Mike Portnoy interview (excerpts)

During an appearance earlier today (Tuesday, May 3) on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Mike stated about the circumstances that led to him being present at the show (as transcribed by blabbermouth.net): “We had been slowly rekindling the relationships over the years. Obviously, John Petrucci and I have made a few albums together at this point – I played on his last solo album, and then he and myself and Jordan and Tony Levin got back together to do a Liquid Tension Experiment album in 2020. So, yeah, John Petrucci and Jordan had been hanging with me a lot through the years, and our families as well. In fact, the first time I played together with Jordan again was on the last Cruise To The Edge in 2019; Jordan and I played together on that. So the relationships had been really, really good and comfortable with those guys. And John Myung lives right down the street from me, so I would see him in town all the time. And his wife is very, very good friends with my wife. So there’s three of the guys that I had been on very, very good terms with over the years. And my wife and John Myung’s wife were going to see them at the New York show, and I was, like, ‘You know what? What the hell.’”

Portnoy went on to say that he had previously “dreamt about going to see” Dream Theater play. “I’m not saying I dreamt like it was my goal; I’m saying I literally would have dreams at night sleeping, where in my dreams I’m going to see Dream Theater and it’s just an awkward thing,” he explained. “So for a long time I was very nervous about it, like how weird would it feel? Would it be uncomfortable? But I finally was at peace with it. I went to the show, and it was really a cool experience; it was not as awkward as I had anticipated or feared. And at the show, James welcomed me from the stage. And I hadn’t spoken to James – as a lot of people know, I hadn’t spoken to him since I left the band – so I got to see him that night after the show. And I went into his dressing room, and within literally 10 seconds, any of that drama or B.S. that had built up through the years, it melted away immediately. And it was all hugs and kisses and ‘love you, bro’ and ‘miss you, bro.’ And it was, like, all that bullshit from the last 11 years was just water under the bridge.”

Mike continued: “You can’t spend most of your life with a group of guys like that and not be family for life. I met John Petrucci and John Myung when we were teenagers; we met in college and our families have grown up together and our wives all played in a band together and our kids – my daughter and John Petrucci’s daughter – live together in Brooklyn. So it’s a family. Whether I’m currently in the band or not, that doesn’t matter; you can’t take away the friendship and the family and the history and the experiences we shared for so, so long.”

Regarding what it was like to see another drummer play his parts live with Dream Theater, Portnoy said: “I’ve always been the type of drummer that just flies [by] the seat of my pants in the moment. Even with my own drum parts, I don’t necessarily stick to them faithfully from show to show, whereas Mangini obviously really studied the drum parts and they had everything programmed out. They’re all about the precision, and that’s surely their thing. And yeah, he killed it. There’s no doubt he’s an amazing drummer and he plays my parts incredibly faithfully. I feel bad for him. He and I joked about it. He’s in a horrible situation where he’s damned if he does and he’s damned if he doesn’t. He expressed that frustration to me, and I feel for him; it’s definitely a weird position to be put into. I kind of had it a little bit when I played with Avenged Sevenfold and Twisted Sister, coming into the throne of two drummers that have passed away, and I tried to learn those parts as faithfully as I could. When I had a hired-gun gig like that, I spent a lot of attention trying to honor the drummer that came before me – it’s important. I don’t wanna go into a gig like either of those and try to force my style onto it.”