various Mike Portnoy comments

comment: I would definately get it, but I have all of those tunes already! Even though the re-mixes would be cool to have.

MP: Trust me gang, even if you already have the entire DT catalog, I’ve made this release worth picking up....

In addition to the 3 new remixes (only available here), the radio edits are pretty rare (yes, I know a bit sacriligious - but at least it’s something “different”) and most of the versions have slight subtle differences (like “clean” starts and stops that normally segue on the studio versions - like “The Test...”, “As I Am”, “I Walk Beside You”, “The Answer Lies Within”, etc.)

Not to mention Hugh Syme’s most clever cover art since Rush’s Signals and exclusive liner notes by Rich Wilson and yours truly!

comment: Why don’t they play the 2nd verse of Take the Time?

MP: The 2nd verse has a VERY high part for James to sing. Although he can still in fact nail it and has told me not to worry about it, I decided it was better to abridge the arrangement so it wouldn’t restrict how often I put the song in the set or where it sits. And even though James can reach it, I’d rather avoid him having to think or stress about it throughout the show...

And for those of you keeping track, the “full version” of TTT was indeed played on this tour everytime we played the entire I&W....

comment: I wonder how much influence (if any) Mike had in the content of the video [of Forsaken].

MP: Well for the record, almost none actually.... For the first time in a long time, I relinquished some control!!

John had suggested an Anime approach for the video, and being they were his lyrics and I know NOTHING of the genre, I threw the project into his lap...

I was in the loop throughout the making and signed off on every cut, but realistically I was just like “OK”, “looks cool”, “sure”.....

So this really was not my baby at all.... But I still hope you all enjoy it!

MP: [regarding the opportunity for local bands to open for DT in South America in 2008] Oh Boy....over 130 entries in the first day!!!

So much for the “first 20 rule”, but I am going to have to shut this down soon as we already have more bands then available time to judge at this point!

MP: [regarding the opportunity for local bands to open for DT in South America in 2008] OK...I have about 350 bands from the first 48 hours after this announcement!!!

Time to unpin this thread to stop from giving it any more attention!!!

MP: [regarding their very first show in Australia] It was indeed a shame this evening had to end prematurely....but it surely made for a one-of-kind Australian debut as I dont thing this has EVER happened to us before!

We were simply just TOO ELECTRIFYING for Perth to handle!!!!!!!!!!

MP: [regarding Forsaken] Just for the record, John did NOT direct this video.

He was merely involved in the discussions with the Director to help guide the story based on the lyrics.

When I said the project was “in his lap” and not mine, I was only pointing out that he was involved...whereas he usually hasn’t been on any past video projects...

MP: Well the response was simply overwhelming...within the first few days, we had over 500 entries!Although the initial rule was that only the first 20 bands from each country was eligible, in some cases up to 50 bands from each country were considered before making a decision.

There were many factors involved in choosing the bands:

First and foremost was the music (in itself having many variables), but other deciding factors included having previous live experience, professionalism and presentation based on their website or myspace page, and even their taste in music represented by their list of influences or top friends (which helped indicate the type of audience they were trying to reach with their music)...

We wish the best of luck to all the bands that submitted entries and just because you weren’t picked doesn’t mean you weren’t the best or most qualified...(perhaps your entry simply arrived 1 hour later than the last cutoff band)....so keep at it so we can open for you in 20 years!

So here are the lucky winners that will be sharing the stage with us throughout South America:

Sat March 1st 2008 - Santiago, Chile - Pista Atletica: DELTA

Mon March 3rd 2008 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Luna Park Stadium: SACRUM

Tues March 4th 2008 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Luna Park Stadium: FUGHU

Fri March 7th 2008 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Citibank Hall: KHALLICE

Sat March 8th 2008 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Credicard Hall: HANGAR

Sun March 9th 2008 - Belo Horizonte, Brazil - Chevrolet Hall: DEVENTTER

Wed March 12th 2008 - Bogota, Colombia - El Coliseo: HIDDENPATH

Fri March 14th 2008 - Caracas, Venezuela - El Poliedro: RC2

comment: Who was on the comittee that chose [the opening band for the 2008 South American shows]?

MP: 3 people:

Me, myself and I

MP: Yes these are all the PN08 dates... (there may be one more added for Central America at the end, but this is it for the US)

Yes I know...no Phoenix, no Denver, no Toronto, no Montreal, no Texas, no Philly, etc. etc....

But in their places are NEW cities that dont always get to see us like Seattle, Albany, Richmond, Miami, Atlanta and for the first time EVER Vancouver and Calgary...

I wish we could play every city in the world, but the reality is we dont tour for more than 4 weeks at a time, so we do the best we can to get wherever we can in the time alotted.... In order to get to some new markets, we needed to pass a few other cities... If we dont get to you this time, hopefully we will next time....

Also, the 2 night stands in Calgary and NYC: they WONT have a cover album performance as that tradition is only for “Evening With” shows....but I will indeed make each night a completely different setlist.

This will be a great tour and hopefully its success will insure future runs...so please come out and help support the Prog Nation!

MP: Many factors were involved in picking the NYC venue:

--- Both Radio City Music Hall and The Theater @ MSG have waaaay too expensive curfews to handle a show’s length with 4 bands...

--- Roseland’s stage is too small to accomodate 4 bands and our production which has grown significantly since the M2000 tour

--- Hammerstein Ballroom was already booked in our NYC booking window

--- (I think) The Beacon Theater is closed for renovations.

--- venues like Nokia, Irving Plaza, etc. are just way too small for us at this stage of our career

Terminal 5 is a new venue, so of course we are taking a chance and wont really know until we get there...but they have the required stage space and no union or curfew issues...so it seems like it will do! The Mars Volta just played there, so that seemed like a sign in the right direction...we’ll see...

Booking a tour is not as easy as you may think and our agent and manager (and me) put alot of time and effort in trying to make the best decisions on the venues, the cities, the routing, etc.

It’s not always the ideal finished itinerary, but there are often MANY variables that may not be so obvious to you guys....we simply do our best and learn from any mistakes for future tours..

comment: Why is LaBrie not credited on Disappear on DT’s Greatest Hit? Is it just music credits? LaBrie wrote the lyrics for Disappear and in every song on the Greatest Hit album the whole band is credited (except Silent Man, where Petrucci is only credited).

MP: You’re absolutely right....that was an oversight that I missed. Usually I credit the music and lyrics for the songs separately in the booklets. Because this was a compilation, the format was slightly different. As was pointed out, all of the music on SDOIT and TOT was originally credited only to the four of us....but James did indeed write the lyrics for Disappear and should have been credited in the booklet. Damn, I should have caught that.... Sorry about that my Canuck pal!

MP: Of course, everybody is entitled to their opinion on whether or not they like the bill and I do know that not everybody has a ton of money to go to every single concert.....BUT.....I do feel I should point out:

I’m hoping DT fans will help SUPPORT the whole concept of Progressive Nation and come out to make this first run a success to help insure future outings...

I’ve been waiting 10 years to get this kind of tour off the ground to help bring great progressive music to the fans (and viseversa: bring new fans to some great progressive bands that normally would only play in front of a few hundred people a night)

If this tour is a success, then I will be able to continue it in the years to come and help bring alot of bands on the road that may not have normally been able to make it to a theater near you....(everybody wanting to see bands like Riverside, Marillion, The Flower Kings, Pain of Salvation, etc. etc. on tour in the US - by making PN08 a success, it will increase the chances of me being able to create awesome dream bills in future years...)

For those of you missing/complaining about DT not doing the “evening with” shows anymore - you’ll be cutting off your nose to spite your face by not coming to PN08....we are taking a break from the “evening with” shows for a while....so get used to us having opening bands for the next few years....

(sorry, the 3 hour shows were KILLING us!!)

comment: Just got the email from fanfire offering the new tour [Progressive Nation 2008] t-shirts. However, neither Mexico nor Puerto Rico are included in the t’s. Yet technically we’re listed as part of the tour.

MP: Technically, the Mexico and PR shows are NOT PN08 shows.... (same goes with any Opeth headlining shows on the PN08 off-days)

Progressive Nation 2008 is the line-up of DT, Opeth, BTBAM and 3.

The confusion may be that we announced the 2 DT “headlining” shows at the same time, as they were routed around the PN08 tour, but those 2 shows are not official PN08 shows...

MP: Just wanted to spread the word that the “something very cool and special in store for fans of DT and Opeth” that I mentioned in my last PN08 Blog post is sadly now NOT going to happen..... The idea turned out to be a little too logistically difficult to pull off so it needed to be blown off...

Oh well....sorry about the tease!!!

MP: Well I guess all good things must come to an end..... : (

I am happy to report that the inaugural run of Progressive Nation has indeed been an undisputed success in every respect!

The ticket sales were great all across the board, the fans all seemed to really enjoy themselves at all of the shows and all 4 bands had a great time playing together and hanging out everyday and night. It all went by so fast....I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun!!

So many highlights and memories....some of the immediate ones that come to mind for me:

--- the “Percussive Nation” drum jam in NYC

--- Mikael Akerfeldt joining DT in NYC for the only-ever (so far) live performance of “Repentance”

--- the fire curtain coming down on Opeth and stopping the show in Miami

--- hearing Joey Eppart’s vocal warm-ups everynight (3 has got to write this into a song!)

--- James joining Opeth for “In My Time Of Need” in Tampa

--- the non-stop shenanigans throughout everybody’s sets at the last show in Tampa (way too many things to mention but a few were: BTBAM on stage in their underwear during the end of Opeth’s set, more fire curtain droppings during “The Drapery Falls”, Mikael Akerfeldt’s new accapella love song for me “Mike Portnoy is a bitch”, all 3 bands opening bands getting completely covered in silly string, cocks drawn all over my drum heads, the golf ball driving range off stage left aimed at our heads throughout “Take The Time”, etc etc...)

But most of all, getting to watch 3 of my favorite bands on the planet each and every night from 10 feet away was what made me smile!

We had so many friends come down and support the bands and check out the show throughout the tour: Charlie Benante from Anthrax in Chicago, Chris & Willie Adler and Mark Morton from Lamb Of God in Richmond, Jason Bittner from Shadows Fall in Albany, Jim Matheos, Frank Aresti and John Arch from Fates Warning in Albany/Boston, Rod Morgenstein from The Dregs in NYC, Richard Christy from Death (and the Howard Stern Show) in NYC, Ron Jarzombek, Charlie Z and Alex Webster from Blotted Science in Tampa, etc. etc.

So, now what?

After literally 1 year (and 1 day!) on the “Chaos In Motion World Tour”, it’s time for a well deserved break for the DT machine.... Myself, JP and Jordan will resurrect LTE for 5 very special shows later this month (we re-learned and rehearsed all of the songs at soundchecks throughout PN08 using Between The Buried And Me as our test audience each day!), and then I will begin work on assembling the upcoming DT DVD for a release later this year....but other than that, it’s time to reconnect and spend time with our wives and kids all summer long! (and then when the kids return to school in September, we’ll get back to work and enter the studio to begin work on our next album in order to be back on the road by Summer 2009!)

....which brings me back to Progressive Nation.....

Thanks to all of you great fans, PN08 was such a success that I intend to make this a regular event... My wheels are already spinning (in constant motion!) with a great list of bands that I am already considering for Progressive Nation 2009 - coming to you sometime late summer ‘09!

comment: I am just speculating but Ytsejam might be a thing of the past.

MP: As long as I am alive and walking this earth, there will always be future titles... So the question is never “if”, but simply “when”....

I am wrapping up the new DT DVD this week and then taking a long promised (and well deserved) break for the summer to reconnect with my wife and children.

Once I am ready to resume work, my next project will be to work on putting together the LTE Live DVD and CD (and possibly one other DT project) and then DT will enter the studio to begin work on a new album around October-ish....

Sometime before or after that, I will start wrapping my head around the next Ytse Jams batch (which I already know what they will be....), it’s just a matter of recharging my battery....

comment: Do you think the actual audio/video quality will be as good as their latest DVDs? I figured that since they had to set up everything for the recording at many shows, maybe everything wouldn’t be as perfect as for their latest DVDs, where they had to set things up for only one crucial night.

MP: Very good question....

As this wasnt ONE specific show with a massive filming and pre-production budget (like Budokan and Score), the footage is indeed not as “polished” as the footage on the last 2 DVD’s.... The footage is a bit more raw...everything is indeed still multi-camera shoots and looks great....just dont expect a prestine, super-lush production like Score and Budokan.

So, think more “5YIALT” and you’ll get the picture....

And Kevin Shirley did mix the whole thing (in stereo and 5.1), so the audio also kicks ass!!

comment: Weird that none of the profesionally recorded tracks from Madrid came out (as heard in the Forsaken Radio Sampler).

MP: Every show on the CIM tour was “professionally recorded” as we multitracked the audio every night...

The main factor I used in choosing what songs were used for the DVD was based on the best video footage I had available for a particular song (as I only had about a dozen pro-shot/multi-camera shows to choose from...)

Of course the performance itself, the audience, the venue, etc also played a factor...but my decision really always started with the video footage available as a starting point...

Remember (as I’ve already stated elsewhere): If you go into this DVD expecting another Budokan or Score (in terms of production), you will probably be disappointed.... But if you go in with the 5YIALT approach, you are in for a real treat and a great tour souviner!

MP: Well, normally I wont share any studio info for fear of over speculation and analyzation (yes, there’s another thread in the Forum with 21 pages of people talking about mine and JP’s hair based on Jordan’s studio diary!)....

But I felt the need to share this excitement with y’all:

Today I finished my drum tracks for the new Dream Theater album!

And as I normally never give away song descriptions, titles, lengths, etc....I will say just this:

Imagine a DT album with A Change Of Seasons, Octavarium, Learning To Live, Pull Me Under and The Glass Prison....all on one album....

COULD YOU HANDLE IT???????

Excited?

I sure am!!!!