In September 2010, Mike Portnoy hung up his boots with Dream Theater after 25 years with the progressive metal band. It was difficult for the other band members to lose one of their co-founders and the group’s most hands-on person. Since then, the band has replaced him with four other drummers—Mike Mangini, James Labrie, Extreme, and Steve Vai—but none of them has been able to replicate Portnoy’s legacy.
So, what are the real reasons behind Mike Portnoy leaving Dream Theater?
He Didn’t Want to be a Drummer With One Band All His Life
Ever since founding the band in 1985 as a 20-year old, Mike had always played with Dream Theater, but it was starting to take a toll on him. He felt like he would be stuck with the other four band members all his life—and that thought scared him.
He saw the idea of leaving the group as a chance to spread his wings and explore life outside Dream Theater. And true to that, after leaving the band, he has gone on to do over 40 albums with different bands. Most of these bands have different styles ranging from prog to metal and rock, and according to him, this is a testament that he is a diverse artist and a vast music lover.
Mike is also thankful to all the fans who have followed his musical passions ever since he left DT. He says that he receives so much love from his fans through attending his shows, supporting him online, and buying his records—and this reassures him that he made the right decision.
He was Burnt Out
Overseeing a band rise from its formation to the level of Dream Theater with many hit records under its name is not easy. And working on something consistently for 25 years is bound to come with its fair share of exhaustion. This is precisely what happened to Portnoy—he was tired!
What many people don’t know is that Portnoy was not just a drummer. He would oversee several other things like production, the melodies, the lyrics, the websites, the fan clubs, and the band’s merchandise. Doing all these things was fun at first, but with time, it became exhausting.
With Dream Theater being at its height of popularity with multiple shows and upcoming albums, Portnoy had no time to recharge his batteries, and the weight of responsibility was bound to grow even more. But, he could not take it anymore, and so he called it quits.
Upon leaving the band, Portnoy has always insisted that he has no regrets over what he did (he even has a tattoo that says ‘No Regrets’). He adds that if he had continued with the band, he would have grown resentful, which would have had a severe effect on his productivity.
To understand how much responsibility the bearded drummer was entrusted with and his immense work ethic, the other band members, had to delegate some of the work that he did to external parties and share some of it amongst themselves.
He Wanted to Save his Relationship With Other Band Members
It is believed that by the time Portnoy left DT, tensions were high between the band members to the point that one unnamed member had ceased interacting with the others, even during tours.
Prior to recording their album, A Dramatic Turn of Events, Portnoy expressed his dissatisfaction with the state of affairs and proposed a 5-year hiatus for the band to allow everyone to recharge. This suggestion was received with displeasure by the other group members as they didn’t see the need to take a break. They also felt Portnoy was unreasonable as he had just been on tour with another band, Avenged Sevenfold, to fill in for their deceased drummer.
With Portnoy’s suggestion being dismissed by the other band members, he felt that he could not continue with the group. If he had stayed, he knew that the relationship between them would only go downhill from there. And so, he left to save the relationship.
Portnoy’s decision to leave the group was justified as he maintained a good relationship with the band members after leaving. John Petrucci, DT’s guitarist, appeared on Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon on 18th August 2020 and admitted that since they had been together in the band for 25 years, they were like brothers and their families grew up together. Even after Portney left DT, they still maintained close contact—even hanging out and going on holidays together. And to make matters even better, Portnoy would be playing in Petrucci’s upcoming solo album named ‘Terminal Velocity.’
The Takeaway
When Portnoy left DT, the news generated a lot of fuss in the media. Every post he wrote on social media was turned into a huge clickbait headline—and this came with its fair share of internet trolls. The saddest thing is that many people did not care to understand why Portnoy had decided to leave a band that he sacrificially built from scratch. Upon understanding the reasons now, it is clear that he made the right decision, both at a personal level and career-wise.
