MIKE PORTNOY Believes SKID ROW Should Reunite With SEBASTIAN BACH: 'Do It For The Fans'

In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy spoke about what it has been like for him to be touring with the band once again after a 13-year absence. The progressive metal legends played their first concert with Portnoy in 14 years on October 20, 2024 at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom. The drummer, who co-founded DREAM THEATER, played on 10 of the band's albums over a 20-year period, from 1989's "When Dream And Day Unite" through 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", before exiting the group in 2010. Portnoy returned to DREAM THEATER in October 2023 after being replaced by Mike Mangini, who played with DREAM THEATER across five studio albums and accompanying world tours. Portnoy told WRIF (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's been incredible. Even though this is our first time coming through Detroit since I've been back in the band, it's been coming up on two years now for us [as a reunited band]. So, the reunion's kind of — it's been worked in. We spent the first year making our new album, 'Parasomnia', and then we spent the second year, starting this past October, we've been on the road since then and there's no letting up anytime soon. So we've already played almost a hundred shows at this point all around the world. And everywhere we play for the first time, there's just such an energy and excitement and emotion in the audience, people getting to see this lineup together again. So each and every place we go, it's just been overwhelming. The numbers have been great. It's been the biggest tour that DREAM THEATER's ever done. So, I really can't say enough of how exciting it's been. And there's still a lot of gas left in the tank. We have this whole U.S. tour, which is hitting a lot of markets we didn't get to hit the first time around. So we get to share that first experience with so many people. And then we do Australia and Asia after the New Year, next January, February and March. And then we have another European tour next spring. So, yeah, when all is said and done, it's gonna be about a year-and-a-half tour cycle, just getting around to everybody, and it's just been bigger and better than ever."

Portnoy, who was very "hands on" with DREAM THEATER's creative and business decisions before his exit from the group, was asked if his role in the band is like it was before. He responded: "I wouldn't say it's like before. When I left the band in 2010, I was a control freak and oversaw every aspect — every text, every email, every single aspect of the band, whether it be the merchandise, the fan clubs, the setlist, blah, blah, blah. I was a control freak, very much so. And it's not like that now. The years that I was gone, the band kind of redesigned their internal structure and how they work. [DREAM THEATER guitarist] John Petrucci ended up taking on a lot of responsibilities. He solely produces the albums now, whereas we used to do 'em together back then. And there was a lot of things, a lot of restructuring they had to do while I was gone. So now coming back to that after 13 years away, I have to be very respectful over what they had built all the years without me, and I'm not gonna come in here and just assume that it's gonna be exactly how it was when I left, 'cause it's not gonna be. And John and I had a conversation even before we solidified me coming back, we just laid out the conversation, like… He was, like, 'Hey, are you gonna be okay not doing this? Are you gonna be okay sharing this?' And we had to kind of lay out all of those dynamics on how we would function internally. And it's okay. I'm actually happier now this way. I think it's a better band dynamic. It's a more true balance now than it was. So, it's kind of the best of both worlds. And there are a lot of areas that were given back to me, like writing the setlists, and with that comes programming the house music at the show and the intermission and all the kind of stuff that goes into the way the show is run, the concert presentation. So, luckily, that has always been my biggest passion. So that's one area that was kind of thrown back to me. And then sequencing the album order; that was always another big one for me. So, yeah, we talked about the ones that were important to share and the ones that were important to delegate and find a happy balance."

After Meltdown noted that he learned over the years that it's best to just do things himself when he wants something done right, Mike said: "That was my old mentality, 'cause the first 15 years of the band, we went through everything as a quote-unquote democracy. But all that meant was we would just fight and bicker until I would beat everybody down. [Laughs] So there was a point about 15 years in, about 1999, 2000, when we made the '[Metropolis Pt. 2:] Scenes From A Memory' album, we decided we're gonna go do away with this fake democracy. And myself and John, we're gonna run the ship. We were gonna co-produce the albums, we were gonna make the business decisions together. And so once we kind of got into that way of running the show, it went a lot smoother. And there was a lot of things that I had freedom to just make decisions on, on my own. I didn't have to go back to the band to discuss and bicker and argue, and it did run much better that way. But then I also see how that could cause a little resentments too, when one guy is making a lot of decisions without the discussion or inclusion of other bandmembers. So I think the way we do it now is, like I said, it's the best of both worlds, and it's a very smooth way of running. And we're much older, we're all in our late fifties and sixties where we're a lot more mature. We don't wanna fight and bicker over what is gonna be the third song on the B-side of the album. A lot of people realize you pick and choose your fights and you pick and choose your battles and not everything is worth fighting over. And it's a much more calmer headspace, more serene way of doing things at this point in our career."

Asked if he thinks there are other bands out there who should follow DREAM THEATER's example and reunite their classic lineups while they still can, Portnoy said: "Yeah. I recommend this to anybody that's on the fence about reuniting with their band, because it's the best thing we ever did. And a lot of people ask me if I have any regrets about leaving DREAM THEATER. I would say my only regret is that it took so long to come back together. I wish it had come back together sooner. So you see [PINK FLOYD's] Roger Waters bickering with David Gilmour or SKID ROW bickering with Sebastian Bach. And all I could say is, guys, you're older and wiser. Do it for the fans, if anything else. I'm so glad that I came back to DREAM THEATER and we ride off into the sunset together. This is the way it was supposed to have been. I couldn't have written it any better. And it would've been one of the biggest regrets of my life if we hadn't reunited. And I look at bands like Sebastian and SKID ROW, or whatever — there's probably a big list that we can name — and you know what? Time does heal all wounds. And I would recommend this to anybody. It's better to be riding off into the sunset together and rekindling a friendship and a love that certainly had to have been there at one point for any of these bands — Roger Waters and PINK FLOYD. It's there somewhere deep down. And it's better to ride off into the sunset together than to be apart and having those deep-seated resentments. Life is just too short for that kind of stuff."

DREAM THEATER kicked off the spring/summer 2025 leg of its "40th Anniversary European Tour" on June 3 at Logomo in Turku, Finland.

DREAM THEATER's summer/fall 2025 "An Evening With Dream Theater" U.S. tour is scheduled for 30 cities across the United States, kicking off September 5 in Reading, Pennsylvania and running through October 25, when it wraps in Long Island, New York. The tour will make stops in Orlando, Floria; Detroit, Michigan; Kansas City, Missouri and Providence, Rhode Island, among others. DREAM THEATER will be performing its latest album in its entirety as well as classics and fan favorites from the band's catalog in what promises to be an unforgettable evening of music.

"Parasomnia" came out on February 7, 2025 via InsideOut Music. The LP marked DREAM THEATER's first release with Portnoy since 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings".

"Parasomnia" was produced by guitarist John Petrucci, engineered by James "Jimmy T" Meslin, and mixed by Andy Sneap. Hugh Syme returned once again to lend his creative vision to the cover art.

"Parasomnia" is an eight-song, 71-minute set which was recorded at DREAM THEATER's DTHQ studio on Long Island, New York. It is the follow-up to 2021's "A View From The Top Of The World", which debuted at in the top 10 of Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums, Top Rock Albums and Independent Albums charts. Six songs on "Parasomnia" are over seven minutes and the closing epic "The Shadow Man Incident" clocks in at nearly 20 minutes.

The North American leg of DREAM THEATER's 40th-anniversary tour kicked off on February 7 at The Met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The trek was "An Evening With Dream Theater" and was the first tour of North America since Portnoy's return to the lineup, joining Petrucci, singer James LaBrie, bassist John Myung and keyboardist Jordan Rudess. The tour concluded on March 22 in New York City.

Portnoy, Petrucci and Myung started DREAM THEATER as MAJESTY in 1985, after meeting at the Berklee College Of Music in Boston. LaBrie came on board in 1991, while Rudess joined in 1999.

Prior to Portnoy's return to DREAM THEATER, the drummer and Petrucci worked together on the latter's 2020 solo album, "Terminal Velocity", and toured together. Portnoy and Petrucci also joined Rudess and bassist Tony Levin for a third studio album as LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT in 2021.