Interview MP

In what appears to have become a tradition for New Voice, a few weeks into the recording sessions of the new Dream Theater album, we called Avatar Studios to speak to Mike Portnoy. We covered all things DT since the end of the European leg of the Chaos in Motion tour; the summer off and what’s next on the agenda. As usual, Mike was great fun and very open and honest, and we’re grateful for the time he took out from the studio to talk with us.

RP: Are you already running up a nice big Starbucks bill this time round?

MP: We bought ourselves a coffee/espresso maker [laughs] and the Starbucks down the block from Avatar has gone out of business since we bought it. [RP and KP laugh] They put up a closing sign. No, we still do Starbucks once every day or two but that’s much better than the three times a day that we used to do with this new espresso maker here.

RP: ...A little more economical I think...

MP: Well, we’re never very budget conscious, but it’s a smarter thing to do, plus it’s quick and easy to always have an espresso at your fingertips.

KP: It’s been almost a year since we last spoke to you so we’re going to have a quick run through some of the things that you have done since the last fanzine. Let’s start back with the tour. What were your highlights of the tour looking back now it is finished?

MP: Well, I recently said this elsewhere and the answer stands true. To me, the highlight of the tour is always going to new places for the first time. On this particular tour, we got to go to Australia for the first time, so that would surely be one of the highlights, not that those shows would be any better than anywhere else or any bigger than anywhere else. It’s just always amazing to see the excitement from the fans that have never seen us before. It usually ignites us to bring out our best just so we can give them the best first impressions possible. So for me that would be one of the highlights that immediately come to mind.

KP: Was the reception from Australia everything you hoped it would be after being out there with G3 before?

MP: Yeah. We knew that between G3 and the clinic tour that we had done years before, that there was a good audience waiting for us, but you can never properly gauge it until you actually get in and do it. So, although we had a lot of good fans there, we weren’t sure if they would all come out. but they did and they were really great shows.

KP: Talking of new markets, how was your first trip to China? How does that compare with other Asian markets?

MP: Do you want the politically correct answer or do want the truth? [laughs]

KP: Tell us the truth Mike!

MP: The truth would be that that was the least favourite show on the tour actually and I don’t think I’m alone in that. It was a very difficult gig and when we were there we were flabbergasted at how not together the country was, especially since they were going to be hosting the Olympics a few months Later. It was just a really difficult gig and they just didn’t have it together in terms of preparation and accommodation. So I don’t think we are going to be returning there that soon. This is horrible to say but a lot of places where we go on tour. in particular if we have a bad gig or venue, we will blacklist the venue and report back to our manager and say that we can never play this venue again – it’s too small or it just doesn’t accommodate our show etc. After the China gig. I called our manager and said, “not only are we blacklisting this venue, we’re blacklisting the entire country. We don’t want to go back to China.”

RP: That’s a pretty big country to blacklist as well.

MP: I know. It’s horrible to say but unfortunately it’s the truth.

KP: So was it a stark contrast to when you are in Japan then?

MP: Well, yeah. it’s a big contrast but not just japan as we’d also done Korea, Singapore and Bangkok. All of those gigs were tremendous. All of the rest of the Asian gigs were awesome.

KP: How do you feel the whole Progressive Nation section of the tour went?

MP: It was everything I hoped it would be. I thought the shows were received really well. The turnouts were great. I thought the musical chemistry between the bands was perfect. Everybody got along really well and was very happy to be there. You hear a lot about these package tours were the bands look back and complain about having a miserable experience, but I’ve got a feeling that if you asked any other of the other three bands. they would look back at Progressive Nation as a truly awesome experience. We take really good care of the bands that tour with us, ensuring that they are accommodated and that they get everything they need to be comfortable. It was a great touring environment. It was a great show. It was a lot of awesome music for the fans to enjoy.

RP: Is that a concept that you would like to do again?

MP: Absolutely. This was laying down the groundwork. This first Progressive Nation was a four-band bill in the spring mainly in theatres, but ultimately my goal is to make Progressive Nation a five band bill in the summertime in the sheds and amphitheatres outside. So that’s what we’re going to end up doing next summer for Progressive Nation 2009. Really, we needed to have a first run to test it. Being as it was a success we will definitely take it into next summer and, to take it a step further, I even want to bring it to Europe as well.

KP: Yes, that was the next question... So how does the Progressive Nation compare with Gigantour? Obviously you had complete control over Progressive Nation?

MP: Well, yeah, the control thing is a really good thing to have. We were really special guests for Megadeth. Dave Mustaine and myself did talk a lot about the concept because it was the first run of Gigantour and Dave gave me a lot of input. Ultimately though, it was his thing. Once the tour started that was it. Dream Theater was just on the tour to play. Any sense of input that I had ended at that point. With Progressive Nation, it is definitely my baby and I’ve enjoyed being able to run it a certain way and to handpick the bands. As far as the differences are concerned, musically Gigantour was a lot more metal than Progressive Nation will probably end up going. This first Progressive Nation was a very heavy bill. With Opeth and Between the Buried and Me. it was very much a progressive metal twist, but in future versions I hope to incorporate a little more diversity with bands like ‘3’ or bands with a more traditional progressive rock sound. So once we start incorporating more bands like that I think the difference between Progressive Nation and Gigantour will be vastly different.

RP: In terms of doing it again, are there any bands, in particular progressive bands, which have grabbed your attention?

MP: Yeah. I have a master list of 30 bands that are on my wish list for the next couple of Progressive Nations, and I guess you want names, don’t you? [everyone laughs]

KP: If you are going to come to Europe, will you look at Porcupine Tree?

MP: Well, Porcupine Tree has always been on my wish list for the Progressive Nation concept. Honestly though. I would prefer to have them in America as they have already toured with us in Europe. Granted that was eight years ago, but I do like to mix it up, so I would prefer to have them in America. The same would go for a band like Pain of Salvation. I would like to have them on the American bill. I would love to have a band like Opeth with us in Europe because they only did America with us. So, I always like to give each market something they haven’t had or seen yet.

RP: Having done the LTE shows, how was it to air that material again?

MP: We had an absolute blast. We had forgotten how much we loved those songs. The chemistry between John, Jordan and myself is something we tap into every day. The biggest difference was having Tony involved, and then the material that we were playing, as we were not playing Dream Theater songs. We were immediately struck by how much we loved the music we made together for those two albums and bringing Tony into the mix elevated us to a whole new level musically. He’s just such a professional. It was great revisiting the old songs and it was great doing some new stuff. We did a cover of Rhapsody in Blue which was essentially completely reworked and rearranged so it was almost like a new composition for us. Also, at every show there were a couple of improv spots which sometimes went on for a good 10 to 20 minutes at a time, so that also enabled us to really get off on the chemistry and enjoy it from night to night. It was awesome. It was totally a great experience and we would love to do it again. For sure. we are open to it.

RP: Have you got any plans to release any audio or video content from the shows?

MP: Yeah, for sure. CD and DVD. It’s on my agenda as soon as time permits.

RP: Aside from the LTE shows and working on the Chaos in Motion DVD, did you actually manage to take a bit of time off this summer and relax?

MP: I absolutely did and it might be the first time for a very long time, at least since my kids were born. that I’ve actually had a real vacation. Even in 2006, when Dream Theater took the summer off, I still filled it up with projects. This time, once I wrapped up the Chaos in Motion DVD, that was it – “that’s it, I’m not doing anything else.” Neal Morse asked me to play some shows with him and I was offered to do other things and I just said “no”, which is something I’m not very good at saying. It was really cool. It was the most unproductive summer that I have ever had – sitting by the pool with the kids, going to movies and to concerts. It was a very nice change of pace for me although I must admit I am definitely ready to get back to work.

RP: I suppose that you can look on it as being very therapeutic after so many years of being calm for just a day and then going off on the next project.

MP: The bad news for the fans is that I enjoyed it so much that I can picture doing more of it. [everyone laughs] That’s the good news for my family but the bad news for the fans.

KP: Moving onto the DVD, I was wondering how happy you were with how it turned out. Some fans on the forum are saying it’s not the quality of footage that they are used to.

MP: Well, I was definitely very up front before it was even released. I tried to make fans aware of that so their expectations weren’t raised to the quality level of a Budokan or a Score. But not every fan gets to see every time there’s a post on the forum, so obviously there were many who were unaware that this was the approach of the DVD. I’m proud of it. I think that it’s a great tour souvenir. I think that there’s a great range of songs and once again I made sure that the song list was something new from the previous DVDs. There’s a tremendous amount of behind the scenes footage between songs on the first disc as well as much of the second disc. so there’s really a lot there for the fans to get into. The only complaint I can see that’s a legitimate one is that it is a lot rawer. When we did Budokan and Score and even Live Scenes from New York to a certain degree. we had a good budget to prepare the pre-production and do a proper high-quality shoot. This time around when you are covering the entire tour, you can’t set up a half-million dollar shoot at every single show unlike when you are doing it for a single concert where you can make an unbelievably polished DVD experience. The purpose of this DVD was to capture life on the road for a year and I had to basically work with much rawer footage, and I had ten shows to choose from in terms of video.

KP: Did you plan the shows? Were the shows recorded for another reason so that you could select from them?

MP: The only one that was planned was the Vancouver shoot, because by the time we had finished the Progressive Nation tour; I was already talking with Roadrunner about the DVD. At that point. I had evaluated how many shows I had in my archives to work with. I only had a handful of pro-shot or multi-camera shows and those ones from earlier in the tour just happened to be in the can. They weren’t specifically shot for the DVD. Once we determined that we were going to do a DVD, I requested Roadrunner to set up a shoot at least for one of the shows and that was the Vancouver footage. Other than that, everything else is just archival stuff that I had accumulated.

KP: The CD and DVD package has been very popular with everything being altogether. Was there a consideration of putting out CDs on their own?

MP: The label wanted to actually. I urged and begged them not to because it is a much rawer collection. When you are watching a DVD you can see that that is the approach and the feel. Yet when you are listening to a CD, and especially if it is going to be an ‘official’ live album like a Budokan or Score, I want it to be up to the level of what is expected. Ten years down the road when you are going to be looking at your CD collection, you are not going to remember it as “oh this one was supposed to be a rawer take” – whereas when you are watching a DVD then it is very obvious. To me, it was very important to not offer it as a live album because it didn’t feel like a live album. This was more of a collection.

KP: I was wondering. how come Eric is the star of all the Easter Eggs?

MP: He’s a funny guy and he’s got a lot of personality! The real answer to that is when they were shooting the documentary for those couple of days in Europe, Eric didn’t want to do a proper interview like the other techs did. He wanted to do these little skits and when we put the whole documentary together, I felt that those little skits really slowed down the documentary, especially when you are watching the whole documentary as a story. I didn’t want to lose them because they were very funny, so we decided to use them as Easter Eggs.

KP: Which of the pair of you founded the whole rock juice movement?

MP: [laughs] You wouldn’t believe how many stupid things we do every day that suddenly get put on these DVDs or on the Internet and they get known amongst the fans.

RP: They get a life of their own.

MP: Exactly.

KP: DT are now seen by some as being a classic band. But what do you think is enabling Dream Theater to reach a new generation?

MP: I don’t know. We just do what we do and the clock keeps ticking. The next thing you know is we’re getting older. We’ve been around a long time – 23 years. That’s three of the Beatles careers. When you’ve been around that length of time, you get put in that category.

What has enabled us to reach a new audience and generation? That’s actually really important to us. When you go and see a band like Yes for instance, I don’t think that they are attracting that many younger people. They just have their audience that they have been playing to for the past 35 years. Luckily I don’t see that happening with us. I still see young kids coming out to see us. Maybe that’s because we try to keep our sound constantly modern. We’ve never been a retro sounding dinosaur prog band. With all due respect, I love a lot of those older sounding progressive rock bands, but they have never really changed with the times. We always want to. We want to have our sound and style but we also want to keep things heavy and current. and I think that’s helping to keep us in with younger kids. There are other little marketing things such as being in video games, for example, Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero 4. I also think that Roadrunner is helping that. It’s all good. We want to appeal to younger fans as well as our existing fans.

RP: I guess it is also beneficial that the music scene has evolved, especially in metal, in terms of the technical dimensions becoming appreciated again. The kids are latching onto that.

MP: Absolutely. A lot of bands over the past few years have embraced the technical side with guitar solos and the progressive nature of music. Five to ten years ago, bands were scared ****less to be associated with it. These days I think it is the opposite and bands are embracing it and trying to actually capitalize on it. We’ve never tried to capitalise on it. We just do what we do. Luckily I think in 2008, I don’t think it is as un-hip as it used to be.

RP: It is also exciting that some of those bands are vocally citing Dream Theater as an influence as well, which is going to mean that kids are going to make that jump from bands like Avenged Sevenfold and check out Dream Theater.

MP: I think that’s awesome. It’s one thing when you have other Progressive Metal bands that are on Inside Out or Magna Carta and they cite Dream Theater. It’s obvious because they sound like Dream Theater. To me, it’s incredibly flattering when you hear bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Opeth, Stone Sour or Trivium that openly cite Dream Theater as an influence but they don’t sound like Dream Theater. To me, that’s the ultimate compliment.

RP: Moving onto talking about the new album and I know that there’s going to be limits on what you are going to say about that. So far, how do you feel things are going? What have you got done so far?

MP: We’re back at Avatar Studios with Paul Northfield mixing it again and basically it is the same team and same location as Systematic Chaos, just two years later. It’s going great. We’re at the end of the fifth week now. Without getting too specific, we have about three quarters of the new record written. We have a few more things we want to dive into, try writing and see what we’re going to come up with. So far, it’s tremendous and I’m totally excited. Then again, I’m like that every time we write a new record.

KP: Jordan’s keeping everybody updated through his log. I was wondering if you plan to bring anything to your forum?

MP: No. I’m purposely very quiet when we’re in the studio. I’m very consciously not talking about it to the fans. Jordan even asked me before the session started if he could do it. I think that’s fine but he has definitely been told to be very careful with what he posts and to what extent. Every little thing is dissected just from his minor pictures whether it be my drum set or John Petrucci’s hairdo. Somebody will see some bass guitar sitting in the corner and the fans will go off on a three page rant about it, speculating, assuming and jumping to conclusions. That’s what just the slightest bit of information leads to. Personally, I am very cautious to give anything out at this stage. It’s way too early to get anybody’s hopes, anticipations or expectations up.

KP: We were wondering how you feel about watching people going and doing that? Do you guys find it funny or is it irritating? And personally, how easy is it to keep disengaged when you’re being accused of going off and doing something that you are probably not doing anyway?

MP: It’s very irritating. It’s flattering to have fans paying attention to what we’re doing rather that not paying attention at all. That being said, it is incredibly irritating especially when you are misread and misinterpreted. In terms of how do I keep a distance or get involved, years ago I used to take the bait and would jump in and constantly be sticking up for us, trying to correct things or setting the record straight. Now, I do that less and less. Still occasionally. I will just pop in and if something is just incorrect or false, I will jump in and try and correct it but I try to avoid that as much as possible because I can do no right. Whatever I will say, it will be misinterpreted and somehow come back to bite me. I am very cautious about that.

RP: An example of jumping off and running with something happened just recently, with the picture of Megadeth being written on the board.

MP: It’s so funny because I remember Jordan taking that picture just as I was writing that on the board. I was thinking that Jordan shouldn’t post that because people were going to read this. We’re even discussed blacking it out before posting it on the board. [laughs]

And then I thought, **** it, I don’t give a ****. Just post it. Maybe people won’t say anything. Literally, when he posted it, within five minutes, people started seeing Megadeth and Meshuggah and ran to all kinds of conclusions, “oh my God, they’re making another heavy album!” “Where’s the prog?” “How could they do this?” It’s like, come on, we have like one riff in an entire album. So that’s a perfect example of why we consciously try to avoid giving away anything at this early stage.

KP: Of course, we have got to ask you, how representative is that? Is it just a riff!

MP: It’s literally just a riff. For every Meshuggah or Megadeth section, there’s just as many Pink Floyd and U2 sections. That’s something we have always been. We’re not making another all-out metal record. We’re not making an all-out anything record except that it is a Dream Theater record. With those references, we just have a vague terminology that we are using because those sections aren’t always clear cut verses, bridges or choruses. We just have this bad habit of naming them after a band that comes to mind. That gets over-analysed to the point that somehow it has come back to hurt us. We’re not making a Meshuggah record. Sure. there’s heavy sections, but there are also prog and melodic sections. Like anything else, there’s a little bit of everything.

RP: A lot of those pictures show that there is a lot of kit in the studio. for example, the shots of John’s various guitar amps, Jordan having a lot of his gear and your kit as well. Do you feel that there’s a lot of experimentation and different things going on!

MP: Yeah. We like to bring everything in. If you walk into the studio, it is literally like walking into a music store in all of our departments. I’ve got two kits.

KP: Is it a Bubinga kit you’ve got Mike?

MP: The big kit is a Bubinga kit. The small kit is a Birch Bubinga kit. Basically, Tama has got these two new lines and I asked Tama to send me one of each so that I could try them out. I am working with both of them to see which one I like better at the moment. But yeah, there’s so much gear. John has got all these heads, amps and guitars. Jordan’s world is filled with gadgets and toys and all these things that I’ve no idea where he finds them from. John (Myung) has got an array of basses but he’s quite simple. He likes his one thing. I remember everybody made a big deal of seeing the Chapman Stick in the background in one of the pictures but the fact is that the Chapman Stick has been in the studio every time we make a record so it doesn’t mean necessarily that he’s going to pick it up and use it. So, we like having everything at our fingertips.

KP: Encourage him to use the Stick. Everybody misses it.

MP: You know what? Let me get something straight. I have been encouraging him to use the Stick every album! I have also been encouraging him to write lyrics every album. So I wish people would stop blaming everybody else for John Myung’s actions or lack of actions!

RP: What you should do is try not asking him to and see what happens..

MP: There you go, reverse psychology! Not a bad idea. I guess it’s that old expression, “it sucks to be king and it’s great to be king.” John is a big boy. He is responsible for what he wants to do. Yes, John and I will produce the records but we encourage everybody in this band to be all that they can be. Whether or not they step up to the plate is their own decision.

RP: In terms of being in the studio, what have you been listening to over the summer that you have liked or that has inspired you?

MP: Well, we are consciously not listening to anything in the studio with this record which may make fans happy as we are often accused of blatantly sounding like certain bands and a certain style. Of course though, when I go back to the hotel mom, I always have my iPod going and so I’m listening to a lot of different things.

KP: Well, we’re leading you in a certain direction so you don’t have to answer. We can just move on.

RP: To bring up one thing that you have mentioned on Hero of the Day, what do you think of the new Metallica album?

MP: I absolutely love it. It’s my favourite album of the year. In fact, I’ve been listening to it every day and I still can’t get enough of it. It’s everything that I’ve been waiting for from them for twenty years now. For me, this is the record I wish they made after ...And Justice for All. I can’t say enough good things about it. absolutely love it.

RP: I think a lot of people will agree with you.

MP: I think it’s incredibly inspiring to see a band that’s 25-plus years into their career making a record that sounds as good as anything in their catalogue. There are very few bands that do that. That’s something we’ve strived to do. We’ve always tried to make the best record we can. There are very few bands that at this point in their career that we can say that about. It’s an incredible comeback.

RP: Well, I suppose the one side issue that’s sprung up quite heavily over this Metallica album is the whole relationship with the loudness war and the clipping issues. What’s your opinion on that? Have you heard that Guitar Hero 3 mix?

MP: I do see that issue and if there’s any element about the album that I’m not digging then that would be it. I do have the Guitar Hero mixes and whilst they are quieter and not clipping, they do lack a certain aggressive attack to them actually. So there is something to be said for a little bit of a boost in mastering. That’s what mastering is all about but I do agree that they over did it as well. Many bands these days are taking it too far but it doesn’t bother me as much as a lot of other people who seem to be complaining about it.

RP: Everybody’s reacted very positively to the songs but I guess a lot of people just wish the clipping issue wasn’t there. Are you considering any of this kind of feedback on your work on this album?

MP: Do you mean in terms of mastering?

RP: Yeah.

MP: Well, that’s always an issue for us. John and I, as the producers, are conscious of that. To be honest with you, that’s John’s bag. He’s way more conscious of the sound. So when it comes to mixing and mastering, he’s a lot more vocal than I am in these particular departments. I don’t consider myself a technical guy. To me, if it sounds good and it has got the creative elements that I am looking for then I’m happy. I trust John and the mixing and the ‘masterers’ to oversee that side more. I don’t know but it is something to be more conscious of. I don’t think we have ever overdone it with any of our mastering.

KP: I remember seeing on your forum somebody who had done a waveform analysis from Systematic Chaos and there were points where they thought it had clipped. I was wondering if you guys look at that and you decide that you must not have any clipping or you are just going to do what you want to do?

MP: I don’t think any of our albums have had that problem to the extent that it is really worth complaining about. We’ll continue to be conscious about it and if anything a little bit more conscious than usual because of all of this coming up recently.

RP: I think the Metallica album has probably crystallised this issue.

MP: Well, I remember Vapor Trails by Rush was another example where it was a big issue. The new Metallica album has brought it to a whole new level of awareness. The fact that the mastering engineer wouldn’t even put his name on the CD is unheard of. I’ve never even heard of something like that.

KP: How long do you plan to be in the studio?

MP: Well, our schedule looks to be almost identical to the Systematic Chaos schedule. We are looking at delivering the record around February or March and having it out around May or June, starting with a European run, doing festivals and such around June.

KP: What about Progressive Nation in 2009? Do you plan Progressive Nation for then?

MP: Well, the plan now is to do European festivals in June, then do Progressive Nation in America in July and August, and then come over to Europe in the Fall and hopefully make that a Progressive Nation tour. Basically, it’s almost an identical timeline and layout to the Systematic Chaos tour, or at least the first five months of it.

KP: How much are you getting involved in planning when you are going to be going out and where? Where is top of the list of the new places that you would like to go?

MP: Well, we just had a meeting last week with our American and European agents. We sat down and talked about the timeline, the layout and the scheduling. In that conversation we talked about new markets and where we should and should not go. So we shall see what comes of it. Ultimately, they have the expertise in those areas and they make the calls to the venues and the cities in which to play. We have certain places that we love to play and certain places we would rather avoid, but they are going to present that to us and we will decide once they have laid it out for us. There are some places that we are still waiting to go to. The most obvious are places like Israel, Russia and India. There are a few countries that we haven’t gone to that we really want to get in the itinerary, if possible.

KP: So, is there any chance of having a nice big UK leg again like last time?

MP: Well, yes, there’s definitely a chance. We’re not sure to what extent it is going to be but it’s definitely possible, and Roadrunner’s support will increase that possibility because they have a very strong presence in the UK, and that helps things as well. So we’ll see what happens.

KP: Would you ever consider releasing any of the old vinyls for any of the collectors who like to get their hands on these things?

MP: Yes. In fact, Rhino who now owns our back catalogue – everything from Images and Words through to Octavarium – they’ve mentioned that to me as one thing they’re definitely interested in doing down the road, so it is definitely possible.

KP: I have been asked to ask you if you and Max are playing Panic Attack in Rock Band 2?

MP: Me and Max do have a band that we are playing together in Rock Band 2 and he always plays drums and I play guitar because he loves playing drums. I almost never play drums in Rock Band 2 because he is hogging the kit. We play a lot in Rock Band 1 but in Rock Band 2 we have not got to Panic Attack yet. We’re not good enough! [laughs] That’s the problem with these Dream Theater songs and the video games – they have us tucked away in the expert areas that we’re not good enough to get to. So I have yet to play Panic Attack or Pull Me Under on Guitar Hero.

KP: Are you going to tell us anything from the studio that we can share online so we can start a debate tomorrow?

MP: Well, as we’ve discussed, I have a real issue with letting any information leak. Surely, those pictures that Jordan has posted has led to so much discussion and dissection that makes me absolutely ****ing crazy so I’m doing as much as I can to leak and disclose as little as possible. In Jordan’s latest video, you can see me writing on the arrangement chart that there’s a Partridge Family section so that should keep the fans discussing and analysing for quite some time.

RP: That should confuse them.

MP: Yes, we have a song which has both a Meshuggah section and a Partridge Family section.

RP: Yeah. That should do it!

[laughs]