Quotes by Mike Portnoy - Page 2

I can't possibly overstate how much influence Rush had on me as a young teenager. I would say from about 1981 to 1987, they were my gods.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Overstate
Rush
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I think if there's any one band that every member of Sons of Apollo has been influenced by, I think Van Halen is the common ground for all five of us.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Apollo
Common Ground
Van Halen
Halen
Influenced
Sons
Van
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I understand that Adrenaline Mob is not going to be every Dream Theater fan's cup of tea. I totally get that; I understand that. It's different world.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Adrenaline
Cup
Different World
Mob
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In Adrenaline Mob, I'm not the leader, but I'm on the board of directors, and that's OK. I'm not stressing out over every detail. I'm sharing the load.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Adrenaline
Leader
Load
Board
Detail
Mob
Sharing
Stressing
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After I left Dream Theater, and I was doing Avenged Sevenfold, Twisted Sister... all these other things, I made a lot of new fans in a lot of new areas.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Twisted
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Gratitude
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In Adrenaline Mob there are five guys that are all absolutely insanely energetic performers each of their own right. It's like a five-ring circus on stage!
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Adrenaline
Circus
Energetic
Performers
Mob
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I'm a music fan first and foremost. I can find the beauty in Jellyfish and U2 just as much as Opeth and Lamb of God, just as much as I can with Rush and Yes.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Foremost
Just As Much
Lamb
Rush
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Music
Artist
Drummer
Passionate
Fan
Music Great Myself
Consider
Happen
Instrument
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When I first came out with the Winery Dogs, I had a Bonham set-up. That was such a departure from the huge kits that I had become known for. It was really enjoyable.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Departure
Enjoyable
Dogs
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I've known Russell Allen for over a decade now, and I've always thought he was a very underrated singer. He has one of the best voices in the business I've ever heard.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Allen
Best Business Always
Decade
Russell
Voices
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I see the headlines on Blabbermouth, and the fans are saying, 'Why is he always talking about Dream Theater?' I'm not talking about Dream Theater! I get asked about it.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Headlines
Not Talking
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Crossing
First One
Paths
Toured
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It's been an incredible experience, playing with Twisted Sister, Stone Sour, Avenged Sevenfold, jamming with Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, and the list goes on and on and on.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Sister
Peter
Sour
Twisted
Ace
Jamming
List
Stone
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I don't care about technique. I have kind of been pigeonholed as a technical drummer since I was in Dream Theater for all those years, but it's actually very far from the truth.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Don't Care
Drummer
Technique
Theater
Pigeonholed
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After I wrote 'The Best Of Times' for my dad and after I completed the '12 Steps Suite' with Dream Theater, I very much felt like I had said everything I wanted to say lyrically.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Steps
Completed
Lyrically
Suite
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Friendship
Break
Serious
Theater
Bond
Dearly
Guys
Incredibly
Long History
Runs
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There's the drums, the music, the melodies, the lyrics, the production, the artwork: there are so many elements to making an album, and the drumming is just a very small fraction of what I focus on.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Artwork
Drumming
Elements
Fraction
Melodies
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I guess I did make my name out of my drumming, and I have the big drum sets, and I'm doing all these crazy, odd-time signatures, so, yeah, I guess drumming was very important to what made me popular.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Drum
Sets
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Fashion
Bands
Fad
Jump
Overnight
Quick
Skyrocket
Soon
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I really do care what people think, and I revolved my whole career and all the twenty five years with Dream Theater... I ran that band and made decisions based on caring what the fans thought and wanted.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Caring
Ran
Twenty
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I live a very open life. I value my relationship with the fans, and I utilize Twitter and Facebook and my web site, so my day-to-day activities are an open book for me to share with the fans, for better or for worse.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Day To Day
Open Book
Share
Site
Twitter And Facebook
Life Relationship Me
Life Relationship Better
Activities
Facebook
Utilize
Web
Web Site
Worse
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Allen
Facto
Mob
Russell
Surely
Title
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Any time I say anything about Dream Theater... Honestly, I'd rather not talk about it. Because no matter what I say, it will be twisted and... So I kind of have made myself promise that I won't talk about Dream Theater anymore.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Promise
Twisted
Time Myself Will
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Absence
Time Relationship Marriage
Fonder
Strengthened
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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!
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Dream
Audience
Crucial
Energy
Focal Point
Interaction
Stage
Theater
Absolutely
Bit
May Me Live
Focal
Point
Regardless
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Hotel
Itunes
Download
Hotel Room
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Apollo
Reins
Theater
Established
Everything Else
Musically
Sons
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I am looking forward to working with the great staff of Loud & Proud Records, some of whom I worked very closely with during their time at Roadrunner and my time with Dream Theater. I look forward to continuing that relationship with The Winery Dogs!
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Continuing
Looking Forward
Loud
Staff
Time Relationship Great
Closely
Dogs
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I am - you know, I'm getting to do everything I've ever wanted to do, anything my imagination can think up. I'm getting to play with some of my favorite musicians in the world, ranging from Russell Allen to Billy Sheehan to Paul Gilbert to Steve Morse.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Allen
Billy
Gilbert
Morse
Paul
Russell
Steve
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Change is inevitable with the evolution of technology. In the '70s, we had records. In the '80s, we had CDs, and now we are living in the digital age. You can say it's sad or unfortunate, but the reality is you've got to roll with the times and the technology.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Cds
Digital Age
Evolution
Inevitable
Unfortunate
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I'd rather be entertained and go to a show and watch a drummer and have somebody that makes me actually smile. So I don't judge drummers based on their technical ability; I judge them based on the overall package and what they bring to the music they're part of.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Drummer
Drummers
Entertained
Overall
Package
Technical Ability
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With the Neal Morse Band, we're doing progressive music with a harder edge; it's a little more in Dream Theater territory for me. Flying Colors is a little more poppy, it's more Radiohead, Muse, and Coldplay territory, so I approach that drumming in a different way.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Drumming
Flying
Muse
Progressive
Radiohead
Territory
Coldplay
Edge
Morse
Poppy
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Singles
Good Music Long
Epics
Mixer
Producer
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It's all about the music, and I work as hard as I do strictly because of the music. It's not a money thing; it's not a career thing. It's simply to do with me being a music fan with a broad taste, wanting to do different styles and wanting to work with lots of different people.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Different Styles
Taste
Lots
Broad
Different People
Strictly
Styles
Wanting
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When sequencing an album, you kind of have to look at it like you're making a movie with different acts, and you have ebb and flow, peaks and valleys. You want it to feel like a journey or a good movie or book where you can actually feel very satisfied at the ride at the end of it.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Flow
Good Movie
Satisfied
Sequencing
Valleys
Acts
Ebb
Peaks
Ride
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Flying Colors is more alternative pop with a prog edge. Think the Beatles meets U2 meets Muse and Foo Fighters. It is the opposite of Adrenaline Mob, which has more classic metal influences like Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Pantera, or Disturbed. They are completely different ends of spectrum.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Adrenaline
Black Sabbath
Classic
Disturbed
Flying
Muse
Sabbath
Spectrum
Van Halen
Alternative
Opposite
Colors
Edge
Fighters
Halen
Influences
Meets
Metal
Mob
Van
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One of the biggest misconceptions was, after I left Dream Theater, I went off and did, like, five different bands and side projects. Everyone was like, 'We thought you wanted a break.' And it was like, well, I didn't want a break from making music; I just needed a break from the Dream Theater camp.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Misconceptions
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I remember waking up Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, to my wife telling me to put on the TV because I wasn't going to be going into N.Y.C. as planned. Dream Theater was working in N.Y.C. at the time mixing our album 'Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence,' and I would've been driving in that afternoon for our session.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Afternoon
Degrees
Mixing
September
September 11th
Session
Tuesday
Waking
Time Wife Me
Time Me Wife
Inner
Planned
Waking Up
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To me, the most important tool is not a physical or a technical one. It's more of a cerebral one. It's your brain. It's about having an interest in experimenting musically, perhaps touching on several different genres of music. No doubt, the most important tool is the mind. It's the willingness to experiment freely.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Brain
Mind
Touching
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Barely
Originally
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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.
Mike Portnoy / Drummer
Deals
Gossip
Publishers
Thirsty
Life Me My Life
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Mike Portnoy Quotes - Page 2

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