DREAM THEATER's JOHN PETRUCCI is excited to have MIKE PORTNOY back in the band
30-01-2024
In a new interview with GuitarWorld.com editor-in-chief Michael Astley-Brown, DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci was asked if he and his bandmates have commenced work on any new music with their returning original drummer Mike Portnoy. Petrucci responded: “Well, very soon. So, we start the new album in less than two weeks. And we’re looking forward to it.
“It’s really exciting to have Portnoy back in the band,” John continued. “We started the band together. I talked (earlier in the interview) about being 18 at Berklee (College Of Music); that’s where we met. And we’ve been friends ever since. So, having him back in the band is really special to all of us. I know he’s really excited as well.
“We haven’t started working on new music. We haven’t written a note yet, but I’m sure when we get together, it’s just gonna be like old times. So, I’m really looking forward to doing that and diving in.”
Asked where he wants to take his guitar playing on the next DREAM THEATER album, Petrucci said: “Uh, you know what? To me, making a new record is an opportunity to kind of say, like, ‘All right, what haven’t I done before? What can I do that’s gonna be interesting to me, that’s gonna sort of make me excited?’ And usually, if you start out with that kind of goal, it’ll happen. You’ll come up with stuff. You’ll explore. And I try not to be satisfied right away and try to like just change things up.
“So, I don’t know the answer to that,” he explained. “We’ll find out. But I think what’s gonna be fun is just all getting together in the studio and seeing where things go and kind of reuniting with that sort of classic magic that started the band. It’s exciting. And I think that’s gonna dictate where things go. But on the guitar, man, I don’t know. I can’t wait. I love it. I love being in the studio.”
During the question-and-answer portion of this month’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp‘s “Metalmania III” in Los Angeles, drummer Mike Portnoy was asked how his return to DREAM THEATER came about. He said (in video by TheSilverdude): “Well, it’s been 13 years now. And it’s crazy how time flies. But the last couple of years, I guess during the pandemic, yeah, I reconnected with (DREAM THEATER guitarist) John Petrucci. Once we were in lockdown and all of my bands couldn’t tour, and DREAM THEATER couldn’t tour, John Petrucci was doing a solo album, and he asked me to play on it. And then from there we decided we wanted to do another LTE (LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT) album, which is with (DREAM THEATER keyboardist) Jordan Rudess. And then shortly after that, John asked me to go on tour with him. So it just seems like we’ve been kind of reconnecting through the last few years.”
He continued: “We have such a long history — almost 40 years now — together, and our families grew up together, our wives played in a band together, and our kids grew up together. So, honestly, it just felt like it was the right thing in the right time… Our kids lliterally grew up all together, in the top bunks across from each other on the bus. My daughter and John‘s daughter have lived together in New York for the last four or five years. So, yeah, there’s so much family history beyond just the music that it just felt like the time was right to do it.”
Asked if there is a chance that the next studio release from DREAM THEATER will be a follow-up to 1999’s concept album “Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory”, Portnoy replied: “We haven’t talked about it yet, but that would be the obvious thing. But maybe because it’s the obvious thing, we wouldn’t do it. But you never know… It definitely would be fun to do, but I think, uh… I don’t know. We’re gonna start from scratch and reconnect and just go into the studio and live together. We’re in a different phase of our lives. When I left the band 13 years ago, we were all in our 40s; now we’re all in our 50s and 60s. It’s gonna be interesting to see how we kind of exist now in this new world. So, yeah, I’m just looking forward to being with the guys and making music together again.”
Asked if his return to DREAM THEATER will affect how many Mike Mangini-era songs are included in the band’s future setlist, Portnoy said: “It’s too soon to tell. When I left the band 13 years ago, I was the one writing the setlist and things like that. So, we haven’t even discussed what the new dynamic is gonna be. I’m open to it, of course, so I surely would do it, if that’s what they wanna do. But it’s definitely gonna be a different dynamic.”
He continued: “I think when I left all those years ago, I was running a lot of stuff, and I think now they’ve gotten so used to working more as a collective band that I think it’s a very different dynamic now that I’m gonna have to find my place in and without stepping on anybody’s toes. I have to respect that they’ve been doing it all this time without me. So, whatever they wanna do, I’m up for it. But that being said, there is so much music of ours to come back and play that… Personally, I look forward to revisiting all that stuff, but if they wanna do the newer stuff as well, whatever they want is fine with me.”
Portnoy was also asked about the status of some of his other projects, including THE WINERY DOGS and SONS OF APOLLO, and how they will be affected by his return to DREAM THEATER. He responded: “ Before the DREAM THEATER thing happened, I think I was up to like seven bands or something, or eight, or something like that. So, obviously I won’t be able to do all of them, and right now the focus is going back to DREAM THEATER and focusing on that. So, I have a feeling some of the bands will survive and some won’t. But I think THE WINERY DOGS, it’s very likely that THE WINERY DOGS will continue. We still are continuing. I leave for Japan on Tuesday for a few weeks over there with THE WINERY DOGS. And we just filmed a live Blu-ray last week at the last show in Europe, so that’ll be coming out.
“But, yeah, there’s still other things on my schedule,” he added. “I still have a show with METAL ALLEGIANCE in January 2024 in Anaheim, and I still have some shows with FLYING COLORS, which is my band with Steve Morse and Dave LaRue; we’re still, we’re playing on Cruise To The Edge in March of 2024. So I still do have these other obligations and these other things that I still have on the calendar with all these other bands. But I think once all of those obligations clear, I’m gonna focus on DREAM THEATER at least for a while.”
Portnoy attended his second DREAM THEATER concert as a spectator on July 1 at The Met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 56-year-old drummer, who left DREAM THEATER in 2010, took to his social media to share a selfie of him and his wife Marlene in the crowd at the Philadelphia show, which was part of the band’s “Dreamsonic” tour with Devin Townsend and ANIMALS AS LEADERS, and he included the following message: “OK…this is slightly weird!!” He also added a laughing crying emoji.
Portnoy, who lives in Pennsylvania with his family, previously attended DREAM THEATER‘s concert in March 2022 at Beacon Theatre in New York City. It was the first time he witnessed his former bandmates perform live since his exit from the iconic progressive metal outfit 13 years ago.
According to DREAM THEATER fans who attended the Beacon Theatre show, DREAM THEATER singer James LaBrie gave Portnoy a shoutout from the stage and Mike waved. Several fans also took pictures of Portnoy at the venue, with Mike and his wife reportedly watching the performance from near the Beacon Theatre soundboard.
The next day, Portnoy shared a few backstage photos from the Beacon Theatre concert and he included the following message: “After 36 years, I finally got to see my 1st DREAM THEATER show last night! It was a wonderful evening and it was such a pleasure to spend time with my old friends again”.
During a May 2022 appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Mike stated about the circumstances that led to him being present at the Beacon Theatre show: “We had been slowly rekindling the relationships over the years. Obviously, (DREAM THEATER guitarist) 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 (Rudess, DREAM THEATER keyboardist) 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 (DREAM THEATER bassist) 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 (LaBrie, DREAM THEATER singer) 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 (current DREAM THEATER drummer Mike) 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.”
Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER 38 years ago, abruptly quit the band in September 2010 while on tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD.
In a February 2023 interview with Ollie Winiberg of “The Heavy Hooks Show”, Portnoy was asked if he would consider playing a one-off show as a ‘hired gun” with his former bandmates to celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2025. He responded: “Well, I would surely welcome the idea — absolutely — and I’ve told the guys such, depending on the circumstances. Obviously, there’s a lot of hypothetical circumstances.”
He continued: “I don’t know if I’d necessarily wanna be a ‘hired gun’ for a band that I formed; (that’s) a little bit of a strange term in that respect. But if you’re asking, would I ever play with the guys again? Sure. If the right hypothetical situation came about, yeah, of course. I’m always open to that.”
Three years ago, Petrucci released his second solo album, “Terminal Velocity”, via Sound Mind Music/The Orchard. The follow-up to 2005’s “Suspended Animation” featured guest musicians Portnoy on drums and Dave LaRue (DIXIE DREGS) on bass. The effort marked the first time Petrucci and Portnoy recorded together in over a decade, as well as their first time playing together since Portnoy departed DREAM THEATER.
During an October 2022 appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Petrucci stated about DREAM THEATER fans’ response to his renewed collaboration with Portnoy: “You see that right away. It makes people so happy to see that reconnection. It’s literally like… Any sort of post of a photo from that, every comment is just literally, like, ‘I’m crying. This makes me so happy,’ blah blah blah. More than any sort of controversial, stupid thing anyone could say, the overwhelming reaction is just a great, positive feeling in the DREAM THEATER–Mike Portnoy big community. And I love that. It’s the way it should be.”
When host Eddie Trunk pointed out to Petrucci that the guitarist’s reunion with Portnoy, including their run of tour dates in support of “Terminal Velocity”, had resulted in DREAM THEATER fans speculating about Portnoy‘s possible return to the band, John said: “I’ve been very vocal about this and outspoken and very careful about this to be clear with my intentions and Mike and I and our reuniting. The stuff that we are doing together with my solo stuff, with LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT, with Mike touring with me, this is its own thing, and DREAM THEATER is its own thing, and the history that we now have with Mike Mangini in the band for 12 years, it’s important for me to make sure that people don’t misunderstand this. Because it’s not good for anybody; that kind of weirdness or controversy, as we all know, it’s just toxic. So I’ve been saying… Maybe I’m selfish but I feel so lucky that I get to do this with Mike (Portnoy) and play live with him, play this instrumental music, record, and being in DREAM THEATER with Mangini, it’s like I’ve kind of been spoiled. I get two of the greatest drummers in the world to be able to play with. And I think it’s important for people to know that and to have that clarity — I really do.”
In a 2017 interview with Rockhok, Portnoy insisted that had “no longing to reunite” with DREAM THEATER but said that he would return to his former band “for the fans.” He explained: “The ball’s in their court, to be honest. I have no longing to reunite with them; it’s not something I necessarily am looking to do or want to do. I’m very content with all the eighty-seven bands I currently have going, so it’s something I need. But I would do it for the fans, because I’m a very sentimental person and I have a lot of great, fond memories of those guys and the times. I’m a sentimental guy, so I would never close the door on it. So, really, the ball’s in their court, honestly. (But) if you’re asking me the odds (of a reunion happening), I would say, don’t bet on it, because I know their personalities as well and I don’t think they’re the type that are looking backwards.”
A few years ago, Portnoy told Loud that he left DREAM THEATER because he wanted to expand his musical horizons. “(I didn’t) want to go to my grave and just be the drummer from DREAM THEATER,” he said. “I knew there was way more to what I had to offer.”
DREAM THEATER released their last album ‘A View from the Top of the World’ on October 22nd, 2021, under InsideOut Music Records
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