Mike Portnoy's Modern Drummer interview

[Tis BOOLsheet]

I just came across this, which has some segments from the new interview.

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/mike-portnoy-couldnt-relate-to-dream-theaters-new-material/

This is actually very interesting, because having heard most of his interviews about the matter, this is the first time I have ever heard MP suggest that the MUSIC Dream Theater was making when he left wasn't jiving with him like it used to; he only mentioned relations between band members as the reason why he left. If true, it's possible that MP didn't have as much influence over the music as people think. Apparently he also says he has heard the new material and said "when I heard the new material, it simply wasn't my cup of tea." This could mean either DT12 is totally unlike what he did with DT in the past, or that DT12 is like what he did in the past and he's tired of it (or maybe a little of both); but if true, why would he be interested in rejoining DT?

[ResultsMayVary]

He's not going to be rejoining DT. I thought we were done speculating this.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

He's not going to be rejoining DT. I thought we were done speculating this.

Where does this thread ever speculate whether he will rejoin DT? Where is it in the link, article, or my words?

[ResultsMayVary]

He's not going to be rejoining DT. I thought we were done speculating this.

Where does this thread ever speculate whether he will rejoin DT? Where is it in the link, article, or my words?

I meant 'we' as the forum as a whole. It's been done again and again in several threads.

[theseoafs]

Okay, this is bothering me, so a serious question:  has Portnoy been diagnosed by a doctor to have OCD?  He mentions it from time to time but from all the videos and interviews I've seen, none of his behavior suggests he has even a mild case.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

He's not going to be rejoining DT. I thought we were done speculating this.

Where does this thread ever speculate whether he will rejoin DT? Where is it in the link, article, or my words?

I meant 'we' as the forum as a whole. It's been done again and again in several threads.

So then we don't need to do it here, especially since I never intended to bring that into a new thread 

I find more interesting his comment about the upcoming album and how he felt about DT's music at the time just before he left.

[ResultsMayVary]

He's not going to be rejoining DT. I thought we were done speculating this.

Where does this thread ever speculate whether he will rejoin DT? Where is it in the link, article, or my words?

I meant 'we' as the forum as a whole. It's been done again and again in several threads.

So then we don't need to do it here, especially since I never intended to bring that into a new thread 

See OP:

This is actually very interesting, because having heard most of his interviews about the matter, this is the first time I have ever heard MP suggest that the MUSIC Dream Theater was making when he left wasn't jiving with him like it used to; he only mentioned relations between band members as the reason why he left. If true, it's possible that MP didn't have as much influence over the music as people think. Apparently he also says he has heard the new material and said "when I heard the new material, it simply wasn't my cup of tea." This could mean either DT12 is totally unlike what he did with DT in the past, or that DT12 is like what he did in the past and he's tired of it (or maybe a little of both); but if true, why would he be interested in rejoining DT?

[Tis BOOLsheet]

He's not going to be rejoining DT. I thought we were done speculating this.

Where does this thread ever speculate whether he will rejoin DT? Where is it in the link, article, or my words?

I meant 'we' as the forum as a whole. It's been done again and again in several threads.

So then we don't need to do it here, especially since I never intended to bring that into a new thread 

See OP:

This is actually very interesting, because having heard most of his interviews about the matter, this is the first time I have ever heard MP suggest that the MUSIC Dream Theater was making when he left wasn't jiving with him like it used to; he only mentioned relations between band members as the reason why he left. If true, it's possible that MP didn't have as much influence over the music as people think. Apparently he also says he has heard the new material and said "when I heard the new material, it simply wasn't my cup of tea." This could mean either DT12 is totally unlike what he did with DT in the past, or that DT12 is like what he did in the past and he's tired of it (or maybe a little of both); but if true, why would he be interested in rejoining DT?

Again, that is neither a speculation about whether MP WILL join DT, nor an invitation for others to speculate about whether MP WILL join DT. Rather, that is "speculating" --if you'd like to keep that word-- as to why would MP want to rejoin DT if he were tired of the music DT makes, or whether he just didn't like the new album etc.

I hope this helps.

[Dark Castle]

Kinda figured he'd say the new DT isn't his cup of tea

[Tis BOOLsheet]

Kinda figured he'd say the new DT isn't his cup of tea

I honestly never thought that he would say that (although I didn't hear the new album yet), or that he was growing further apart from the music DT was making; especially since I sorta took for granted that he got so many of his musical ideas put into the songs.

[snapple]

Okay, this is bothering me, so a serious question:  has Portnoy been diagnosed by a doctor to have OCD?  He mentions it from time to time but from all the videos and interviews I've seen, none of his behavior suggests he has even a mild case.

snapple likes this post

[Madman Shepherd]

Kinda figured he'd say the new DT isn't his cup of tea

I honestly never thought that he would say that (although I didn't hear the new album yet), or that he was growing further apart from the music DT was making; especially since I sorta took for granted that he got so many of his musical ideas put into the songs.

I never thought he would say that either.  In fact, I'm impressed that he didn't say anything passive aggressive (aside from some typical "i can't talk about it without being torn to shreds" while he in fact was talking about it).  Even his opinion on current Dream Theater is totally respectful.  I always thought he would bash it in some childish way like he kind of did before (with the "rewriting the past" comment) but he basically says, "It's great, I'm just not into that style of music." 

I mean, I am honestly blown away.  It's pretty cool to just state his personal preference without resorting to bashing. 

[Ħ]

Eh, I believe him. I mean, he was an alcoholic and from what we can see, he's obsessive about some things. And we don't know everything that happens in his personal life, so we're in no place to doubt his word.

[rush-signals]

Okay, this is bothering me, so a serious question:  has Portnoy been diagnosed by a doctor to have OCD?  He mentions it from time to time but from all the videos and interviews I've seen, none of his behavior suggests he has even a mild case.

Really? Watch some of the docs where it shows him in his studio. Look at his video and audio collection, it's just plain nuts. It's like he has to have everything and it needs to be in a precise/cataloged order.. Or when he talks about watching a movie and liking it that he goes out and gets everything that director has done and watches them.  I think it's obvious from everything I've seen since the beginning he's OCD big time. Do I care? Nah, I have it to some point. I think MP also have some ADHD going on too. Once again no big deal. It's pretty common for recovering alcoholics to need something else to focus on and MP's is just taking it to the max for everything he does. Good for him, probably drives his wife nuts as he said! LOL

[Shadow2222]

Okay, this is bothering me, so a serious question:  has Portnoy been diagnosed by a doctor to have OCD?  He mentions it from time to time but from all the videos and interviews I've seen, none of his behavior suggests he has even a mild case.

Really? Watch some of the docs where it shows him in his studio. Look at his video and audio collection, it's just plain nuts. It's like he has to have everything and it needs to be in a precise/cataloged order.. Or when he talks about watching a movie and liking it that he goes out and gets everything that director has done and watches them.  I think it's obvious from everything I've seen since the beginning he's OCD big time. Do I care? Nah, I have it to some point. I think MP also have some ADHD going on too. Once again no big deal. It's pretty common for recovering alcoholics to need something else to focus on and MP's is just taking it to the max for everything he does. Good for him, probably drives his wife nuts as he said! LOL

Yeah, I thought his OCD was pretty obvious once you listen to some of his commentaries on his drum cam version of Budokan and Score, as well as all the behind the scenes footage on the Dream Theater DVDs (I realize most people don't have his drum cam DVDs).

[425]

but when I heard the new material, it simply wasn't my cup of tea. It's great, but I couldn't relate to it anymore.

This REALLY looks like he's talking about ADTOE, not the new album. Unless we know from a fact elsewhere that he has heard DT12, I get the impression that he's talking about ADTOE here.

[Madman Shepherd]

Okay, this is bothering me, so a serious question:  has Portnoy been diagnosed by a doctor to have OCD?  He mentions it from time to time but from all the videos and interviews I've seen, none of his behavior suggests he has even a mild case.

Really? Watch some of the docs where it shows him in his studio. Look at his video and audio collection, it's just plain nuts. It's like he has to have everything and it needs to be in a precise/cataloged order.. Or when he talks about watching a movie and liking it that he goes out and gets everything that director has done and watches them.  I think it's obvious from everything I've seen since the beginning he's OCD big time. Do I care? Nah, I have it to some point. I think MP also have some ADHD going on too. Once again no big deal. It's pretty common for recovering alcoholics to need something else to focus on and MP's is just taking it to the max for everything he does. Good for him, probably drives his wife nuts as he said! LOL

This was talked about in another thread and to restate what I said, in my (not so) expert opinion, he certainly does have OCD.  OCD is a VERY complex disorder that ranges from mild things like he probably has to completely debilitating issues that prevent people from even leaving the house.  Not all OCD is this nuanced kind that is often parodied about having to turn on and off a light switch 7 times before entering a room.  Also, sometimes people might exhibit symptoms that doesnt make them OCD and to be honest, the fact that todays society uses OCD as a verb kind of trivializes the actual disorder (which I just did myself). 

So to be honest, MP and everybody else should be more careful about how they use the term so that there can be a true understanding of it.  Sometimes, people with OCD have habits that aren't explainable...it is completely illogical and they know it but it makes them feel ill.  Something might look out of order but you have no idea how to put it in order.  In other words, OCD isn't just about putting things in cute patterns...sometimes things look so terribly off that it forces you to focus on it  and you have a sick feeling inside. 

A lot of this probably doesn't make sense but thats just because it is so complex.  I'm guilty of trivializing it too so I just wish people including Mike would be a bit more careful about it but I would say Mike definitely has it.  He is one of the lucky ones that does seem to have some control over it though so props to him for that. 

[Kotowboy]

Okay, this is bothering me, so a serious question:  has Portnoy been diagnosed by a doctor to have OCD?  He mentions it from time to time but from all the videos and interviews I've seen, none of his behavior suggests he has even a mild case.

I've read on these very boards from people with actual OCD that he doesn't have any of the symptoms.

if you have as many CDs & DVDs as he does - it just makes SENSE to have them in order.

[Daso]

Hmm, but I don't get something: was he feeling like he wasn't musically bonded to Dream Theater anymore by the time he was in the band (up to BC&SL) or was it he did not enjoy ADToE (or DT12 in any case, although I doubt he already heard it)?

[425]

Really? Watch some of the docs where it shows him in his studio. Look at his video and audio collection, it's just plain nuts. It's like he has to have everything and it needs to be in a precise/cataloged order.. Or when he talks about watching a movie and liking it that he goes out and gets everything that director has done and watches them.  I think it's obvious from everything I've seen since the beginning he's OCD big time. Do I care? Nah, I have it to some point. I think MP also have some ADHD going on too. Once again no big deal. It's pretty common for recovering alcoholics to need something else to focus on and MP's is just taking it to the max for everything he does. Good for him, probably drives his wife nuts as he said! LOL

I would characterize stuff like this as "having an obsessive personality" but not as "obsessive compulsive disorder." My impression is that OCD symptoms are unavoidable and if you don't carry out the particular obsessive activity it will always be on your mind until you do, while merely being an obsessive personality means that you prefer your collections to be organized and cataloged and to own everything done by an artist or a director. I mean, all of those things are true of me, but I would not say that I am OCD because of it. My father has been diagnosed with a mild form of OCD, and I would say it's totally different from wanting to organize your DVDs. I'm not making statements about what I think Mike Portnoy has or doesn't have, because I don't know him and I'm not a psychologist. But just the one thing about organizing DVDs or buying every movie by a particular director... does not constitute obsessive compulsive disorder. He may have other symptoms that make the end result clear that he does have it, but just those things are not enough to make that diagnosis.

[Ħ]

but when I heard the new material, it simply wasn't my cup of tea. It's great, but I couldn't relate to it anymore.

This REALLY looks like he's talking about ADTOE, not the new album. Unless we know from a fact elsewhere that he has heard DT12, I get the impression that he's talking about ADTOE here.

Yeah, I was going to say, he probably doesn't have access to DT12. And ADTOE is still relatively "new material". It is their most recent album, after all.

[theseoafs]

Eh, I believe him. I mean, he was an alcoholic and from what we can see, he's obsessive about some things. And we don't know everything that happens in his personal life, so we're in no place to doubt his word.

Mike is a very public person, though, and it stands to reason that if he suffered from any of the symptoms that characterize the disorder, I wouldn't be asking this question.  Of course, I don't know him personally, so I could be way off-base, but it seems like he just liked to have a lot of control over DT's musical direction, which is totally fine but doesn't have anything to do with OCD.  Preferring to have your enormous CD collection in order and going out to buy every movie by a director enjoy (especially when you have a lot of disposable income like MP does) are probably not symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Anyway, I only ask because I realllllly hate it when people say stuff like "lol I'm so OCD about ____".  If Mike has been diagnosed and has been treated for the disorder, though, then there's nothing to worry about and we don't have to talk about it.

[j]

My guess is that he has some obsessive compulsive tendencies.  "Disorder" implies that it significantly disturbs his day-to-day activity, which I suppose could be true, but based on what I've seen in videos, the dude doesn't act like it at all.

-J

[rush-signals]

Personally I think I have ADLD "Attention deficit laziness disorder". I don't think you need to be diagnosed with OCD to know if you have it. At times in my life I've done things that were so OCD I had to break the pattern anyway I could. If it has a controlling affect on your life it could be a problem. This is what has happened to me at times with certain things I've done, collections I've been obsessed with or just many numerous things. Or maybe it's just an addictive personality <--- that may fit MP more, as it may for me too?  At times it's been crippled me, now I'm on the upswing and recognize it more.

For years I was obsessed with collection Rush and DT bootlegs. I wanted every video and live concert recording I could find. I wanted the best generation and would then remaster it the best I could. I put out lots of recording under the Rush-Signals name. Recently though I looked at everything I thought "why do I have all this?". So I threw everything away. What a cleansing moment!

[rumborak]

The interview confirms what I always assumed, that he just wasn't that interested in prog metal anymore. The shoehorned influences (Muse, blast beats, growling etc) of the late albums, and the fact that he hasn't really touched any prog outside Transatlantic since he left kinda made it obvious.

[Zook]

If my band went on without me, their new music wouldn't be my cup of tea either.

[rush-signals]

Exactly my thoughts too. DT didn't change, MP did. His recent projects just don't do anything for me. Sure the Winery Dogs are good but they just remind me of late 80's Blues/Rock stuff better done by Jon Butcher Axis and Eric Gales.

The interview confirms what I always assumed, that he just wasn't that interested in prog metal anymore. The shoehorned influences (Muse, blast beats, growling etc) of the late albums, and the fact that he hasn't really touched any prog outside Transatlantic since he left kinda made it obvious.

[rumborak]

Yeah, given how ADTOE was not really that much of a departure from the typical DT material, it begs the question how many of the pre-split albums were already not MP's cup of tea anymore.

And the other raised question is a good one too: Why would he want to rejoin DT "in a heartbeat" if he's not that interested in the music anymore?

[Zook]

Yeah, given how ADTOE was not really that much of a departure from the typical DT material, it begs the question how many of the pre-split albums were already not MP's cup of tea anymore.

And the other raised question is a good one too: Why would he want to rejoin DT "in a heartbeat" if he's not that interested in the music anymore?

"he loves money!" - George Carlin

[Daso]

It is only logical, though, that he doesn't feel attached to the new material if he didn't work in it. There is the possibility, as rumborak said, that he just isn't interested in prog anymore. I felt ADToE is a great representation of what Dream Theater is musically (even with it lacking on some ends).

Of course MP may not feel a personal connection with it just as I didn't, but if he doesn't feel it musically appeals to him, then I think he would want to return to DT because 1) He misses the "leader" or "driver" role in a band, which, as he said, he has not played in any of the projects he has been involved with after his departure from DT; or 2) He still feels DT is his "home", to call it some way, because it is his work of 25~ years and he wants to keep at it.

I feel he should get away from it, though, because ADToE was pretty much a statement of what the band (without him and without Mangini, since he was not part of the creative process) sounds like, with it being a mix of the classic elements with some of the more recent-DT stuff, and if he can't relate to it musically (if this is the case, of course, I'm not implying it is since I may be wrong) then he can't relate musically to the other 4 members.

Also because, as LaBrie said, he won't be back in DT, but that's a different story 

[(nothing)]

Just to add to that OCD conversation...

As far as I'm concerned, just having all the traits we know MP has (many of which I do have myself) suggests an actual OCD case about as much as being foul-mouthed suggests that you have Tourette's. (wow that was a big sentence )

Obviously I don't really know Mike so he might actually have it but I'm just saying that perfectionism != OCD, as far as I know.

[SeRoX]

but when I heard the new material, it simply wasn't my cup of tea. It's great, but I couldn't relate to it anymore.

This REALLY looks like he's talking about ADTOE, not the new album. Unless we know from a fact elsewhere that he has heard DT12, I get the impression that he's talking about ADTOE here.

Two things, he couldn't relate to it because the drumming style and sound so that can be understandable. But if he meant overall sound of new DT which, I think he talked about ADOTE, sounds more like old DT and saying that not my cup of tea is not logical. Of course if he isn't into prog metal anymore.

[As I Am]

but when I heard the new material, it simply wasn't my cup of tea. It's great, but I couldn't relate to it anymore.

This REALLY looks like he's talking about ADTOE, not the new album.

PRECISELY!

[Tis BOOLsheet]

I don't think he'd have a difficult time finding someone who had the promotional copy. It's also possible that by "new material" he meant the single.

[Dark Castle]

I don't think he'd have a difficult time finding someone who had the promotional copy. It's also possible that by "new material" he meant the single.

DING DING DING We have a winner.