Mike Portnoy

The tables have turned as Shadows Fall’s Jason Bittner settles in for an afternoon at home with guest editor Mike Portnoy to discuss motivations, achievements and the future of Dream Theater.

Your guest editor Mike Portnoy has done himself proud with his work on this special issue of Rhythm, so we decided it was only fair to give him a weekend off... of sorts. Instead of Mike doing the interviewing, we took the opportunity to find out what’s been going on in his world, and who is more qualified to grill the Dream Theater sticksman than his long-term fan, friend and fellow Neil Peart fanatic, Jason Bittner of Shadows Fall?

Jason first became aware of Mike when he saw Dream Theater on the Images And Words tour in the early ‘90s. He was drawn to Mike’s playing style through his obvious Neil Peart influence and extensive use of double bass, both facets of Jason’s own playing. His first face-to-face encounter with the Dream Theater man was at one of his clinics back in 2003. Jason knew the local Sabian rep, who took him backstage to talk to Mike before he went out to do an autograph signing. A handful of emails later and the guys had become firm friends.

It is obvious that Mike has had a profound impact on the rising metal star’s playing (Jason even goes so far as admitting to Rhythm, “I could play you our new album, Fallout From The War, and I could show you the exact fills that I ‘borrowed’ from Mike – thanks dude!”), but their lives are spookily mirrored in other aspects too. They both hail from New York, both attended Berklee College Of Music for a year before leaving to be in a band, they share a lot of the same influences and both have a tattoo on the left forearm in memory of their mothers.

“I admire Mike’s tenacity for always working,” says Jason. “He’s always doing other projects, clinics, his website and DVDs and that has really inspired me to follow the same path with my own career. It was an honour interviewing Mike. I approached the interview more for his fans rather than myself. I’m lucky enough to be able to call Mike whenever I want to ask him questions, and I do that often. He’s very good at giving me advice.”

The grilling took place in Mike’s Philadelphia home in October of this year. Jason had just returned home from LA after tracking the new Shadows Fall album, and mentioned to Mike that he was going to see Iron Maiden in Philadelphia. Mike invited him down for the weekend and the interview was committed to tape before the pair headed out to see Nicko McBrain in action.

Jason Bittner: First of all I have to say thanks for including me in this. My first question is how did this Rhythm guest editorship come about?

Mike Portnoy: “Rhythm did it with Taylor Hawkins about a year-and-a-half ago. He interviewed four really cool guys – Stewart Copeland, Roger Taylor from Queen, Phil Collins and Stephen Perkins. I thought that was an incredibly cool issue, a contemporary drummer sitting down and getting face-to-face with his heroes. I remember telling Louise (King, Rhythm editor) it was an awesome issue, and she asked if I wanted to do one. When I interviewed Neil Peart, that was the first time I’d ever interviewed someone.”

JB: As well as Neil Peart, you interviewed Bill Bruford, Nick Mason and Lars Ulrich. Why did you pick those four guys?

MP: “They not only represent four drummers that I admire, but they are members of four bands that had a big impact on me. If you look at Nick Mason, he’s not really known as a drummer’s drummer, but Pink Floyd had such an immense impact on me as a creative force, not just as a drummer. The same goes for Lars. He gets given a hard time by the drum community...”

JB: He was one of the originators for us both...

MP: “Exactly. He was the pioneer of double bass drumming and the whole thrash metal scene. He was at the forefront. Neil is self-explanatory. I couldn’t have done this without including Neil. If there was any drummer who was a god to me, it was him. And Bill is one of those guys who has done so many things, and has been a part of so many different bands and projects. I’ve always admired him.”

JB: Who were you the most nervous about interviewing?

MP: “Neil. He has been the one drummer who has alluded me all these years. Once you start doing festivals and shows and become part of the drum community you get to know and meet your heroes. The drum world is very tight knit, everybody respects each other, but because Neil doesn’t do those clinics, is notoriously quiet and keeps himself to himself, I hadn’t had a chance to meet him.

“I’ve never been compared to any other drummer as much as I have been to him my whole career. I’ve been compared to him and Dream Theater to Rush for the last 20 years. Having never met him I had built up this legendary anticipation of finally sitting down with him. He was so cool. But I must admit it was hard to keep my fanboy side in check.”

JB: It’s hard for me to do that right now! It’s more relaxed because we know each other, but I can understand that it’s tough. Ok, next question, tell me about your new instructional DVD.

MP: “I’m psyched about it. It’s definitely going to make up for lost time because my last one came out seven years ago. This new one is going to be a monster. I just saw a rough assembly of it and it’s already about seven hours long and covers so much ground. It’s two volumes and a similar structure to Liquid Drum Theater. The first volume focuses on Dream Theater over the last seven years, so it covers Six Degrees..., Train Of Thought and Octavarium. I break down songs, play stuff in the studio and there’s a lot of live footage. The second volume is all the side-projects and tributes I have done in the last seven years – TransAtlantic, OSI, Neil Morse’s albums, session work with John Arch, live appearances with G3, Overkill and Fates Warning, my Zeppelin, Beatles, Who and Rush tributes. In all these cases it has me talking about them, breaking stuff down, lots of footage. It’s just packed with stuff.

“Plus, you’ll be making an appearance, Jason! There’s going to be a bunch of different solos and duets that I’ve done through the years, so you and Charlie Benante will be in there. I’ve done the drum cam thing over the last few years on my website, so it’s nice to be doing another proper instructional video.”

JB: Are you doing the Mike Portnoy drum cam in the studio right now?

MP: “Yeah, I’ve always got a camera going.”

JB: While we’re talking DVDs, tell me about Dream Theater’s Score. Was it difficult playing with an orchestra?

MP: “It was easier than I thought it would be because basically the conductor didn’t want to f*** with us too much. He let us be to do things the way we normally would. He would steer the ship with the orchestra and make sure he was locked in with me. He’s got a great ear, he’s a great musician and he knows about odd time signatures so he follows us really well. He was able to just keep an eye on me the whole time.

“I basically conduct Dream Theater in terms of starts and stops and the twists and turns. All those cues come off me, so having a 30-piece orchestra behind me, it was important that the conductor was locked in with me and he could follow my cues. I had rearview mirrors put on the kit so I could see him at any time.”

JB: How is the writing coming along for the new Dream Theater album?

MP: “It’s going well, we’ve got about half the album written. We write in the studio, so we’ll write a song then I’ll cut my drum tracks immediately, then the guitar tracks after that. That means half my drum tracks are already done at this point. We have a variety of stuff – there’s a giant epic, a real heavy tune, something that’s a bit more groove orientated. It’s a real mixed bag of stuff. As always the creative process is quick and easy with us, there’s never a lack of ideas and we work pretty quickly in the studio.”

JB: And you’re camped out in the studio the whole time?

MP: “We started in September and we’ll be there through January or February. We basically move all our gear in and we’re in the studio Monday through Friday in New York and come home on weekends. Basically I have to be there the whole time as the co-producer. I’m there to oversee everybody’s tracks so once we write a song, I’ll do my drums straight away. It’s kind of weird doing drums this way as I don’t have any time to really gel with this stuff. But I like flying by the seat of my pants and not knowing what fills I’m going to do. I rarely write my fills. Sometimes what you’re hearing as my drum track, the song was only finished the day before, or in some cases a couple of hours before. I like having it spontaneous and keeping it fresh.”

JB: With everything you’ve accomplished in the drum community, what keeps you going? Have you accomplished everything that you thought you would?

MP: “Well, in the drum community I think I’ve accomplished all the material things I’ve ever dreamed of. Being inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall Of Fame really was the pinnacle for me. Once that happened I felt like, ‘Holy s***, what goals do I have left as a drummer?’. At this point it’s just about creative goals. It’s a matter of trying to do the best I can whenever I make a record, trying to keep it interesting, creative and challenging for myself. I guess I’ve built up a reputation now which I feel as though I have to uphold.

“In terms of the band, as well as we’ve done and as much success as we’ve had, in a crazy way we’re still very underground. As a band we still have so much room to continue to grow. But we’ve done so many things we’ve always wanted to do. We’ve toured with most of the bands we’ve wanted to tour with, from Maiden to Megadeth, to Queensryche to Yes. We’ve achieved a lot of our dreams but we always just want to keep going.”

JB: What is the next Dream Theater goal?

MP: “We’re about to sign a new deal so we’ll have a new label behind us. It’ll be good to have some fresh people on our team. We have basically done our whole career off of our previous deal. It was a seven-album deal that has lasted 14 years. It’ll be interesting to see what happens and if a label actually does something for us. We’ve built our career on our own really, without any label support. We’ll just keep doing what we do. We just passed that 20-year mark and now we have to strive for the 30-year mark.”

JB: You’re pretty in touch with the music scene and the drum community, not necessarily just rock and metal. What music are you listening to right now, and are there any new drummers out there that you’re particularly fond of?

MP: “I love Muse, they are one of my favourite bands of the last few years. Dominic Howard is a great drummer with a great groove. I love Lamb Of God, I think Chris Adler is awesome. Mastodon are great. I like The Mars Volta, those guys are doing some cool, out there stuff. You’re up there too. You’re the cream of the crop in terms of the new young metal drummers. Opeth are another band that I love.”

JB: What kit are you using in the studio?

MP: “I’m using the Albino Monster that I had on the whole Octavarium tour. This is the first album I’ve recorded with it because Octavarium was done with the black Siamese Monster and the Bonham kit.”

JB: Is your kit going to evolve again for the next tour?

MP: “I already have some cool ideas. I think I should do one more tour with this kit then I’ll let my imagination run wild again!”

JB: I’m going to give you three characteristics that I think describe your drumming. These are odd times, double bass and your ability to play in various musical settings. What would you say are your strongest characteristics?

MP: “I think those are good descriptions. I think my weakest of those three is playing in various settings. Although I do indeed get to play a lot of diversity within the rock genre, I’ve never been able to get beyond that. I can’t really play jazz or Latin. Odd times have always been part of what I do and have always been a fascination of mine. I probably use more double bass drumming than any progressive rock drummer, but surely if you pit me up against the metal genre there are guys, including yourself, who could probably run circles around me.”

JB: You play what is comfortable for your situation. I can’t jump in there and play 19/8 1ike you can. I have to sit there and really think about it. Ok, here’s my last question. Are you trying to display the entire Tama catalogue on your riser?

MP: “The one thing I always say is that you can tell two things about me by looking at my drumset. One is that I don’t set it up, and two is that I don’t pay for it! Basically every time there’s a Dream Theater gig it’s like a NAMM Show coming to town!”

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Jason Bittner’s recommended listening [for examples of Mike Portnoy’s drumming]

Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (Dream Theater)

Train Of Thought (Dream Theater)

Images And Words (Dream Theater)

Scenes From A Memory (Dream Theater)

Live Scenes From New York (Dream Theater)