Mike Portnoy interview

Lisa Holt: Is this your first time at Aftershock? Probably not, huh?

Mike Portnoy: No, actually, believe it or not, it is. I mean, Dream Theater does all the European festivals, but it’s very rare we get invited to the American festivals. We’re too old and not cool enough to usually play these things, but I guess that we’re celebrating our 40th anniversary, they finally invited us, which is nice. Yeah.

LH: You know what I notice is the fad is all these bands now are getting back together. I talked to a band yesterday that 20 years they haven’t played – Dry Kill Logic. Have you heard of them?

MP: Oh, in fact, I think they did a tour with us – Gigantour – like 20-plus years ago.

LH: I noticed that [in] 2023 you were back with your brothers after a long hiatus, and then after that was 2024 you had an album come out, right?

MP: Yeah, well, when I came back to the band, we immediately went into the studio and started making a record. So we were in the studio for a year making the new one before we even began touring. So the reunion for us was like a private reunion for a year before we did anything publicly. But then the tour started last October, and here we are October this year. So we’ve been out for a year at this point.

LH: That’s a loaded first year coming back.

MP: Yeah. Well, thank God – knock on wood – it’s been great. Everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve circled the whole planet once at this point. We’re making our second way through at this point. But yeah, it’s been great – the excitement from the fans to see the band back together, see this lineup back together.

LH: Everybody was so thrilled to death. Another question I have that I always like to ask people is, what made you, you? What made you feel like you had to get behind the drums? Was it parents, older brothers or sisters?

MP: No, I was the oldest brother, so it was my dad. My dad was a rock and roll DJ. So when I was born, I was surrounded by The Beatles and The Who and Zeppelin and the Stones and all that stuff. So I was born into that with my dad being a DJ. And I just became a music fanatic from such an early age. I went and saw George Harrison live when I was like six years old. I saw Paul McCartney live when I was like eight. I saw Kiss live when I was 10. Just completely obsessed with rock.

LH: That’s kind of my story, too. My mom listened to rock and soul, and they had music from the ‘60s and ‘70s. I remember listening to all those same records, and that’s what did it for me. And then I discovered heavy metal.

MP: And it’s like you said, it’s all the same. It’s all rock. Even Lemmy used to say Motörhead is just a rock and roll band. It’s all just an evolution of rock that’s been going for 60 years now. But all of the bands that are from our generation – some of them that are here, Exodus and Death Angel and Kerry King – we grew up on Zeppelin and Purple and the Stones and The Who and all that stuff. And then it evolved into Maiden and Priest and Sabbath. And it’s all about the evolution. Now you look at some of the younger bands on the bill – like Deftones and Turnstile and Dillinger and Knocked Loose – it’s a whole generation, a whole other kind of world of metal.

LH: I also was going to ask you, what are you listening to in your free time – when you’re driving, when you’re flying, or trying to drown out someone on an airplane?

MP: I’ve been listening to some weird s***, like this band from France called Igorrr. Scott Ian plays on one track on the new album, and Trey from Mr. Bungle plays on one track. But it’s really crazy, crazy, abstract, avant-garde s***. I love their album.

LH: Like a Frank Zappa-type kind of groovy...

MP: At times it’s death metal; at other times it’s like Frank’s French chamber music. It’s really weird s***. So, yeah. What else... I’ve been listening to a lot of different things. It ranges from prog to metal to death metal to thrash. I love everything.