Mike Portnoy interview (excerpt)

Mark: I suppose it’s a natural thing, when you’ve been with a band like Dream Theater, for 25 years, it must feel like the end of a marriage, was it very liberating, a big pressure off??

Mike: It was liberating, but it was also scary! You grow and feel a sense of security with 25 years with the same band, and it takes a lot of balls to walk away from that! To be honest it wasn’t that easy for me, but, it had to happen. There’s a great expression that I love, and that is “It is better to regret something that you have done, than to regret something that you haven’t”. I very much had that feeling, if I hadn’t left Dream Theater, I would have probably spent the rest of my life wondering, “what if?” what I could’ve done, rather than what I did do, and after 25 years of Dream Theater, I needed to explore other things, I didn’t want to be defined by them for the rest of my life. I needed to explore other styles with other people. So, as difficult as it was to walk away from that security, I had to follow my heart.