Mike Portnoy interview (excerpt)

Eddie Trunk: Before we let you go, we can't have you on and not talk about Dream Theater.

Mike Portnoy: Yes you can.

Don Jamison: We could, Eddie.

ET: No no no no, because I think it's really cool and really important for the fans where you're at with them now. The fact that you guys are all cool; [for] people that don't know, you went out and played with John Petrucci, you were on his record, you toured with him, you did stuff with Jordan, you went to go see Dream Theater play. I think that's really cool. It's gotta feel good and I think some sort of closure maybe for the fans after all those years to be able to say where things are at with those guys now with you.

MP: Yeah that's true. I'm busting your chops, but it really does feel good to be at such a good place with them. In fact I just saw John Petrucci and John Myung; [they] just came to Marlene's surprise birthday party just a few nights ago. So I was with those two guys just a few nights ago, and yeah, it does feel good. You know, they’re family. We're coming up on the 40th anniversary of the three of us forming the band, so after almost 40 years, you can't not have that connection. Our wives play together in Meanstreak and they've reunited after all this time, and my daughter and John Petrucci’s daughter have lived together in an apartment for the last four years in Brooklyn, so they're roommates. There's just such a family connection between me and those guys that that's never going to go away whether or not I'm in the band. But now to be even playing music together – John and Jordan and myself did a third Liquid Tension album, which was a big, big deal for us, and doing John's tour, being on stage together after all these years... It's been really, really nice. There is a certain sense of closure. The fans are gonna still inevitably always be wanting a reunion or talking about it. It's hypothetical at this point. Inevitably that's a question or discussion that will never go away. It's inevitable when you like a band like that, that you're gonna talk about it, so I get it. But for me, I have a tremendous amount of closure just to be on such a great level with those guys personally and to make music in the capacity that we do now.