The A-Z of Mike Portnoy – Part 1 (A to M)

Interview with Mike Portnoy from Glasgow April 1998 by Matthias Karnhal. Theme: a private look at the person Mike Portnoy with questions from A to Z.

ANGER: What makes you really angry?

MP: The thing that makes me the most angry is the way that the record companies, the whole music industry they really suck all the life out of a band, all the life, all the enthusiasm, all the positive energy out of a band so that really brings me down the most...

MK: And what would you do first as a president of a record company?

MP: I would sign bands that were original and I would do everything to make sure they stay original.

BANDS: What bands have you played in and what bands would you like to play in?

MP: Well, the only bands I’ve played in are Rising Power, Inner Sanctum, my first band was called Intruder. You know this is when I was in junior school and high school, we played cover songs everything from Ozzy Osbourne to Van Halen and then since I was 18, it’s been Majesty and Dream Theater. I would have loved to play with Frank Zappa – that would have been a dream for me. Realistically, right now, if I could play with some other bands, I could be happy playing with bands like Pantera, Red Hot Chili Peppers or Metallica, but I think it would be probably fun to play with bands like Radiohead or U2...

MK: You would like to play with a band like U2?

MP: Yeah, just to do something completely different. So it would be fun to play with bands like U2, Radiohead or Jellyfish, or playing drums with Page/Plant; that would be really fun.

CARS: What cars did you have in the past and what do you have right now?

MP: I’ve never been a car fan. Always a lot of people spend a lot of time, money and energy in it; for me it’s just a vehicle to get from one place to another. So when I go shopping for a car, I say give me the cheapest thing as long as it has a CD player in it. The car I grew up with is my van – a big van – the YTSE-VAN. And now Marlene and me have a kind of family van for our daughter and our dog, but we also have a small Dodge. You know, whatever is good enough to get us around. I don’t really care about cars.

DEATH: Do you think there is a life after death?

MP: I hope so. I hope there is. I think that there might be. Of course, when you find out, it’s too late; there’s no turning back. I lost my mother and my grandmother, and a lot of people close to me, so I hope there is a life after death so I can get to see them again some day...

MK: Are you sure you’ll meet your mother in your next life?

MP: If there is, I mean, I believe in heaven and stuff like that, so I guess I would.

MK: Would you also like to be a drummer in your next life?

MP: Definitely not! If I had another life, I would not play drums. I would play something that would be more fun. Probably, I would be a singer or a guitar player.

EARTHQUAKE: What kind of feeling did you have when you were in Osaka the first time after the earthquake in 1995?

MP: That was one of the scariest things I’ve ever, ever felt. It was just really scary. I felt like the end of the world and you feel completely helpless. You’re just a little tiny speck. I hope you’ll never go there.

FRIENDS: Is it hard to have friends in that business?

MP: It’s hard to have friends when you’re in a band because you travel so much, and usually you become friends with the people you work with. The old friends I really have right now are basically my family, my wife, my daughter, and my dog. Those are my closest friends. When I go home, a lot of fans call me up and want to go out, but when I’m home, I want to be with my family.

MK: Do you have to be friends with the people you play with in a band?

MP: It is important, definitely at the beginning, but you know we’ve been together now for about 13 years. You know we are still friends, but we are definitely different people; we all have very different personalities. You could still function without being great friends; it’s only to realize what you’re doing together...

MK: So you would say it’s not really necessary?

MP: Well, I think it will be necessary to start a band but later people start to drift apart and you can still function that way.

GRAMMY: Do you care about getting important prizes or do you do your music for yourselves and the fans?

MP: Well, I don’t think we’ll ever win a Grammy, but if we ever did, sure I would be very happy about it. I mean, I like winning; I’ve won 6 Modern Drummer awards, 3 Burrn polls. So when you win these awards, it’s very flattering, but I don’t know what is more important: admiration or popularity. But realistically, I don’t think the Grammy really means anything...

MK: So actually you do your music for yourselves and the fans?

MP: Yeah, definitely.

HEALTH: Do you care about your health because you stopped smoking? Why did you start and why did you stop?

MP: Yeah, I care about my health. I started...I don’t know when everybody starts smoking. I guess you get tempted into trying it and you end up sticking with it, and I tried quitting many times, but I never could and finally when my grandmother died, I quit for her. I promised her on her deathbed that I would quit smoking. So having made her that promise is what let me stay away from having another cigarette. I’m probably the least health conscious person in this band; I eat shit. I drink a lot, but you know it’s important to stay fit, especially when you are on the road; it’s a lot of physical energy that you burn.

IDOLS: Who are your all-time idols?

MP: Some of my idols are Frank Zappa, John Lennon, Roger Waters, a lot of film makers; people like Woody Allen, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick. I love boxers a lot like Mike Tyson; I still love him as a fighter but as a person, he is pretty bad. Or Evander Holyfield is a really good example of a really good person and a really good fighter together in one.

MK: Some of your idols are musicians; did you always want to become a musician?

MP: I always wanted to become a musician. I didn’t know if I would be a drummer or what kind of band I’d have been in. I could have easily been in a very different type of band; it didn’t have to be a progressive band. For some reason, once I got into music, I just knew that it was going to be my life.

JOB: Did you learn another job?

MP: I’ve been making a living from Dream Theater now for I guess 10 years or so. Before this, I used to deliver food. I delivered Chinese food for about 7 years and I worked in record stores and in movie theaters. You know, typical jobs when you are in high school.

MK: How long do you think you can go on with making music?

MP: Hopefully the rest of my life. I mean, even if it’s not with Dream Theater, I want to at least be able to continue to do this for the rest of my life.

KIDS: You have one daughter already. How many children do you want?

MP: I’d like 2 boys and 2 girls – that would be my dream family. I already have Melody and if I have a second girl, it would be Harmony. Okay, not definitely – things could change – and when I have a boy, it’ll be Max and my second boy will be Jake. These are the whole family names but of course anything could change.

LOVE: How did you happen to meet Marlene and what is special about her?

MP: She’s special because she deals with me and not many people can deal with me. I can be a real pain in the ass when you deal with me every day, so that makes her very special. I met her at the Foundation Forum in 1989. Me and John Petrucci met her and Rena – they were in a band called Meanstreak – and we ended up starting going out at the same time.

MK: Is she still involved in music?

MP: She still plays, but now we have a daughter and her free time is a lot less than it used to be. But she still would like to play. I mean, she still has the inner energy to do music, so she will see.

MIRROR: What kind of person do you see if you have a look in the mirror?

MP: It depends how much I had to drink the night before...

MK: I don’t mean the morning after you had a lot of alcohol.

MP: I see some days it’s definitely compulsive and obsessive about many things. I get like totally like I have to have everything – whatever I’m interested in, I have to find out everything about it. I’m definitely a control freak within the band. I care about the fans as you know and I take a lot of consideration with the fans in mind, and that’s what I see in the mirror.