Mike Portnoy: Sure, I'm an open book.

KS: You're 50 years in three weeks

MP: Yeah, yeah...

KS: Is that strange to think about?

MP: I guess so, yeah... I mean it's just strange... Time goes fast, time is fleeting. You know,

not only is it strange to be turning 50 but it's just strange that it's 2017. I remember

when I was young and seeing the movie, like "2001 a Space Odyssey" and thinking "oh my

god, that's like you know just so futuristic, oh my god, will we even be alive", and here

we are it's already 16 years past that, you know...

So time is a strange thing but yeah my... you know, my kids are now growing up and you

know, it's just time... time gets faster as we get older

KS: And you're celebrating your 50 years by doing a special tour as well with "Shattered

Fortress"?

MP: Well it was never supposed to be a tour, to be honest. I mean it was only ever going

to be just a set at my 50th birthday bash on "Cruise to the Edge" and you know, as you

know now that... now that it's already happened, you know, that show was supposed to be something

that celebrates my whole career so we had Transatlantic and Flying Colors and did some

Liquid Tension music. And of course I had to play Dream Theater music. So it seemed

like it was the perfect time and place to finally do the 12 steps suite.

And honestly it was never my intention to do anything more than just that, and then

once the word got out then suddenly "Night of the Prog" in Loreley [Germany] invited

me and then "Be Prog, My Friend" in Barcelona invited me and I was like "all right, well,

you know, maybe not everybody can go to the cruise... it's very expensive". So you know,

being that I'm already up and running and rehearsed why not, you know... But only now,

this is it. So I figured it's, you know, my 50th birthday year and I'll do this in some

select markets and it will be special for the fans and good for me to get it out of

my system and...

But that's it. Just one time only.

KS: How did you choose the people to go with you on that tour?

MP: Well, um, I guess it dates back a few years... Haken was doing a US tour and my

son's band "next to none" was was opening for them. And at the final show of the tour

they asked if I would come up and play the mirror with them... Haken, I'm talking about...

And so I went up and played the mirror with them and they just killed. It was perfect.

So in the back of my mind, I thought if I ever was going to do the 12 steps suite, this

is the band... You know, they're all incredible musicians individually and even as a band

I think Haken is the new... this new generations, like, prog metal super-band. I think they're

just... they are kind of like what - you know - what I used to do with Dream Theater reminds

me of, but a modern-day version..

KS: Yeah they're one of my favorite bands as well...

MP: Yeah so I knew in the back of my head I wanted to have them as my backing bands

if I was to ever do the 12 steps suite and then... But then I had the idea of also adding

Eric Gillette because Eric plays with me in the Neal Morse Band and of all the guitar

players I've played with through the years he reminds me the most of John Petrucci. He

just has got such a similar style. So I knew I wanted him to be a part of it as well, so

you know, here we are now - with three guitar players. You know, because Haken has two guitar

players... I wasn't going to do one without the other, and then Eric as well. So it's

now a big kind of Dream Theater Orchestra.

KS: So, you're doing 12 step suite on this tour, are you doing other Dream Theater songs

or other songs from your catalog as well?

MP: Uhm... Other Dream Theater songs that are my lyrics, you know... I stay only with

that. But there's a lot, you know, there's a lot of songs I wrote the lyrics to. And

whenever I wrote the lyrics, I wrote the vocal melodies, and I also did a lot of singing

usually within those songs. So yeah, inevitably, you know, it's all about the 12 steps suite...

But inevitably, some of these shows we're going to have, you know, a little extra time...

maybe a 90 minutes show or whatever... So there will be some extra songs as well...

KS: How's the Neal Morse Band tour going now? This tour that you're on now?

MP: It's been great, you know, we're doing "The Similitude of a Dream" from start to

finish and, as I've talked about so many interviews, to me it's a very special album... For me...

It is to me one of my favorite albums of my entire career, and one of my favorite albums

of Neal's entire catalog as well. So yeah it's a very special album for us and it just...

it seems to be really being received really well, you know, it's like - this music is

so dramatic but also so emotional. Like, every night I can see grown men crying in the audience,

you know, and it's amazing that people are being moved as much as they are by this music

and this story and the emotions of it.

KS: So when Neal Morse did transition from just "Neal Morse" to "Neal Morse Band", how

did that change for you creatively? How did you do drums in Neal Morse vs Neal Morse Band?

MP: Well, the drumming isn't changed. But it's the creative process that's very, very

different. For me the drumming is just a very very small bit of what I do but the creative

process changed immensely. With all the previous neal morse albums, you know, that I did from

2002 through 2014 or so - those were Neals albums. His music, you know... Randy and I

would occasionally have a suggestion here or there but for the most part, you know,

Randy and I were just the drums and the bass and it was all Neals music but...

Neal put together this band. He did YouTube auditions back in 2014 or so, and that's where

he found Bill Hubauer and Eric Gillette as well as Adson [Sodré] who was in the band

at that time. Yeah. But we went off on the momentum tour with this band, and it was just

such an amazing band. Like Bill plays every instrument from violin to clarinet to mandolin

to flute, you know... He's just an amazing all-round musician. And then Eric is this

crazy talent, like I mentioned already, you know, really reminds me of John in a lot of

respects in terms of his guitar playing. But he's also an incredible keyboard player, an

incredible drummer, incredible singer; he auditioned for Neal's band on every instrument

actually...

So anyway we have this... this great, great band and, you know, halfway through the momentum

tour Neal said: "you know, this is such a great band, it would be great to actually

utilize everybody's creativity and write together and have everybody singing, and you know"...

So that's when we decided to add the word "band" to "Neal Morse Band" - just that one

little word makes a huge difference because now, you know, we write the music together,

there's multiple singers, you know... Bill and Eric are doing a lot of lead vocals. I'm

doing a lot of singing. So the dynamic is very, very different from the older "Neal

Morse" albums.

KS: It's more fun this way?

MP: Uh, that's... You know, it's definitely more creative... Creatively satisfying...

But fun? I don't know... I have a different take on what makes a band fun. To me, sometimes

being in a band with four or five or six different chefs in the kitchen... It's great, it's a

great creative process, but it's also incredibly frustrating. Like, you know, in Dream Theater...

In all those years in Dream Theater I very much had a lot of creative control. And John

and I, you know, produced the albums together and then, you know, we wrote the music together...

But then from that point I had a lot of creative control and there's something to be said for...

The process is a lot easier that way, you know... After I left Dream Theater every band

I've done - Flying Colors, The Winery Dogs, Adrenaline Mob, Metal Allegiance, The Neal

Morse Band now - every one of these bands are kind of... you know... you know... democratic

bands where everybody has creative input, and... That's great because you get a little

bit of everybody in it but it's also very frustrating, you know... Like every single

aspect, there's like 100 emails, you know, and I'm in like 4-5 different bands at a time

so every question for every band branches off to million emails so that's not fun yes

not too much fun it's a lot easier when you can make a decision and just move forward...

KS: Especially when you want to be in control and you have that desire to kinda...

MP: Well, to be honest, after all those years of Dream Theater I was very happy to be, you

know, a team player and, you know, for The Winery Dogs and Flying Colors, you know, actually

I'm very comfortable being a team player. I think I have this reputation of being a

control freak, but no... I actually like working together. It just sometimes can be very frustrating

and sometimes makes things take 10 times longer than they need to. But yeah, in terms of is

it more fun for the Neal Morse Band to write together and make decisions together: It's

definitely a special band and, you know, a great, great chemistry.

KS: So do you follow newer progressive music? What's your take on branching off like Djent

or stuff... like more Jazzy influences?

MP: I love it! I mean, I... you know, uh, when I did those progressive nation towards

back in 2008-2009, the whole idea was to try to give some exposure to these bands like,

you know, Between the Buried and Me on the 2008 tour or Big Elf on the 2009 tour. You

know, those are... Right there two completely different types of progressive music, you

know, Big Elf is more more retro in the vein of Beatles, Pink Floyd and King Crimson whereas

Between the Buried and Me, you know, more in the djent kind of way. I love a lot of

these, you know, 8 string guitar bands like Periphery and Animals as Leaders and I...

You know, even my son's band Next to None is... Their new material is very, very much

in that vein. It's all detuned and a million time signatures and screamo vocals. To me

it's all part of the evolution of progressive music, you know, the word prog can mean anything

from Porcupine Tree to, you know, Periphery and I... I like it. I think it's important

for, you know, for the for the genre to do new things and not just be, you know, bands

that sound like Genesis and Yes, you know... I think it's important to have these kind

of heavy elements.

KS: Do you get inspired by that and want to create some...

MP: Oh, absolutely! To be honest I... I can't... It's already well beyond my abilities, you

know, even the stuff that my son Max is doing. He's outplaying me, you know, the drumming

on his upcoming album is insane, you know... Doing all these blast beats and... I can't

do things like that. I see all these YouTube drummers and players doing these... these

things that are way beyond my capabilities.

KS: So Max is the better drummer in the family, is that what you're saying?

MP: Well, technically? Possibly, yeah. You know...

KS: that's good, he has to have gotten it from somewhere

MP: Well, Drumming is all an evolution, you know, they're, you know... Max wouldn't be

doing what he's doing if it wasn't for him growing up listening to me and Chris Adler

and Joey Jordison. I wouldn't do what i do if it wasn't, you know, growing up listening

to Neil Peart; Neil Peart wouldn't be doing what he did if it wasn't, you know, growing

up listening to Keith Moon and Michael Giles... It's all... It's all that... The evolution

of drumming. And you know, you could say drummers today are technically better and faster and

more capable, but you know they would not be doing what they were doing if somehow Ringo

Starr didn't do it first 50 years ago, you know, so it's all about an evolution.

KS: And people always look like they're in the current and they're looking at the past

and looking at Ringo and "Oh, he's not a good drummer" and that's just false. Cause then

they're not looking at it from the period that he was in...

MP: Yeah, every, you know... Every band, Every drummer has its place in history and it's

all an evolution. You know, I grew up with the Beatles of Pink Floyd and Kiss and none

of those drummers are necessarily technical, but they were a big part of shaping who I

am.

KS: So what's your take... this is actually the 25th year since images and words were

released, that means for you this has been 25 years where you can actually call music

your full time career. You couldn't do that with When Dream And Day Unite, how has music

changed - the music business... For you?

MP: Well there's the business, and then there is the music itself. Those are two different

questions. But it's like we were just saying about the evolution... Like when Images and

Words came out 25 years ago, there weren't any other the bands combining progressive

music and heavy metal and, you know, Dream Theater gets a lot of credit for kind of inventing

that style. I don't think we invented it, I think we just kind of combined a lot of

different things, so... I get a lot of credit for the style of drumming I do and surely

I was just, you know, a conglomeration of all the drummer's I grew up listening to.

You know, the music scene was very, very different back then when we made that album in 91 and

then it came out of 92. You know, the whole grunge movement was taking over and it was

just a very different scene but even, you know, if you compare the music business then

to the way it is now... It's... It's worlds apart. You know, back then you had to get

a record deal if you wanted to make a record or get any success or go on tour. You had

to get a record deal. And, you know, that's why we spent years waiting to make that album

because, you know, we had to have a record deal before we could move forward. Nowadays,

you know, bands are just recording on their laptops in their basements. You can put it