Mike Portnoy interview (excerpts)

On style...

Mike Portnoy: I want the drums to always have personality and character. I place a way higher importance on that than I do on technique. For instance, I would much rather watch a drummer like Keith Moon, who’s got so much character and personality, than watch a drummer that’s got this unbelievable technique and can play quadruple paradiddles at 240 BPM. I don’t care about that. My passion and love and interest in drumming has to do with the way the drummer plays it and the role in the band. The foundation of every band is its drummer, and talking about drumming being the anchor and the most important thing is about playing for the song.

Where I’m at in my career these days, I have so many different bands. I get to play for the song, but it’s so many different styles. One day could be like a thrash metal thing, one day could be more of a prog thing with a million time signatures, another time it could be like a classic rock thing. So you have to know your role and what’s right for the songs you’re playing. I used to always joke in the early days of Dream Theater that I was somewhere between the technique of Neil Peart or Simon Phillips, but mixed with the balls and the attitude of Lars Ulrich and Vinnie Paul. I don’t ever want to be so sterile and mathematic and clinical, but I don’t always want to be completely bombastic and a train wreck either. You wanna be somewhere in between, and luckily I’ve had the opportunity, from the different bands I’ve played in, to be able to have a little bit of both.

On popularity...

MP: I’ve always embraced the spotlight. I’m a ham. I like the attention, so I’m a loudmouth, I’m an extroverted personality. So I’ve always tried to use it to my advantage, being the spokesperson for my old band. When social media came around, I embraced it; I kept in touch with the fans and always posted things. So that’s a good side. With fame comes that, but with fame also comes the fact that you become a bit of a punching bag for the critics, and for the people on the Internet and the social media that want to have their say. I can say the smallest thing and the smallest opinion that millions of other people on my website would say the same thing and nobody would bat an eye. But if I say it, suddenly it’s like a s***storm and all hell breaks loose. [laughs] I can’t complain. I realize I have a million and a half people on my Facebook page, so yeah, that’s great and it’s an honor and it’s really a blessing that I have that. But with that comes a responsibility that I need to watch what I say, and I don’t always do that just because I like to have an open, honest relationship with my fans. But you can only get beat up so many times. I realize for every one angry, mean post from a fan, there’s another nine supportive, loving ones. But still, it hurts. I’m human. My skin is only so thin, or so thick. They’ll bash me today and then tomorrow they’re on to Dave Mustaine or Geoff Tate or Lars Ulrich, or whatever, but still, it stings. And yeah, those things hurt.

That first year after I left Dream Theater, all of the drama on the Internet made me crazy; it made me a miserable person. And I finally had to say, “OK, I have to stop following all these websites and people that have to do with Dream Theater, ‘cause it creates drama in my life and upsets me.” I had an incident at a show in Southeast Asia a few years ago, and, of course, it was captured on YouTube and it spread like wildfire and all hell broke loose. Before the Internet – and I’m not complaining about the Internet, ‘cause it’s a great, great tool – but back in the ‘90s and the ‘80s, we didn’t that; we didn’t have problems like this. I wouldn’t have to spend half my day looking at my phone screen and obsessing over that stuff. I think I’m coming to a crossroads now where I’m thinking I may have to cut back on social media for my own sanity. And it’s a shame, because it’s always been a very good relationship with the people that are understanding.

On bands and music...

MP: The bands that you play with, and the music you play, and the people that you surround yourself with absolutely affect your environment and your spirituality and your mood. Probably one of the reasons I am in so many bands with Neal Morse – we have three bands together – we’ve made 15 or 16 studio albums together between his solo band and Flying Colors and Transatlantic. The reason I surround myself with him so much is because he’s such a great, spiritual, positive person. He made a change in his life about 10 years ago and became a Christian and left Spock’s Beard and left Transatlantic at the time, and asked me to stay on board with him, and I was honored by that. And I love playing with him. Not only do I love the music – I mean, he’s one of my favorite songwriters – I hold him up in such high regard as I would with Roger Waters or Pete Townshend or John Lennon – I think he’s that good. So I love the music, but when you’re around him on tour, I’m always in a better mood. I’m always a happier person because that spirituality and that positive attitude rubs off on you.

I’ve done other tours with other bands that will remain nameless that people walking around all day miserable, cranky, complaining, not happy about being on the road, nothing is ever good enough, and that kind of stuff just brings you down, and you start fighting and bickering and there’s always drama. I’ve learned in my career that now I’m at a place where I don’t need to do music for money – I do need to do it for creative satisfaction, ‘cause that’s why I do it – but I can pick and choose the bands and the projects I work with. If something is not working and if there’s a lot of negativity, or if it’s just not fun, I don’t need it in my life. I hate to say it, but I left a band that had success and had everything going for it that I could have rode off into the sunset for the rest of my life. But I made the change because I needed to be internally happy. And here I am playing much smaller clubs, and for the last four or five years, I’ve been playing places like this that are very, very small. But it’s more important to be happy emotionally, but also happy creatively, and be satisfied with the music you’re playing. So I’m happy to say I’m at a stage now where I could really pick and choose things I wanna do based on enjoying it and the people I do it with. It’s a nice balance between the people you work with and the music you make. I think those two things are the most important things in a band. It’s way more important than your personal technique. You need to love the music you’re playing and you need to enjoy the people you’re making it with.

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On prog...

MP: I’ve always been like the ambassador for prog, and once I got some success with Dream Theater, I always used that power that I had gotten from that success to help the scene. With Dream Theater, I always handpicked the bands and wanted to bring out other progressive bands because I know the record companies and the media and the mainstream were doing nothing for these young progressive bands. So I wanted to use whatever power I had to help out the scene, and I would take out Fates Warning on tour, and I would take out Spock’s Beard or Porcupine Tree or Pain Of Salvation, Enchant – the list goes on and on and on. I always handpicked those opening bands for Dream Theater and tried to help the scene out. Many, many years later, I founded Progressive Nation and did some tours like that with bands like Opeth and Zappa Plays Zappa and Bigelf and Between The Buried And Me. And then last year, I did my Progressive Nation Cruise, which we had 42 bands on, ranging from the legends like Jon Anderson and Adrian Belew all the way to bands like Devin Townsend and The Safety Fire and Animals As Leaders, and still had the Transatlantics and The Flower Kings and the Hakens, you know. So I’ve always tried my best to use whatever power I have for good rather than evil.