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Blistering.com: Right. Dream Theater has been a true constant for years. It must be a lot more gratifying to have built a fan base based on word of mouth from touring and what not as opposed to being pushed by MTV and mainstream radio.

Portnoy: Yes it is.

>>新專輯OSI登上CD UNIVERSE第一名...(2000年演唱會DVD曾上CD NOW第一名)

Blistering.com: You’re latest project O.S.I. "Office Of Strategic Influence" is #1 spot of the CD Universe Top Sellers list. Were you expecting it to come out of the gate that strong?

>>嗯...銷售量並不是音樂存在的價值，而是創作的過程與音樂本身
Portnoy: I don’t put expectations on anything I do really, I just do what I do. Like I said, after I do it it’s out of my hands. Even with Dream Theater record sales I don’t expect anything or even care, I don’t even look at the sales, you know. That stuff to me is nice for the record company, but for me its more about the music and the creative process.

Blistering.com: What an amazing album this is. It’s a true display of musicianship and talent. This band includes Jim Matheos from Fates Warning and you’re old band mate Kevin Moore from Dream Theater and now with Chroma Key. You also recruited Sean Malone of Cynic and Gordian Knot and Steven Wilson from The Porcupine Tree. How did you guys get this project started?

Portnoy: Well, basically, Jim Matheos and myself have been talking about doing something for many, many years. We’ve been friends for many years now and we both have a mutual admiration for each of our bands, Dream Theater and Fates Warning, and we’ve all become friends. So basically we both decoded that we had to either shit or get off the pot and do something. He already had some stuff and wasn’t sure of he wanted to do a solo album with it or something completely different.

He then approached me about doing something different with it and possibly form a band. We started throwing names around and that’s how we came up with Sean Malone and then I brought up Kevin Moore, cause he seemed like he’d be a good person for a project like this. It turns out that Jim had been thinking the same thing but he was hesitant to bring Kev’s name up, cause he didn’t know if that would be awkward for us. I mean, I hadn’t worked with him in eight years since he was in Dream Theater. So, he was excited that I brought the name up, but I was skeptical as to whether or not Kevin would want to be involved and sure enough he was into it.

That’s how this whole thing began, it began with Jim’s music. He had all these musical ideas and then he kind of passed them on to Kev and Kev started fucking with them and by the time he manipulated and rearranged all the parts it turned into something completely different and that’s what O.S.I. became.

Blistering.com: Is there a real "Office Of Strategic Influence" that really exists?

Portnoy: I think there is. I don’t know, I haven’t paid much attention to that. [Laughs] You’ll have to talk to Kev, I think he was the one who thought it up. I don’t really know.

Blistering.com: What is the whole message behind O.S.I. assuming there is one.

Portnoy: From a musical standpoint its about taking the term ‘Progressive,’ which will inevitably applied to this project, but taking that into completely different places. In this case its going to more spacey…kinda techno, industrial space metal. It’s like mixing Nine Inch Nails, Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel together in a blender. There are a lot of soundscapes and things like that. Its very different from the usual term ‘progressive’ which is all about playing and musicianship. We’re more about soundscapes and artistry. It’s a very different place for progressive music to be taken.