MUSIC: The Winery Dogs’ Mike Portnoy Talks To GoLocal
Thursday, October 31, 2013
You might know him as a founding member of the innovative progressive metal band Dream Theater as well as a musician who has played with the likes of Avenged Sevenfold, Transatlantic and Flying Colors just to name a few. He is an icon in the realm of drummers regardless of genre and the respect he has obtained throughout his career spans many generations. That person is Mike Portnoy and his new band The Winery Dogs featuring ex-Poison guitarist Richie Kotzen who is also on vocals and bass virtuoso Billy Sheehan are playing The Met in Pawtucket on Halloween night. I had the chance to talk to Mike about his new musical undertaking among other things and here's how it went.
First things first, how did The Winery Dogs get started with you, Richie and Billy?
Well, it originated with a completely different project I was working on with John Sykes (Tygers Of Pan Tang, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake) and then I brought Billy on board through that. After some time of waiting for John to move forward Billy and I got antsy and we decided to look for something else. At that point Eddie Trunk suggested Richie and once he got on board that's how The Winery Dogs began with the three of us.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTYou guys also already have a debut album out as well. How was it made and which studio did you use?
We were in Los Angeles at Richie's studio and basically we got together there for a couple writing sessions during a few days in January & February 2012 just to see if the chemistry was there. It was and we immediately started banging out the songs very quickly and easily. We then decided to go ahead and completed the album in the summer and that's pretty much it.
In the past you've been with acts like Dream Theater which you were the drummer in for 25 years that's a progressive metal band with some orchestral aesthetics, Avenged Sevenfold who are more of a thrash metal band and Flying Colors with Deep Purple's Steve Morse. The Winery Dogs have a very heavy bluesy hard rock feel and it also reminds me a lot of late 70's/early 80's arena rock. Resonating the styles of Foreigner before they went the pop route, Rainbow when they had Ronnie James Dio and all of these straight up old-school rock bands. As a drummer when you first started getting down to writing these songs, was there any adjustment for you when it came to changing up styles?
There was really no adjustment at all, everything that you just named is part of my background. Just because I spent 25 years in Dream Theater doesn't mean that I only listen to progressive music. I spend my life listening to all different kinds of music and I've always had an appreciation for playing other styles, it's just that I was always rooted in prog and metal. I grew up with classic rock and straight ahead rock so there were really no adjustments. It's all very natural to me, I'm as natural playing a 4 minute song in 4/4 as I am playing a 30 minute song with a dozen different time signatures. It's all part of what makes me who I am.
Speaking of you being in all of these different projects, are there any other bands or any musicians out there who are still around and still playing shows that you've thought about getting involved and doing an album with or do you just want to focus on The Winery Dogs and see where it goes from there?
I don't really have enough time right now, I have a hard enough time juggling 4,5 or 6 different bands as it is. The Winery Dogs is my main full-time focus right now but I'm still in Flying Colors, I'm still in Transatlantic, I still work with Neil Morse and all of these other things I have going on. I can give you a list of people who I'd still like to work with but I literally don't have enough time in my life to do it. If you look at everything I've done in the past 3 years since I've left Dream Theater, it's basically my wishlist of people who I've wanted to work with from Steve Morse to Billy Sheehan to Richie Kotzen to John Sykes, these are all people who I respect and admire and want to work with.
Well it's pretty cool that you get to live your dream working with these talented musicians Mike. My last question is, will this be the only Winery Dogs album? Do you guys plan on sometime in the future to put out more releases or will this be a one time deal?
No, this is a real band and this is something we all plan on pursuing full-time. This isn't a one off project, this is something that all three of us have made a priority in each of our lives and careers. We plan on having it be an ongoing band and our home for many years to come.
Catch The Winery Dogs live at The Met on Halloween night for an up close and personal look at a band that promises to blow the roof off the place. While you're there, grab a copy of their self-titled debut and enjoy.
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