By: Ian Winwood / The Daily Telegraph
Translation: Telegrafi.com
Dream Theater have never been a typical rock and roll band. From the beginning of their recording career, 36 years ago, their debut album, When Dream and Day Unite, caused a mixed reaction: some critics praised it for its technical virtuosity, while others viewed it with skepticism. As a former student at the Boston College of Music, the band's drummer, Mike Portnoy, attracted particular attention.
"In our first appearance in the magazine Kerrang! ... there was a picture of me with a review, and [music journalist] Derek Oliver wrote, 'Mike Portnoy: heir to Neil Peart's throne,'" Portnoy says. (For those unfamiliar with the name, the late Neil Peart was the drummer for the Canadian band Rush, considered the gold standard of modern progressive rock.) "For me, that was the ultimate compliment," he says. "Especially for our first album, because Neil was one of my biggest heroes growing up. To see that comparison, at such an early stage in my career, was an incredible honor."
With 16 studio albums, just like Rush, Dream Theater have built their career away from the mainstream. However, like their Toronto predecessors, their near-total absence from radio has not affected their concert success in the slightest. Criticism can often be reserved for them - The Guardian once described their music as a combination of "the screams of old heavy metal and progressive rock" - because the audience kept following them. Without much fanfare, in October last year the band held their biggest concert in London, at O2 Arena.
Dream Theater are currently touring North America, marking the 40th anniversary of their formation in Massachusetts (where two other founding members also attended Boston College). But unlike many heavy metal bands, nostalgia is not part of their DNA. Later this year, they will return to the stage to perform their latest album, from start to finish, parasomnia, released this month - to an audience that seems as eager to hear new songs as old ones.
"Our audience supports us in making new music," says Mike Portnoy. "We have a very passionate fan base. They're not random. We don't have the kind of fans who just walk into a show because they might have heard a song on the radio. We're not that kind of band. We've always been an album-focused band."
He continues: "Luckily, today we are defined and experienced enough that we can do whatever we want and make our own rules. But it wasn't always like that. It took us many, many years to build such a loyal and dedicated fan base. If we had started today, I don't know how we would have managed. But, fortunately, we have built an audience that has been with us all these years and that allows us this creative freedom."
Late on a cold February night, Mike Portnoy appeared on my computer screen from a locker room in Hard Rock Live in Biloxi, Mississippi. When I tell him that the setting looks pretty luxurious, he responds with humor: "We play in nice places, you know how it is?" However, his appearance - a thick beard, long hair and a T-shirt with the inscription Directed by David Lynch [Directed by David L.uncle] - still retains that typical image of a rocker, a man who, if he appeared in a store, could immediately attract the attention of the security chief. With a deep voice, like the sound of a Harley-Davidson-i on the horizon, he answers my questions with clarity and deep thought.
His background was a messy one. After spending a few years playing in small clubs under the name Majesty — a choice inspired by a conversation about Rush — it was the drummer's father who suggested they christen the band Dream Theater. Far from being a typical working father, in addition to being a writer, film director, and art gallery owner, the late Howard Portnoy was a DJ for a time at KRML radio in Carmel, California. As if that weren't unusual enough, he landed the job after seeing the Clint Eastwood thriller, Play Misty For Me, a 1971 cult film about a lover who turns into a stalker.
“He watched that movie and wanted to move to Carmel and get a job working at that radio station, which he did,” his son says.
After starting his “practice” by banging pots and pans, Mike Portnoy got his first real drum set at the age of six. With no particular brand, he recalls it having a shiny blue design and being a gift from his grandfather, who had a heart attack the day he bought it (and passed away within a week). A decade later, with serious musical skills, he owned a set from Tama, a name he still cherishes today. Asked how much his current set would cost him if he had to buy it himself, he replies: "I don't know ... tens of thousands of dollars."
The understandable desire not to pay for his own equipment led Portnoy to a sponsorship deal with the manufacturer. Sabian Cymbals which also created a friendship with his idol, Neil Peart. The two men are seen discussing the details of their technique, in the company of former Frank Zappa drummer Terry Bozzio and session master Tony Braunagel - in promotional clips on YouTube — offers a high-level glimpse into where Portnoy operates. In Buddy Rich's description, these are people who play drums, not just bang them. Listening to them talk is like eavesdropping on the World Cup-winning team.
With his intricate style and crazy rhythms, the relationship with Peart naturally went beyond professional obligations. “I knew Neil very well,” Portnoy explains. “He became a good friend of mine in the last 15 years of his life [the drummer died in 2020]. It was a friendship I felt very grateful for. He would invite me to rehearsals, so I would go and see Rush rehearse. He would let me sit in on the set and play with whatever setup he was using on each tour.”
But there were differences between the two. As regulars of the 70s rock scene, Peart and his bandmates preferred to read books rather than indulge in hedonistic excesses—Kiss' Gene Simmons remarked that "in rock 'n' roll, even an ugly bastard like me can... but none of the Rush guys ever did that." I can't speak to Portnoy's penchant for carnal pleasures, but he certainly enjoyed some of the other trappings of the rock world. He enjoyed them, that is, until they endangered his livelihood and even his life. With bombastic élan, across a series of Dream Theater albums, the drummer's journey to sobriety is chronicled in a series of songs known as The Twelve-Step Suite.
“Back in 2000, I knew I was drinking and partying too much,” he explains. “My kids were just born and they were young and I didn’t want to be a victim of rock and roll like my heroes, like John Bonham and Keith Moon, so ... I got sober at that time and went many, many, many years without drinking. That probably saved my life. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of boredom on tour, and things like that. Luckily, Dream Theater isn’t a crazy band like Mötley Crüe or Guns N’ Roses, so our environment is a little more” — he searches for the right word — “normal than some of the craziest bands out there.”
Maybe. But the strange truth is that rock and roll is one of the only professions where, in the workplace, you'll find beer and liquor bottles left by concert promoters, who seem to have no concern at all if the musicians get too drunk to perform. As if to prove it, Mike Portnoy holds up an unopened bottle of Jack Daniel's, the "Gentleman Jack" whiskey, on which he's propped his phone.
“I think musicians are creative people, and you see these kinds of problems not only in musicians, but also in actors and even athletes sometimes, where you live a life where you’re always in the spotlight and surrounded by everything you could possibly want, and all you have to do is ask for it and it’s brought to you on a silver platter,” he says. “When you live that kind of lifestyle, it’s very easy to give up. And, there’s a lot of boredom too. There’s a lot of free time. I’m on tour with Dream Theater right now. We play a three-hour show every night, but the other 21 hours of the day we’re just sitting around waiting to perform.”
Portnoy seems to avoid the temptations of alcohol these days by staying as engaged as possible. He is and has been involved in dozens of other projects with notable musicians, such as Billy Sheehan and Ron Thal. He has performed with everyone from the pioneering metal trio Overkill to the experimental group Umphrey's McGee. During his 13 years away from Dream Theater, which ended in 2023, he kept pace for Twisted Sister and the excellent Avenged Sevenfold, whose drummer died of an opioid overdose.
But as a member of Dream Theater, Mike Portnoy has built what is and will likely remain his most enduring legacy. Unique and esoteric, the band's enduring popularity supports the idea that, while some strands of guitar-based rock are struggling to survive or thrive, heavy metal remains untouchable.
But the point is: even in this context, the band is unusual. Emerging in the early 90s, perhaps the only period in history when the genre was on the decline, Dream Theater became a genuine alternative for listeners who were not convinced by the immediate popularity of alternative music. In the years that followed, they remained somewhat separated from the scene they represented. Without the appeal of Tool or the cross-cultural influence of Metallica, they have, with the insistence of Wile E. Coyote, built an admirable career based on their virtuoso uniqueness.
"There were a lot of times when this band could have easily broken up," says Portnoy. "We spent three years looking for a new singer, trying to change the record deal, finding new management - we could have easily thrown in the towel. The late '90s were a very difficult time for us. But I think everything that's happened to us ... you know, it's like that saying: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I think we're an example of that." /Telegraph/
