Mike Portnoy interview

Note: questions were edited out of the video.

(transcribed by TMW)

Mike Portnoy: The Iron Maiden/Dream Theater summer tour? It's going good, so far so good. Big adjustment for us to be the opening band though, swallowing our pride on the dressing room space and stage space and things like that that we're not used to, not calling the shots on. But you know what, it's Maiden and if you get the opportunity to tour with Maiden, you do it.

MP: Same set every night, which is also very different for Dream Theater. Normally I'll write a different set for every show when it's a Dream Theater tour, but in this case I designed a setlist that is aimed at Maiden's audience, what I thought would be the best 50 minutes to capture their audience, their attention. So it's kind of balls-to-the-wall metal tunes.

MP: It’s Dream Theater's greatest hits – not that we've had any hits – but it's the more accessible kind of songs we've done videos for and the heavier side of the band, and it's the same set every night. It seems to be the set that's going to work best for their audience.

MP: The history between us and Maiden on a musical side goes back to the beginning. We've been Maiden fans at least since Killers or Number Of The Beast, almost 30 years ago. And when me and John Petrucci and John Myung formed this band, the nucleus of the Dream Theater sound stemmed from Iron Maiden and Rush. I mean that's what Dream Theater was about. So, to be with them now is natural for us. That's the musical history. The personal history with them is we've done many shows with them through the years dating back almost 20 years. We first played with them in ‘92, then we also played with them in 2000, we played with them in 2005. But those were always kind of one-offs. This is our first time doing a full tour from start to finish with them. The personal history goes way back as well. Bruce has sang on stage with us, Paul Di’Anno has sung on stage with us, Nico has been a friend of mine for forever, and he's jumped up behind the kit with me.

MP: Yeah, I'm sure he'll make it behind my kit at some point. He's always on the side of stage watching. So if you see me throwing a stick to the side and it comes back, it's most likely that that was Nico that threw it back to me.

-----

MP: Well doing the Avenged album was an honor for me. Those guys have been through hell. What they just went through with losing the Rev is something that is unimaginable for me to lose a band member like that. Those guys have such a history with the Rev. He was their drummer from the beginning. They were all childhood friends. So for me to step in and do the album with them was not only an honor, but it was something that I really was very respectful about. I went in to just bring Jimmy's parts to life and the record is amazing. I can't wait for the fans to hear it. I basically just played the Rev's parts – that's what it was all about for me, focusing on that and bringing Jimmy's parts from the demos to life on the album to carry his legacy on into the future. Touring with those guys is going to be totally cool. It's gonna be a very different world for me from what I'm used to with Dream Theater, but it'll be fun. Those guys are awesome guys. They immediately made me feel very welcome into the family and they have a real family vibe; not only the band but their crew and their wives and girlfriends. They really make you feel at home when you're in their world. So it's gonna be a lot of fun playing this stuff live with them.

MP: I'm literally jumping from this Dream Theater/Maiden tour literally right into Avenged rehearsals the next day. The Maiden tour ends July 20th and I literally fly the 21st to begin rehearsals with them for a couple of days. Then I fly out to London to do a one-off show with Transatlantic and the very next day kick off the Avenged tour in Montreal. So it's gonna be a total f***in’ whirlwind of insanity for me to make that transition from this to that. It's all happening within a couple of days, and I’m gonna be playing with three bands in three different countries over the course of like six days when I make that transition from one to the other. But as they said in Spinal Tap: “I’m a professional. I’ll rise above.”

-----

MP: But if you're looking for that one ‘wow’ moment, for me it was seeing Keith Moon in The Kids Are Alright. It was ‘79. I had already been listening to The Who since I was born because I was a big fan of Tommy and Live At Leeds and Who's Next. But I was just this little kid listening to The Who records on my record player. But when I went to the movie theater to see The Kids Are Alright, it was the first time I saw Keith Moon, and I was transfixed and I couldn't take my eyes off him, and I was like, “That's what I wanna do. I wannna be a drummer like that,” just hogging up all the attention from the singer and the guitar player. I wanted to be that type of drummer that was a showman and somebody that was playing the drums like a lead instrument.

MP: I went to Berklee for a year back in ’85. That's where we formed Dream Theater and the whole scene at Berklee was intense. It's an intense musical environment, but I can't say there was necessarily one teacher, one class or one professor that really influenced me. It was the whole scene in general. And it was not just the teachers, it was the students, as well. I was just as inspired by the kids that were lined up playing on their drum pads in the hallway. You see that – it's like everybody at Berklee are serious players, and they were all at the top of their game and trying to be the best they can be. So that whole scene was pretty inspirational, it keeps you on your toes. After a year at Berklee, we decided to pursue our career in Dream Theater and we've been doing it ever since. But I was a hungry musician, not just a drummer, I was musician. I wanted to be more than just a drummer. When I was at Berklee, I was taking not only the drum classes, but also ear training, sight singing, theory, arranging, harmony. I wanted to learn as much as I could to be a musician and not just a drummer. And I can't say it was one teacher in general. For me, it was the students and also what I was listening to. Frank Zappa was my ultimate professor, and Neil Peart and Terry Bozzio – all the musicians and drummers that I was listening to, that's how I learned to be who I am.

MP: I've been endorsing ProMark sticks for maybe 15 years now. I lost track, but it's been a long time and a great relationship. I have my autographed stick, the ProMark 420 which is actually my birthday. I’m not a big pothead, at least anymore. Everyone thinks he uses “420” and they think I'm a stoner. Back in the day I used to have fun, but these days I'm clean and sober. So yeah, the 420 is just my birthday. The stick is actually a small light stick compared to what most metal drummers probably use. But for me, the metal side is one side of what I do, the other side is the prog side, and I always needed something that was a little lighter in order to play the more progressive, finesse-y things that I do in Dream Theater. But I've always played with the butt-end out on the left hand so I can get real power on the snare, but I didn't want to hold both sticks that way because you lose the definition on the cymbals on the ride and the hi-hat with the butt-end. So I've always held my right stick with the tip out so you can kind of hear the definition on the cymbals with the right hand. It also makes my drum tech crazy because he has to wrap half the sticks one way and wrap the other half of the sticks the other way and then put them in the stick bags the same way to coordinate so when I'm reaching I know which one I'm getting, a left stick or a right stick.

ProMark: ...I guess, professional advice and drumming advice?

MP: Well, I've enjoyed a career now for 20, 25 years making music with other musicians, first and foremost primarily with Dream Theater. But I've really enjoyed being able to branch out and do other things, whether it be Transatlantic or now Avenged Sevenfold, or I've had these tribute bands, I've done Liquid Tension, OSI... To me it's been about enjoying working with other musicians. I've never been a solo artist. There's a lot of drummers that play ProMark, a lot of drummers that have made a career doing clinics and being a solo artist. For many years, that was cool, too. I went out and did a lot of clinics, hundreds of them for years, and that was really cool and branching my name out in the drum world. But at the end of the day, it's all about playing music with other musicians. To me, that's where I get the most enjoyment. So I would say for young drummers out there, it's great to practice in your room and get your chops together and learn how to play these amazing drum solos, but at the end of the day, you wanna get out there and communicate and make music with other musicians and try to do it with lots of different musicians, not just one thing. I don't want to only play progressive metal stuff like I do with Dream Theater. I like to do thrash, I like to do more straight ahead stuff, more mellow classic rock, proggy stuff. To me, my taste is very broad and I try to do that with my drumming as well.