OSI訪問：Blistering.com訪問Mike Portnoy

全文如下....

Drummer elite, Mike Portnoy has been very busy despite having a ‘break’ from his usual Dream Theater duties. He has been involved with a few side projects such as The Liquid Tension Experiment and TransAtlantic. He also guest appeared on John Arch’s (Fates Warning) first solo recordings in over fifteen years and most recently, joined former Dream Theater band mate, Kevin Moore along with Jim Matheos (Fates Warning), Sean Malone (Cynic; Gordian Knot) and Steve Wilson (Porcupine Tree) to form the progressive metal super-group, O.S.I..

I spoke with Portnoy recently about O.S.I. as well as some current events and the future of Dream Theater..

>>這邊提到，在Rhode Island一場Great White的表演發生不幸...
Blistering.com: Now, before we really get into the music I do want to ask you your thoughts on some recent current events. First, I want to touch on this on the sad tragedy that happened in Rhode Island where the club burned down during Great White’s performance. What is your take on that whole situation?

Mike Portnoy: Oh, well, what can I say that’s not obvious? It was a nightmare, a real tragedy. I actually knew one of the guys that was in the fire and died. He was a disc Jockey named Dr. Metal (Mike Gonsalves) that introduced Great White that night and he was an old friend of mine. It was just a real tragedy. What can I say? It was a big mistake on somebody’s part and it’s just a horrible nightmare.

Blistering.com: It just feels like it could have been prevented and it’s a real shame.

Portnoy: Well, if anything it will be a lot more strict now. It always takes something bad like this to happen so you can learn from it and hopefully something like that could be prevented in the future and never happen again.

>>在討論關於美伊的國際情勢...
Blistering.com: Where do you stand on this Iraq issue? Which side of the line are you on?

Portnoy: I don’t know if there’s such a thing as pro-war? But, if there is that’s me. I mean, nobody wants to go to war, nobody wants to see innocent people killed, but it seems to me that a lot of Americans are quickly forgetting the impact and the outcome of what happened on 9-11. We still have yet to really finish the job. I’m all for doing whatever it takes to get this world back to way it should be. We have to get rid of these people that are making this world full of the threat of terrorism. Whatever it takes to get the job done. I’m supportive of getting it done.

Blistering.com: What do you think of all these protesters that are protesting this war?

Portnoy: I think those people have a very short attention span. They should go and rent one of these 9-11 documentaries or something for a quick reminder of what happened to us and what still needs to be done to shape this world back into a normal life without fear.

Blistering.com: Very well said…

Portnoy: Thanks…

Blistering.com: Now, you are a true rock veteran, you have been on the scene with Dream Theater for well over fifteen years. You have earned a position as one of the greatest drummers of our times. What an amazing accolade, what do you think about your position in the music world right now?

Portnoy: Well, I don’t take it for granted. It’s definitely a tough time for bands in general, but especially a band like ours, who survived this long. Dream Theater’s been together for eighteen years now and for us to still be thriving, not even existing. I mean we’re still growing within this little world we’re in. This last summer we headlines Jones Beach and that was such a huge accomplishment for a band like ours to be doing that kind of stuff with no MTV play, no radio play, no mainstream press. It’s definitely an accomplishment that we won’t take for granted and that’s why we keep doing it. Man, we have the greatest fan base out of any band out there, it’s attributed to the fans not to us. We just do what we do and what happens from there is out of our hands and luckily we have this fan base that has continued to allow us to do what we do throughout all the climates and trends that seem to just come and go around us year after year.