Mike Portnoy interview

Bill Pulice: Regarding Images And Words, how could it be broken more to the masses? How do you think this record’s gonna be broken?

Mike Portnoy: Well, that’s a tough one. I think the key is gonna be touring, because a band like ours is not gonna – most likely, you never know – but most likely we’re not going to be plastered on the radio or MTV, for that matter. And even if we are, whatever particular song would be used, it wouldn’t be a proper representation, because every song is so different.

So it’s really going to come down to having to play out live. I think live is gonna be the key, because that’s going to be the situation where people will really be able to get the full spectrum of the band and really be able to see the diversity in the different moods and different styles that are all involved with the band’s music. That’s gonna be the key. There’s just so many different styles on the album that it’ll be tough for anybody to really get a full taste of the band unless they sit down and listen to the whole album – one song isn’t gonna do it.

BP: Personally, how long have you been playing? When did you first pick up the sticks?

MP: Well, I got my first drum set on my 11th birthday, and I’m 25 now, so I guess I’ve been playing 14 years. But when I was a kid, I first started off playing piano, and I was always around music. My dad – from the minute I shot out of my mom’s womb – put headphones around my ears and put on Sgt. Pepper, and I was listening to Tommy, listening to The Who and The Beatles and Zeppelin and Hendrix and all that s*** when I was really young. So I just grew up always around music, and always tapping away, and just always fascinated by music, and always like a rock trivia little kid. I had this huge record collection, so I think it was inevitable that I was gonna become a musician.

BP: Who were the first few drummers who really got you pumped as far as being a drummer?

MP: My first, biggest influences – not necessarily from a drum point of view, but just as music and as an influence as a band – first, The Beatles. I grew up on The Beatles totally, not that Ringo was any sort of... And then when I was in fifth and sixth grade, Kiss was the biggest band. They were my favorite band, my rooms were covered with Kiss and stuff. So at an early age, those two bands had the biggest impact.

But once it came to drumming, I would say my first drum influence was probably Keith Moon, and then John Bonham. And then, I guess in junior high school, I discovered Rush and Neil Peart. Suddenly everything changed – the way I looked at drums completely changed, and really introduced me to odd time signatures and different things like that. So Neil was the first real big impact on my playing as far as drumming goes.

Since then, I’m influenced by so many drummers it’s impossible to even list. All of Frank Zappa drummers – I’m like a huge Frank Zappa fan, so Terry Bozzio and Vinnie Colaiuta – those are two huge influences on my drumming. And Simon Phillips, Bill Bruford – I mean, the list can just go on forever.

Everything I listen to now influences me, not only from a drum point of view, but from a musical point of view – incorporating different styles and everything into the band, not only from the drummer’s point of view but from a songwriting point of view. Listening to different styles of metal and funk sort of stuff and jazz fusion and rap – all that stuff somehow inspires me and it somehow comes out in the band’s songwriting and my playing.

BP: Yeah, Simon Phillips is an animal. I remember when he first came out, he was like a teen.

MP: He started off playing with Jon Anderson, and he was playing Michael Schenker, did the Judas Priest album.

BP: To this point Mike, what’s been Dream Theater’s probable best gig?

MP: To this point? Can I include the Maiden gig yet?

BP: Not yet.

MP: Or to this day? You mean the best from our point of view?

BP: Yeah, the best vibe from the audience, the band – everything. I mean, I guess it’s hard to say, because that was the old band.

MP: Of course headlining shows are always the best vibes because you have your own audience there, and people who are fans of the band are there. So you have all the air musicians in the audience. So that’s the best, when you’re headlining shows. But of course, opening slots give you a lot more exposure.

I would say probably the best matchup that we’ve done so far as far as another band was the couple of times we played with Marillion. Actually, our last gig with Charlie was with Marillion, and that was a real good matchup, because Marillion is – of course we’re a bit heavier – but they’re really close to what we’re doing, or at least what they used to do is close to what we’re doing. So that was a real good show. And that was Charlie’s last show – kind of coincidental, because our last show with Charlie was at The Ritz, and now our first show with James is gonna also be at The Ritz with Maiden. The Ritz has been the ending of one chapter and the beginning of another.

BP: What’s it like for you that Maiden really digs the tape and asked you guys to come out with them for at least that show?

MP: As you can imagine, that’s incredible. Who didn’t grow up with Maiden? Everybody. Actually, when me, John, and John first got the band together, we used to play a lot of Maiden songs, so we have a lot of Maiden in our systems. And the fact that they appreciate us as a band and like what we’re doing, and hooked us up with Sanctuary, asking us to play this gig is an incredible achievement. It’s like a dream for us – it’s really cool, and it’s a relationship that we hope will grow together.

I remember when you were down at the studio, you asked something about Freddie Mercury and if his death, or his life for that matter, had an impact on the making of the album – it’s funny because I was thinking about that after you asked that. He actually died while we were doing the recording of the album, and I remember the day that he died, it was a strange coincidence. That morning – he died, I guess, in the evening, or at least I didn’t find out until evening – and that morning I was just hanging out and I was listening to Queen all that day, coincidentally, and just listening to a whole bunch of old Queen tapes that I put together of all different stuff. And it was kind of strange, because I was listening to them all day long, and then we found out that night that he had died. But I remember while we were doing the album before he died, we were up there watching Queen: The Magic Years – I brought the video up with me, and we were watching that. So it was kind of a strange coincidence that it happened while we were up there, and we were engaging in Queen activities.

BP: Yeah, I was really into those guys, man. Early on, that early material was just incredible.

MP: Definitely. I think ‘The Prophet’s Song’ – that’s as good as it gets.

BP: Yeah. Roger Taylor, I always felt in the late seventies or so that he had the best live drum sound of anyone. He had just an amazing sound.

MP: It’s such a distinctive sound. He’s got like that sort of timbale sound on his toms, just clutching the hi-hat with the snare every time he hits the snare – really distinctive sound.

BP: To this point, what other bands have shown support toward you guys?

MP: Early on, we’ve had a long relationship with Fates Warning, and whether people know or not, our relationship with them has been going on for years. Kev played on the Perfect Symmetry album, and James just sang on the Parallels album. Kev played on ‘At Fates Hand’ on Perfect Symmetry, and James sang on ‘Life In Still Water’ on the Parallels album. And John Arch, their old singer, worked with us. So there’s been many common elements between the two of us, and we share a very similar fan base and have the same appreciation for each other’s music. So that’s been a good long relationship between us and them. And one of our other best friends were the now-extinct Crumbsuckers from Long Island, and we’ve been good friends with those guys for years. But as far as like our peers – Iron Maiden, that’s very flattering. And there’s been word that Alex Lifeson has acknowledged us, which is quite incredible. The guys in Marillion, when we played with them, they really dug what we were doing.

BP: Well, the list is gonna grow. What’s the actual release date now?

MP: Well, it’s hard to say, because Atco has it slated for July 6th, I believe, and they’re sort of set on that date. But Sanctuary would rather release it in August, so the two of them are going to battle it out. But it will be out some time while the sun is still out – it’ll be out and available by the time you’re still on the beach, sometime in July or August.

BP: Is there a formula for Dream Theater songs, or are the arrangements just naturally put together in rehearsal?

MP: There’s no formula at all. It’s actually kind of scary how natural it comes, because the four of us – excluding James, only because he wasn’t in the band when we wrote this album – but the four of us throughout the past seven years have just had this chemistry when it comes to writing, and it’s unbelievable. I mean, the four of us – a lot of bands say that everyone writes their stuff together, but it may not really be that way, but it really is truly that way in this band. The four of us all have a complete equal say in the songwriting and the arrangements and the parts and just the whole vision of the band. When we get together, we just start bouncing ideas off of each other. Nobody comes in with a pre-formulated idea. We just come in and we’ll start coming up with licks and bouncing them off of each other and coming up with different themes and moods. And usually one theme will trigger another theme, and then it just keeps going on and on. And we don’t preconceive the direction of a song – we let it go until we feel that the idea has been fully expressed. We’re not gonna cut it down and express it within four minutes because we have to. We usually take as long as it takes to really finish up saying what we’re trying to say.

BP: Not having a singer throughout that whole time was probably a problem when you’re looking for another deal, but how many of the labels were showing interest in you guys?

MP: I don’t want to name them, but there were several other labels that were interested. But there were two major problems that were holding back labels from getting involved. One was the fact that we still didn’t have a singer, and the other was that we were still bound by contract to Mechanic. So a lot of labels were scared to get involved. But Atco was one label that, through both of those problems, they oversaw them. They’ve been with the band through thick and thin, and they began working with us when we were at our very lowest point. So that showed a lot of faith and commitment from them, and that was really encouraging. That was pretty much what made our decision to go with them as opposed to the other labels.

BP: How do you think this record will rank amongst the all-time progressive albums, and does it belong in that context as far as you’re concerned?

MP: I think it definitely does. I don’t want to be pompous and say it’s the best progressive album since Close To The Edge, but I think it’s definitely the best album of its kind since back in those days, because there haven’t been many bands doing albums like this. We’re not afraid to admit that first and foremost we are a progressive band, and this album fits into the category as Rush’s Hemispheres or Yes’—

BP: Going for the One...

MP: ...or whatever. Any of those albums. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis – any of those albums. I think this album can sit side by side with them. The only major difference is that it was recorded 20 years later. The technology has advanced a lot, and the influences have advanced a lot as far as our metal influences. But I think it’s definitely a progressive album. It’s got all of the elements of those bands and albums – it’s got 10-, 12-minute songs with long arrangements and instrumental sections. When we get on to doing ‘A Change Of Seasons,’ I think it’ll be a ’90s equivalent to ‘Close To The Edge’ or ‘Supper’s Ready’ or ‘Thick As A Brick’ or any of those songs.

BP: I remember talking with John, and he had told me the names of the songs, and I forgot all about ‘A Change Of Seasons.’ There’s a couple others that you don’t have on this record that are ready, right?

MP: ‘Forever’ and ‘Don’t Look Past Me.’ Those are two short, a little bit more accessible songs that we were going to include on the album, but then we ended up writing ‘Another Day’ and ‘Surrounded,’ which fit into those categories. And we didn’t want to have too many short, accessible songs on the album, and we figured we would just go with the two newer ones, which we thought were a little bit better anyhow. So we shelved ‘Forever’ and ‘Don’t Look Past Me’ for the time being at least.

And ‘A Change Of Seasons’ – we were prepared to go in and record that for this album. We went into pre-production for that song and everything, and the day that we entered the studio we got a call from Atco and spent the entire day on the phone arguing with them, trying to get it on the album. But to make a long story short, we already had 60 minutes’ worth of material without ‘A Change Of Seasons,’ and that would have brought it up to about 80 minutes, and that would have just been complete overkill, and it may have distracted people from the rest of the album. So we basically decided to hold ‘A Change Of Seasons’ until the next album, or possibly do an EP later in the year which could focus on that track solely, which would give it the proper attention anyhow. So it’s in the can, and it’s something that we’ll definitely get around to. I wrote the lyrics to that one, and because I wrote the lyrics to that – which is equivalent to like four songs – I didn’t write any lyrics on Images And Words, figuring ‘A Change Of Seasons’ would be on there. So I pretty much got kicked out of lyrics on this album.

BP: The EP – that’s a good idea, getting it singular attention.

MP: Yeah, I mean the initial idea was to do ‘A Change Of Seasons’ and then maybe throw a couple of live tracks on also. Actually, it would be fun to record some stuff from When Dream And Day Unite – live versions with James singing. So if it ever comes to life, that would probably be the plan.

BP: Yeah, Extreme is doing a twenty-minute song.

MP: Yeeeaaaah, I don’t know what to say about that. I guess it’s good, and it’s really cool – it’ll be interesting to hear – but the only bad thing is that I don’t want people to think that we’re jumping on any sort of bandwagon. I mean, we wrote ‘A Change Of Seasons’ back in 1989, so at this point it’s already three years old, and by the time we eventually record it, it’ll probably be four, maybe five years old. So just for the record, we’re not getting on any bandwagon – we had that song first! [laughs]

BP: How important are visual and artistic [aspects] to what Dream Theater are all about, as far as record packaging and live?

MP: It’s extremely important. I think the package that we have for this album perfectly suits the album. I think the cover and the artwork, which was done by Danny Muro – Danny had done a lot of independent thrash stuff, I mean he did the first Testament album, he did the second Overkill album, he did the Hades albums and stuff like that – so when he first came down, to be honest, we weren’t that impressed with the stuff he had. We were thinking more along the lines of like some of the old Pink Floyd covers, like Atom Heart Mother or Wish You Were Here – we were looking more towards something like that. And Danny had a common vision of ours, and it wasn’t apparent in his old covers, but now he’s working with computer graphics, and he ended up putting together this cover and it’s everything that we could have possibly wanted. I think the cover perfectly complements the package, and it’s a cover reminiscent of maybe one of the early Marillion albums, like Fugazi or Script For A Jester’s Tear, and it’s just like a lot of different elements all blended together, and a lot of the elements from the lyrics. So somebody could just sit down with the record and look at the cover and pick out all these different things that are inside of the album and find them on the outside. It’s real interesting. But I think visuals are extremely important for a progressive band, and hopefully we’ll be able to incorporate it more and more when we get into doing videos and stuff like that.

BP: Are you gonna be using any of the smoke machines and stuff like that at the Ritz or whatever?

MP: Well, actually for the Ritz show I just found out this afternoon that even Iron Maiden isn’t bringing anything in, so we’re not gonna be able to bring anything else in. Normally we do; normally we have a really good lighting director who works with a lot of smoke and lights and s*** like that. But for the road show, we’re gonna just have to use the house lighting and stuff like that, because that’s what Iron Maiden’s doing. But it’s gonna be interesting, because these are our first shows with James, and we could tell from rehearsals already that James is a real dynamic performer, and he’s been around – he’s done a lot of live performing – so he really knows how to handle an audience, and his voice live is just unbelievable.

BP: Last question – what may future Dream Theater music sound like, say on the next record, and if you could explain a little bit about your 20-minute epic...

MP: Well first, ‘A Change Of Seasons,’ when we get around to recording it, is definitely the most progressive piece of music we’ve ever written. And like I said before, we wrote that back in 1989, so we pretty much blew our load in that song. It was written during the material that was written for Images And Words, so it’s got that same sort of feel. It’s your typical progressive 20-minute epic – it’s written in seven different pieces, four of which have lyrics. Lyrically it’s dealing with – I don’t want to get too much into it until it’s about to come out – but it’s dealing with using the different seasons as a metaphor for different emotions that a person goes through. It’s sort of like, a lot like The Wall as far as its emotional content and everything, in dealing with a person’s psychological breakdown and stuff and different things that happen to the character in his life – stuff that affects him for the better, for the worse. Musically it’s a Dream Theater tour-de-force. It’s got everything packed into this 20-minute song – it’s got extremely progressive sections, it’s got three instrumental passages in the song, it’s got a couple of very dynamic and melodic sections. So that covers all the ground basically in a nutshell.

And I’m sure the rest of the material that we write in the future will be similar in vein to what we do now, but of course it will mature, because we’re inevitably going to mature as a band, as people and as musicians. But we don’t have any preconceived ideas to stray away from what we do, because what we do isn’t even preconceived. So we’re just gonna keep doing what we do, and mature and progress and try to incorporate all of the different styles and elements that we listen to and enjoy, and incorporate them into our own music, and just continue to do that.