Dream Theater Talk New Album, New Tour, Mike Portnoy’s Return
Mike Portnoy cannot remember the last time he sat for an interview as a member of Dream Theater, the band he left in 2010. And nobody in the prolific prog-metal band can remember the last time all five musicians took part in an interview together. The drummer, who returned to the band last year, says he’s looking forward to it, though, as he finds a seat between guitarist John Petrucci and vocalist James LaBrie in the live room of the group’s Long Island, New York studio/HQ.
“We didn’t do group interviews for a while,” Petrucci tells Rolling Stone.
“The more people you have involved in an interview,” LaBrie says, “It can be a problem.” He smiles and deadpans, “See you later,” and stands up. But then he settles back into his seat, and it’s clear the group feels reinvigorated after Portnoy’s return.
Most of the space in the newly refurbished studio, where the band is writing its 16th album, is taken up by Portnoy’s gargantuan drum set. Yet keyboardist Jordan Rudess and bassist John Myung are nevertheless able to find room to huddle in, too. But it’s such a tight huddle that Petrucci, who’s producing the album, gently asks Myung to watch where he leans since he’s close to an expensive microphone.
When asked what they’ve been up to, Petrucci says, “Specifically this,” and plays an angular guitar riff, smiling. In addition to the album, they’re in the first stages of planning what will be their 40th anniversary tour (even though 2024 is Dream Theater’s 39th year), which kicks off in Europe in October. The first date will take place at London’s O2 Arena on Oct. 20, and the full routing is below the Q&A. But even a year early, the trek is a victory lap for the band.
A decade ago, a reunion with Portnoy, who co-founded the group with Petrucci and Myung at the Berklee College of Music in 1985, seemed unthinkable. After telling his bandmates he was feeling burnt out around 2010, he cut a record as the drummer for Avenged Sevenfold and announced he was quitting Dream Theater. Since then, he’s sat behind the kit of several groups, including the Winery Dogs, Adrenaline Mob, and the Neal Morse Band, among others, occasionally sparring with his former Dream Theater bandmates in the press. They moved forward with another drummer, Mike Mangini, and won a Grammy. But strong familial ties — including the fact that Petrucci’s, Myung’s, and Portnoy’s wives all play together in their own band, Meanstreak — brought Portnoy back into their orbit, and last October, they officially announced his return.
To accommodate the drummer and his apartment-sized kit, they refurbished their whole HQ, which looks like an unassuming warehouse in suburban Long Island, expanding their main studio since, quite frankly, all of his drums wouldn’t fit. For nearly two months now, they’ve been spending six days a week together, sometimes working 10 hours a stretch. “We’re deep in the process, but it’s been great,” Portnoy says.
“We are on our sixth song,” Petrucci says. “We’re still in the process, so we don’t know how many songs we’ll actually have.” About a week after the Rolling Stone interview, though, Portnoy posted to Instagram that he had finished recording his drum tracks for the album. As each of the five musicians says during an interview that lasts a little over an hour, Portnoy’s return was meant to be.
At your first rehearsal with Mike, what was the first song you played?
Mike Portnoy: We immediately started writing. It was just jamming for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, just whatever. We have yet to play any of the old songs together. We came in here with a mission to create some new magic and, immediately just without even discussing it, just started jamming. And then from there, some seeds were born, and we just immediately started writing and building right there and then.
James LaBrie: What was evident to each of us was there was a familiarity. The chemistry was there. It was like somebody threw me in a time warp. It’s like we picked up from where we left off [with him].
Why did the four of you want Mike to return?
LaBrie: I think we had to return the band back to its strongest form.
Petrucci: It wasn’t one singular thing; it was sort of a series of life events that caused an organic conclusion. We all talked about it. It was like, “Yeah, this makes sense right now.”
Jordan Rudess: There’s so many factors involved, and each of us has our particular relationships. And it was just a moment when everything seemed to come together, and we went, “You know what? Let’s do this. Now’s the time.”
John Myung: It was a collective moment of certainty.
Petrucci: That sounds like an album title. [All laugh].
Mike, did it surprise you when they invited you back into the band?
Portnoy: Before the Covid pandemic, if you had asked me or any of these guys, “Was a reunion in the cards?” I probably would’ve said, “I doubted that it could happen.” I think if the lockdown hadn’t happened, you guys probably would’ve been on tour, and I would’ve been on tour with one of my 48 bands.
But once we were all locked down, John asked me to play on his solo album. Then, from there, Jordan, John, and myself did the Liquid Tension Experiment album. And then I did John’s tour. So there were just these series of events of reconnecting us — not only on a musical level but also on a personal level for many years prior to that.
All of our families are friends. And my daughter and John’s daughter shared an apartment together for many, many years. And John Myung lives right down the block from me, and his wife’s at my house every night. There was just a series of events both personally and musically that started to feel like, “Well, maybe this really is in the cards. Maybe this is the right time.”
Do you see this reunion as healing a fractured band?
Portnoy: I don’t want to be over-philosophical about it, but as we’re all getting older. Here we are in our 50s and 60s. You start to think of the reality of, “How much time do we have left?” I would hate it if this were to become a Roger Waters—Pink Floyd or Peter Gabriel with Genesis situation where the fans want it, but it never happens.
Petrucci: When Mike left the band, it was traumatic for all of us. We had to figure out how we were going to move our career forward. And those years that went by, they were also healing years because you don’t just have something like that happen, and all of a sudden, you’re all best buddies a week later. There’s some trauma there that had to heal. Thirteen years was enough time for that to happen and be like, “Hey, you know what, man? We love each other like we’re brothers.”
How did you all move past the war of words in the press?
Petrucci: I don’t think it matters anymore.
Portnoy: Well, now it definitely doesn’t matter anymore. But no question, the first couple of years [after I left], it was dramatic. It was difficult on a personal level, and living in the age of social media didn’t help things because every single interview or comment got twisted and blown up and dissected and taken out of context. But once I saw each of these guys individually before we got back as a band, to me, all that bullshit and drama melted away.
[Portnoy turns to LaBrie]. I don’t know if it’s uncomfortable to talk about, but the last person I reconnected with was James. I’ll speak for myself, but when we finally connected, and we saw each other in person, all that shit just melted away within seconds.
How was that moment for you, James?
LaBrie: It was pretty intense. It was overwhelming for me because, for one, I was thinking about the show that night. It was at the Beacon Theatre in New York. And for two, there’s this guy that wants to meet me that is my brother, and I have to accept him back into my life. And it was very emotional because we had gone through what we had gone through.
Did you have doubts about seeing him again?
LaBrie: To be honest with you, I called my wife, and I said, “Mike’s here. He wants to see me.” And she said, “You got to do it because this is your brother. This is somebody that created who and what you are today. Move through it, and you’ll be happier. Take the monkey off your fucking back.”
Mike and I are both very emotional and passionate people. And I think that led to the reason for us not coming together until we did. But as soon as I saw him, like he said, I came out of my dressing room, I saw him, and I was like, “Come here.” And I gave him a fucking hug. And that was it. [They both say “Aww,” and hug again]. Thank God it happened.
Mike, that Beacon show was your first time seeing Dream Theater. What did you think?
Portnoy: It sucked without me. [All laugh]. Well, I wasn’t watching them to be critical; it was more of just an emotional thing. But it was surreal seeing the band since the three of us formed the band when we were teenagers. We formed it at Berklee College of Music when we were 18 years old, and we had 25 years together before I left the band. So it was weird to be on the other side of the stage hearing “Pull Me Under” and on top of it all, it was magnified by the fans. They saw me sitting there watching the band. I was trying to not bring any attention to myself, but it was hard with a blue beard sticking out from my hood.
LaBrie: I brought attention to the fact.
Portnoy: Yeah, James pointed me out. I was like, “Oh, man, thanks a lot.”
How did watching the show make you feel?
Portnoy: I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it made me miss the band. During those 13 years, I would watch from the sidelines, just kind of keeping tabs. I didn’t really stay fully involved with what these guys were doing because, honestly, it hurt. They’d put out a new album, and I would always listen to it once or twice, just out of curiosity. But it was painful. So it took me many, many years to be able to go see a Dream Theater show.
How did Mike Mangini take the news that you were inviting Mike Portnoy back?
Petrucci: He understood immediately the move that we were making. And he accepted it and welcomed that change in a really gracious way.
LaBrie: It felt right to him.
Petrucci: It made this whole process start on a positive note.
Mike, are there songs from the Mangini albums they made without you that you’d like to play live?
Petrucci: I don’t think he knows any of them. [All laugh].
Portnoy: One of the things we discussed with me coming back was about set lists for future tours. And John and the guys were open to me taking the reins back [in making them]. But with that came the discussion: what are we going to do with all the stuff from the last 13 years?
Petrucci: Yeah, you need to research.
Portnoy: I need to dive into those albums and do my research and learn these songs in order because obviously everything has to be represented. I am not going to speak for these guys, but I don’t think they want those five albums just erased from the history of the band.
Petrucci: No, absolutely not. Especially not the Grammy Award-winning [“The Alien”]. Did I just say that?
Portnoy: Geez.
LaBrie: The irony in that is I don’t want to play that song.
In the past, you’ve done tours billed as “An Evening With Dream Theater,” where you don’t have support acts and you play longer. Is that what this upcoming tour will be?
Petrucci: Yeah. And we’re billing it as our 40th-anniversary tour. It coincidentally coincides with us being together for 40 years.
Myung: I got a brainstorm. [All look]. We’ll do five nights at Radio City, tonight we’ll do a different album.
Petrucci: You heard it here first. [Laughs].
I understand that that may not happen, but it’s nice you’re thinking about these things.
Portnoy: For me, it’s exciting to play anything because we haven’t played live together in almost 15 years. Back then, I felt the need to write a different set list for every show because we had been doing it for all those years. We had played “Pull Me Under” a thousand times. But now, having been away from it, every night is going to be inspiring and exciting, at least for me, because we haven’t played it in all this time. There’s literally a generation of kids that never got to see this lineup.
Petrucci: I got that on my solo tour. They were family members who would bring their kids. And they were freaking out because they were like, “I’m so glad my son or daughter got to see you and Mike play together because they weren’t born yet.”
LaBrie: What’s funny about that is when I saw you guys in Toronto, I remember thinking, “Fuck, that’s undeniable.” It’s just like the connection was just boom.
Portnoy: On John’s tour, we’d look out and see grown men crying every single night. And now we’re looking forward to a whole bunch more people crying each and every night. If they were crying for just the two of us, think about what’s going happen when five of us.
Myung: We should sell tissue boxes.
How does the band feel different with Mike back? Has he changed? Have you all changed?
Portnoy: I’ve changed a lot since I left in 2010. Back then, I was a control freak. I was very obsessive and controlling over a lot of elements. But everything I’ve done over the last 13 years outside of Dream Theater taught me how to be more of a team player. I’ve had all these experiences playing with these 87 other bands all these years, and each one of those bands has a different chemistry, different dynamic, different personalities. I think that’s helped me grow as a person. For me, [returning] is almost like a learning process of how to fit in with this new chemistry. It’s like, after 40 years, I’m the new guy.
Petrucci: We definitely had the hard conversation like, “OK, this isn’t the same band you left. Things are run differently.” It took us a few years to regroup and figure things out, and we got to a point where we’re a really well-oiled machine. But Mike has been great. He’s way more chill. [Turns to Portnoy]. You even say some things that are kind of funny, like, “If I’m allowed to do this.” You don’t have to be that careful, but I appreciate it. I feel like it’s very respectful on his part. It’s like a reset.
Myung: There’s a maturity everybody has. It involves having more patience and just being more mellow and appreciating each other and what we bring. We keep talking about the group dynamic, what it takes to have a bunch of guys together and have it really work and move forward. We just feel that those elements are there to make a great album and to enjoy being together, and to enter this next phase with some real grace.
Does anything feel different musically?
Portnoy: Everything we’ve been writing sounds like every classic Dream Theater song or album. The style is here. The chemistry is the same. The people and the elements are the same. It all just feels and sounds so familiar.
Petrucci: There’s maturity in your playing, just the way it hits, the flow, the groove, the feel. It’s always been great, but it’s even better. When we’re cutting a new drum track, it’s just brilliant from the first hit.
Portnoy: Aw, thank you.
Rudess: I think one of the things that makes Dream Theater really loved by the fans is the fact that we try to come from the heart, and we love a good melody. We’re not afraid of playing music that feels emotional. And Mike coming back into the band with who he is and who he is now gives us extra energy.
How will you know when the album is done?
Petrucci: There are different factors. A lot of times we’ll base it on how long we want this record to be.
Portnoy: Even though we have a very loose schedule, and we have control over that, we do have a tour in October. So you look at that and backtrack: If we’re starting the tour on October 20th, we need to be in rehearsals by the last week of September, which means that the album needs to be mixed and mastered, and delivered by X date. We need to have it tracked before we can mix it, so that kind of dictates it. Luckily, we’re not at the mercy of a studio that’s kicking us out or of a label that’s pulling the plug on the project. But scheduling a tour is something you need to be conscious of.
Looking ahead to the tour. Are you ready?
Portnoy: We expect the first show to be an emotional experience — not only for the five of us but for everybody in the audience. I have a feeling there will be people coming in from all over the world to be present for the first show together. It’s scary because, under normal circumstances, it takes a bunch of shows to get your sea legs back. But in this case, we need to hit the ground running. That first show is going to be dissected with a magnifying glass in the age of YouTube. We can’t suck. The pressure’s on.
Dream Theater Tour Dates:
Oct. 20 – London, England @ The O2
Oct. 22 – Berlin, Germany @ Uber Eats Music Hall
Oct. 23 – Koln, Germany @ Palladium
Oct. 25 – Milan, Italy @ Forum
Oct. 26 – Rome, Italy @ Palazzo dello Sport
Oct. 28 – Munich, Germany @ Zenith
Oct. 29 – Zagreb, Croatia @ Arena Zagreb
Nov. 1 – Budapest, Hungary @ Budapest Arena
Nov. 2 – Prague – Czech Republic @ Fortuna Arena
Nov. 3 – Lodz, Poland @ Atlas Arena
Nov. 6 – Helsinki, Finland @ Metro Areena
Nov. 8 – Stockholm. Sweden @ Waterfront
Nov. 9 – Oslo, Norway @ Spektrum
Nov. 10 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Poolen
Nov. 12 – Luxembourg @ Rockhal
Nov. 13 – Zurich, Switzerland @ The Hall
Nov. 14 – Lyon, France @ Halle Tony Garnier
Nov. 16 – Lisbon, Portugal – MEO Arena
Nov. 17 – Madrid, Spain @ La Cubierta de Leganés
Nov. 20 – Stuttgart, Germany @ Beethovensaal
Nov. 21 – Frankfurt, Germany @ Jahrhundderthalle
Nov. 23 – Paris, France @ Adidas Arena
Nov. 24 – Amsterdam @ AFAS Live
