Mike Portnoy

Mike Portnoy was born on April 20, 1967 and raised in Long Beach, New York, where his interest in music started at an early age. "My father was a rock n' roll disc jockey, so I was always surrounded by music constantly. I had this huge record collection when I was real young and loved the Beatles and then later on Kiss. It was inevitable that I'd become a musician." Admitting that Mike showed himself how to play the drums, he did take music speculation classes in secondary school.

Around the same time as that time he started playing in nearby groups Intruder, Rising Power and Inner Sanctum, the recent of which discharged their particular collection. Mike Portnoy left the band after being awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee Music College in Boston. During that period he began playing in local bands, two of which (Rising Power and Inner Sanctum) recorded and released independent albums. He left Inner Sanctum (his last high school band) after being awarded a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, he met John Petrucci and John Myung. They formed a band, initially taking name "Majesty" before changing the name to Dream Theater. They left Berklee soon after.

An avid collector of many things, Mike Portnoy has a vast array of  Dream Theater memorabilia including bootlegs, posters, clippings and everything else under the sun with the band's name on it. He is also responsible for capturing everything the band does onvideo tape and DAT. His huge video collection includes favorite films as 2001, A Clockwork Orange, Jacob's Ladder and The Wall along with episodes of The Simpsons and memorable boxing matches.

Drum kits and percussive equipment
~When Dream and Day Unite/Images & Words Kit
~Awake/A Change Of Seasons kit
~The Purple/Green/Red Monsters
~Liquid Tension Experiment kit
~Transatlantic kit
~The Siamese Monster
~The OSI kit
~Yellow Matter Custard kit
~Hammer Of The Gods kit
~The Albino Monster
~The Mirage Monster
~Black & Silver Monster        

Mike Portnoy says his biggest influences are Rush drummer Neil Peart and the late Frank Zappa. Other favorites include drummers Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colaiuta, Simon Philips, John Bonham and Keith Moon and bands such as The Beatles, Queen, Yes, Metallica, Jellyfish, Iron Maidon, U2 and Jane's Addiction. He is also a fan of rap music. Mike Portnoy and his wife Marlene live in Rockland, NY with their daughter Melody Ruthandrea, new son Max John, dog Bongo and cats E.T. and Cypress.