Mike Portnoy interview-article (excerpt)

For the new band. Mike swapped out his monster kit for a five-piece to take him outside his comfort zone. “That set-up forced me to play and think a certain way but it’s going to a whole new level now that the touring has begun,” he says. “It is so tremendously fun to be on stage with a five-piece kit, beating the living crap out of it. I think that is going to be the biggest surprise for drummers out there, to see me on such a small kit. People that know me from Dream Theater are used to seeing the mammoth, 100-piece drumset. it’s very satisfying to be able to prove myself and reinvent myself. it’s very exciting.”

With a new band and new kit, Mike’s creativity is thriving. “Everything I’ve done over the last three years, from Flying Colors to Adrenaline Mob to Transatlantic and The Winery Dogs, they’ve all been so completely different musically and that’s what is inspiring,” he says. “That’s what I needed after 25 years in the same band. I couldn’t just keep doing the same thing with the same people for the rest of my career, some people are content with that, but I’m not. I needed new horizons with new people and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.”