It's nice when somebody says that you're their 'favorite' drummer.
Mike Portnoy
I don't want people to think that I think I'm this great drummer because, to me, I'm just a kid playing drums, and I love music.
Trite as it sounds, follow your heart. Persevere. And if you follow your heart and persevere, it will pay off.
Life is too short for resentments, and I always forgive.
I don't consider myself a great drummer. I consider myself just a music fan that's a very, very passionate artist, and the drums just happen to be my instrument.
Change is inevitable with the evolution of technology. In the '70s, we had records. In the '80s, we had CDs, and now we are living in the digital age. You can say it's sad or unfortunate, but the reality is you've got to roll with the times and the technology.
It's been an incredible experience, playing with Twisted Sister, Stone Sour, Avenged Sevenfold, jamming with Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, and the list goes on and on and on.
To me, a great drummer isn't always about somebody with chops who can shred. A great drummer is someone who is part of a great band.
I see the headlines on Blabbermouth, and the fans are saying, 'Why is he always talking about Dream Theater?' I'm not talking about Dream Theater! I get asked about it.
I'd just like to be remembered as a huge music lover.
I'm a music fan first and foremost. I can find the beauty in Jellyfish and U2 just as much as Opeth and Lamb of God, just as much as I can with Rush and Yes.
I'd rather be entertained and go to a show and watch a drummer and have somebody that makes me actually smile. So I don't judge drummers based on their technical ability; I judge them based on the overall package and what they bring to the music they're part of.
When Dream Theater first started, we were touring in a van and playing clubs.
I love the Dream Theater guys dearly and have a long history, friendship, and bond that runs incredibly deep with them - it's just that I think we are in serious need of a little break.
I think if there's any one band that every member of Sons of Apollo has been influenced by, I think Van Halen is the common ground for all five of us.
We kind of established in Sons of Apollo right from the get go that it would be a very collaborative process musically, but after that, I was going to take the reins and control everything else beyond that the way I did with Dream Theater.
I've always had lots of side projects in my life, but what's exciting for me is knowing that Adrenaline Mob is bigger than that.
Richie Kotzen is such an unbelievable talent as a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter.
I'm very proud of the album I made with Adrenaline Mob, and I think that there was really a great chemistry there; it was a great band.
I absolutely am not the 'de facto front man' in The Mob - that title surely goes to Russell Allen, who is one of the best front men in the business. I am just happy to be part of the band and not necessarily leading it.
I spent a good solid two years giving my all to Adrenaline Mob.
You can put me in front of any kit, and it is a fun thing to have to adapt. It inspires me to try different things. I like that.
I could be just as happy playing a Beatles song as I am when I'm thrashing out the double bass stuff with Adrenaline Mob.
I love my family more than life itself, but I can only sit at home by my pool eating barbecue food so many days before I go cuckoo.
I was always very extroverted and loud.
In Adrenaline Mob, I'm not the leader, but I'm on the board of directors, and that's OK. I'm not stressing out over every detail. I'm sharing the load.
To me, there's way more to being a good drummer than precision and technique.
I've known Russell Allen for over a decade now, and I've always thought he was a very underrated singer. He has one of the best voices in the business I've ever heard.
I can't possibly overstate how much influence Rush had on me as a young teenager. I would say from about 1981 to 1987, they were my gods.
When you're making this kind of music, you don't need a producer. If you're making pop albums or trying to write hit singles, then yeah, but if you're writing 20-minute prog epics, as long as you know how to make it sound good, and you have a good mixer, that's all you need.
Dream Theater was my baby. I formed it from the beginning, out of college, and I lived a lifetime with them.
People always say to me, 'Well, how can a marriage last when you're away as much as you are?' And I always say, 'Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder.' That time apart from each other has actually strengthened our relationship.
Billy Sheehan has always been my number one favorite bass player of all time.
I've been asked to write a book several times; I've had several publishers come to me and offer me book deals. Especially right after I left Dream Theater and Avenged Sevenfold, there was a lot of drama going on in my life, so the book companies came at me thirsty for blood and gossip. And I turned down all the deals.
I understand that Adrenaline Mob is not going to be every Dream Theater fan's cup of tea. I totally get that; I understand that. It's different world.
I am - you know, I'm getting to do everything I've ever wanted to do, anything my imagination can think up. I'm getting to play with some of my favorite musicians in the world, ranging from Russell Allen to Billy Sheehan to Paul Gilbert to Steve Morse.
Some of my heroes are John Bonham, Keith Moon, Neil Peart, Ringo Starr, Terry Bozzio, Bill Bruford... The list goes on and on and on.
After I wrote 'The Best Of Times' for my dad and after I completed the '12 Steps Suite' with Dream Theater, I very much felt like I had said everything I wanted to say lyrically.
Flying Colors is more alternative pop with a prog edge. Think the Beatles meets U2 meets Muse and Foo Fighters. It is the opposite of Adrenaline Mob, which has more classic metal influences like Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Pantera, or Disturbed. They are completely different ends of spectrum.
Every band goes through breakups or splits.
It's so refreshing to just play straight-ahead music with lots of twists.
When you're putting together a concept album, it's all about the flow and the story.
I think it's important for a young musician to stick with a band for a while and really work with a band and stay focused.
I don't like when I see bands that are just a memory of what they used to be, and there's a few out there that I've seen recently that are still touring... I'm not gonna name them, but some of the members can barely play their parts, and then they have a lot of other members that weren't even originally in the band.
One of the reasons I needed to leave Dream Theater was because I didn't want to end my career as just the drummer in one band.
I have so much gratitude that I get to do this for a living and that I actually have fans who come to the shows and buy the records and support me online.
There's been a lot of crossing paths with the Yes camp over the years for me. The first one was when Dream Theater and Yes toured together in 2004, which was a lot of fun.
My love for Yes is pretty well-documented.
I kind of always made it a tradition, whenever Dream Theater played Toronto, to play a Rush cover.
I spent my life's work doing what I did in Dream Theater for 25 years, so I'm proud of that.
