Mike Portnoy interview

Manoel Santos: Dream Theater will come back to Brazil in May for six shows. So I want to start by asking you what can the fans expect from these upcoming concerts?

Mike Portnoy: Well, the simple answer is the fans can expect a completely different show from [when] we were there with in December of 2024. We came through a year ago, last December, with the 40th anniversary show – first time back to Brazil since me coming back to the band. They were amazing, amazing shows. This time we’re coming through with a completely different show, playing Parasomnia in its entirety, celebrating the 30th anniversary of ‘A Change Of Seasons’, and a complete other set of stuff from the band’s catalog and past, with no repeated songs from the last time we were there other than ‘Night Terror.’ ‘Night Terror’ is the only song that would have been played then and be will be played in May, as we’re doing the whole Parasomnia album. But other than that, a completely different show, completely different production, different setlist, and we look forward to sharing it with the great Brazilian fans.

MS: Incredible. Dream Theater first came to Brazil in 1997. Since then, Brazil is one of the countries where Dream Theater has played the most. Why do you think Dream Theater is so connected to Brazil?

MP: Cuz you guys got some of the best fans in the world! The very first time we came there in ‘97, we were just absolutely blown away by how passionate the Brazilian fans are, and that was some of the craziest shows and audiences we had ever played for. So obviously, we’ve been coming back ever since for almost 30 years now. Even all my years away from Dream Theater, I came to Brazil with Sons Of Apollo, The Winery Dogs, Neal Morse, Metal Allegiance, Twisted Sister, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Fates Warning... it’s just the best audience in the world. So, not only Dream Theater, I think every band loves playing in Brazil. There’s just such passionate, loving fans.

MS: Great. As you said, the band celebrating 40th anniversary, so I want to go back in time and ask you what the young 1985 Mike Portnoy was thinking back then. Did you think the band would become what it is today? Was that the plan?

MP: No, it wasn’t the plan. I mean, years in, once we were underway for a few years, then we started having these aspirations of a record deal and touring and having a fan base. But the teenage Mike Portnoy that met John Petrucci and John Myung at Berklee College of Music in 1985, that teenage kid, or I should say all three of those teenage kids, were just looking to jam and play music together and just trying to find like-minded other people that were into the same music, wanting to combine the progressive elements of bands like Rush and Yes, and putting it together with the metal elements of bands like Maiden and Metallica. That’s what we were forming the band based on 40 plus years ago. We never would have imagined to still be here 40 years later and playing to as many people as we do all across the entire world. So yeah, it’s been a literal dream come true for us.

MS: Great. During these 40 years of Dream Theater, you became a benchmark in drumming. I am a guitar player, and I remember when I was a teenager about my drummer friends, when they listened to Metropolis Part Two or Images And Words or Awake for the first time, and they were like, “Man, this is the greatest drummer ever! These songs are impossible to play on drums.” I want to ask you, was there any drummer or any album that had that kind of impact on you when you were young?

MP: Oh, absolutely, certainly. I have a lot of gratitude for the fans that have found Dream Theater and were somehow inspired by my drumming. I think when we were coming around in the in the 90s, maybe there weren’t many bands that were doing this style of music. Now since then, there’s so many. But in answer to your question, obviously Neil Peart in Rush was a huge, huge influence for me. When I first heard Rush’s music, I had that kind of reaction that you just described. I had never heard music that was that complicated at the time. Neil and Rush’s music taught me all about progressive music and odd time signatures and instrumental passages and crafting these drum parts on a big mammoth drum kit. All that came from Neil and Rush for me. So he was the main guy that had that kind of impact for me when I was a teenager.

MS: I want to talk about Parasomnia, but for that I need to talk about your return to Dream Theater. You already described your return to the band as a gradual process through reconnections that you made after the pandemic. So I want to know, for you, what was the moment that you felt that this comeback was possible?

MP: Well, it was gradual, like you said. And like I’ve mentioned now for the last couple years since I’ve been back, it was these baby steps, getting together with the guys on a personal level first and foremost, and then slowly starting to make music. I played with Jordan on Cruise To The Edge in 2019, played with John Petrucci in 2020 for his solo album. But I would say, in answer to your question, like when was the moment where I realized that maybe this might happen, I think it was doing John Petrucci’s solo tour.

We really were feeling the emotions from the audience members each and every night. First and foremost, we felt the great connection that we have and the chemistry we have – we were feeling it ourselves each and every night. But to look into the audience and seeing grown men crying, watching us back together again after so many years... On that tour, I remember there was a couple times late at night on the tour bus, traveling from show to show, where John and I were just sit around and say, “Man, it’s really been great to play together again.” I think there was one night when I think I mentioned to him, “Hey, I would always welcome the idea of coming back if that was something that was ever a thought in your mind.”

And I knew it was a difficult situation with Mangini in the band and everything, but I think with John and I, when we did that tour together, it really just became obvious how important and how big the chemistry is between us. And not only the two of us, but all the guys in Dream Theater. Once I reconnected with everybody, I think after time went on, it really started to become not something that I didn’t think would necessarily be possible. I started to think, ‘OK, maybe it is inevitable.’

MS: OK. Shortly before Dream Theater released the ‘Night Terror’ music video, the band made some posts on social media with the band members with their eyes closed, and then they’re opening their eyes. Initially, some fans believe that it was a possible Metropolis Part Three announcement. Did you do this on purpose to generate this kind of reaction on the fans, or did [it take] you by surprise? And to answer this fan expectation, is there any chance that you make a Metropolis Part Three at some point in the future?

MP: Well, the first part of your question, it wasn’t intentional. We weren’t referencing ‘Metropolis’ or “open your eyes Nicholas,” or anything like that. The opening your eyes was really obviously a reference to Parasomnia and ‘Night Terror,’ obviously. So anybody that knows the new album knows the album begins with the listener falling asleep, and then everything that transpires over the course of the album takes place throughout the night’s sleep, and then the album ends with “wake up”. So yeah, there is that similarity to “open your eyes Victoria, open your eyes Nicholas,” but in that case it was more about hypnosis and regression. In this case, it’s about sleep disorders. But we weren’t hinting at any ‘Metropolis’ references. That was just read into by the fans.

The second part of your question, would there be any interest in it? I mean, it’s been discussed obviously. For so many years after we made ‘Metropolis Part One’, we always had to answer, “Will there ever be a ‘Metropolis Part Two’?” – for years and years and years, and finally we did it. Now for all these years, now there’s always, “is there gonna be a Part Three?” Personally, I’ll answer for myself personally, I have no interest in revisiting the topic. I think the Scenes From A Memory album is just perfect, and I wouldn’t want to f*** with it. And I’ve seen albums or movies that have had sequels that just never live up to it. Sometimes it’s better to leave things alone and let them stand on their own. That’s my personal opinion. I know there are other guys in the band that have talked about it and thought about it and thought that maybe it would be an interesting thing to pursue, but as of now there’s no band decisions to revisit that, and I personally have no interest in it. But that’s just me.

MS: [laughs] OK, let’s wait. Of course you’ve played and composed albums for a good part of your life with your Dream Theater bandmates, but after so many years out of the band, going back into the studio with them, was it different? Was it exactly like the old days? What was it like for you?

MP: It was exactly like the old days, except we were a lot older. The last record we had made together was Black Clouds And Silver Linings, which we made at the end of 2008. We were in our early 40s when we last made that album. And now here we were making Parasomnia in our late 50s and early 60s. So we were 15 years older and wiser and more mature and more experienced. In that respect, we felt older and wiser, and the chemistry, I think, had a more collaborative spirit to it than when we left off with Black Clouds. But other than that, it really felt exactly the same. The process, the chemistry, the way that we jam together and write together and assemble and arrange the songs together and the arrangements, it was exactly how it had left off at Black Clouds. And that was exactly as it was from writing the Majesty demos back in 1985. It’s just the way it’s always been, at least in my time in the band.

MS: Awesome. You have created a legacy of drumming in Dream Theater. Dream Theater songs are, as I said, a benchmark not only in terms of creativity but also when we talk about technical difficulties. You are now 58 years old, and you’ve been 13 years out of the band. When you return to the band, was it challenging for you to play your old songs again, and especially doing three-hour setlists?

MP: Yes and no. No, it wasn’t challenging to remember the old songs. For some reason, that was not very difficult for me. My muscle memory was absolutely intact. One of the first times I revisited those songs was I went to Drumeo and did a thing there where I played through ‘Panic Attack’ and ‘Under A Glass Moon’ and ‘As I Am,’ and I played through all those songs, and that was my first taste of that muscle memory coming back like that. I sat down and played those songs right there and then, and it was like riding a bicycle. The same thing held true once we started rehearsing for the 40th anniversary tour. It all just came right back to me. So it hasn’t been difficult in that respect because I have personally a really good memory, elephant’s memory. So that muscle memory for me is one of the stronger assets of what I do.

But the part that is difficult is, yes, we’re older. Playing ‘A Change Of Seasons’ or ‘Metropolis’ – we wrote those songs when we were in our early 20s, and now we’re coming into our 60s. So playing some more challenging parts as you’re older, it gets tougher on your body technically. I’m not a very technical drummer, I’ll be the first to admit it.

MS: C’mon, Mike...

MP: Well, it’s true. I look online and you see these drummers like Thomas Lang or Virgil Donati or even Mike Mangini, for that matter. I can’t play drums like that. I don’t play drums like that. Certain people have those technical abilities. I know my limitations, and I know I’m a very technical-minded drummer, but the physical aspect and what you could do with it is a little different. And I also see young drummers, like my son Max, that could do these blast beats and these crazy fast things. My limbs at 58 years old just don’t go that fast – they just don’t. I don’t know these Moeller techniques and all these other swivel techniques. I don’t know that stuff. I was never taught that. And at 58 years old, it’s a little late for me to start learning. I mean, I guess I could, but I have other priorities in my life at this stage. I am who I am. And in answer to your question, to play a three-hour show, it takes its toll. It’s a lot at 58 years old. I come hobbling off stage limping – you gotta put me in a wheelchair to get to the dressing room. This was the age that Rush was at when they retired. They were on their 40th anniversary tour when they were around this age, when they decided to retire because they were having physical challenges, and now we’re at that age as well. So yeah, it is a reality at this age.

MS: All right. Today we live in an era where short content is increasingly valued, not just in the music industry. I mean, it’s the TikTok, Instagram stories, YouTube Shorts era, and this obviously also happens in music. The music industry today is more concerned about short singles than full-length albums. And yet Dream Theater is there, and you continue to release your albums with songs like ‘The Shadow Man Incident,’ a 20-minute song, which I think is incredible. The question is, do you think that new bands like Dream Theater are in any way threatened by the way the music industry as a whole demand content and music to be made today?

MP: Well, in our case, we’re lucky to have been doing this for long enough that we’ve built this fan base that allows us to be able to do whatever we want. So we can make an album with 20-minute songs. And I think the progressive genre in general that we’re a part of, most bands in our world, whether it be a band like Haken or a band like Opeth or any of my other prog bands, like the Neal Morse Band, I think this genre in particular is very patient and tolerant and likes albums and likes long songs.

But obviously there’s younger bands that may not have the built-in fan base to record long songs like that or to not do the TikTok clips. You have to do that in this day and age for a younger generation. So I feel for the younger bands that have the pressure of needing to have the easily digestible pill to swallow. For me, and what I do with Dream Theater and all of my other bands, luckily we don’t have to think that way. But it is scary to think that there are younger musicians that may not have the balls to really do what they want to do and have to play the game instead. But it’s been like this forever. We had to play the game in the 80s and 90s as well. It was just a different game. But the game is always changing, and if you’re a young artist or upcoming band or artist, you have to do what you gotta do to get seen and heard.

MS: Right. Back in 2022, Dream Theater finally won its Grammy, and you’ve congratulated the band and said you were happy for them. Now that you are back in the band, and with Parasomnia, the band is nominated again for a Grammy for ‘Night Terror.’ So how do you feel about the nomination?

MP: It’s obviously a huge honor, and it’s pretty amazing that Dream Theater now has its fourth Grammy nomination – it’s pretty incredible. The three that those guys got nominated for while I was away were incredible. I think everybody was really happy to see a band like Dream Theater get recognized in such a commercial realm. Usually the Grammys don’t pay attention to rock bands or many of the legitimate metal bands, much less a metal band like Dream Theater. So it’s been encouraging to see the recognition that Dream Theater has gotten from the Grammy world, both without me and now with me. And for me, it’s an honor; I never in a million years thought I would ever have a Grammy nomination, ever. So it’s a shocking surprise for me and something that I know means a lot to a bunch of the guys in the band. For me personally, I never paid much attention to it, if I’m being honest, but I don’t want to disrespect how much it means for some of the other guys in the band. I know it is important to some of the guys, and in that respect, it’s a huge, huge honor.

MS: Great. Dream Theater has always been a very active band since its beginning. You release a new record every two or three years. Has the band already thought about or discussed going to the studio to make the next record?

MP: [chuckles] We just started talking about it this week.

MS: Wow! Tell me more.

MP: Well, there’s not much to tell. It’s just a broad general outline because we have to look at the year ahead. We know we have about five months of touring still ahead of us on this tour cycle. We’re gonna be in Asia and Australia from January to March. Then we’re gonna come to South America and Central America, Latin America, in April and May. So we know we’re on the road until May. And we know we were gonna take the summer off because we’ve been so busy. By the end of this whole tour cycle, it’ll be about a year and a half on the road. So we know we want to have the summer off, but then inevitably we know we have to talk about, at some point, the next record. We obviously don’t have anything written. We’ve been fully focused on touring all this time, but we do have a general timeline that we hope to stick to, and there’s not much I can give away beyond that. I can only say that we’re going to take the summer off, and then we hope to reconvene after the summer or sometime after the summer to begin work on album 17. But where it goes, we’ll have to wait till then to find out. We usually don’t know until we’re doing it.

MS: All right. Last question: during the 13 years you were away from Dream Theater, did you ever listen to the albums that the band has released with Mike Mangini on drums, or did you only really start to dive into it when you came back to the band? And what is your opinion about Mike Mangini as the Dream Theater drummer?

MP: Yeah, all those 13 years, I would always check in. If Dream Theater put out a new album, I would always listen to it at least once just to check in and see what they were up to. Obviously the very first album without me, I was incredibly curious to hear, because up until then, there had never existed a Dream Theater without me. So when that first album came out, I was very, very curious at that point. And all the following albums I would listen to at least once, just to see where they were at. But it wasn’t until I rejoined the band and needed to start constructing the setlist and picking songs from that era and getting familiar with those songs, it wasn’t till recently, the last couple years, that I really dived into the albums, and now I can appreciate them with a different perspective.

It was hard for me when I was outside the band. It was really difficult for me. It’s like going through a divorce and then seeing your wife with a new husband. That’s a typical analogy to give, but it really is true. It was hard for me. It hurt – my band with somebody else. So all those years, I just kept it at arm’s length, but now coming back, I could have a different perspective on it ‘cause I’m back in the band, and I want to know that era. I want to get to know it, like the fans know it, and I wanna be able to respect it because I know there’s a lot of fans that really enjoy those eras.

Obviously Mike Mangini is an unbelievable drummer. Technically, he does things that, I’ll be the first to admit, I can’t do. And I see people comparing us all the time. It’s apples and oranges. We both have played drums for Dream Theater, but I think we’re very different styles. He’s very, very methodical, very technical. I’m more loosey-goosey and flying off the seat of the handle. So I think in that respect we’re different styles and I think the comparisons aren’t fair. And people say, “Well, Mike Portnoy can never do this and never do that.” Yeah, you’re right! I probably couldn’t play half of those things. And you know what? I don’t care! I’m fine with that. I am who I am, like Popeye once said. [laughs] I’m fine with who I am. I know who I am and what I do, and what I bring to the band is more than just drums, and that’s all that matters to me. But in answer to your question, Mangini is obviously a phenomenal drummer, and he did a great, great job all those years while the band was without me. And I have a lot of respect for that.

MS: Great to hear that, Mike. I want to thank you for the interview. I want to thank you for your time. And do you have any last messages for your fans in Brazil?

MP: We just can’t wait to come back. We loved reuniting and coming there last December in 2024. But now we have a completely different show, completely different setlist, completely different production. So we’re just looking forward to bringing the new show to the fans. And this is the end of our entire world tour cycle. So after a year and a half on the road, the very last shows that we’re playing are gonna be in Brazil. So you guys gotta send us off with a lot of love in our hearts.