Normally, when I write the setlist for a Dream Theater show, I'll change it up every night, and we can basically play whatever we want.
— Mike Portnoy
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.
Life is too short for resentments, and I always forgive.
The reality is, when I'm sitting in a hotel room at 3 in the morning, and I see something on the Internet that interests me in the form of a band I want to hear, I like the ability to just go online to iTunes and download it immediately.
My lesson would be to not sell yourself to anybody else and stay true to yourself.
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'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.
After I left Dream Theater, and I was doing Avenged Sevenfold, Twisted Sister... all these other things, I made a lot of new fans in a lot of new areas.
I don't think there's such a thing as a 'best' drummer.
With the Neal Morse Band, we're doing progressive music with a harder edge; it's a little more in Dream Theater territory for me. Flying Colors is a little more poppy, it's more Radiohead, Muse, and Coldplay territory, so I approach that drumming in a different way.
There's the drums, the music, the melodies, the lyrics, the production, the artwork: there are so many elements to making an album, and the drumming is just a very small fraction of what I focus on.
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.
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.
I surround myself with incredible musicians who inspire me to always do my best.
I spent my life's work doing what I did in Dream Theater for 25 years, so I'm proud of that.
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.
I'd just like to be remembered as a huge music lover.
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 tend to like the heavier things, especially live on stage. I need that energy and interaction and feeling the audience.
When Dream Theater first started, we were touring in a van and playing clubs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I love when people know me from things other than Dream Theater.
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.
When I first came out with the Winery Dogs, I had a Bonham set-up. That was such a departure from the huge kits that I had become known for. It was really enjoyable.
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.
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 guess I did make my name out of my drumming, and I have the big drum sets, and I'm doing all these crazy, odd-time signatures, so, yeah, I guess drumming was very important to what made me popular.
I'm a workaholic.
I kind of always made it a tradition, whenever Dream Theater played Toronto, to play a Rush cover.
When you're putting together a concept album, it's all about the flow and the story.
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.
When sequencing an album, you kind of have to look at it like you're making a movie with different acts, and you have ebb and flow, peaks and valleys. You want it to feel like a journey or a good movie or book where you can actually feel very satisfied at the ride at the end of it.
I usually have three to four bands a year going at any given point.
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'm not a politician; I'm a very open, honest guy, and that's the way it is - that's the way I am; take it or leave it.
I need to be creative all the time.
With Dream Theater, every creative aspect of the group went through me. I oversaw it all from top to bottom.
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.
When I sit down to do an interview, I try to be polite and answer the questions that I'm asked.
It's nice when somebody says that you're their 'favorite' drummer.
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 was always very extroverted and loud.
To me, there's way more to being a good drummer than precision and technique.
You don't have to be a great drummer to be the most important guy in the band.
Billy Sheehan has always been my number one favorite bass player of all time.
My love for Yes is pretty well-documented.
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.
