The Mike Portnoy Interview

The drumming legend on his love for the band and his cherished friendship with Neil Peart...

Rock Candy: Mike, when did you get turned on to Rush?

Mike Portnoy: I came to the band fairly late, right after Moving Pictures in 1981. I’d previously heard songs like ‘The Spirit of Radio’, ‘Freewill’ and ‘Closer to the Heart’ on FM radio on Long Island where I was growing up, but I never really went for the band. I heard Geddy Lee’s singing and immediately wrote Rush off as an AOR act like Styx or Supertramp. But after Moving Pictures came out I heard the instrumental ‘YYZ’, and that song made me zoom in on the band’s musicianship. It blew my mind and at that point I fell for Rush big time.

RC: Why do you think ‘YYZ’ had such an effect on you?

MP: Once the vocals had been stripped away I could focus on the bass, the drumming, and the guitar playing. Suddenly I was aware that these guys were literally the best at their instruments. Neil Peart was the most proficient drummer I’d ever heard, and Geddy’s bass playing was incredible. ‘YYZ’ spoke to me because right around the time when I first heard it I was starting to get serious about playing drums. Rush was the right band at the right time.

RC: Did hearing Rush change your approach as a young drummer?

MP: Neil’s drumming was a total game-changer for me. Up to that point I’d been listening to classic rock, and my drum heroes were Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, and John Bonham. When I heard Neil, a new way of playing opened up to me. I fell in love with progressive music and never looked back. That period was probably the most influential time of my entire life. Neil became my biggest drum hero, and in my high school yearbook one time I said that I wanted to become the next Neil Peart! When we formed Dream Theater in 1985, Rush and Neil Peart were really the blueprint.

RC: Did you get to grips with Rush songs when you were first starting to play?

MP: Between 1981 and 1986 I was obsessed. I literally learned every Rush song inside out. I was fanatical about learning every last nuance, which was challenging to say the least. I started off learning songs like ‘Tom Sawyer’ and ‘YYZ’. Then I got to ‘Xanadu’ and ‘Cygnus X-1’, stuff like that, and eventually, I undertook the challenge of learning all of ‘2112’, which was like an Olympic event!

RC: Did you get to see the band live during this formative period?

MP: I first saw Rush in December of 1982 on the Signals tour at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island and I snuck my tape recorder in to make sure I got my own live recording. The show felt like a religious experience. When Neil played his solo it captivated the entire arena. Typically, drum solos acted as a cue for people to go to the bathroom or visit the merch stand. But when Neil played, everybody stood there with their mouths open watching every move. As a young drummer I was inspired to see someone who could get that kind of attention at a big arena show.

RC: Which period of the band’s career is your go-to era?

MP: I always go back to the time between A Farewell to Kings and Signals, so 1977 to 1982 is my sweet spot. Those were my formative years when I really had my ear to the ground, and luckily for me that was when Rush were making great records. I love what the band did before then too, of course, and once I was on board I stayed with them all the way through to the end. I’d always pick up the new Rush record when it came out.

RC: So what’s your favourite Rush album?

MP: Permanent Waves. For me it’s the perfect middle ground between Hemispheres and Moving Pictures. It has incredible prog elements, but it also offers a taste of the kind of streamlined, song-based stuff we’d get to see more clearly on Moving Pictures. I’m a huge fan of both ‘Freewill’ and ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ from Permanent Waves, but I’m really into the Exit... Stage Left live record precisely because it covers my four favourite Rush albums – A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, and Moving Pictures.

RC: Is it fair to say that you’re a heavier drummer than Neil?

MP: Dream Theater is certainly heavier, but there are also lots of similarities between us and Rush because we’ve always had prog elements in our music. I’ve always felt that Dream Theater was a cross between Metallica and Rush. My drumming is different from Neil’s because he didn’t have those heavier elements, but there’s no denying that I’ve made use of everything he ever did. Throughout my entire career Neil’s been right there with me.

RC: It’s been well documented that you became close with Neil Peart before he passed in 2020. What did that mean to you?

MP: I was blessed and honoured to develop a friendship with Neil for the last 15 years of his life. I met him in the mid-2000s when I interviewed him for a drum magazine from the UK. I was able to geek-out and ask all the stuff I’d always wanted to know. In the following years, Neil and I became friends and wrote each other some nice emails. It was one of the greatest honours of my life to have a friendship with Neil and to be in his inner circle. It’s something I’ll cherish for the rest of my days.

RC: How do you measure Neil’s importance, not just to you but also to music overall?

MP: It’s unanimous in the drumming community that Neil is one of the most influential players ever. John Bonham is probably the only other drummer who attracts that level of universal respect, and that tells you everything you need to know.

RC: Finally Mike, can you sum up what Rush means to you?

MP: I’ll always be in The Rush Club, and they will always be an incredibly special band to me. I honestly don’t know if I would have had the career I’ve had if I hadn’t been influenced by Rush. They were absolutely vital in bringing Dream Theater together. I can’t overstate the impact Rush has had on my life, from when I first heard them as a teenager right through to today. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years now, and no matter how many awards I win or how many times I’m on the cover of music magazines, I know that deep down inside I’ll always be the same Rush fan who was in the audience air-drumming to ‘YYZ’ back in 1982.