DREAM THEATER's MIKE PORTNOY On Physical Pains Of Drumming: 'For Me, It's Been Accumulating Through The Years'

In a new interview with Samus Paulicelli of the 66Samus YouTube channel, DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy was asked how he deals with the physical pains of drumming as he gets older. Mike replied (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “That’s a good question. For me, it’s been accumulating through the years. I mean, I’m gonna be 58, and it definitely takes its toll playing a three-hour show of such demanding music — DREAM THEATER plays three hours. So it’s a lot for the body to take.

“I started developing some physical pains kind of in my thirties,” Mike continued. “If you look at the DREAM THEATER ‘Live At Budokan’ DVD, I had a brace on my right elbow at that time. I was really starting to get tendonitis problems then, and that was 20 years ago, 20-plus years ago. So I was in my thirties when I started to develop that. And I had to start getting massaged regularly. I would get masseuses at the venue before each show, whenever possible, or when I go home, I have a regular masseuse that I see, a therapist. So that’s really helped, and also chiropractic work as well helps. ‘Cause I’ve had times where it fucked with me on stage. I had one show back in ’94 or ’95 on the ‘Awake’ tour. We were playing Toronto, and all of a sudden my back just cramped up, and that was it. I couldn’t move. So in between songs we had to ask if there was a chiropractor in the house and literally stopped the show for 15 minutes for a chiropractor to come snap me back into place.”

Portnoy added: “So, yeah, it starts to take his toll. And like I said, I’m gonna be 58, and I try to warm up as best I can before a show. Usually about a half hour before showtime, I have a practice pad kit in the dressing room. And I don’t have any specific routines — I’m not like a rudiment type of player — but I’ll just get singles and doubles going, just to get the blood flowing and get the muscles kind of warmed up a little bit and try to not go on stage cold, if possible.”

DREAM THEATER kicked off the North American leg of its 40th-anniversary tour on February 7 at The Met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The trek is “An Evening With Dream Theater” and is the first tour of North America since Portnoy‘s return to the lineup, joining guitarist John Petrucci, singer James LaBrie, bassist John Myung and keyboardist Jordan Rudess. The tour will conclude on March 22 in New York City.

DREAM THEATER‘s sixteenth studio album, “Parasomnia”, came out on February 7, 2025 via InsideOut Music. The LP marks DREAM THEATER‘s first release with Portnoy since 2009’s “Black Clouds & Silver Linings”.

“Parasomnia” was produced by Petrucci, engineered by James “Jimmy T” Meslin, and mixed by Andy Sneap. Hugh Syme returns once again to lend his creative vision to the cover art.

Portnoy co-founded DREAM THEATER in 1985 with Petrucci and Myung. Mike played on 10 DREAM THEATER albums over a 20-year period, from 1989’s “When Dream And Day Unite” through 2009’s “Black Clouds & Silver Linings”, before exiting the group in 2010.

Mike Mangini joined DREAM THEATER in late 2010 through a widely publicized audition following the departure of Portnoy. Mangini beat out six other of the world’s top drummers — Marco Minnemann, Virgil Donati, Aquiles Priester, Thomas Lang, Peter Wildoer and Derek Roddy — for the gig, a three-day process that was filmed for a documentary-style reality show called “The Spirit Carries On”.