MIKE PORTNOY On His DREAM THEATER Bandmates: 'I Know I Hurt Them When I Left Them'

In a new interview with Tom Power, host of “Q” on Canada’s CBC Radio One, DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy reflected on his decision to leave the progressive metal band 15 years ago, a quarter century after he co-founded the group. Portnoy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Here’s the funny thing. When I left DREAM THEATER in 2010, I left because I was fried from the write-record-tour, write-record-tour, write-record-tour. It was just an endless cycle that was going on for 25 years at that point for me. And I, being the control freak I was, oversaw every element with not just the music and the lyrics and the melodies and the production, but also the merch and the fan clubs and everything, the setlist. So it was all-encompassing, and I was fried. So the biggest irony is I wanted to take a break and we came to a head where I ended up leaving the band because I needed a break. But that’s the biggest irony of all, is that I went off from there to form, like, 87 bands. [Laughs]”

He continued: “In the 13 years I was out of DREAM THEATER, I made — I don’t know — 50 or 60 albums with dozens of different bands and artists. So that’s the biggest irony, is I suddenly went from doing write-record-tour, write-record-tour with one band to now doing it with a dozen bands and never having a break. And everybody at first was, like, ‘Oh, we thought you needed a break.’ And I was, like, ‘Well, maybe I just needed a break from the DREAM THEATER world.’ Then I was very inspired doing all these albums with all these other musicians I admired and loved. And anything my imagination could think of, I was in this great position to put together these bands. I wanted to form a band with [then-DEEP PURPLE guitarist] Steve Morse. Okay. I formed a band with Steve Morse. I wanted to form a band with [MR. BIG‘s] Billy Sheehan and Richie Kotzen. ‘Okay, let’s do that.’ I wanted do something with [guitar legend] Tony McAlpine and [former DREAM THEATER keyboardist] Derek Sherinian, or do a thrash metal album with the guys from ANTHRAX and METALLICA and MEGADETH. Anything my imagination could think of, I was able to do all these other things with other people. So, yeah, it was the busiest, most fruitful decade-plus of my entire career. And I was able to do so many different musical styles. Everybody kind of knew me as the hundred-piece-drum-kit guy from DREAM THEATER, but suddenly now I was doing classic rock in the vein of CREAM or [Jimi] Hendrix with THE WINERY DOGS, or doing the thrash metal stuff with METAL ALLEGIANCE, or even doing hired-gun gigs. I had done a whole tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD. I had joined TWISTED SISTER for their farewell tour… I am the most unlikely person that you would ever think would be the guy to land the gig with TWISTED SISTER for their farewell tour. But I think, if anything, it more goes to show my eclectic taste. Even though I made my name with DREAM THEATER, doing DREAM THEATER-style progressive music, I’m still the biggest BEATLES fan you’ll ever meet, I’m the biggest U2 fan, the biggest JELLYFISH fan. So, yeah, I needed to spread my musical wings over those years away.”

Asked what he “had to do internally” in order for him to rejoin DREAM THEATER, Portnoy said: “Well, the first step was I needed to mend the personal relationships with all four of the other guys in the band, ’cause I know I hurt them when I left them, and I always felt really bad about that. I made a decision that essentially was very selfish, leaving the band at… We had just played Madison Square Garden with IRON MAIDEN and then, like, a month later I left the band. It’s, like, everything was full steam ahead at that point, but I made a selfish decision that I needed to scratch an itch, or else I would’ve regretted not leaving. I love that expression, ‘it’s better to regret something you have done than something you haven’t done,’ and that’s kind of where I was at. It was, like, man, ‘If I don’t follow my heart and try some other things, I’m gonna forever wonder what if.’ So I needed to do it. But in answer to your question, coming back, I needed to mend the personal relationships with all the guys and make amends for possibly hurting them. And it came slowly. I mean, first myself and [DREAM THEATER guitarist] John Petrucci started hanging out socially. Our families are our friends. Our wives used to play in a band together. Our kids are friends. So we started getting together for the holidays and just doing stuff with our families. And then it followed suit with [DREAM THEATER keyboardist] Jordan Rudess. Jordan and I would get together. And then [DREAM THEATER bassist] John Myung lives literally down the block from me where I live in Pennsylvania. So the personal relationships needed to be mended. And the final piece of that puzzle was [DREAM THEATER singer] James LaBrie, ’cause I hadn’t spoken to James in over a decade. And he held a grudge with me, and I had tried to make amends many times with him and he just wasn’t ready. And at one point towards the end of ’22, I think it was, I went and saw DREAM THEATER in New York and was able to see James in person for the first time, and within a minute everything melted away. Within a minute, it was big hugs, kisses: ‘I love you. I miss you.’ And all of that bullshit that transpired for years, all the drama immediately melted away. And that was it.”

Mike continued: “To be honest, even at that stage, when James and I mended fences, if somebody asked me, “Do you think you’d be back in DREAM THEATER?’, I would even at that point say, “Eh, I don’t know if I would bet on it. I don’t know.’ And then there started to be these musical steps that started to feel, ‘Okay, maybe this is inevitable.’ I played on John Petrucci‘s solo album and did a tour with him for his solo tour. Jordan and myself and John Petrucci did a third LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT album, along with Tony Levin. So we started having these musical steps that started to feel, ‘Well, maybe this is the time and place.’ And, we’re all getting older. We’re all in our late fifties, and some of the guys are even in their sixties at this point. And we look at what happened with RUSH. And they had done their 40th-anniversary tour and then retired and then, five years later, [RUSH drummer] Neil [Peart] was gone. So, things like that would make us think, like, who knows how much time we have left here — personally or collectively as a band? And with everything kind of coming together with us on personal levels and musical levels outside of DREAM THEATER, it started to feel, ‘Maybe this is the time.’ And I’m glad it did, because I see stories like Roger Waters never going back to PINK FLOYD or Peter Gabriel never going back to GENESIS, and I always dreaded, like, ‘I hope that’s not gonna be the case with me and DREAM THEATER. I hope we someday reunite and ride off into the sunset together, as it’s meant to be.’ And that’s where we’re at. Here we are.”

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

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 “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”.

DREAM THEATER kicked off the North American leg of its 40th-anniversary tour on February 7 at The Met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The trek was “An Evening With Dream Theater” and was the first tour of North America since Portnoy‘s return to the lineup. The tour concluded on March 22 in New York City.

“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.