Mike Portnoy shared how he kept his drumming skills sharp during a recent appearance on the ‘So… You Want To Be A Musician?’ podcast with Nick D’Virgilio.
“I’ll be honest, I’m starting to feel my age a little bit,” he responded. “I’m not the kid I was 20, 30 years ago. So, you’ve just gotta do the best you can. I mean, for me, I play so much that it keeps me on my toes.”
Portnoy reunited with Dream Theater in October 2023 after Mike Mangini’s departure. “Up until rejoining Dream Theater recently, I was playing in so many different bands, which meant I was constantly playing, constantly surrounded by different musicians, which always inspired me,” he explained. “The different people I played with and a different style of music, all those 13 years outside of Dream Theater, where I did all these different bands and everything, that inspired me.”
The drummer collaborated with a variety of musicians like Neal Morse, Avenged Sevenfold, Transatlantic, and The Winery Dogs during his time away from the band. He noted that these experiences pushed him to try new things and do his best.
“The playing has always kept me up to speed and keeps me growing and developing and the different scenarios,” Portnoy continued. “And now that I bring that back to where I am with Dream Theater, it’s a cool perspective because I’m coming back to Dream Theater with a whole dozen years’ worth of experiences that I’ve had outside the band.”
He added, “And they as well — they’ve gone the last 13 years with their own experiences that I didn’t have with them. So, it’s kind of exciting at this stage of my life to bring it back together and have this third act, if you will.”
Dream Theater finished writing and recording the drum tracks for their first album with Portnoy in fifteen years, as of April 2024. John Petrucci’s guitars, and Jordan Rudess’ keyboards followed in June.
The release date for the album has not yet been announced.