Mike Portnoy Talks About Adjusting To Return To Dream Theater

11-25-2023

Mike Portnoy spoke about his recent reunion with Dream Theater during a Q&A session at the Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp's "Metalmania III" in Los Angeles, CA.

The acclaimed drummer shared, via The SilverDude, "We're gonna start from scratch and reconnect and just go into the studio and live together. We're in a different phase of our lives. When I left the band 13 years ago, we were all in our 40s; now we're all in our 50s and 60s. It's gonna be interesting to see how we kind of exist now in this new world. So, yeah, I'm just looking forward to being with the guys and making music together again.

"I think, when I left all those years ago, I was running a lot of stuff, and I think now they've gotten so used to working more as a collective band that I think it's a very different dynamic now that I'm gonna have to find my place in and without stepping on anybody's toes. I have to respect that they've been doing it all this time without me. So, whatever they wanna do, I'm up for it. But that being said, there is so much music of ours to come back and play that... personally, I look forward to revisiting all that stuff, but if they wanna do the newer (Mike Mangini-era) stuff as well, whatever they want is fine with me."