Quotes from Mike Portnoy

In all of my years in this business, I've always been part of either a progressive band or a metal band.

Some of my heroes are John Bonham, Keith Moon, Neil Peart, Ringo Starr, Terry Bozzio, Bill Bruford... The list goes on and on and on.

When you're putting together a concept album, it's all about the flow and the story.

People always say to me, 'Well, how can a marriage last when you're away as much as you are?' And I always say, 'Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder.' That time apart from each other has actually strengthened our relationship.

Dream Theater was my baby. I formed it from the beginning, out of college, and I lived a lifetime with them.

I love the Dream Theater guys dearly and have a long history, friendship, and bond that runs incredibly deep with them - it's just that I think we are in serious need of a little break.

I've been asked to write a book several times; I've had several publishers come to me and offer me book deals. Especially right after I left Dream Theater and Avenged Sevenfold, there was a lot of drama going on in my life, so the book companies came at me thirsty for blood and gossip. And I turned down all the deals.

I have so much gratitude that I get to do this for a living and that I actually have fans who come to the shows and buy the records and support me online.

I don't think I was ever meant to be tied down to one band for the rest of my life, playing one style of music.

I absolutely am not the 'de facto front man' in The Mob - that title surely goes to Russell Allen, who is one of the best front men in the business. I am just happy to be part of the band and not necessarily leading it.

With Dream Theater live, I may have been a bit of a focal point because I absolutely live for the energy on stage, and having interaction with the audience is absolutely crucial to me - regardless of how some others have described it!

We kind of established in Sons of Apollo right from the get go that it would be a very collaborative process musically, but after that, I was going to take the reins and control everything else beyond that the way I did with Dream Theater.

Life is too short for resentments, and I always forgive.

I kind of always made it a tradition, whenever Dream Theater played Toronto, to play a Rush cover.

I'd just like to be remembered as a huge music lover.

The most bizarre occurrence has to be when I dislocated my wrist during a show in Germany in 1997.

I don't like when I see bands that are just a memory of what they used to be, and there's a few out there that I've seen recently that are still touring... I'm not gonna name them, but some of the members can barely play their parts, and then they have a lot of other members that weren't even originally in the band.

I don't consider myself a great drummer. I consider myself just a music fan that's a very, very passionate artist, and the drums just happen to be my instrument.

I tend to like the heavier things, especially live on stage. I need that energy and interaction and feeling the audience.

When you're making this kind of music, you don't need a producer. If you're making pop albums or trying to write hit singles, then yeah, but if you're writing 20-minute prog epics, as long as you know how to make it sound good, and you have a good mixer, that's all you need.

The reality is, when I'm sitting in a hotel room at 3 in the morning, and I see something on the Internet that interests me in the form of a band I want to hear, I like the ability to just go online to iTunes and download it immediately.

There's been a lot of crossing paths with the Yes camp over the years for me. The first one was when Dream Theater and Yes toured together in 2004, which was a lot of fun.

A lot of bands, they'll try to jump on the bandwagon or the fad or the fashion, and they'll skyrocket, have this quick overnight fame. But as soon as that fad or fashion changes, they'll go out with it.

You can put me in front of any kit, and it is a fun thing to have to adapt. It inspires me to try different things. I like that.