Converted at this point into a classic of the Buenos Aires stages, Dream Theater will land again at the Movistar Arena on April 24 (tickets can be found on the venue’s website) to present their latest album, the conceptual Parasomniawhich they will play in their entirety. About that, and a few other things, Clarion spoke with Mike Portnoy (born in Long Beach, New York, in 1967). drummer and composer of the band.
Mike Portnoy He met the rest of the members of Dream Theater at Berklee University (in Boston, Massachusetts), the academic summum of musicians from around the globe.and in some ways that dictated the elaborate, ultra-technical sound of what became one of the most important progressive metal bands in history.
From Boston to New York, Dream Theater defined its convoluted and intense sound as the dynamics of these cities, and Portnoy with grace and seventies aesthetic, gestures at the screen and makes sense of the idea. “Well, we wrote an album called Metropolis Part II. And although we all grew up in suburban towns on Long Island primarily and two of us now live in Pennsylvania, we always met in the city and in the ’90s and ’00s we recorded our albums in New York City. So New York was always a big part of the inspiration for making a lot of those records.”
The level of detail that the group’s songs show, from the emotional depth to the merely technical, raises the question of how the group prepares to face a studio recording.
Portnoy tells us that “We would never, ever go into the studio with songs written. For practically 26 years now, we always come to the studio empty-handed and just put ideas on the table on the spot, all together. We develop the ideas together. That’s how it’s always been for Dream Theater. The music is that elaborate because it’s a collaboration. If it only came from one person, it might feel like one thing. But when you have four or five different people putting their ideas together you get a lot of ideas. really progressive and broad.”
For Dream Theater fans there is a particular period in the band’s history and it was when Mike Portnoy was not behind the patches between 2010 and 2023, the year in which his return was celebrated, with the 40th anniversary tour that brought the group to Buenos Aires at the end of 2024.
“My return to the band far exceeded my wildest expectations. I mean, that entire tour was the most successful Dream Theater had ever done. And the response to our reunion was absolutely incredible, and the attendance was too. The concerts were unforgettable, I really felt the energy, the excitement, the love and the support of our fan base. So, yeah, it was way beyond what any of us imagined at this point.”
After 40 years as a band, it is logical that Dream Theater feels like a family, an environment that is the comfort zone of Portnoy, a family man with all the law, to the point that he knew how to transmit his passion for music and art in general to his children Melody (actress and singer) and Max John (multi-instrumentalist and drummer for extreme bands like Tallah and Code Orange).
When asked about his not-so-kids, Portnoy beams with pride: “Well, I’m glad that Max John is such a good musician. It makes me proud. He’s not only a great drummer, but a great musician in general. Now he plays bass in his band Tallah and composes all the music. So he’s obviously very talented and puts a lot of time into it. He’s very, very talented… he spent a couple of years playing with Code Orange, which was a lot of fun for the fans. And watching him chase his dreams was one of “The most beautiful things I experienced. And about my daughter (sighs), my daughter is a great singer and a talented actress, she does musical theater. So seeing them both succeed is the most incredible thing I have ever experienced.”
Mike recognizes in his children an important influence and a source of constant inspiration, thanks to exchanging recommendations with them, both musical and philosophical, in this regard he exposes his romanticism intact for the power of music to change realities, from personal to global.
“Music can change the world in some way. Oh, absolutely. Without a doubt. Since the ’60s, when you had the Beatles singing Revolution and All You Need Is Loveuntil the ’90s with Rage Against the Machine or all these other bands that have a political message, yeah right, music can change the world completely. And I saw it firsthand on a smaller scale…
“I met many Dream Theater fans who were helped a lot by my lyrics, because I wrote lyrics about stopping drinking and how to go step by step towards recovery. Every day I’m on tour, I meet people who say those lyrics affected them and ended up changing their lives as a result of what they learned from them or even from the lyrics I wrote in dedication to my parents who passed away. It’s like this: lyrics like those touch people and they use them in their own lives to at the same time connect with or mourn people who have died,” says Portnoy, inspired.
