Mike Portnoy “hurt” Dream Theater bandmates with 2010 exit

Mike Portnoy in 2018 — (Image credit: Walter McBride/WireImage)

Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy has expressed regret over the way he left the prog metal five-piece and “hurt” his bandmates.

Portnoy, who co-founded Dream Theater in 1985 and also serves as a key songwriter, surprisingly departed the Boston/New York outfit in 2010, wanting to explore other creative outlets. He returned in 2023 and performs on their latest album, Parasomnia.

In a new interview with Tom Power of Canada’s CBC Radio One, Portnoy calls his decision to step away from Dream Theater “selfish”, but adds that he would have regretted not taking the leap to try other things.

“The first step [to rejoining the band] was I needed to mend the personal relationships with all four of the other guys in the band,” says Portnoy (via Blabbermouth), “’cause I know I hurt them when I left them, and I always felt really bad about that.”

He continues: “I made a decision that essentially was very selfish, leaving the band at… We had just played Madison Square Garden with Iron Maiden and then, like, a month later I left the band. It’s, like, everything was full steam ahead at that point, but I made a selfish decision that I needed to scratch an itch, or else I would’ve regretted not leaving.”

Diving further into the “regret” he would have felt had he not left Dream Theater, the drummer says: “I love that expression, ‘It’s better to regret something you have done than something you haven’t done,’ and that’s kind of where I was at. It was like, ‘Man, if I don’t follow my heart and try some other things, I’m gonna forever wonder what if.’ So I needed to do it.”

Thankfully, Portnoy was able to mend fences with his bandmates. He describes the process as “slow”, starting by “hanging out socially” with founding guitarist John Petrucci. “Our families are our friends,” he explains. “Our wives used to play in a band together. Our kids are friends. So we started getting together for the holidays and just doing stuff with our families.”

During his 13-year absence, Portnoy played in Avenged Sevenfold, The Winery Dogs, Twisted Sister and others, and he was replaced in Dream Theater by Mike Mangini. Mangini amicably departed the band upon Portnoy’s return and released a solo album, Invisible Signs, a few weeks later.

Dream Theater released Parasomnia in February to critical and fan acclaim. In Metal Hammer, this writer awarded it a glowing four-star review.

“To even have a chance of meeting the hype, Parasomnia needed to be immaculate, and it stands as an achievement beyond expectation,” he wrote. “Not only have the ‘old’ Dream Theater returned in majestic form, they’re as innovative as they were the first time they rode side-by-side.”

The band are playing headline shows and festival sets across Europe this summer. See their website for dates and details.

Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy says he owes it all to Rush - YouTube

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Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.