In a new Drumeo video, Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy talked about his responsibilities once he was back in the band.
The drummer was asked what roles he regained since rejoining the band. One key area was album production. “Some I’ve regained. There’s certain areas that I have regained and certain areas I’ve stayed out of. For instance the production in the new album, I don’t have a co-producer credit, which is unusual, but that was one area that I had to step back and respect John Petrucci’s wishes.”
Portnoy noted that he and Petrucci co-produced past albums, but after Portnoy left, Petrucci took over and wanted to keep that role. “In our very very first conversation about me possibly coming back, that was one of the areas he didn’t want to give up his role because we produced all the old Dream Theater albums together. We were co-producers. When I left the band he took over the sole producer credit and I guess he got very comfortable with it and likes it. So he asked if I would mind him getting the sole credit. I mean that’s fine. That is a role that I used to really love but I do have to respect their wishes.”
Portnoy also acknowledged that after being away for 13 years, he couldn’t just return and make demands. “Coming back into a band and they had been doing it for 13 years without me, so I can’t come in and demand this and demand that. I need to be easy with it. So that’s one area that I didn’t regain.”
On the other hand, frontman James LaBrie confirmed that Portnoy is once again in charge of the band’s setlist. The singer earlier explained that Portnoy does an excellent job picking songs for the list.
“We actually handed [it out] to Mike Portnoy again so he’s back at the helm of that,” he explained. “He does it most admirably because Mike first and foremost is the biggest fan of the band, so he’s very analytical about the way that he goes about it, where you start, and how you produce something that is going to satisfy each pretty much each and every fan so that when they walk away from the show, at the end of the day, are they saying, ‘Oh my God, I was able to hear so many songs that I was hoping would be in the setlist?'”
He then touched on Portnoy’s approach to creating a fresh setlist for each show. “So, Mike will look at things like, ‘Okay what was played on the last tour what was played the last time we came into this territory?’ So, he’s ensuring that this setlist will be something different for people if we play in Lithuania and the last time they saw us, what was this and this? So, we’re not playing those songs. Basically it’s just trying to really bring something new to the areas that we’re going in that we haven’t played in quite some time.”
The band is currently on tour to support their new album ‘Parasomnia.’
