Besides his work with Dream Theater, Portnoy is known for his many side projects and tribute bands. He is a founding member of
Liquid Tension Experiment, an instrumental progressive rock band featuring fellow DT members John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess along with bass legend
Tony Levin. He is also a founding member of
Transatlantic, a progressive rock "super-group" featuring Spock's Beard keyboardist/vocalist
Neal Morse, Flower Kings guitarist
Roine Stolt and Marillon bassist
Pete Trewavas. Portnoy has also recorded and/or toured/performed live with
Neal Morse,
OSI, Hail!,
Stone Sour,
Fates Warning,
Overkill,
G3 and played on
Avenged Sevenfold's album "
Nightmare" in place of their drummer,
The Rev, who had recently died. Over the years, Portnoy has also created tribute bands to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Rush, and The Who, which has allowed him to perform the music of his four favorite drummers.
Dream Theater history
Portnoy was born April 20, 1967 into a
Jewish family and raised on
Long Island in
Long Beach, New York.
[3] According to a post made by
Jordan Rudess on his forum, Portnoy is ethnically Jewish but does not practice. His father worked as a
DJ at a local
radio station, helping Portnoy gain an appreciation for
music at an early age particularly, as Portnoy has pointed out, because he had access to his father's collection of
LPs. He developed a preference for bands including
Rush,
Queen,
Led Zeppelin,
The Who,
Iron Maiden, and
The Beatles, among many others. Portnoy claims to be self-taught as a drummer, though he did take
music theory classes in
high school. During that period he began playing in local bands, two of which (Rising Power and Inner Sanctum) recorded and released independent albums. He left Inner Sanctum (his last high school band) after being awarded a
scholarship to attend the
Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, he met
John Petrucci and
John Myung. They formed a band, initially taking the name "Majesty" before changing their name to
Dream Theater. They left Berklee soon after.
[edit]Influences
In the April 2001 edition of
Modern Drummer & Portnoy's website, he names
Neil Peart,
Buddy Rich,
Frank Zappa,
Vinnie Paul,
Carl Palmer,
Bill Bruford,
Terry Bozzio,
Nicko McBrain,
Billy Cobham,
Alan White,
Nick Mason,
Stewart Copeland,
Phil Collins,
Chester Thompson,
Simon Phillips,
Nick D'Virgilio,
Andy Sturmer,
Dave Lombardo,
Jon Fishman,
Vinnie Colaiuta,
Ringo Starr,
Peter Criss,
John Bonham,
Keith Moon and
Lars Ulrich as influences.
[4]
[edit]Awards and recognition
- Modern Drummer
Mike Portnoy won the following
Modern Drummer magazine Reader's Poll awards:
- Best Up & Coming Talent (1994)
- Best Progressive Rock Drummer (1995–2006)
- Best Recorded Performance (1995 for Awake, 1996 for A Change of Seasons, 1998 for Falling Into Infinity, 2000 for Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory, 2002 for Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, 2007 for Score) and 2011 for Nightmare (Avenged Sevenfold).[5]
- Best Clinician (2000, 2002)
- Best Educational Video/DVD (2000, 2002)
- Hall of Fame Inductee (2004)
He has released three instructional videos, "Progressive Drum Concepts", "Liquid Drum Theater", which has won awards from Modern Drummer Magazine, and his latest "In Constant Motion". He has released many "Official Bootlegs" on his website, including footage of the studio sessions for the Dream Theater albums
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence,
Train of Thought,
Octavarium and the Transatlantic release
Bridge Across Forever. He has released bootlegs of his tribute bands Hammer of the Gods (a
Led Zeppelin tribute),
Yellow Matter Custard (
The Beatles), Cygnus and the Sea Monsters (
Rush), and Amazing Journey (
The Who).
On September 18, 2006 within his website's forum Portnoy cagily stated that he had finally met one of his drummer heroes from youth from the band Rush;
[6] drummer
Neil Peart (one of the few heroes from his youth Portnoy had never met, owing to Peart's legendary privacy), that "Neil and I have finally met and we spent some time together this week and had a great time...",
[7] and that a possible collaboration was underway/had been discussed with the teasing statement of "Patience everybody... all will soon be revealed!" It has now been revealed that this meeting was for an interview Portnoy did for his stint as guest editor of Rhythm Magazine.
[8] Portnoy had previously written the liner notes for the Japanese pressing of Rush's 2002 release
Vapor Trails,
[9] but publicly denounced Peart in 2000 after Peart called the people involved in the Rush tribute "
bar bands" .
[10]
In the October 2009 issue of Rhythm Magazine, Portnoy was listed as #5 in their list of the Top 50 Drummers of All Time.
[11]
In June 7, 2011, Portnoy posted on his Facebook that he had won
DRUM! Magazine's "Drummer of the Year Award" and the "Metal Drummer Award".
[15][16]
[edit]Drum kits and percussive equipment
- When Dream and Day Unite/Images & Words Kit - This Tama Imperialstar kit (the previous model of the Imperialstar, unlike the 2007 Imperialstar, which is an entry level kit)and Zildjiancymbals which was bought originally by Portnoy himself through working three jobs. It was used until the end of the Images and Words tour when Portnoy was signed by Sabian and Mapex.
- Awake/A Change Of Seasons kit - This Mapex USA Maple kit was used on the world tour supporting the album Awake. It had two bass drums, one snare, six toms, two small timbales, a section of various percussion instruments, and four Octoban-sized drums in a 2x2 formation. This marked Portnoy's first use of Octobans on a record, which were custom-made by Mapex using maple as opposed to Tama's more traditional acrylic, giving them a slightly different, more "natural" tone.
- The Purple/Green/Red Monsters - These were Tama Starclassic kits which marked Portnoy's signing with Tama in the late '90s after his endorsement deal with Mapex fell through (they took the kit he was using off the market, meaning that he was endorsing a product the public could not buy.) Used for the recording of Falling Into Infinity" and "Scenes from a Memory and the North, South American, and Asian tours for said albums, they are so named because of their striking color/white/color fade finishes. Each version of the kit was kept in a different part of the world to avoid overseas shipping costs; the "Green Monster" was used for European tours and the "Red Monster" was used for Asian-market touring. It is similar to the "Awake" kit but features many more cymbals, the left-side octobans in a four-inline configuration (as opposed to his last kit which held them in a 2x2 pattern) and two more "low"-tuned octobans on the right side of the kit held overhead of the floor toms. This kit featured a snare drum with a foot-operated snare strainer mechanism which allowed for different snare drum sounds without having to use his hands to adjust it. On the Purple Monster Portnoy used DW 5000 Pedals, instead of the Iron Cobra Pedals. He uses this kit in his 1999 Instructional DVD "Liquid Drum Theater".
- Liquid Tension Experiment kit - A comparatively modest kit used in his supergroup project Liquid Tension Experiment. The bass drum and toms of this kit (not the snare, timbales, and cymbals) were the first Portnoy ever purchased used according to an interview where he gave a tour of his basement and this kit showed up. This kit was unique in that it used a pair of small timbales where the two smallest toms would normally be. It was otherwise a normal "seven piece" rock kit with three toms (five if you count the timbales), and a single bass drum with a double kick pedal. It marks the first time Portnoy uses a floor tom on either side of the kit for a recording (during footage from their Fan Club Show in 1998 featured on 5 Years in a LIVEtime, Portnoy's "Unplugged" kit contained a left-hand floor tom used heavily during that performance) with a 14" floor tom on the left and an 18" floor tom on the right. It is the first time Portnoy used his MaxStax cymbal line in the studio. Portnoy notes in his Liquid Drum Theater instructional video that the reason behind the smaller kit is that when Liquid Tension Experiment went into the studio to record the first album, The Purple Monster kit was still being shipped back from some shows they had played immediately prior in Brazil.
- Transatlantic kit - The kit used to record and tour behind the first Transatlantic album was the same as the Liquid Tension Experiment kit, but with five regular toms. When recording and touring behind the second Transatlantic album, Portnoy added his new Melody Master snare drums for the first time and some different cymbals including a set of custom made 15" hi-hats. The smaller Melody Master displaced the 14" floor tom, which was moved back to the right of the kit for the Transatlantic recordings. For the filming of Portnoy's 2007 "In Constant Motion" instructional DVD set, the Transatlantic kit was reproduced in Tama drums' new line of acrylic shells named Starclassic Mirage in the "Black Ice" finish. The original recording was done with more traditional Starclassic wood drums.
- The Siamese Monster - This kit was an amalgamation of two individual kits. The left side of the kit is laid out similarly to the Liquid Tension Experiment kit, with a floor tom on his left side, a modified tymp-tom on his right side, and three rack toms. The right side is laid out as a normal five piece kit but with the two rack toms reversed, a gong bass drum in place of a floor tom (with modified floor tom legs), and the ride cymbal in front of the hi hats, which allows him to share some of the cymbals and toms between the two kits. It has two stools, and while is not capable of being played in its entirety by one person, Portnoy often invites other drummers to sit in on the unplayed half during shows. It is a predominantly black kit with Majesty symbols around each individual drum. Much like the Colored Monsters, there were three identical versions of this kit for use when touring different continents, the North American kit being the "featured" kit with purple markings as was the case with the Colored Monsters. It was built by Tama for the recording of the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence album and tour as well as the Train of Thought album and tour.
- The OSI kit - Portnoy used the small (right) side of his Red Siamese Monster kit for the recording of the first Office of Strategic Influence album. For the second he downsized even more to a four-piece consisting of his signature snare, one timbale as a tom as previously used on his Liquid Tension Experiment kit, one floor tom, and a single 18" kick drum with a double pedal.
- Yellow Matter Custard kit - A specially designed set for use in Portnoy's Beatles tribute band, Yellow Matter Custard. It is modelled on Ringo Starr's kit, and is quite simple compared with his Dream Theater kits. Its in the sizes: 12"x8", 14"x14" & 20"x14". The cymbals are an 14" AA HiHat, an AA Crash on the left and a HH Crash/Ride on the right.
- Hammer Of The Gods kit - A John Bonham-replica kit that was used in Portnoy's Led Zeppelin tribute band. Custom-made acrylic shells were used (transparent amber), and the kit is always played while wearing the obligatory bowler hat.
- The Albino Monster - The previous kit used by Portnoy is similar to the Siamese Monster. Aesthetically, it is white with silver sparkle Majesty logos instead of the black/colored logos of the Siamese Monster. In layout it is almost exactly the same, the only differences being the right side of the kit mimics his earlier Hammer of the Gods kit; two of the timbales were removed, the 10" tymp-tom was changed to a 14", and the gong bass drum was replaced with a floor tom. He kept some of the cymbals from the right side of the Siamese Monster, including the 13" HHX Groove Hats, and the 19" Hand Hammered Fierce Crash, so there's more distance between the two sides in the Albino Monster, than there were in the Siamese Monster. So far it has been used for the Gigantour (a tour that Dream Theater participated in alongside Megadeth, Symphony X and several other bands) and throughout the Octavarium 2005-06 World Tour. The modification to the right side stemmed from sessions for Dream Theater's Octavarium album, where what began as an experiment became the inspiration behind most of Octavarium. When recording of Octavarium began, Portnoy brought along the Hammer of the Gods kit, resulting in the kit being used for part of the album: he ended up using it on five of the album's eight tracks. The kit utilizes larger "Rock" sizes, with a 14" rack tom, a 16" floor tom, an 18" floor tom, and a meaty 6.5" x 14" snare drum, much reminding of the drum sizes used by John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. Additionally, Portnoy only used a few crash cymbals, and used a splash and china sparingly. When touring began, Tama had the shells changed to traditional Starclassic Maple shells, because they didn't want Portnoy touring with a kit featuring shells that Tama didn't mass-produce for public acquisition. The touring kit includes two new limited-edition Mike Portnoy signature snare drums with the same matching finish used on the rest of the kit. On Tama's official website, Portnoy released details about changes to the kit for his upcoming tours, beginning with G3 in March. He says the left side will stay the same, but the right side will change. The sizes will change to more conventional sizes-22" kick etc. and will have three rack toms as opposed to the 'Bonham'-size, one rack tom kit of before. The shells would be Starclassic Mirage acrylic shells instead of the Starclassic Maple he has always used. He used this kit in his DVD In Constant Motion.
- The Mirage Monster- Revealed at Gods Of Metal 2007, this kit is made up of two kits once again, except built out of Tama's new Tama Starclassic Mirage acrylic drums in clear "Crystal Ice" finish. The left side is virtually identical to his previous kit, except made with clear acrylic shells. The new configuration of the right side of his kit has replaced the "Bonzo Kit" of "The Albino Monster." His new right side of the kit includes: a 22" kick and 3 rack toms (8", 10", and 12") "so it's going to be a little more of a conventional, small kit." (Click on "Interview" link button ) The snares used are his Signature Melody Master snares. He uses 2 12x5" steel snares (one on the right side of the kit as a main snare and one on the left as a side snare) and uses one 14x5.5" maple shell snare. These snares are the same snares used in the last 2 kits (Albino Monster and Siamese Monster) and they are in the original black color. This kit has been scaled down to a relatively small double-bass kit for several shows taking place in smaller venues.
- Black & Silver Monster[17]- Similar to the Mirage Monster, this kit is made up of two different kits, this time with the new Bubinga wood drums with a black and silver finish. This kit was used for the Black Clouds & Silver Linings tour. To record the album he used two diiferent sets of Tama drums - his main set was Starclassic Bubinga Elite and the second, smaller one was Starclassic Performer.
Several of Portnoy's drum kits make use of
Roland electronic drum pads. Portnoy uses these as what he calls the "secret cowbell", to count off the songs in a way that only his fellow band members and the technicians can hear it. An example of this can be seen on the
Score DVD, where it can be seen in the background that Portnoy counts off the song "Under A Glass Moon" on the pad. Portnoy explains the use of these pads in the commentary track of the "Drum Cam Only" version of the
Live At Budokan DVD, as well as the "Mike's Stage Tour" featurette on the
Chaos in Motion 2007–2008 DVD.
Tama has marketed two different sized Mike Portnoy signature snare drums, known as "Melody Masters" (named after Melody, his daughter), since the late 1990s. The smaller of the two has a 12x5" steel shell and the larger has a 14x5.5" maple shell. Both snare models have a unique three way snare strainer mechanism.
[18] Portnoy and Tama have custom-made versions in various colors to match the color schemes of the kit he was using at the time (i.e. The "Purple/Red/Green Monsters", "Siamese Monster" "Albino Monster", etc.). For 2006, in recognition of his 'Albino Monster' kit, he released only 250 of these snares worldwide in a white, gloss finish. The older colour (black) is not limited edition.
Sabian has marketed three different sized signature cymbal stacks, known as "Max Stax" (named after his son, Max). They consist of a hand hammered china kang-style cymbal on top of a splash (or crash) cymbal that can be played much more like a drum than a cymbal, used much more in traditional
drum fills than most quickly decaying cymbal tones. Their sizes are 8/8", 10/10" and 12/14". Sabian has marketed odd-sized 7, 9, and 11" "Max Splash" cymbals which have a fast decay and can be used in fills and drum patterns that have the same namesake.
[19]
Portnoy has endorsed Promark sticks since the early 1990s. His signature stick is the TX420N.
[20] It is .531 inches in diameter, 16 1/8 in length, and has a 747 taper and nylon tip. The color of the ink and the design of the logo has changed several times. When Mike was in
Dream Theater, it had purple ink and had the
Dream Theater logo on it. When he toured with
Avenged Sevenfold, the
Pro-Mark logo was replaced with the
Deathbat and used regular black ink. The "420" in the model number, which is printed on the sticks, is a reference to his birthday (and not a marijuana reference, as has been suggested). He is known for gripping his left stick on the reverse side to attain a different sound on the snare drum - at times he would incorporate the act of tossing his drumstick in the air to change to the other end.
[edit]Other instruments played
[edit]Avenged Sevenfold, departure from Dream Theater and future
On May 5, 2010, Portnoy released a statement on his status with Avenged Sevenfold on their official website: "Although I wish I could stay on board with A7X in a more permanent capacity, the reality is that I am committed to Dream Theater as my main priority and I will need to resume work with DT to start a new album at some point in 2011.....However, I will be able to join my brothers in Avenged Sevenfold for at least the duration of their touring throughout 2010.....You can look at me like the band's 'rebound drummer' to buy them some time until they are comfortable and ready to make a commitment to somebody new for full-time relationship in their future!"
[21]
On Wednesday, September 8, 2010, Mike Portnoy announced he would be leaving Dream Theater. In his official statement
[22], he said he had "come to the conclusion that the [Dream Theater] machine was starting to burn me out", and that he had urged the band to take a break from its relentless recording, publishing and touring cycle. However, when the band decided it would rather continue without him, he departed, and Dream Theater later chose
Mike Mangini to take his place after auditioning seven world-class drummers.
[23] When Avenged Sevenfold later decided to also sever ties with Portnoy
[24], he announced that he had asked to return to Dream Theater, but had been turned down by their lawyer
[25] since the band (as later revealed) had already brought Mangini on board.
On June 10, 2011, Portnoy announced on his website that he would be playing a show in New York City on June 24, 2011 with Adrenaline Mob.
[30]
On August 5, 2011, one of Adrenaline Mob's new songs, "Hit the Wall," debuted on the Q104.3 radio station following a live interview with Portnoy about the band, as well as his hopes for the future and his feelings towards Dream Theater.
On September 14, 2011, it was announced that Portnoy would fill in on drums for
Stone Sour's show at Rock In Rio for drummer Roy Mayorga, who had been expecting the birth of his first child on the same day as the show.
Portnoy and guitarist
John Sykes had begun working on a new band in July 2011, together with bassist
Billy Sheehan. However, in January 2012, the project quietly dissolved, and Portnoy announced that he and Sheehan had selected guitarist
Richie Kotzen to replace Sykes.
[edit]Personal life
Portnoy and his wife Marlene (née Apuzzo) live in
Upper Saucon Township in the
Lehigh Valley region of
Pennsylvania with their children, Melody Ruthandrea and Max John. Marlene used to be a guitarist in the all-female band Meanstreak, and two of the other members, guitarist Rena Sands and bassist Lisa Martens, are married to Dream Theater guitarist
John Petrucci and bassist
John Myung, respectively.
Near the end of every year since 2001, Portnoy shares on his blog a personal choice on the top ten music recordings, films and TV shows released along the year.
[31]
[edit]Discography
|
| 1984 | Rising Power | Power for the People | out of print |
| 1986 | Inner Sanctum | 12 A.M. | out of print |
| 1986 | S. A. Adams | Unearthed | |
| 1986 | Majesty | Majesty | demos |
| 1989 | Dream Theater | When Dream and Day Unite | |
| 1992 | Dream Theater | Images and Words | |
| 1994 | Dream Theater | Awake | |
| 1995 | Dream Theater | A Change of Seasons | |
| 1997 | Dream Theater | Falling into Infinity | |
| 1998 | Liquid Tension Experiment | Liquid Tension Experiment | |
| 1999 | Liquid Tension Experiment | Liquid Tension Experiment 2 | |
| 1999 | Dream Theater | Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory | |
| 2000 | Transatlantic | SMPT:e | |
| 2001 | Transatlantic | Bridge Across Forever | |
| 2001 | Andy West | Rama 1 | |
| 2002 | Dream Theater | Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence | |
| 2003 | OSI | Office of Strategic Influence | |
| 2003 | Neal Morse | Testimony | |
| 2003 | John Arch | A Twist of Fate | EP |
| 2003 | Dream Theater | Train of Thought | |
| 2004 | Neal Morse | One | |
| 2005 | Dream Theater | Octavarium | |
| 2005 | Neal Morse | ? | |
| 2005 | Yellow Matter Custard | One Night in New York City | tribute to The Beatles (with Paul Gilbert, Neal Morse, and Matt Bissonette) |
| 2006 | OSI | Free | |
| 2006 | Morse, Portnoy and George | Cover to Cover | |
| 2006 | Hammer of the Gods | Two Nights in North America | tribute to Led Zeppelin (with Paul Gilbert, Daniel Gildenlöw, and Dave LaRue) |
| 2006 | Cygnus and the Sea Monsters | One Night in Chicago | tribute to Rush (with Paul Gilbert, Sean Malone, and Jason McMaster) |
| 2007 | Neal Morse | Sola Scriptura | |
| 2007 | Dream Theater | Systematic Chaos | |
| 2007 | Liquid Tension Experiment | Spontaneous Combustion | as Liquid Trio Experiment |
| 2007 | Amazing Journey | One Night in New York City | tribute to The Who (with Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan, and Gary Cherone) |
| 2008 | Neal Morse | Lifeline | |
| 2009 | Transatlantic | The Whirlwind | |
| 2009 | Dream Theater | Black Clouds & Silver Linings | |
| 2010 | Avenged Sevenfold | Nightmare | |
| 2010 | Avenged Sevenfold | Welcome to the Family | EP |
| 2011 | Adrenaline Mob | Adrenaline Mob | EP[29] |
| 2011 | Neal Morse | Testimony 2 | |
| 2011 | Yellow Matter Custard | One More Night in New York City | tribute to The Beatles (with Paul Gilbert, Neal Morse, and Kasim Sulton) |
| 2012 | Adrenaline Mob | Omertà | |
| 2012 | Flying Colors | Flying Colors | |
| 2012 | Morse, Portnoy and George | Cover 2 Cover | |
| 2012 | Neal Morse | Momentum |
