Mike Portnoy

Mike Portnoy
Background information
Birth name Michael Stephen Portnoy
Also known as Mike Darkness
Born April 20, 1967 (1967-04-20) (age 43)
Long Beach, New York, US
Genres Progressive metal, progressive rock, heavy metal, hard rock
Instruments Drums, vocals, bass, Guitar
Years active 1985–present
Labels Roadrunner
Associated acts Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, Liquid Trio Experiment, Neal Morse, Transatlantic, Yellow Matter Custard, OSI, John Arch, Avenged Sevenfold
Website Mike Portnoy.com

Michael Stephen Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer and backing vocalist for the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Known for his drumming prowess and technical skill, Portnoy has won 23 awards from the Modern Drummer magazine. He has co-produced the last six Dream Theater albums with guitarist John Petrucci, starting from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. From A Change of Seasons onwards, Portnoy had been writing a substantial amount of Dream Theater's lyrics, filling the void left by Kevin Moore, who left the band after the band's release of Awake. He is the second youngest person (after Neil Peart) to be inducted into the Modern Drummer's Hall of Fame (at 37 years of age). On September 8 2010, Portnoy announced he would be leaving Dream Theater.[1]

Contents

Pre-Dream Theater history

Mike Portnoy was born April 20, 1967 and raised on Long Island in Long Beach, New York.[2] According to a post made by Jordan Rudess on his forum, Mike is ethnically Jewish but does not practice Judaism religiously. His father worked as a DJ at a local radio station, helping Portnoy gain an appreciation for music at an early age particularly, as Portnoy has pointed out, because he had access to his father's collection of LPs. He developed a preference for bands including Rush, Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Iron Maiden, and The Beatles, among many others. Although Portnoy claims to be self-taught as a drummer, he did take music theory classes in high school. During that period he began playing in local bands, two of which (Rising Power and Inner Sanctum) recorded and released an independent album. He left Inner Sanctum (the last high school band) after being awarded a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston; however, he left Berklee soon afterward. There, he met John Petrucci and John Myung. They formed a band, initially taking name "Majesty" before changing the name to Dream Theater.

Influences

Drummers

Portnoy names his biggest influences on the drums on his DVD: In Constant Motion as including: Neil Peart, John Bonham, Terry Bozzio, Bill Bruford, Phil Collins, Vinnie Colaiuta, Peter Criss, Nick Mason, Keith Moon, Carl Palmer, Vinnie Paul, Simon Phillips, Ringo Starr, Tony Royster Jr. and Lars Ulrich.

In the April 2001 edition of Modern Drummer he also recognizes Billy Cobham, Stewart Copeland, Jon Fishman, Dave Lombardo, Andy Sturmer, Chester Thompson, Nick D'Virgilio, and Alan White as influences.[3]

Influential bands

Bands who have influenced Portnoy include Jane's Addiction, The Beatles, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Jellyfish, King Crimson, King Diamond, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Marillion, Metallica, Muse, Umphrey's McGee, Megadeth, Meshuggah, Opeth, Pantera, Phish, Deep Purple, Radiohead, Rush, Queen, Tool, The Who, U2, Yes, composer/guitarist Frank Zappa and A Perfect Circle.

Awards and recognition

Portnoy has won 23 awards from Modern Drummer magazine, including "Best Up & Coming Talent" (once) "Best Clinician" (two times), "Best Educational Video/DVD" (two times), "Best recorded performance" (6 times) and "Best Progressive Rock Drummer" (for 12 consecutive years), and is also the second youngest person (at 37 years of age) to be inducted into the Rock Drummer Hall of Fame since Neil Peart was inducted in 1983 (at 31 years of age). And has most recently won The Spirit of Prog award from the 2009 Classic Rock awards with his band Dream Theater, where they were also nominated for Album of the Year for their release, Black Clouds and Silver Linings.

He has also been the catalyst for founding several other progressive rock groups and projects: Transatlantic, Liquid Tension Experiment, and O.S.I. (with former Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore), touring as well with Mexican drummer "Chucho" Dávila giving free clinic sessions to local Music Stores in Texas in 2005.

He has released three instructional videos, "Progressive Drum Concepts", "Liquid Drum Theater", which has won awards from Modern Drummer Magazine, and his latest "In Constant Motion". He has also released many "Official Bootlegs" on his website, including footage of the studio sessions for the Dream Theater albums Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Train of Thought, Octavarium and the Transatlantic release Bridge Across Forever. He has also released bootlegs of his tribute bands Hammer of the Gods (a Led Zeppelin tribute), Yellow Matter Custard (The Beatles), Cygnus and the Sea Monsters (Rush), and Amazing Journey (The Who).

On September 18, 2006 within his website's Forum Portnoy cagily stated that he had finally met one of his drummer heroes from youth from the band Rush; drummer Neil Peart (one of the few heroes from his youth Portnoy had never met, owing to Peart's legendary privacy), that "Neil and I have finally met and we spent some time together this week and had a great time..." [2], and that a possible collaboration was underway/had been discussed with the teasing statement of "Patience everybody... all will soon be revealed!" It has now been revealed that this meeting was for an interview Portnoy did for his stint as guest editor of Rhythm Magazine.[3] Portnoy had previously written the liner notes for the Japanese pressing of Rush's 2002 release Vapor Trails [4], but also publicly denounced Peart in 2000 after Peart called the people involved in the Rush tribute "bar bands" [4] It was later determined that it was a misunderstanding; Portnoy was not a part of the tribute band in question.

In the October 2009 issue of Rhythm Magazine, Portnoy was listed as #5 in their list of the Top 50 Drummers of All Time. [5]

He was also featured on VH1's Metal Mania. He drummed for the show's cover of Motorhead's Overkill.

On February 17, 2010, Avenged Sevenfold announced that Portnoy will be filling in for their former drummer Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, who passed away in December. Portnoy was known to be Sullivan's all time favorite drummer, and has been quoted saying, "It would be an honor and, without question, that’s what Jim would have wanted." Portnoy will join Avenged Sevenfold in the studio over the next few months in order to record their upcoming album, which will be in Sullivan's memory.

As voted on by 6,500 drummers worldwide, Portnoy won the Drummies Award for Best Progressive Rock drummer in 2010, while Joey Jordison of Slipknot/Rob Zombie/Murderdolls won the award for Best Metal drummer.[5]

Drum kits and percussive equipment

Several of Portnoy's drum kits also make use of Roland electronic drum pads. Mike uses these as what he calls the "secret cowbell", to count off the songs in a way that only his fellow band members and the technicians can hear it. An example of this can be seen on the Score DVD, where it can be seen in the background that Mike counts off the song "Under A Glass Moon" on the pad. Mike explains the use of these pads in the commentary track of the "Drum Cam Only" version of the Live At Budokan DVD, as well as the "Mike's Stage Tour" featurette on the Chaos in Motion 2007–2008 DVD.

Tama has marketed two different sized Mike Portnoy signature snare drums, known as "Melody Masters" (named after Melody, his daughter), since the late 1990s. The smaller of the two has a 12x5" steel shell and the larger has a 14x5.5" maple shell. Both snare models have a unique three way snare strainer mechanism.[7]. Portnoy and Tama have custom-made versions in various colors to match the color schemes of the kit he was using at the time (i.e. The "Purple/Red/Green Monsters", "Siamese Monster" "Albino Monster", etc.). For 2006, in recognition of his 'Albino Monster' kit, he released only 250 of these snares worldwide in a white, gloss finish. The older colour (black) is not limited edition.

Sabian has marketed three different sized signature cymbal stacks, known as "Max Stax" (named after his son, Max). They consist of a hand hammered china kang-style cymbal on top of a splash (or crash) cymbal that can be played much more like a drum than a cymbal, used much more in traditional drum fills than most quickly decaying cymbal tones. Their sizes are 8/8", 10/10" and 12/14". Sabian has also marketed odd-sized 7, 9, and 11" "Max Splash" cymbals which also have a fast decay and can be used in fills and drum patterns that have the same namesake.[8]

Mike Portnoy has endorsed Promark sticks since the early 1990s. His signature stick is the TX420N [9]. It is made of hickory 5A sized stick, with a white nylon 747 sized taper and has purple print to match the Purple Monster's motif. The "420" in the model number, which is also printed on the sticks, is a reference to his birthday (and not a marijuana reference, as has been suggested). He is known for gripping his left stick on the reverse side to attain a different sound on the snare drum. It should also be noted that he has a rather rare grip on his right stick, with it being held solely between the thumb and the index finger.

Portnoy is also a member of a tribute band called "HAIL!". HAIL!'s rotating cast of members include Andreas Kisser, Tim "Ripper" Owens, Paul Bostaph, David Ellefson, Jimmy DeGrasso and Roy Mayorga. Ripper, DeGrasso, Ellefson and Kisser formed the band in late 2008.[6] The band, toured Europe in 2009 and in June 2010 HAIL! is on their second European tour with the following line-up: Andreas Kisser, Tim "Ripper" Owens, Paul Bostaph and James LoMenzo.[7][8][9] Due to the tragic passing of previously announced bassist Paul Gray, LoMenzo agreed on only one day’s notice to fly to Portugal and rescue the Rock In Rio Festival where HAIL! was scheduled to perform on May 30, 2010.

Other musical equipment

Portnoy played John Myung's bass when Dream Theater performed as the fictitious band Nightmare Cinema. Before live performances of "Trial of Tears", he would sometimes switch instruments with John Petrucci and play "Eruption" by Van Halen. He was also seen playing a sunburst 4-string Music Man Bongo (also owned by John Myung) on The making of Systematic Chaos. He also plays bass guitar during a jam by Liquid Trio Experiment 2.

Avenged Sevenfold

On spring 2010, Mike Portnoy filled in for Avenged Sevenfold's former drummer, Jimmy The Rev Sullivan who passed away during the production of Avenged Sevenfold's new release called Nightmare.

On the 5th of May 2010, Portnoy released a statement on his status with Avenged Sevenfold on their official website saying: "Although I wish I could stay on board with A7X in a more permanent capacity, the reality is that I am committed to Dream Theater as my main priority and I will need to resume work with DT to start a new album at some point in 2011.....However, I will be able to join my brothers in Avenged Sevenfold for at least the duration of their touring throughout 2010.....You can look at me like the band's "rebound drummer" to buy them some time until they are comfortable and ready to make a commitment to somebody new for full-time relationship in their future!"[10]

On the 8th of September 2010, Portnoy announced that he was quitting Dream Theater.

"Wednesday September 8th 2010, I am about to write something I never imagined I'd ever write: After 25 years, I have decided to leave Dream Theater....the band I founded, led and truly loved for a quarter of a century."

Personal life

Mike and his wife Marlene (née Apuzzo) are currently living in suburban Philadelphia with their children, Melody Ruthandrea and Max John. Marlene used to be a guitarist in the all-female band Meanstreak, and two of the other members, guitarist Rena Sands and bassist Lisa Martens, are married to Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung, respectively.

Portnoy identifies himself as a recovering alcoholic and is an active member of alcoholics anonymous.[11] Dream Theater's Twelve-step Suite deals with his struggles.

Discography

With Dream Theater

With Liquid Tension Experiment

With Transatlantic

With Neal Morse

With OSI

With John Arch

With Avenged Sevenfold

Tribute Shows (CD and DVD)

(available at MikePortnoy.com only)

With selected musicians

Instructional DVD Releases

Mike Portnoy has released several instructional drumming videos/DVDs. These include:

Portnoy's self filmed performances

Mike has also self-released "drum-cam" DVDs of the last several Dream Theater and side project recording sessions through his own "MP4" production company. These are "in-studio" recordings typically consisting of Full Band, Isolated Drums tracks, and an Audio Commentary. These releases are only available for sale on Portrom the www.MikePortnoy.com store.

References

External links