t thinking too much about John Rutsey from Rush, or they’re not thinking too much about Charlie Dominici. Even though these guys deserve respect. So that was the reason, basically, I wanted to create my own.”

James LaBrie continued:

“(…) A few years later, here we are, on his BBC show. Bruce hosted a BBC show for quite some time. Obviously, we talked about voice and all that stuff. Then, as time kept going on, we kept doing big shows with Iron Maiden throughout Europe. The big festivals, we were on the same bill. Then, eventually, we did a whole North American tour in 2009 with them. So we got to know one another quite well, and we had that mutual respect for one another.

“I remember him saying, ‘You kind of remind me of like a ’70s classic singer, rock singer. Like Ian Gillan and all that stuff.’ And I go, ‘I’ll take that! Thank you! Not a problem!’ It was cool. But Bruce was always meant to be the singer of Iron Maiden, 100%. Let’s not take away from Blaze (Bayley), but it was Bruce, just leave it there, period,” LaBrie told Breaking Absolutes.