Originally published in David Ellefson YT channel · January 2010
Mike Portnoy interview (excerpt)
InterviewMike Portnoy1 min read
David Ellefson: We're kind of the same guy, because we're both intense in the setlist; we want to give the fans a different show every time we play. We obviously grew up listening to the same kind of music, learning a lot of the same kind of stuff. As a kid growing up here in the East Coast, how did you find musicians?
Mike Portnoy: It started in high school and junior high school, just whoever else was playing, whoever else was picking up a guitar or bass, I just migrated to them. I kind of was part of the musician clique. Once I went away to college, within two weeks I met John Petrucci and John Myung.
DE: That was in Berklee?
MP: Yeah. We've been together 25 years now since then.
DE: How long did you go to Berklee?
MP: We were there for one year. I met John and John within the first month of school, and we spent the whole year there just playing and forming Dream Theater, getting to know each other and never looked back since. It’s a quarter of a century now.