According to Blabbermouth, drummer Mike Portnoy has discussed his return to Dream Theater. In a candid interview, he delves into his triumphant comeback and reveals the details behind his return. Portnoy explained, “Well, it’s been 13 years now. And it’s crazy how time flies. But the last couple of years, I guess during the pandemic, yeah, I reconnected with John Petrucci. Once we were in lockdown and all of my bands couldn’t tour, and Dream Theater couldn’t tour, John Petrucci was doing a solo album, and he asked me to play on it. And then from there we decided we wanted to do another LTE [Liquid Tension Experiment] album, which is with Jordan Rudess. And then shortly after that, John asked me to go on tour with him. So it just seems like we’ve been kind of reconnecting through the last few years.” 

He added, “We have such a long history – almost 40 years now – together, our wives played in a band together, and our kids grew up together. So, honestly, it just felt like it was the right thing in the right time… [Our kids] literally grew up all together, in the top bunks across from each other on the bus. My daughter and John’s daughter have lived together in New York for the last four or five years. So, yeah, there’s so much family history beyond just the music that it just felt like the time was right to do it.” 

Photo Credit: Ekaterina Gorbacheva