Mike Portnoy rejoined Dream Theater last year after a 13-year break and replaced Mike Mangini. Jordan Rudess discussed Portnoy’s return, as well as the differences between him and Mangini, during a recent chat with Myglobalmind:
“It was such a welcome change to go back to our, as we say, core lineup, ’cause although I think that Dream Theater survived quite nicely in the days without him, we had a magnificent drummer and Mike Mangini, we toured around the world, we did fine with, of course, the COVID interruption, which messed everybody up, and we won a Grammy. All that was good. But having Mike come back, it’s just you feel like there’s this missing — well, there are these missing elements that were gone that now have come back.”
What Sets Portnoy Aside
Dream Theater announced a new LP with Portnoy shortly after his return last October. Rudess listed what elements the drummer brought back in the record by saying:
“One of them being relating to the way that he thinks. He’s so unusual. I think of him like a film director, like a movie director. He’s always thinking conceptually. He’s always thinking, ‘Oh, we played that part,’ and ‘that part could relate to this part’ and ‘if we do this, it’ll connect here. And then we have this visual element,’ tying things together in ways that I don’t think about those things and nobody else does. And he does.”
He added:
“And I feel like it brings, especially in our genre of music, it brings this beautiful element to everything, more things to sink your teeth into. And I think when people get this album, they’re gonna really appreciate a lot of that kind of stuff that’s in this that’s making it more than just a cool album of Dream Theater music.”
Recording For The New Album Is Almost Done
John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy finished guitar and drum tracks for the new album by May 2024. Jordan Rudess confirmed recording all the keyboards last month.
Rudess shared about James LaBrie’s vocal parts:
“I finished all my keyboard parts, and I’m very pleased about that. I think James is in the studio very, very soon, or now; I’m not sure. But he’s doing his vocal parts, and then the whole mix and the master and all that stuff will happen. And then we don’t have a release date, or it’s not announced yet, but I’m so excited about the Dream Theater album because I feel like having Portnoy come back, the timing of it was perfect.”
Dream Theater will also be back on stage this October to celebrate their 40th anniversary with a new tour. They’ll travel the world until the end of the year.