Mike Portnoy

Mike Portnoy! Wow! Yeah! That's a Drummer! Mike Portnoy was born on the 20th of April, 1967 and raised in Long Beach, New York, where his interest in music started. He said, "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." Although Mike taught himself how to play the drums, he did take some music lessons in high school. During that time he began playing in local bands and after a while they released their own album. Mike left the band after being awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee Music College in Boston. An avid collector of many things, Mike has a vast array of Dream Theater memorabilia including bootlegs, posters, clippings and everything else under the sun with the bands name on it. He is also responsible for capturing everything the band does on video 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. Mike says his biggest influences are drummer Neil Peart and the late Frank Zappa. Other favorites include drummers Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colaiuta, and bands such as The Beatles, Queen, Yes, Metallica, Iron Maidon, and U2. Mike and his wife Marlene live in Rockland, NY. Mike has the biggest and hugest drumset, that man has ever seen!!! Take a look at the photos!

Some pictures:

Some links:
Mike Portnoy's Official Website
Mike Portnoy at Drummer World
Mike Portnoy at Wikipedia

Some mp3 and videos:
Solo 1 (mp3)
Solo 1 (video)
Solo 2 (video)