Dream Theater Alumni

Dream Theater Alumni | Installment #1 | Chris Collins - Vocalist

Chris Collins is an American singer and musician, mostly known for being the first singer in "Majesty" the band that would later become Dream Theater. Although he never appeared on any of the band's albums, he is well known as their original singer and still continues to pursue a musical career...

   The Majesty Days 
Collins grew up in Long Island with fellow future Dream Theater members John Petrucci, John Myung and Kevin Moore. While those three went off to colleges to study music, Collins weighed his options and decided to join The United States Marine Corps. due to his interest and abilities in target shooting. His enlistment in the USMC never happened however, the very week that he was supposed to go to boot camp he received a phone call from John Petrucci stating that they would like to record an album and that he should audition for the band. Contrary to popular belief he was never in a Queensrÿche tribute band, and the tape of him singing a Queensrÿche song was recorded with Majesty themselves. However it did get alot of attention and there was a buzz going around that created enough notoriety for Collins to obtain the position in the band during the infant stages of Majesty.
       The first audition happened in drummer Tony Mattassa's bedroom one weekend while the band where back from college in their home town of Kings Park. Collins performed without a PA system that afternoon, and John and John and Kevin were impressed with his ability to sing louder than amplified instruments and drums. However Collins was not a trained vocalist at the time, but realized his abilities during that era and decided to give it a shot nontheless. The will and drive of these individuals far exeeded Mr. Collins's and therefore was not a match at the time. It wasn't until many years as Mr. Collins matured that he had developed his skills as a writer and a classically trained performer.

       Collins was invited to join the band, then called Majesty, and accepted writing and recording songs for them. Collins recorded vocals for six tracks that the band made into their first demo tape, The Majesty Demos. His later contributions included writing lyrics for two songs, Afterlife and Cry for Freedom though neither were ever recorded with his lyrics and Afterlife was later given new lyrics by his replacement, Charlie Dominici.

Collins wound up frustrating his bandmates with his poor vocal range, bad live performances and on-stage behavior, such as an incident in which he insulted John Myung which almost led to blows. Eventually the band let him go, citing that they would never be a success with him in the band.

After  the dawn of 1994 Chris Collins set forth to create an original metal band he would call Winterspell. The name was derived from a poem that he had written in the early 90's that he had set to acoustic music off the album Supercalafragilistic Extreoverdosus. Most of that album was lost in a house fire but a raw version of "Winterspell" still exists. He also recreated two of the songs that he now calls the "Mourning Star" Project. Caught in a quagmire of cover bands and unoriginality, the local scene finally persuaded him to join forces with some local tributes such as "Snowblind", "Never Enough", "Scorched Earth", "Speak of the Devil", and "Live After Death".

             While continuing to write he tampered with the thought of being a cover band artist, but always the original Chris's heart was not prepared to follow the trend of recreating other people's music; and so he approached Guitarist Tommy Conforti from Snowblind about some of his original metal. Chris always felt strongly about Tommy's sound and demanded a disc of his material so that he could prepare some vocals for it and he did. Needing to establish a full band, he pieced together remnants of an already dissolving band called "Guardians of the Flame", adding Tony Mattassa and Joey Lycon to the mix and so Winterspell was born. Following his passion for unusual and different sounding music, Tommy was definitely the man for the job at the time, with a sound that seemed to come from someplace not of this world. Collins latched on to that energy and made it his own with songs like "Well of souls", "The Eucharist", "Seriokill" and "Dust Becomes my Home". Some definite progress was made but soon after the band dissipated due to personal differences. 

     Collins and drummer Tony Mattassa forged on to many and several line up changes. Things looked very bleak. But due to their persistence they stuck it out together and plugged the life support back in with guitarist Pete Maglia of "Savior" and bass player Chris Kelly. Pete was a definite team player and true brother and initiated by learning some of Collins's music and we seemed to have a definite kick start and a new revival to the band. Pete was the savior at the time in the spring of 2005. But it wasn't until Dennis Sadlo joined that "Winterspell" truly became a fully dynamic and progressive band that transcended into something very significant.

"That line up gave us a little flavor of what we could become but towards the end of that season just after our first show and just as the band was truly kicking it off we ran into some problems that no one could foresee. so we had to wait another two years to recover, and it wasn't until the spring of '08 that we could continue where we left off .So in the spring of '08 with the same line up from '05 we continued with a new and stronger determination to make up for the lost time. Pumping out a new breed of "Winterspell" with power metal roots and a touch of Death. Thus the title "Touch of Death" the new "Winterspell" album being released in 2011."

Discography Edit

1989 - Lazarus - A Tale of Tomorrow - 3 Song EP

2004 - The Majesty Demos with Dream Theater (as Majesty)er Departure From Dream Theater

Charlie Dominici Born: June 16, 1951 (age 63), Brooklyn, New York City, New YorkCharlie Dominici is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, mostlyknown for being a former member of Dream Theater. Dominici left the music industry for a long period of time following his departure from Dream Theater, however he currently fronts his own band, Dominici.

  Early Life and career

Dominici was born in East New York, where from a very young age he became attracted to rock music and the rock and roll lifestyle. A fast talking, funny troublemaker, Dominici gained local prominence in his youth as a guitarist for several bands and notoriety for his wild ways. One notable incident had him inciting a riot in a hotel that caused several thousand dollars worth of damage, and then dodging out on having to pay for it.

Dominici gained the attention of Frank and the Knockouts and was brought in as a backing vocalist and guitarist for their first album, though Dominici felt that they didn't give him enough credit. The band found touring without his parts difficult, and invited him to tour with them for support of their second album, which he did not appear on. Charlie was eventually kicked off the tour due to his rambunctiousness and returned to New York.

Dream Theater

Charlie later came across the "vocalist wanted" ad that Dream Theater, then called "Majesty", had placed and decided to check out the band before responding. Dominici was suitably impressed by their demo, but stymied by Mike Portnoy's request to bring a PA system to the audition. Dominici, however, ran into John Myung at the music store he worked at and introduced himself by singing the song Your Majesty, which perplexed Myung.

  Dominici's attempts to get an audition with Majesty were eventually successful, much to the chagrin of Myung, who found his constant attempts to be irritating. His audition was for the most part unsuccessful, as he fell into the same trap most vocalists did and tried to do an impression of the band's previous singer, Chris Collins, which was well out of his range. He managed to finally impress the band with his improvisation skills, singing The Killing Hand without having heard it before, and was offered the position. 

           Charlie's role in Dream Theater is under debate, as he gives a different account than his former bandmates. Dominici was said to have been arrogant, with an attitude that he knew all about the music industry already. Dominici's account claims he did try to steer the band, but in an attempt to help them cross over into the mainstream, much like Rush did. Dominici wrote music and lyrics for the band, and even played guitar live in some cases, such as the intro to The Killing Hand.

Dominici's attempts to get an audition with Majesty were eventually successful, much to the chagrin of Myung, who found his constant attempts to be irritating. His audition was for the most part unsuccessful, as he fell into the same trap most vocalists did and tried to do an impression of the band's previous singer, Chris Collins, which was well out of his range. He managed to finally impress the band with his improvisation skills, singing The Killing Hand without having heard it before, and was offered the position.

Dominici

Soon after, the long awaited album of lies, Dominici recorded and released his first solo album O3: A Trilogy, Part One, an album where he sang, played acoustic guitar and harmonica, doing the entire album in a live take. The album, whose concept promised a tribute, was fairly successful, despite it only being online, and in limited quantities. Dominici gladly autographed copies of the album bought directly through his website, going so far as to personalize the autographs. Dominici claimed his original intention was to lead the band, and have the style be progressive metal like Dream Theater, but was so excited about the concept he recorded the album on his own before getting a band together.

Dominici did eventually get his band, in the form of "Solid Vision", an Italian progressive metal band. The band renamed themselves as Dominici and released the followup O3: A Trilogy, Part Two, which was this time released through Inside-Out Records, making it available in stores unlike the first album. The album was successful, and got good reviews, mostly for Dominici himself, though the band was criticized for sounding too much like Dream Theater.

Dominici eventually released the third and final part, O3: A Trilogy, Part Three, seen by many as being the best of the three musically, though the science-fiction slant the story took had many people surprised. Dominici toured in support of the album, even opening for Dream Theater at select European shows. Dominici states that the band will continue, though not with concept albums, though nothing solid has been announced yet. 

        Discography 

With Franke And The Knockouts

1981 - Franke and the Knockouts

With Dream Theater Edit

Studio Albums Edit

1989 - When Dream and Day Unite

Offical Bootlegs Edit

Demo Series

2004 - When Dream and Day Unite Demos

Live Series

2005 - When Dream and Day Reunite

Dominici Edit 

2005 - O3: A Trilogy, Part One (solo)

2007 - O3: A Trilogy, Part Two

2008 - O3: A Trilogy, Part Three

Kevin Moore, born May 26, 1967 is an American keyboarist, avant-garde musician and lyricist known for being a former member of Dream Theater, his solo career, and his work with OSI. Kevin Moore joined Dream Theater shortly after its inception and left the group after the Awake album to controversy. Since then he has launched his own solo career and has avoided contact or even mention of his former bandmates.                                             

Kevin Moore was born in and grew up in Kings Park, New York in Long Island. From a very early age he showed a keen interest in music, learning piano at age six and writing his first song at the age of 12. Moore grew up with other future Dream Theater band members John Petrucci, JohnMyung and Chris Collins. While Petrucci and Myung went to college at Berklee to study music, Moore went to a local college, SUNY Fredonia where he studied classical music. Moore was eventually contacted by Petrucci and Myung, stating that they had met drummer Mike Portnoy at Berklee who shared their musical tastes and they had formed a band, "Majesty" which later became Dream Theater. Moore was offered the position of keyboardist, which he accepted. The four, along with Chris Collins formed the band's first lineup. Moore's role in Dream Theater was quite a bit more subdued than his collegues, as he was quiet and brooding, seeing himself more of an artist than a musician. This attitude could be seen in concert, as Moore refused to take part in instrumental jams or improv sections, often leaving the stage while his bandmates jammed. An exception to this was for the filming of Images and Words Live in Tokyo.

Images and Words Live in Tokyo.

During the writing and recording of Awake, Moore became increasingly distant from the other members of the band on a personal level, and showed a decrease in interest in their music, instead preferring to write more somber music which usually was electronic in nature and not appropriate for Dream Theater. One of his songs, Space-Dye Vest was included on the album to appease his changing tastes. Moore himself wrote the song 6:00 about his frustration with the band and his desire to leave.

After Awake had been recorded, Moore announced his intention to leave the band, informing them that he would not be joining them on the world tour. This caused an immediate rift between him and Portnoy, who felt that Moore's timing was unprofessional and left them in a bad spot, and later stated that if he had known that Moore was going to leave, he would never have included Space-Dye Vest on the album. Moore was left out of the mixing process for the album, leading him to criticize the album's mix later on.

    Moore and Dream Theater never re-united and animosity between him and Portnoy has grown over the past years. Portnoy invited Moore to perform with them live on several occasions, at first to play the song "Space-Dye Vest" for Dream Theater fans who wished to hear it live (as Portnoy felt it would be wrong to play Moore's song without him in the band) and then again to join them for the 15th anniversary of When Dream and Day Unite in which he also declined. Portnoy stated he was insulted by Moore's refusal to acknowledge his past and stated he would no longer bother inviting him. Moore also notoriously turned down being interviewed by Rich Wilson, author of Lifting Shadows, stating he had no interest in a book about Dream Theater.      Solo Career Edit Moore used his time in Dream Theater to launch a solo career, though crossover appeal for his music has been limited, as his compositions tend to be neither metal nor progressive, though he does have a fair amount of fans. Moore moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and released a demo tape, which later evolved into his first solo album This is a Recording. He also later released Memory Hole 1 and Ghost Book, which was the soundtrack for a Turkish film, Okul. Moore has since moved to Istanbul, Turkey and has worked on other Turkish film scores, but has never released soundtrack albums other than Ghost Book and later, on 2010, Shine.

Aside from his solo offerings, Moore also started to release solo albums under the moniker Chroma Key, a music project of which he is the only member, leading some fans to wonder why he released some music as Kevin Moore and other music as Chroma Key. Three Chroma Key albums and one EP have been released so far. In 2004, Moore scoured public domain films looking for one that exuded a certain mood, intending to write a pseudo-soundtrack to it. The film he chose was Age 13, an educational film from the 1950s, originally for use in schools. He took the existing film, slowed it to half speed, and let it dictate the moods, textures, and even running times of the songs he wrote to it. The resulting album is titled Graveyard Mountain Home, which included a DVD containing the movie set to Moore's music. Moore is currently working as producer for a Turkish industrial band, Makine.
Discography  With Dream Theater Studio Albums Edit 1989 - When Dream and Day Unite 1992 - Images and Words 1994 - Awake Extended Plays Edit 1993 - Another Day 1995 - Lie 1995 - The Silent Man Live Albums Edit 1993 - Live at the Marquee Compilations Edit 2008 - Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) Fan Club CDs Edit 2002 - Taste the Memories Offical Bootlegs Edit Demo Series Demo Series 2003 - The Majesty Demos 2004 - When Dream and Day Unite Demos 2005 - Images and Words Demos 2006 - Awake Demos Live Series 2007 - New York City 3/4/93 Videos Edit 1993 - Images and Words Live in Tokyo 1998 - 5 Years in a LIVEtime Solo Edit As Chroma Key Edit 1998 - Dead Air for Radios 1999 - Colorblind (EP) 2000 - You Go Now 2004 - Graveyard Mountain Home As Kevin Moore Edit 1995 - Music Meant to be Heard (demo) 1999 - This is a Recording 2004 - Memory Hole 1 2004 - Ghost Book (soundtrack) 2010 - Shine (soundtrack) OSI Edit 2003 - Office of Strategic Influence 2006 - Free 2006 - Free (EP) 2009 - Blood 2012 - Fire Make Thunder Others Edit 1989 - Perfect Symmetry with Fates Warning 1997 - A Pleasant Shade of Gray with Fates Warning 2000 - Disconnected with Fates Warning 2000 - Make Believe with ON

Derek Sherinian A Third Change Of Season
Born: August 25, 1966 (age 48), Laguna Beach.
Derek Sherinian is a prominent American keyboardist, known for his work with a vast variety of bands and projects. Sherinian worked mainly as a hired hand for rock tours and session man before eventually joining Dream Theater which launched his extensive solo career. Sherinian is highly respected in the music industry, being called "King Of The Keys" and "The Caligula of Keyboards", and has worked with many high profile artists such as Alice Cooper, Kiss and Billy Idol.

Early life and career Edit
Not a lot is known about Sherinian's early life. He received a scholarship to Berklee after his junior year of high school, which he attended for a short period before leaving, much like his future bandmates Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci and John Myung. Sherinian returned to California and entered the local scene, gaining notoriety for his skill. Sherinian enjoyed a brief stint with Kiss, playing background keyboards on tour with them and appearing on the album Kiss Alive III.

Sherinian eventually won a spot with The Alice Cooper Band, appearing both on the album The Last Temptation and in concert, being on stage with a prominent group for the first time, as his stint with Kiss he remained backstage. Sherinian even appeared in the film Wayne's World, playing himself in a scene with Alice Cooper.

Dream Theater and side-projects Edit

Soon after finishing touring with Alice Cooper, Cooper told him that Dream Theater was looking for a keyboardist. Though he was slightly intimidated by the complexity of their music, Sherinian auditioned successfully, though he was initially hired only as a tour keyboardist. During the tour in support of Awake, with Sherinian replacing Kevin Moore, who played on that album, the band decided to make Sherinian a full member of the band, which James LaBrie announced live in concert.

According to Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, Sherinian completely changed after being made a full member. Initially dressing and acting very conservatively, Sherinian unleashed his full personality after becoming a full member, trading his conservative dress and manner for Elton John style clothing and a rock star personality. 

Sherinian joined Dream Theater in the studio for the first time during the recording of A Change of Seasons. Though the song A Change of Seasons was written before he joined, he added his own flair to the keyboard parts and wrote the new intro. The first song that Dream Theater wrote with him was Raise the Knife which would ironically never appear on a Dream Theater album, excepting the live version on Score, 10 years later.

         Sherinian worked with Dream Theater on Falling Into Infinity and toured with them in support of the album. During this time, the band was going through a very dark period, and Sherinian's humor, optimism and over-the-top personality was said to be a factor in the band staying together. Sherinian came up with the idea for Nightmare Cinema and also performed as his alter ego Nicky Lemons on stage with them at certain shows. One example of Sherinian's outrageous personality happened while the band was on tour in Japan, and a large-scale earthquake rocked the hotel they were staying at. Band members understandably panicked, but Sherinian, a California native who was used to earthquakes, only came out of his room briefly with two toweled Japanese groupies and yelled "Rock and Roll, baby!" before retiring back into his room.      Despite his stint in Dream Theater being considered successful, the band replaced him soon after with Jordan Rudess whom they had originally wanted to recruit in 1994. Sherinian was initially upset at being replaced but he remains on good terms with the band, and appeared with them on stage in 2004 for the 15th anniversary of When Dream And Day Unite along with Charlie Dominici where he played an extended solo session during Metropolis with Jordan Rudess and John Petrucci.

During his tenure with Dream Theater, him and John Myung co-founded the band Platypus who have since released two albums. Myung was said to be conflicted about the decision to replace Sherinian due to being in Platypus with him. Sherinian eventually left Platypus and the remaining members formed The Jelly Jam .

      Solo career, Planet X and more opportunities Edit

Sherinian springboarded his stint in Dream Theater into a successful solo career. He released his first solo album, Planet X in 1999. Ironically, it's rumored that Sherinian's motivation was to impress his bandmates in Dream Theater by showing off his skills, though this is unconfirmed. The band he played with on Planet X afterwards took the name Planet X and released several albums, though Sherinian continued to release solo albums under his own name, leading to some confusion.

Sherinian's solo style is extremely varied. With Planet X, he employs a large deal of jazz fusion, creating incredibly complex, always instrumental music. His solo albums are more eclectic, offering a range in styles that differs from song to song, and is considerably more guitar driven. He is known to employ a lot of guests on his albums, and for working with guitarist Zakk Wylde. His former bandmate John Petrucci appeared on the album Blood of the Snake.

Sherinian also returned to working with high profile musicians as a hired hand, appearing on Billy Idol's album Devil's Playground and the tour to support it. He has also appeared on albums by Jughead, Ayreon and Yngwie Malmsteen. Sherinian also currently owns Beechwood Manor Studios, and mixes albums for hire.

Influences Edit

In a 2000 interview, Sherinian cited his early influences as being Jan Hammer (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer and The Nice), Rick Wakeman (Yes), and Elton John. Other influences include guitarists Allan Holdsworth, Jeff Beck, and Eddie Van Halen. He shares most of his influences with drummer Brian Tichy, a fellow ex-student of Berklee; Sherinian enjoys co-writing material with fellow musicians, and often finds that he writes better material with drummers. One of his favorite keyboardists is Jens Johansson, who he deems the "coolest keyboardist out there." Sherinian cites Van Halen's guitar playing as having a direct influence on his unique approach to keyboards in terms of technique as well as tone; his unique "Monster Lead" lead patch contains numerous elements of guitar sounds such as distortion, harmonics, and palm-muting.

Discography

With Dream Theater Edit

Studio Albums Edit

1997 - Falling Into Infinity

Extended Plays Edit

1995 - A Change of Seasons

1998 - Hollow Years

Live Albums Edit

1998 - Once in a LIVEtime

Compilations Edit

2008 - Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs)

Fan Club CDs Edit

1996 - International Fan Club Christmas CD

1997 - The Making of Falling Into Infinity

1998 - Once in a LIVEtime Outtakes

1999 - Cleaning Out the Closet

Offical Bootlegs Edit

Demo Series

2007 - Falling Into Infinity Demos

Live Series

2003 - Los Angeles, California 5/18/98

2004 - Tokyo, Japan 10/28/95

2005 - When Dream and Day Reunite

2006 - Old Bridge, New Jersey 12/14/96

Solo Edit

1999 - Planet X

2001 - Inertia

2003 - Black Utopia

2004 - Mythology

2006 - Blood of the Snake

2009 - Molecular Heinosity

With Planet X Edit

2000 - Universe

2002 - Moonbabies

2002 - Live From Oz (live)

2007 - Quantum

With Platypus Edit

1999 - When Pus Comes to Shove

2000 - Ice Cycles

Others Edit

1991 - Guitar Practicing Musicians Vol. 2 (compilation)

1993 - Gillrock Ranch with Brad Gillis

1993 - Kiss Alive III with Kiss

1994 - The Last Tempation with Alice Cooper

1995 - To Cry You a Song: A Collection of Tull Tales tribute album

1996 - Alice Cooper Classicks compilation

1997 - Odd Man Out with Pat Torpey

1998 - Age of Impact with Explorer's Club

1999 - Humanity Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper tribute album

1999 - All Star Tribute to Aerosmith tribute album

2000 - A Party of the Times: A Tribute to Prince tribute album

2002 - Songs of Pink Floyd tribute album

2002 - One Way Street: An All Star Tribute to Aerosmith tribute album

2002 - We're a Happy Family: An All Star Tribute to the Ramones tribute album

2002 - Einstien Too with Einstien

2004 - The Power and the Myth with House Of Lords

2005 - Bad Boy Live with John Sykes

2005 - Devil's Playground with Billy Idol

2006 - Happy Holidays with Billy Idol

2008 - 01011001 with Ayreon

2008 - Idolize Yourself compilation

2008 - Perpetual Flame with Yngwie Malmsteen

Mike Portnoy A Fifth Change Of Season
Michael Stephen Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer and backing vocalist for the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He has worked with other prominent acts such as Transatlantic, Liquid Tension Experiment and OSI. Known for his drumming prowess and technical skills, Portnoy has won 23 awards from the Modern Drummer magazine. He has also, along with John Petrucci, co-produced all Dream Theater albums starting with Scenes From A Memory to Black Clouds & Silver Linings. From A Change of Seasons onwards, Portnoy has been writing a substantial amount of Dream Theater's lyrics, filling the void left by Kevin Moore, who left the band after the release of Awake. He is the second youngest person (after Neil Peart) to be inducted into the Modern Drummer's Hall of Fame at 37 years of age.

           

Early life
Mike Portnoy was born and raised in Long Beach, New York, on Long Island. His father, Howard Portnoy worked as a DJ at a local radio station, which gave the young Portnoy exposure to a wide variety of rock music, having an early impression on him. Portnoy is said to have had a loving relationship with both of his parents, though they divorced, and his mother's second husband proved to have a very poor relationship with Mike, being cold and neglectful, possibly even abusive, leading Portnoy to eventually pen the song Honor Thy Father about him. Portnoy also eventually wrote songs about his natural parents, with A Change of Seasons being about his mother and The Best of Times being about his father.

Portnoy taught himself drums, being influenced by such greats as Neil Peart, Terry Bozzio and Ringo Starr. Though he was largely self-taught Portnoy did take music-theory classes in High School. His drumming led to him being a part of several bands in High School, including Intruder, Rising Power and Inner Sanctum, which he left to pursue a scholarship to Berklee.

Berklee and role in Dream Theater
While practicing drums at Berklee, Portnoy was approached by two other Long Island natives, John Petrucci and John Myung, the three striking up an immediate friendship based largely on their mutual home and similar musical influences. The trio formed a band along with other Long Island friends Kevin Moore and Chris Collins, and it was Portnoy who named them "Majesty" while on line for Rush tickets at Berklee, Portnoy remarked at the end of "Bastille Day" that "their music is so majestic" leading to the band's first name. It was Portnoy's father Howard who came up with the band's second name, "Dream Theater" after an old-fashioned movie theater in California.

Portnoy assumed creative control of the band from an early start, although Petrucci was also considered to be somewhat of a leader in the band, and John Myung, while rarely very vocal in band matters, has a voice that carried a lot of weight with Portnoy. Portnoy was also considered to be the band's spokesperson, doing the majority of press interviews and announcements. Even at live shows, though James LaBrie acted as the frontman, Portnoy would take the microphone to make important announcements, such as when he announced that the band would be playing When Dream and Day Unite in it's entirety in 2004.

Portnoy was a driving force behind Dream Theater since it's inception, his name often being synonymous with Dream Theater. Portnoy did consider quitting at one point in 1998 after poor experiences with Atlantic Records during the creation of Falling Into Infinity . However, he was convinced to stay by his band mates.

On September 8th, 2010, Mike announced on Twitter, Facebook and the Mike Portnoy forums that he was leaving Dream Theater.

                                                                                             

Relationship with Musicians and Fans
Portnoy is considered to be, for the most part, a very approachable, friendly person who gets along easily with most people. He has a good relationship with his band mates, with minimal conflicts. Portnoy had some resentment towards Petrucci and LaBrie during the making of Falling Into Infinity, though this was only temporary. Portnoy has rare feuds, a notable one being with Geoff Tate after he insulted Dream Theater on the Eddie Trunk show. Occasionally a misunderstanding can lead to the appearance of a feud, such as between Portnoy and Neil Peart, but these things are usually cleared up fairly quickly. Portnoy has formed friendships with many other musicians, including Neal Morse, Chris Jericho and Rob Bellamy, and non musicians such as Eddie Trunk and Mike Piazza.

Portnoy's relationship with fans can best be described as exceptional, as fans have found him to be approachable and amiable towards them, signing autographs upon request and chatting with fans. Portnoy organized the "meet and greet" program at Dream Theater shows to further connect with fans, with the money from it going directly into show production. Portnoy's website has a popular forum which he posts on frequently, often conversing directly to fans or answering their questions. However, Portnoy can become frustrated with a certain aspect of the fandom, and feels that a small percentage will never be happy no matter what he does for them, leading to a few tirades and the song Never Enough.

Other Skills

Although Portnoy is primarily known as an accomplished drummer, he is also an accomplished songwriter, being one of the primary writers in Dream Theater and many of the projects he involves himself with. In the case of Dream Theater, he is known to be the final authority on song writing decisions, even breaking a written "contract" between himself and Petrucci regarding a song writing decision. He is also an accomplished lyricist, writing lyrics for acclaimed Dream Theater songs such as A Change of Seasons, The AA Saga and Honor Thy Father. While playing as Nightmare Cinema, Portnoy plays the bass, which he described as his "second instrument", and has shown to be competent with it. Portnoy is also known to occasionally play keyboards, which he did for Dream Theater's early cover of YYZ which was recorded before Kevin Moore joined the band. Portnoy also has produced all Dream Theater albums since Scenes From a Memory through Black Clouds & Silver Linings.

Discography
With Dream Theater
Studio Albums Edit
1989 - When Dream and Day Unite
1992 - Images and Words
1994 - Awake
1997 - Falling Into Infinity
1999 - Scenes from a Memory
2002 - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2003 - Train of Thought
2005 - Octavarium
2007 - Systematic Chaos
2009 - Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Extended Plays
1993 - Another Day
1995 - Lie
1995 - The Silent Man
1995 - A Change of Seasons
1998 - Hollow Years
2000 - Through Her Eyes
2008 - Forsaken EP
Live Albums Edit
1993 - Live at the Marquee
1998 - Once in a LIVEtime
2001 - Live Scenes from New York
2004 - Live at Budokan)
2006 - Score
2008 - Chaos in Motion
Compilations Edit
2008 - Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs)
Fan Club CDs Edit
1996 - International Fan Club Christmas CD
1997 - The Making of Falling Into Infinity
1998 - Once in a LIVEtime Outtakes
1999 - Cleaning Out the Closet
2000 - Scenes from a World Tour
2001 - Four Degrees of Radio Edits
2002 - Taste the Memories
2002 - The ATCO Demos
2003 - Graspop Festival 2002
2004 - A Sort of Homecoming
2007 - Images and Words 15th Anniversary Performance
Offical Bootlegs Edit
Demo Series
2003 - The Majesty Demos
2004 - When Dream and Day Unite Demos
2005 - Images and Words Demos
2006 - Awake Demos
2007 - Falling Into Infinity Demos
Live Series
2003 - Los Angeles, California 5/18/98
2004 - Tokyo, Japan 10/28/95
2005 - When Dream and Day Reunite
2006 - Old Bridge, New Jersey 12/14/96
2007 - New York City 3/4/93
Studio Series
2003 - The Making of Scenes from a Memory
Covers Series
2004 - Master of Puppets
2005 - The Number of the Beast
2006 - Dark Side of the Moon
2007 - Made in Japan
With Liquid Tension Experiment Edit
1998 - Liquid Tension Experiment
1999 - Liquid Tension Experiment 2
2007 - Spontaneous Combustion (as Liquid Trio Experiment)
2009 - When the Keyboard Breaks: Live in Chicago (As Liquid Trio Experiment 2)
With Transatlantic Edit
2000 - SMPT:e
2001 - Live in America (Live)
2001 - Bridge Across Forever
2003 - Transatlantic Demos by Neal Morse
2003 - SMPT:e (The Roine Stolt Mixes: circa 1999)
2003 - Live In Europe (Live)
2009 - The Whirlwind
2010 - Whirld Tour 2010: Live in London (:ive)
2011 - More Never Is Enough: Live In Manchester & Tilburg 2010 (Live)
2014 - Kaleidoscope
With Neal Morse Edit
2003 - Testimony
2004 - One
2005 - ?
2006 - Cover to Cover
2007 - Sola Scriptura
2008 - Lifeline
2009 - The River
2010 - Mighty To Save
2011 - Testimony Two
2012 - Momentum
2013 - Get Into The Boat
With OSI Edit
2003 - Office of Strategic Influence
2006 - Free
With Flying Colors Edit
2012 - Flying Colors
2013 - Live in Europe (Live)
With Adrenaline Mob Edit
2011 - Adrenaline Mob
2012 - Omertà
2013 - Covertà
Others Edit
1984 - Power for the People with Rising Power
1986 - 12 A.M. with Inner Sanctum
1986 - Unearthed with S. A. Adams
2001 - Rama 1 with Andy West
2003 - A Twist of Fate with John Arch
2005 - Prime Cuts compilation
2006 - Cover to Cover with Neal Morse and Randy George
2010 - Nightmare with Avenged Sevenfold
2012 - Cover2Cover with Neal Morse and Randy George
2012 - A Proggy Christmas with The Prog World Orchestra
2013 - The Winery Dogs with the Winery Dogs
2013 - Live in Tokyo with Sheehan, MacAlpine and Sherinian (live)
Videography Edit
1993 - Images and Words Live in Tokyo with Dream Theater
1998 - 5 Years in a LIVEtime with Dream Theater
2000 - Metropolis 2000 with Dream Theater
2003 - Live in Europe with Transatlantic
2004 - Live at Budokan with Dream Theater
2004 - Dream Theater Double Feature with Dream Theater
2004 - Testimony Live with Neal Morse
2006 - Score with Dream Theater
2006 - Building the Bridge: Live in America with Transatlantic
2008 - Chaos in Motion with Dream Theater
Tribute Shows (CD and DVD) Edit
One Night In New York City - Yellow Matter Custard (2003) (The Beatles) with Paul Gilbert, Neal Morse and Matt Bissonette
Two Nights In North America - Hammer of the Gods (2006) (Led Zeppelin) with Paul Gilbert, Daniel Gildenlöw, and Dave LaRue
One Night in Chicago - Cygnus and the Sea Monsters (2006) (Rush) with Paul Gilbert, Sean Malone, and Jason McMaster
Amazing Journey - Amazing Journey (2007) (The Who) with Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan and Gary Cherone
One More Night in New York City - Yellow Matter Custard (2011) (The Beatles) with Paul Gilbert, Neal Morse and Matt Bissonette
Instructional DVD Releases Edit
Progressive Drum Concepts (Rittor Music 1995 1 VHS/DVD)
Liquid Drum Theater (Hudson Music 2000 2 DVDs)
In Constant Motion (Hudson Music 2007, 3 DVDs)
Drum Cam DVDs Edit
"Asian Clinic Tour" (MP4 Productions 2001, 1 DVD) (out of print)
"Ten Degrees of Turbulent Drumming" (MP4 Productions 2002, 1 DVD)
"Drums Across Forever" (MP4 Productions 2002, 1 DVD)
"Drums of Thought" (MP4 Productions 2004, 1 DVD)
"Live at Budokan" (MP4 Production 2005, 1 DVD)
"Mike Portnoy - Drumavarium" (MP4 Productions 2005, 1 DVD)
"sysDRUMatic chaos" (MP4 Productions 2007, 1 DVD)
"SCORE" (MP4 Productions 2008, 1 DVD)er
"Black Clouds & Silver Drumming" (MP4 Productions 2009, 1 DVD)
"Whirlwind Drumming" (MP4 Productions 2010, 1 DVD)