Mike Portnoy: Balancing Act

“I really think that people who appreciate good music – even the musicians who like us-will enjoy what we’re doing. There’s a lot of depth to this new music, even if it’s not all in 13/8.” Uh-oh. When Mike Portnoy – a self-proclaimed “over the top, more is more” drummer – makes these kinds of statements, fans of progressive rock begin to get worried. Is his band, Dream Theater – today’s leading proponent of the prog-rock genre – going commercial?

The pressure must be great. The recording industry has never been fond of rock’s bastard stepchild, and very few progressive bands have been able to hold the course. Most of the founding fathers of the style – Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Rush – have mellowed with age. But those bands, along with many other equally fabulous but forgotten groups, planted the seeds for later generations of rock musicians who would want to play.

When Dream Theater emerged in the late ‘80s, listeners were shocked at their audacity: Ten-minute (or longer) songs, mind-spinning arrangements, odd time signatures, extended solos, tremendous chops – every excess in the book. Fans of prog-rock cheered! And Portnoy, seated high atop his massive double bass (of course) kit, was more than a match for the band’s brand of musical karate. His creative and spirited playing tantalized drummers worldwide.

To be sure, Dream Theater has a hardcore following, small pockets of loyal, fist-waving fans who know every lick off of the band’s first five releases (and who are waiting impatiently for the next). But in an industry where an artist’s worth is measured more by SoundScan than musical integrity, Dream Theater’s numbers have not been high enough. Simply put, they need to sell more records.

It’s July, 1997, and Dream Theater is sequestered at Avatar Recording Studios (formerly the Power Station), in Manhattan, to record the band’s first full-length studio album in three years. It’s ironic that Studio A, the room where Portnoy’s gear is set up, is the very spot where, in 1994, Neil Peart’s tumultuous Burning For Buddy sessions took place.

This scene is much more relaxed. The talented, well-rehearsed band works methodically through the recording process with veteran producer Kevin Shirley, whose recent projects have sold in the millions. It’s obvious that Dream Theater’s vision is clear: to strike a balance between the band’s natural, progressive state and commercial success.

Possibly stronger evidence to drummers of this desire for success is seen in the studio, where, next to Portnoy’s signature wrap-around drumset, stands a simple four-piece kit. (With both sets and spare drums and cymbals scattered about the room, there’s enough gear to stock a good-sized drum shop.) It looks like part of the sales plan calls for simpler drumming. But Mike Portnoy on a four-piece? Keith Moon must be turning in his grave.

Even the title of the new album, Falling Into Infinity, gives the impression that the band is concerned about its future. But the tracks are strong. There’s a smattering of heavy, riff-laden rock for popsters to mosh to, but there’s also some far-reaching prog tunes for musos to sink their teeth into. (Two songs actually crest the twelve-minute mark.)

As for the drumming, yes, there are a few sections where Portnoy simply lays it down. But those moments of calm actually help frame Mike’s more creative and adventurous work in other spots. No question, it’s the thirty-year-old’s strongest performance of his career.

Only time will tell whether Infinity will be the commercial success Dream Theater is hoping for. As for the band’s progressive followers, no need to worry about this one: It’s better than they ever dreamed.

WFM: So what’s the deal with the two drumkits?

MP: When we were in pre-production for the new album, I realized that there were a few very simple songs built on basic grooves. I wasn’t really utilizing my large kit on those tunes, so I had this idea of setting up two kits: have my big purple monster, but also have a small Bonham or Ringo kit for the simpler songs.

Using the two kits seemed like a good idea since we were going for different sounds on different songs. And at first I thought I would only use the small kit for maybe one or two songs, but I used it throughout the album.

WFM: How did you apply the small kit to this new music?

MP: It happened in a couple of ways. For example, on the song “Take Away My Pain,” I actually used both kits. I played a repetitive, melodic-tom pattern with rods on the big kit, and then during the choruses I overdubbed a Stewart Copeland-inspired groove on the small kit.

On the song “Peruvian Skies,” the first half is very Floyd-ish; the second half is very Metallica-ish. So I recorded the first half on the small kit and then, when the song got heavy, I switched to the big kit.

WFM: You’ re known as a big-kit kind of guy. How did playing a small one affect your drumming style?

MP: I don’t think it was the kit that affected my playing, it was the music. Whenever I hear a new piece of music that I’m trying to come up with parts for, I try to become a certain drummer. I’ll hear a piece of music and immediately think of somebody and how they might approach it. I could pinpoint places in just about every song we’ve done where I’ve played parts that were directly inspired by other drummers. That melodic drum pattern I was talking about on “Take Away My Pain” has a real Steve Gadd or Carter Beauford vibe to it. And for the chorus I went for that Stewart Copeland thing.

Using the small kit helped me get into the playing style of certain drummers. I could feel more like a Copeland, a Bonham, or even a Ringo because of that kit. It helped me to get into their mindset. And those drummers are as much a part of my history and inspiration as any of the progressive drummers that immediately come to mind when you think of my playing. Besides, it’s so cool to get on that small kit and just wail – like Dave Grohl – you know what I mean?

WFM: You’ve touched on a subject that I’ve heard people criticize you about...

MP: Go ahead, I can take it. [laughs]

WFM:... that your drumming influences are a bit too obvious in your playing.

MP: I have no problem with that. I’m proud of who I’ve listened to and who has influenced me, and I’m the first person to give credit to those drummers. During interviews I usually spend more time talking about other drummers than I do about myself. I am a fan, first and foremost. I love listening to drummers.

WFM: But don’t you feel the need to have your sound – to be Mike Portnoy – instead of being a player who in one section of a tune sounds like so and so and in another sounds like somebody else?

MP: I’m definitely not into being compared solely to one other drummer. I’ve heard people call me the “Neil Peart of the ‘90s,” not always meaning it as a compliment, and I’m not thrilled about that. I don’t think I sound like any one person. I sound like twenty other people. And I think the new album has me drawing from even more sources.

WFM: You’ve been checking out other drummers, but how would you say the band has progressed?

MP: Well, it’s been three years since the last full-length album. That’s a long time in anybody’s life. Three of us have become fathers – my wife and I had a daughter – so any time you have a significant change like that in your life it’s going to be reflected in your music.

The band has a mature outlook now and a feeling of responsibility, and I think that has affected the music we’ve written. We’ve always had a vision of going into different musical worlds, but I don’t think we had the maturity to be able to make it happen. This time around we did it.

WFM: When you mention the word “maturing” it gives the impression that the new music is going to be more mainstream.

MP: We obviously want to be as successful as possible. And besides, we’ve always had a love for commercial music, just as we have for progressive music. We definitely want to be able to do both and not be pigeonholed into a progressive stereotype.

At the same time there is the added pressure of the reality that this is the music business. The hardest thing that we’ve learned, especially in the past three years, is how much of a business it is. We’ve been through a lot of changes since the last album – we’ve changed management, our label contacts have changed, and there has even been a bandmember change. Every time you start dealing with that stuff you realize the pressures that come into a band. The label isn’t telling us what to do, but we know that if we want to continue to do this we have to somehow cross over into that mainstream and sell records.

WFM: Was that one of the reasons why Kevin Shirley was chosen to produce the new record?

MP: Well, yeah – although he did work with Rush, so he’s got that knowledge and capability. It’s funny, when we first met with Kevin, the Aerosmith record he did had just come out at Number 1 on the charts. Here we were meeting with a guy whose previous three records – Aerosmith, Journey, and Silverchair – all made the Top 5. For us it was like, “Wow, what the hell are we doing in a room with you? [laughs] You’re really jeopardizing your career by taking us on.”

WFM: Were you concerned that he might not want you to play so much?

MP: Before we even met with Kevin I had a stereotype of what I thought he would be – a super-commercial guy who would strip down all of my fills, make me play completely straight-ahead beats, and change all the songs. But the minute we met him I knew he was the right guy. One of the first things he said was that he wanted us to be the perfect cross between Deep Purple and Yes, and that’s totally us in a nutshell.

WFM: What kind of impact did he make on the music?

MP: Kevin made a lot of suggestions about the arrangements of tunes, like moving sections around or even eliminating sections. One song he had a major impact on was “Take Away My Pain.” He felt that our demo version of it was really a clichéd, late-’80s power ballad. So we experimented and stumbled across a Peter Gabriel sort of vibe. But that’s the type of thing he would do: He’d influence the vibe of what we were doing, but not tell us what to play.

WFM: He didn’t get on you about some of those extended fills you like to play?

MP: He really didn’t want to change us as players. He realized that we have styles, we have identities, we have reputations. I mean, he joked about my winning the Modern Drummer Reader’s Poll all the time. He’d say, “We have to make sure that you get one of those fills in every song. We’ve got to make sure you can still win those polls!”

WFM: Did Kevin have an effect on how the new album was recorded?

MP: This album was recorded differently from our previous ones, although it was something I wanted to do. We recorded one track at a time, so we wouldn’t have to think about all eleven songs at once. We actually completed each song – right down to mixing and even mastering – before moving on to the next.

What we did was record about ten takes of one song from start to finish, mistakes and all. Then Kevin and I listened to all of those takes and picked the best sections of my performance from each of those takes, and then he pieced them together. It was definitely a cool way to make a record.

WFM: On one of the tunes there’s a little sequenced percussion track way back in the mix. Do you normally record with some type of click?

MP: I prefer using a click track in the studio, although I would never use one on stage. In the studio it’s a real comfortable thing to have, because it allows me to concentrate on the performance and not think so much about the time.

The problem with click tracks and our music is that we play a lot of odd time signatures and changing meters, so you have to be careful with what type of click you use. A quarter-note click played over several changing 8th-note-based meters will make things more confusing. In general I always use some type of 8th-note click, which will work for most of the odd meters we play.

WFM: One thing noticeable about the new tunes is that the drum sound varies a bit from track to track.

MP: If you listen to any of our past albums there was the drum sound for that album. But for this one I really wanted the drum sounds to suit the songs, so every song has a slightly different personality. The drum sound may even change within a given song.

To me, the drums are just like any other instrument – vocals, keyboards, guitars – they should go up and down, go left and right, go in all different directions if that’s what is needed to suit the emotion of the song. You can’t do that with one sound.

WFM: Another point about Dream Theater tunes is that several of them are based around drum patterns. Do you bring these types of things to the band when you’re writing new material?

MP: There have been times when I’d come in with a fill or a beat that would spark somebody else’s idea, and then that would spark another idea for me. It’s not so much me sitting at home experimenting with parts and then bringing them to the band. It’s more of a spontaneous thing that happens while all of us are in a room together. I record everything, so usually I’ll go back and listen to tapes of us jamming and find stuff that I’ll bring back to the band.

WFM: An early Dream Theater song that seems to be completely built from the drums is the double bass pattern from “Under A Glass Moon,” from Images And Words.

MP: That’s a good example of where the main theme was based on a drum pattern, but there are probably dozens of others that are like that. What’s funny is I don’t think there’s anything on the new album that was written that way.

This album, in a lot of ways, is really a different direction for us. It’s ironic, because I spent the past two years doing a lot of drum clinics, talking about all of these ways you can screw up drum parts and make them really odd and polyrhythmic. But I’m not doing much of it on this album.

I think this inevitably happens. I remember when I was younger I would listen to all the early Rush, Yes, and Genesis albums when they were so progressive and so over-the-top. And then later on in their careers they sort of mellowed out and went more for the song. And I always thought, “We’re never going to do that. We’ve got to always have crazy progressive stuff.” But there are still a few moments on the new album.

WFM: With all of the demanding music you guys have come up with, what’s the most challenging piece for you to perform?

MP: “A Change Of Seasons” is always a challenge because it’s about twenty minutes long. The long pieces are a challenge because there’s a lot of stamina involved. But believe it or not, I think it’s the more straight-ahead songs that are the most difficult for me. Sometimes just playing a simple beat is the biggest challenge of all because there is always that temptation to overplay, to stick fills in, and to show off. When I want to lay back within a song and not play too much, I really have to focus.

WFM: While that might be a challenge for you, a lot of the technical things you play are out of reach for most drummers. Are there certain techniques that you have to keep on top of with practice?

MP: There are specific things that have become a part of my style: double bass is a big part, and the odd time signatures as well. And there is a repertoire of typical Mike Portnoy fills that I’m constantly drawing from. So obviously I’ve got to keep my chops up and at the same time try to learn new things.

You know, it’s weird, but I find that I don’t get to practice as much as I should and not nearly as much as I used to – on the drums. But for me, so much of drumming is actually a mental thing. A lot of drummers spend a lot of time developing the physical side of their drumming, but they disregard the mental side.

When I’m creating drum parts I’m trying to come up with interesting patterns, things that hopefully haven’t been played before. I’m not thinking about the technique when I’m coming up with parts; I’m thinking in terms of the composition and creating something that will fit – and maybe expand on – a composition. And then I’ll stretch it further by overlapping time signatures or changing the meter. But I’m constantly thinking about drumming and music.

I get just as much out of sitting at the dinner table or sitting on a toy box and tapping, playing along with my hands and feet, as I do sitting behind the kit. Luckily, a drummer’s instrument is always attached-two hands and two feet. We don’t need a guitar or a piano in order to practice. So even if you’re sitting on the toilet you can create great drum parts. You know, I think that double bass pattern from “Under A Glass Moon” was written on the toilet. [laughs]

WFM: Ah, there’s a quote. You mentioned your double bass work. It’s such a major part of your style.

MP: And I used it on just about every song on the new album. I don’t always play some dominating 16th-note double bass pattern, but I do try to incorporate both kicks into fills and even simple grooves.

I grew up playing double bass, and even though these days everybody is stripping down and playing with one bass drum and a double pedal, I still prefer the feel of two kicks. I grew up with two bass drums, and when I was developing my playing style it became a central part of it. I always thought that the left foot could be utilized so much more creatively if it’s not confined to the hi-hat.

WFM: How did you develop your double bass chops?

MP: It actually came from a lot of thrash and heavy metal drumming. When I started I was inspired by the progressive double bass drummers, like Simon Phillips, Rod Morgenstein, and Terry Bozzio. But when the whole thrash scene came around in the mid-’80s, I really got excited about double bass. Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, King Diamond... all of their drummers – Lars Ulrich, Dave Lombardo, Charlie Benante, and Mikkey Dee – were doing very intense double bass stuff. Not only were those guys incorporating speed, which was the most obvious thing you’d notice, but they were also developing cool patterns.

So that era really influenced my double bass playing. And like I said, it makes so much sense to utilize your left foot on a drum rather than just on a hi-hat, the same way you would utilize your left hand on a drum.

WFM: But most drummers have their left foot planted on the hi-hat for playing time. You don’t do that.

MP: Well, I’m a bit envious because I haven’t developed that type of left-foot coordination. I’ve really focused on double bass for so long – almost from the beginning – that I didn’t work on a lot of the hi-hat stuff. It’s something I’m doing more of now, and recently I’ve been working on patterns where my left foot moves back and forth between the bass drum and the hi-hat. But most of the time I’ll just keep my left foot on the kick pedal and then go to the hi-hat to close it up.

WFM: Which foot do you lead with when you’re playing a 16th-note alternating pattern on double bass?

MP: I always lead with my right, I only play single strokes, and I like my pedals tensioned loose. I’ve found that if the pedals are too tight, they move too much and then I have trouble controlling them. When they’re loose, I do the work, but I also keep them under control.

WFM: You play some fast double kick patterns, but looking at you, looking at your legs....

MP: My chicken legs? [laughs]

WFM: I’m glad you said that. A lot of the speed metal guys look like they do a lot of running or biking. You’re able to play all of that stuff and yet you aren’t that muscular.

MP: You’re right. I think it’s just a natural hyper-active energy that I have. You’ve probably noticed that while I’ve been sitting here my legs have been constantly moving.

I think I’ve developed a certain amount of stamina to do what needs to be done behind the drumkit. Drumming is definitely an incredibly physical thing, and you have to have a lot of stamina to do it. And it’s one thing to be practicing in your basement and a whole other animal to go out on the road.

I’ve had problems, physically, while touring, because I’m not an ultra-workout guy. I have been trying to improve my health: I used to smoke a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. I quit smoking last year. I’m happy about that, but as a result of quitting I’ve put on twenty pounds. That’s why I’m sitting lower on my kit – so you can’t see my belly!

WFM: You said that you had physical problems from being on the road. Like what?

MP: I’ve had problems with my neck and back. On the Awake tour there were many nights when my back and neck were thrown out, so I would have to have a massage therapist rub me down before the show. At one show in Toronto, I even had to be pulled off the stage in the middle of the performance because my back actually got stuck.

I’ve had problems, but I’m learning how to deal with them. I’m learning how to stretch my muscles before I go on and how to adequately warm up. I’m even experimenting with how my kit is set up to try and alleviate any problems. I’m trying to sit a little lower because I’ve heard that sitting so high isn’t as good for my back.

WFM: You used to sit very high. How did that affect your playing, especially your double bass work?

MP: I sit high for a variety of reasons. I want to be seen; I don’t want to be buried behind a wall of drums. I guess that’s just because I’m a ham! Also, I found that sitting high on a big kit allows me to reach things more easily.

But the main reason I sit so high is because of double bass. I play with my heels up and with my toes digging into the pedal board. It just seems that the most natural way to do that is to sit up higher. My foot floats on the pedal board. If I sit really low it’s hard for me to keep my heels up.

WFM: Another side of your playing that I think can be a bit misleading is just how hard you play – you actually have a lighter touch than one might think.

MP: I don’t bash the drums. In fact, it would be very difficult to pull off some of the more technically challenging stuff that we do if I was playing too hard. You can’t play a lot of these patterns with full-on balls. I’ve always felt that I want to combine the sense of power of a Lars Ulrich or a Vinnie Paul – or even a John Bonham – with the touch and technique of a Bill Bruford.

WFM: Something else that is interesting about your playing is the way you utilize a lot of different ride sources. You’ll not only ride on the hi-hat and ride cymbal, you’ll also ride on cowbells, mounted tambourines, China and crash cymbals, Octobans....

MP: It’s definitely a conscious decision on my part to have as many options available as possible to best serve the music. It all boils down to my overall attitude of more is more.

When it comes to a ride pattern, I don’t want to be confined to one thing. I’ll be thinking, “Okay, I played the left hi-hat closed on the first verse, so I don’t want to go back to that sound. For the next verse I’ll go to the right hi-hat played open, then for the chorus I’ II go to a crash, then a tambourine/ride combination in the solo section.” It’s a conscious decision to give each section a different flavor.

WFM: Talking about your kit brings to mind the question of why you left Mapex drums last year to go to Tama/Starclassic.

MP: A better question is, why did I leave Tama to begin with? I shouldn’t have left them five years ago, but I was at a point in my career where I was getting some recognition and being offered endorsements. Up to that point I had been playing my Tama Imperialstar kit, which I actually bought – part of that kit is what made up the small kit I used in the studio for this album.

The people at Tama said, “If you ever want to come back, the door is open.” And when they introduced the Starclassic line, I just fell in love with those drums. To me, Starclassics are perfect, especially for the way I play. Plus, the people at Tama are great. They have been very supportive; they built three large drumsets for me – one for America, one for Europe, and one for Japan – so I don’t have to ship one kit around the globe when we tour or when I do clinics.

WFM: What about the custom snare drum Tama made for you?

MP: That drum is based on an idea I had: Why should a snare drum be limited to the snares being either on or off? A lot of times I may want a small, tight snare sound for the verse and then a fat sound for the chorus. I thought, “What if you could actually utilize different snare tensions on one drum?” I went to Tama with the idea of creating a snare drum with a foot-operated snare strainer, and they built it!

First of all, the strainer can be locked into three positions, not just on and off. This allows you to get different snare tensions. And since the strainer is controlled by a foot pedal, you can actually change the setting of the snares while playing the drum. At this point it’s a custom design, but hopefully, if there’s enough interest, they’ll mass-produce it.

WFM: That’s a neat idea. And I think that creative side of yours is something that comes across in your playing. You’re always coming up with a unique part.

MP: That stems from my getting bored so easily – I don’t like to play the most obvious beat. I’m not opposed to it, because if the music requires a straight beat I’ll play it. But I’m always trying to take the drums to the next level and treat them as a musical instrument.

WFM: Are there any “out” parts on the new record?

MP: There’s a song called “Just Let Me Breathe,” where I had some fun playing a double hi-hat part with my feet. I start the song by playing a 16th-note pattern on hi-hats with my two feet-my left foot plays the regular hi-hat and I swing my right foot over to the left side of my snare drum to play the pedal of my remote hi-hat. It’s like playing double bass on two hi-hats. The pattern creates a nice stereo hi-hat effect and leaves my hands free to play other things on top.

WFM: Do you think that some of these types of patterns can go too far and distract from the overall musical picture?

MP: I don’t ever want to play something for the sake of trying to show off. I always want to play what’s best for the song. But I feel my most important function in this band is to try to play as creatively as possible. I think that’s my strong point – certainly it’s not my technique. In fact, when my playing is praised or when I win a Readers Poll, I’m terribly flattered, but almost embarrassed because I don’t consider myself that good technically.

In the past two years I’ve done a lot of drum clinics and I’ve spent a lot of time in the drum community. I’ve met, hung out with, and even become friends with a lot of great drummers, players I grew up idolizing. Now I’m getting to jam with them – guys like Steve Smith, Gregg Bissonette, Dennis Chambers, Rod Morgenstein, Terry Bozzio, Bill Bruford.... When I play in front of these people I’m very self-conscious, because I feel that there are expectations that have been brought on me due to these polls I’ve won.

WFM: Do you feel you have something to prove?

MP: Let’s just say I don’t want to suck in front of a Bill Bruford, which actually happened! I was scheduled to do a clinic in Germany during the Frankfurt Music Fair, and that weekend I got to spend a lot of time with Bill. It was a really cool experience for me because I really admire what he’s accomplished.

Bill was nice enough to come to my clinic, and, of course, I played terribly that day. There were problems with the sound and with my DAT, and I played every heavy metal cliché you can imagine. I was embarrassed. Afterwards he was really nice and never said that I sucked – but I knew I did!

WFM: Even if that was a bad performance, you’ve gone on to become a pretty good clinician.

MP: A couple of years back I didn’t think I’d have the nerve to do a clinic. I think my initial fear of performing clinics was a fear of inadequacy. I’m supposed to be something, and I had this fear of not delivering. But once I started doing them I realized that every drummer in this world serves a different purpose, and we’re appreciated for different things. I realized that nobody expected me to be Vinnie Colaiuta or Dave Weckl; they expected me to be Mike Portnoy. So I decided I’d be myself, and that’s what people wanted.

But doing clinics really brought me back to the drums. It’s interesting what you learn about your playing from people asking questions about what you do. For example, drummers always ask me about odd meters.

WFM: Speaking of that, what is it about odd meters that appeals to you?

MP: I think I enjoy them because they have to do with numbers. Any meter can be broken down by the numbers and regrouped in different ways, and odd time signatures are an extension of that. I’m just fascinated with that whole process and the potential of what’s out there to be discovered.

WFM: Do you have any suggestions to help drummers better understand odd meters?

MP: First, they should go out and buy my video, Progressive Drum Concepts, available through Warner Bros.! [laughs] Actually, to get started with odd time signatures you have to understand the concept before you sit down at the drums. A big part of it is seeing how odd meters relate to common time, 4/4. If you understand that 4/4 is four quarter notes or eight 8th notes or sixteen 16th notes, you can begin to see how other time signatures relate. For instance, 4/4 is equivalent to 8/8, so 7/8 is one 8th note less than a bar of 4/4. Then 9/8 would be one 8th note more than 4/4. That’s the first step. From there things get interesting in terms of how the time is phrased within the odd time signature.

Here’s something I did when I first started trying to figure out odd time signatures: I had a hard time understanding what the bands I was into were playing, so I bought the songbooks from those groups. I bought Rush and Zappa songbooks, and even though they were geared towards guitar players, I could see exactly what was going on with the different meters. That really helped me early on.

WFM: Something else you like to do is fool with metric modulation – changing the perception of the time.

MP: Every piece of music has an obvious way that it can be played. But why play the most obvious thing? There are probably ten other ways you can play it to make it a little more twisted. I’ll take a piece of music and experiment with every way I can think of to express the time – forwards, backwards, even sideways!

One way someone could develop this concept would be to take a simple piece of music and try breaking up the time in different ways. For instance, if it’s four bars of 4/4, rather than playing those sixteen beats as 4, 4, 4, 4, break them into different groupings, like 5, 5, 3, 3, or 7, 7, 2. [Editor’s note: For more examples of Mike’s odd approaches to common time, see the sidebar on page 52.]

WFM: During this interview you’ve mentioned Neil Peart. How did you get involved with Working Man, the tribute album to Rush that came out last year?

MP: I was called by Magna Carta, the label that did the record. They asked me if I’d be interested in doing it. There were tribute albums being done for so many bands at that point, and I thought, “If there’s any band I’d want to play on a tribute album for, it would be Rush.”

Right off the bat the label said they wanted me and bassist Billy Sheehan to do the basic tracks together. So beyond playing on a Rush tribute album, the idea of working with Billy Sheehan was incredibly appealing. And the label gave me a lot of creative control over the whole project, but....

WFM: Is there some downside to this project that you’re not mentioning?

MP: Well, halfway through putting together the record, somebody in the Rush camp objected to it. They tried to pull the plug on the whole thing – and even threatened the label with a lawsuit – but that was dropped and the album was completed and released.

Then I read an interview with Neil on the Internet where he discussed Working Man. He said that he refused to acknowledge it because it was an attempt by a bunch of “bar band” musicians to cash in on Rush’s name and that it had nothing to do with paying tribute. To say that I was disappointed is an understatement. My involvement in the project was completely out of respect and admiration for him and Rush, and it had nothing to do with money. It was something that I wanted to do because I loved the music.

Neil has to realize that the same kids that voted for him in Modern Drummer polls in the ‘70s and ‘80s – the kids that admired him and that he influenced – are playing in today’s bands. And to call me, Billy Sheehan, Steve Morse, Deen Castronovo, Stu Hamm – all of the people on the album – a bunch of bar band musicians...well...I’d love to hang out in some of the bars he hangs in!

I never met or spoke to Neil, but I always wanted to say “thanks” for the years of inspiration he gave me. I hoped that my contribution to this project would be a way of doing that. But, as you can see, it went unappreciated. I was really disappointed.

WFM: That’s understandable, especially since Neil was such a big influence. It’s funny, but there are a few parallels between Rush and Dream Theater, especially in that both bands have had to marry the progressive and commercial sides of the music.

MP: That’s what we really focused on with the new album.

WFM: Are you worried about disappointing your “progressive” fans?

MP: Yeah, I’m concerned about it. But I really think that people who appreciate good music – even the musicians who like us – will still enjoy what we are doing. I think there is a lot of depth to this new music, even if it’s not all in 13/8.

Believe me, the respect and appreciation that we’ve gotten from our fans is the most rewarding thing I could ever imagine. I don’t want to disappoint anybody. To win Modern Drummer Readers Polls is a dream come true. Those mean more to me than gold or platinum albums. I just hope we can find that balance between success and credibility.

Box

Infinite Listening

Here are the albums Mike feels best represent his playing:
Dream Theater – Falling Into Infinity (1997)
Dream Theater – A Change Of Seasons (1995)
Dream Theater – Awake (1994)
Dream Theater – Live At The Marquee (1993, EP)
Dream Theater – Images And Words (1992)
Dream Theater – When Dream And Day Unite (1989)
Rush Tribute Album – Working Man (1996)

And here are the groups he listens to for inspiration:
The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, Metallica, U2, Black Sabbath, Jane’s Addition, Public Enemy, Queen, Slayer, Yes, Mr. Bungle, Iron Maiden, U.K., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pantera, Peter Gabriel, Jellyfish, Beastie Boys, the Who, Anthrax, the Dregs, King’s X, Marillion, Ice Cube, Deep Purple, Spock’s Beard, Nine Inch Nails, King Crimson, Ramones, Fates Warning, Journey, Tool, Genesis, the Doors, Rush, Galactic Cowboys, Judas Priest, KISS, Van Halen, Kevin Gilbert, the Police, and yes, Spinal Tap

Portnoy On Video
Dream Theater – Images And Words: Live In Tokyo (distributed by ATCO/Avision, 1993)
Mike Portnoy – Progressive Drum Concepts (distributed by Warner Bros., 1996)