Mike Portnoy chat

<Portnoy> OK......HI!!!!!

<Weymolith> Ladies and Germs – MIKE “THE MAN” PORTNOY!”

<Portnoy> THAT WAS TOTALLY INSANE!!!!!!!!! I must start by thanking mabrown, weymolith and mandaX. It’s amazing the chaos 350 people (who can’t read directions) can cause!!! : ) Thanks to all the fans that bought ToT today (and the past few days). Regardless of all the controversy I’ve been reading, we are 1000% proud of this album and totally satisfied with the final result. OK...let’s get to the questions

<jerhinesmith> ok, I was just wondering if you were interested in hearing the original versions of “Let it Be” that are set to come out next week, or if you would rather remember it as you first heard it?

<Portnoy> Yes I can’t wait actually..... have many boots of those versions, but a new clean copy will be awesome

<AgentCooper> I was wondering whom the lyrics of Honor Thy Father were directed at? They seemed quite brutal, and personal. Also, were you disappointed with the end of TWIN PEAKS?

<Portnoy> first the Twin peaks part....

<AgentCooper> That last episode was the ultimate eternal blue balls ending. :(

<Portnoy> I LOVED the final episode....1 of the scariest and freakiest hours in the history of TV. About HYF.... Let me clear this up right now.... It is NOT directed at my father, Howard Portnoy...we have a GREAT relationship and I love him dearly... It is aimed directly at somebody else in my immediate family.... If you take the key word from the title as well as the key word from the bridge (Crooked _____), you can figure out who it was written for... I’ve never been good at writing love songs, so I decided to write a HATE song!!!! Yes quite brutal!

<TheSleeper> how excited are you and the band to play the new material live?

<Portnoy> CANT WAIT TO PLAY THIS STUFF LIVE!!!!! Every one of these songs (well, not Vacant) is going to be awesome live

<BreakTheMirror> By the way, awesome job man. This album is \m/ .

<Portnoy> the real reason is not as mysterious as some may be guessing... we did the last few CD’s at BearTracks which was by me and Jordan....and the 2 John’s had to commute... so it was only fair to give them a break from commuting and do the new CD closer to them. Aren’t we soo diplomatic???!!! : )

<A[BRASIL]Strauss> First of all, hello Mike. Nice having you here. I was wondering if there is anything (musically speaking) that you enjoy listening to but feel a little ashamed to admit so... or embarrassed, whatever :)

<Portnoy> Nothing I’m ashamed of....I’m pretty open about the different kinda stuff I listen to. If I like it and it’s good, then I’m not ashamed...if anything I want to talk about them in case other people like em too

<Bassmn134> Hey mike, I was just wondering what different bands you listened to for influences on your new CD and btw Hammer of the Gods was incredible

<Portnoy> I am not gonna answer that because the fans seem to spend too much time comparing us or accusing us of “stealing” whenever I’ve mentioned any sort of inspiration corner. Check out my Hero of the Day section and you can see what I’m listening to and digging.

<Bassmn134> oh I didn’t mean it in any bad way at all cause I mean you guys are huge inspirations to me

<Portnoy> I know you meant no harm...I just don’t want to open a CAN OF WORMS!!!

<Jericho> Hey Mike, in regards to “This Dying Soul” – is it hard for you to write lyrics that deal with personal issues? Do you find that it is a coping mechanism to write about your problems in your music? (Also, what do you think of the new King’s X CD?)

<Portnoy> Actually, I’m very comfortable writing personal lyrics as it’s what I know about best..... Most of my lyrics have been very personal: TGP, TDS, ACOS, The Mirror, JLMB, etc. The only time I’ve ever really written fictitiously was for SFAM. In the case of THG and TDS, or HTF...it’s almost therapeutic – I meant TGP and TDS.

<Mack> Hey Mike...Absolutely love your work anyways...I was wondering since TOT is out and the contract is now up, does Dream Theater plan on signing another contract with Elektra Records or are you done with Elektra and looking elsewhere?

<Portnoy> Actually we have one more CD left on our Elektra contract

<Mack> O, well do you, plan on signing again? after that album of course

<Portnoy> we’ll evaluate our options then.....

<NuClearDawn> Hey Mike ... when shall we know the results of the Dream Theater songwriting contest ? are there any qualifiers ?

<Portnoy> as I mentioned on the site, we are all on different schedules at the moment (I leave for Europe tomorrow)...when we all re-convene we’ll go through the tapes (50 of them) and announce the winner online

<Portnoy> c’mon where’s the BLACKENED QUESTIONS!!!????? : )

<Weymolith> You said you didn’t want those kinda questions. Can of worms I think you said.

<Portnoy> BTW wey, I’m only kidding about Blackened..... : )

<Weymolith> And I had 14 of them cued up for you next. Let them go at you all at once ;)

<Portnoy> But, you know what....let me address/defend that right now: they are completely different riffs on the guitar....completely different time signatures. The similarity is 5 consecutive 16th notes sung on the same note, and in our case, it is doubled by a distorted harmony underneath and a call and response 3rd vocal line. So the similarities are not as blatant as everybody is complaining about....?????? Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled chat!!!

<cracken> Mike you have some new Side Projects coming up? give us a hint.

<Portnoy> nothing else....I just did the Zep tribute and am about to embark on some Testimony shows with Neal Morse...that’s it....it’s all DT after that

<DrumsOfTheGeek> Do you have any input on your art for the albums?

<Portnoy> yes totally

<DrumsOfTheGeek> Do you get friends to do it?

<Portnoy> I am the one who oversees and organizes the layouts and designs

<DrumsOfTheGeek> Killer :)

<Portnoy> No we’ve always had professional artists and photographers. The guy that did all the art/photos on the new CD is a brilliant photographer whose work blew us away and seemed so cool with the dark and heavy tone and vibe of the new CD. I always pictured the new CD in B&W;

<DrumRman> Do DT have any more official bootlegs planned in the not so distant future?

<Portnoy> yes, there should be the 2nd wave of Ytsejam titles coming shortly after the new year

<chuchoDT> Hello mike, first of all I’m, really grateful of being able to interact with you, highly respected in my book, so I was wondering why was the album written in 3 weeks? Thanks for your time

<Portnoy> That’s how long it took.... we knew we wanted about 60-70 minutes and that’s how long it took to come out. If it took one week great, if it took 5 months, we would’ve taken that long

<chuchoDT> Ah ok so there wasn’t any rush or something I mean external?

<Portnoy> It wasn’t a pre-determined writing deadline, no. We knew what we wanted and when we put our heads together we can be very focused and productive.

<gangstayoda> but mike, sorry for another art-related question but I was wondering who those 3 statues are in the booklet? what’s their significance?

<Portnoy> JP’s lyrics for ITNOG are based on three different leaders and their influence on their followers

<angra1> hey Mike it was great to see you in NYC last week...when I got back I heard about this thing with this controversy with Godsmack..what are your thoughts about it?..do you care?

<Portnoy> Don’t care.... For what it’s worth, their drummer Shannon is a great drummer. I’m not concerned about other band’s bad mouthing us. Yeah it shouldn’t matter. We’re not everybody’s cup of tea, I know that.

<kick-z28> Hi Mike! When Scenes From A Memory was released, I remember reading in an interview or something that you thought the album was Dream Theater’s masterpiece. After, releasing 6 Degrees and today Train Of Thought, do you still think SFAM is THE masterpiece (or is it now ToT or 6DoIT)?

<Portnoy> Yes I think SFAM is still my favorite DT CD, but I’ve always had a soft spot for concept albums as they’ve always been my favorites (Tommy, The Wall, Misplaced Childhood, Snow, Testimony, etc. But I will say I think ToT is my favorite non-concept DT album

<kick-z28> Cool! It’s cool that you have to think that your latest CD is you best! don’t have to...

<Portnoy> I don’t just say that because “it’s our new CD”....I never said that about SDOIT

<Dan> Mike, were there more tracks written for this album and then paired down? And why wasn’t James able or wanted to contribute to more of the lyrics? I love his lyrics as much as yours and Petrucci!

<Portnoy> No we went in to write 60-70 mins and once we had it, we moved in to the recording studio... Don’t know why the lyrics split the way they did.... It seems to be the general split for the last 3 or 4 albums now

<Weymolith> 1) Will we get to see a TGP->TDS twofer on tour? and who exactly is Bill W

<Portnoy> ) TGP --> TDS will surely happen occasionally, but not exclusively. We’ll be charging sets every night and I don’t want to have to commit to that 25 minute chunk every time changing and I mean CHUNK!! Part 2... Bill W. is the founder of AA and wrote the 12 steps that TGP and TDS are based on.

<CarletonBComm> did James have a lot of input at the writing sessions, like any ideas, or was he cameraman for 3 weeks?

<Portnoy> Musically, not really....we wrote the same as always...but he was actually PRESENT in the writing sessions for the first time, just to BE THERE and help contribute some sense of unity, comradery and understanding of what we were writing, but he did write the melodies with JP and myself this time.

<Progrocker22> do u plan on doing the evening with format when u tour the U.S.

<Portnoy> we’d like to continue with that format for whenever DT “headlines” from now on, but of course are still open to co-headlining packages or even an opening spot if the right one came along. But true DT “headlining” shows will likely always be “an Evening with “ from now on...

<Melody> Can You tell me in which order the tracks have been recorded; I mean from first to last.

<Portnoy> OK, I’ll have to use abbreviations written = 1-ITNOG, 2-AIA, 3-HTF, 4-ES, 5-V, 6-TDS, 7-SOC. Recorded in the sequence on the CD.
<Portnoy> END

<josh_b55> On the SDOIT tour you did a few songs from WDADU like the killing hand and that. Do you plan to bring back any more of those in future tours because in my opinion that was some of my favorite stuff

<Portnoy> yes I’d like to continue to always add all sorts of treats from the past into the ever-growing setlists. We did OAMOT on the summer tour.

<josh_b55> AWSOME! (also do you plan on doing another live dvd sometime soon?)

<Portnoy> Could be time for another DVD after the next tour...we’ll see. Here’s a scoop for ya.... Kevin Shirley mixed the entire ToT in 5.1 as well, so we’re hoping to do a ToT DVD-A sometime early next year if the sales warrant it for Elektra.

<platopus> Since you’ve worked with Paul Gilbert twice now, would you like to start writing original music with him? Maybe in the vein of Led Zeppelin like how TA was very Beatle-esque?

<Portnoy> Working with Paul Gilbert has been a BLAST...he is a great guy and a PHENOM player. No plans for any new original projects for a while as I am back focused on DT, but I would love to continue a relationship with Paul as I really feel a lot in common with him musically.

<RocketSauce> Mike – your work on Testimony is foooking amazing... how did you get involved with the project? Any hesitation about working on a “Christian” album (albeit an AMAZING Christian album) and any chance you will be breaking out any TA or Beard stuff live in NJ in November?

<Portnoy> thank you....yes I am VERY proud and honored to be a part of that CD...it is a masterpiece and Neal is one of my favorite songwriters of all time. To be honest, I had no problems or concerns or leanings in any direction as far as the Christian lyrics. That’s Neal’s passion and direction. I would be happy playing with Neal or Slayer. It’s the music first and foremost for me, but the fact that it is so personal for Neal makes the CD that much more emotional I think. In addition to the entire Testimony, we’ve rehearsed a few “other” tunes for rotating encores at the upcoming shows. You won’t want to miss these shows! They’re gonna be very special!

<SymphonyOfDreams> I wanted to ask about the lack of JM lyrics for the last two albums, it’s starting to worry us big fans of the JM lyrics and to end in a more happy note... big fan of ManOWar at all? ;)

<Portnoy> Hmmm good question, one that I’m surprised isn’t asked more often. Starting with SFAM, we kinda laid down a new lyric rule....if you are going to present lyrics, they must be properly formed, phrased, constructed, etc. to go with the melodies. JM’s lyrics were always kind of presented in a more free form poetic manner and it was up to us (Kev, JP or myself) to kind of shape them to the song. To be blatantly honest, we wanted everybody to kind of “carry their own weight” when writing lyrics, and since then John has kind of backed off. The door is always open to him to contribute again if he’d like...

<vegeta3000> are you playing the entire album since it is an evening with

<Portnoy> Well, it’s not a concept album, so we won’t likely be playing it “in its entirety” but all 7 songs will be in rotation from night to night.

<vegeta3000> who’s idea was the techno part?>

<Portnoy> don’t know what techno part you are referring to...

<vegeta3000> ITNOG

<Portnoy> the drum machine break?

<vegeta3000> it sounded techno to me

<Portnoy> that was JP’s idea (if you are referring to the drum machine break)

<Aphelion> I was just wondering if we could expect more precious MP ACUTIONS. in our beloved Forum. Thank you so much for give so much to the fan community.

<Portnoy> Ha! I suppose on occasion we can revive MP.Bay! If you see me growing my beard VERY long, that means I need money! : )

<Matt_Medved> “I noticed that “Glass Prison” leaves off from “Finally Free” and “As I Am” begins where the last song on 6DOIT ends... are you planning on making it a recurring trend?”

<Portnoy> I suppose we’ll keep doing it for a while...It was a crazy idea that I had that I’d never heard any other bands do... I always thought Van Halen blew it when they didn’t start Fair Warning with the riff that starts from out of nowhere and close Woman and Children First. I always that it was a natural....so, I decided to apply it to DT.

<jhoffjp> I was curious to know if you guys used some of your unused(or used) ideas from Six Degrees and wove them into TOT somewhere? Also, can you tell me where I can send the back plate of one of JP’s guitars to get signed by you guys?(if you wanna send me a private message or something) I’ve tried everything but no one will help me.

<Portnoy> A) nothing left-over from SDOIT. Everything for ToT was written in the writing sessions except: a lot of the first half of Endless Sacrifice was written/jammed on on the last 2002 leg (in fact, JP and I did a little soundboard “sketch” demo at the soundcheck of the last show in Turkey, and a lot of the real heavy stuff (like the intro riff) to TDS was written on that tour as well (at soundcheck in Offenbach Germany to be exact!) As far as the autograph thing, the only way is to get lucky after a show or look out for a clinic or autograph session in your area

<mestre_drummer> Hi mike. I love your DVDs from Portnoy archives. did you video record the recording sessions of TOT?? This DVDs Teach me lots of cool stuff!!!

<Portnoy> Mike Brown is currently slaving over my drum cam tapes and his computer....hopefully “Drums Of Thought” will be out by Xmas or shortly after....

<alxrod> Was it a big aim of the album lyrically to have a profound effect on people... I mean would it be cool to hear that tracks 3 & 5 reduced me to tears?

<Portnoy> 3 & 5? Very nice. Well if the lyrics really effect somebody that is great. Like I said earlier about Neal Morse, or even my personal lyrics – usually they can really make a song very emotional or in the case of most of the new album, very angry. They’re just another outlet to help convey a feeling or an idea.

<alxrod> yeah I love HTF it’s almost a new side of DT to me

<Portnoy> Well, I’m hoping that song will bring a certain person to tears as well... (evil Mike ....sorry!)

<Portnoy> OK...time for closing comments before the chat room flood gates re-open

<mabrown> Thanks again for taking the time to chat tonight Mike!

<Portnoy> Once again, thanks to the VERY patient moderators: MaBrown, Weymolth, MandaX and Brian (I see a Drum Bot up there too – thanks!) Thanks to all you CRAZY fans for showing up

<mandaX> that’s an understatement :)

<Weymolith> For the record, there were another 50 questions Mike

<Portnoy> ENJOY TOT!!!!!! It’s FINALLY HERE!!! The wait is OVER!!!!! The mods are probably happy about that as well! POST away about it! Talk about it, discuss it, enjoy it, hate it. We are VERY happy with it. It’s in no way THE NEW DT sound for all future albums, but it is for this one and we are very pleased with it. Hope you all enjoy it as much as we do. C a lot of you in the coming weeks at the Testimony shows....don’t miss em!!!!! We’ll be starting the world tour in Jan and will go most of 2004. We’ll try to hit everywhere we possibly can (yes even Brazil and Chile if we can!!!!!) :-) That’s it! Go to sleep. Ciao baby!

<mandaX> lates mike

<Weymolith> Thanks again MP – It’s always a blast having you “home”

<Portnoy> BYE!