Mike Portnoy discography

Portnoy in 2014

This is a discography of works by American drummer Mike Portnoy. For more information about recordings made by Dream Theater see Dream Theater discography.

Albums discography

Year Band Title Notes
1984 Rising Power Power for the People
1986 Inner Sanctum 12 A.M.
S. A. Adams Unearthed
Majesty Majesty demos
1989 Dream Theater When Dream and Day Unite
1992 Images and Words
1993 Live at the Marquee Recorded at the Marquee Club in London, England, on April 23, 1993.
1993 Images and Words: Live in Tokyo Recorded at Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo, Japan, on August 26, 1993.
1994 Awake
1995 A Change of Seasons EP album. Contains live tracks recorded at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London on January 31, 1995.
1996 Various Artists Working Man – A Tribute to Rush Portnoy drums on six tracks
1997 Dream Theater Falling into Infinity
1998 Once in a LIVEtime Recorded at the Bataclan in Paris, France, on June 25, 1998.
Liquid Tension Experiment Liquid Tension Experiment
1999 Liquid Tension Experiment 2
Dream Theater Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
Various Artists Encores Legends & Paradox; A Tribute to the Music of ELP Portnoy drums on two tracks
2000 Transatlantic SMPT:e
2001 Bridge Across Forever
Live in America Recorded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. in June 2000.
Dream Theater Live Scenes from New York Recorded at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, New York, on August 30, 2000.
2002 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Andy West Rama 1
Transatlantic Building the Bridge The Making of Bridge Across Forever documentary
2003 OSI Office of Strategic Influence
Neal Morse Testimony
Transatlantic Live in Europe Recorded at the 013 in Tilburg, Netherlands, on November 12, 2001.
John Arch A Twist of Fate EP
Dream Theater Train of Thought
2004 Neal Morse One
Dream Theater Live at Budokan Recorded at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan, on April 26, 2004.
Neal Morse Testimony Live 2003 Recorded at the 013 in Tilburg, Netherlands on November 17, 2003.
2005 Dream Theater Octavarium
Neal Morse ?
G3 G3: Live in Tokyo Portnoy drums on three tracks
Yellow Matter Custard One Night in New York City tribute to The Beatles (with Paul Gilbert, Neal Morse, and Matt Bissonette)
2006 OSI Free
Morse/Portnoy/George Cover to Cover
Dream Theater Score Recorded at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, New York, on April 1, 2006.
Hammer of the Gods Two Nights in North America tribute to Led Zeppelin (with Paul Gilbert, Daniel Gildenlöw, and Dave LaRue)
Cygnus and the Sea Monsters One Night in Chicago tribute to Rush (with Paul Gilbert, Sean Malone, and Jason McMaster)
Various Artists Gigantour Dream Theater performed The Glass Prison and Panic Attack on this DVD release of the 2005 Gigantour.
2007 Neal Morse Sola Scriptura
Dream Theater Systematic Chaos
Liquid Tension Experiment Spontaneous Combustion as Liquid Trio Experiment
Amazing Journey One Night in New York City tribute to The Who (with Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan, and Gary Cherone)
2008 Neal Morse Lifeline
Dream Theater Chaos in Motion 2007–2008 Recorded in various places between 2007 and 2008.
2009 Transatlantic The Whirlwind
Liquid Tension Experiment Live in NYC Recorded at BB King's in New York City, on June 23, 2008.
When the Keyboard Breaks: Live in Chicago As Liquid Trio Experiment. Recorded live in Chicago, Illinois, on June 25, 2008.
Live in LA Recorded live at the Downey Theatre, Downey, CA, on June 27, 2008.
Dream Theater Black Clouds & Silver Linings Last album with Dream Theater
Wither EP
2010 Avenged Sevenfold Nightmare
Welcome to the Family EP
Transatlantic Whirld Tour 2010: Live in London Recorded at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, England, on May 21, 2010.
2011 Adrenaline Mob Adrenaline Mob EP[1]
Neal Morse Testimony 2
Transatlantic More Never Is Enough: Live In Manchester & Tilburg 2010 Recorded in Manchester, England, and Tilburg, Netherlands in May 2010.
Yellow Matter Custard One More Night in New York City tribute to The Beatles (with Paul Gilbert, Neal Morse, and Kasim Sulton)
Neal Morse Testimony 2: Live in Los Angeles Recorded at the Whittier Theater, Los Angeles, CA on May 28, 2011.
2012 Adrenaline Mob Omertà
Flying Colors Flying Colors
Morse/Portnoy/George Cover 2 Cover
Neal Morse Momentum
The Prog World Orchestra A Proggy Christmas
2013 Adrenaline Mob Covertà Cover EP that covers Badlands, Dio, The Doors, Van Halen, Heart, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath
The Winery Dogs The Winery Dogs
Unleashed in Japan Recorded at the Nippon Seinen-Kan in Tokyo, Japan on July 17 2013.
Portnoy, Sheehan, MacAlpine and Sherinian (PSMS) Live In Tokyo Material from their individual and collaborative careers. Recorded at the Zepp, in Tokyo, Japan, on November 14, 2012.
Flying Colors Live in Europe Recorded at the 013, Tilburg, Netherlands on September 21, 2012.
Neal Morse Live Momentum Recorded at the Highline Ballroom in New York City on October 11, 2012.
2014 Transatlantic Kaleidoscope
Bigelf Into the Maelstrom
Paul Gilbert Stone Pushing Uphill Man 2 tracks
Flying Colors Second Nature
Haken Restoration Gong on "Crystallised"
Transatlantic KaLIVEoscope Recorded in Cologne, Germany and Tilburg, Netherlands in March 2014.
2015 The Neal Morse Band The Grand Experiment
Metal Allegiance Metal Allegiance Collaborative Album with David Ellefson from Megadeth and Alex Skolnick from Testament [1]
The Winery Dogs Hot Streak
Flying Colors Second Flight: Live at the Z7 Recorded at the Z7 in Pratteln, Switzerland, on October 12, 2014.
Neal Morse Morsefest 2014: Testimony and One LIVE Recorded at New Life Fellowship in White House, TN.
2016 Twisted Sister Metal Meltdown Recorded at the Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas, USA on May 30, 2015.
The Neal Morse Band The Similitude of a Dream
Alive Again Recorded at the Cultuurpodium Boerderij in Zoetermeer, Netherlands on March 6, 2015.
Metal Allegiance Fallen Heroes EP
Tiles Pretending 2 Run Guest drums on two tracks
2017 The Winery Dogs Dog Years / Live in Santiago & Beyond 2013–2016 EP and live release box
Sons of Apollo Psychotic Symphony
Neal Morse Morsefest 2015: ? and Sola Scriptura LIVE Recorded at New Life Fellowship in White House, TN.
2018 Metal Allegiance Volume II: Power Drunk Majesty
The Neal Morse Band The Similitude of a Dream: Live in Tilburg 2017 Recorded at the 013, Tilburg, Netherlands on April 2, 2017.
Morsefest 2017: Testimony of a Dream Recorded at New Life Fellowship in White House, TN.
2019 The Great Adventure
Sons of Apollo Live With The Plovdiv Psychotic Symphony Recorded at the Ancient Roman Theatre, Plovdiv, Bulgaria in September 2018
Flying Colors Third Degree
Noturnall Scream! For!! Me!!! Single released in October 2019
2020 Sons of Apollo MMXX
Morse/Portnoy/George Cov3r to Cov3r
John Petrucci Terminal Velocity
Neal Morse Sola Gratia
Flying Colors Third Stage: Live in London Recorded at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, England, on December 14, 2019.
The Neal Morse Band The Great AdvenTour: Live in Brno 2019 Recorded at the Sono Centrum, Brno, Czech Republic on April 7, 2019.
BPMD American Made
Enuff Z'Nuff Brainwashed Generation Guest drums on It's All In Vain
2021 Transatlantic The Absolute Universe Released in three versions: The Breath of Life (Abridged Version), Forevermore (Extended Version) and Blu-Ray 5.1 Mix (Ultimate Version).
Liquid Tension Experiment Liquid Tension Experiment 3
Between the Buried and Me Colors II Drum solo on "Fix the Error"
NMB (formerly The Neal Morse Band) Innocence & Danger
Morsefest 2019 Recorded at New Life Fellowship in White House, TN.
Flying Colors Morsefest 2019 Recorded at New Life Fellowship in White House, TN.
2022 NMB (formerly The Neal Morse Band) Morsefest 2021 Recorded at New Life Fellowship in White House, TN.
2023 NMB (formerly The Neal Morse Band) Morsefest 2020 Recorded at New Life Fellowship in White House, TN.
An Evening Of Innocence & Danger: Live in Hamburg Recorded in Hamburg, Germany on June 13, 2022.
The Winery Dogs III
Transatlantic The Final Flight: Live at L'Olympia Recorded at L'Olympia in Paris, France on July 28, 2022.
2024 Transatlantic Live at Morsefest 2022: The Absolute Whirlwind Recorded at New Life Fellowship in White House, TN on April 29-30, 2022.
NMB Morsefest 2023
2025 Dream Theater Parasomnia

Instructional DVD releases

Portnoy has released several instructional drumming videos/DVDs. These include:

  • "Progressive Drum Concepts" (Rittor Music 1996, 1 VHS/DVD)
  • "Liquid Drum Theater" (Hudson Music 2000, 2 DVDs)
  • "Modern Drummer Festival" (Hudson Music 2003, 2 DVDs)
  • "In Constant Motion" (Hudson Music 2007, 3 DVDs)
  • "InstruMENTAL Inspirations" (Drum Channel 2012, 1 DVD)

Portnoy's self filmed performances

Portnoy has self-released "drum-cam" DVDs and digital downloads of the last several Dream Theater and side project recording sessions as well as various live performances through his own "MP4" production company which can be found on his website. These are "in-studio" with some live recordings typically consisting of Full Band, Isolated Drums tracks, and an Audio Commentary.

  • "Asian Clinic Tour" (MP4 Productions 2001, 1 DVD)
  • "Ten Degrees of Turbulent Drumming" (MP4 Productions 2002, 1 DVD)
  • "Drums Across Forever" (MP4 Productions 2002, 1 DVD)
  • "Hammer of the Gods" (MP4 Productions 2003, 1 DVD)
  • "Yellow Matter Custard – One Night in New York City" (MP4 Productions 2003, 1 DVD)
  • "Drums of Thought" (MP4 Productions 2004, 1 DVD)
  • "Live at Budokan" (MP4 Production 2005, 1 DVD)
  • "Mike Portnoy – Drumavarium" (MP4 Productions 2005, 1 DVD)
  • "Amazing Journey – One Night in New York City" (MP4 Productions 2005, 1 DVD)
  • "Cygnus and the Sea Monsters – One Night in Chicago" (MP4 Productions 2005, 1 DVD)
  • "sysDRUMatic chaos" (MP4 Productions 2007, 1 DVD)
  • "SCORE" (MP4 Productions 2008, 1 DVD)
  • "Black Clouds & Silver Drumming" (MP4 Productions 2009, 1 DVD)
  • "Whirlwind Drumming" (MP4 Productions 2010, 1 DVD)
  • "Yellow Matter Custard – One More Night in New York City" (MP4 Productions 2011, 1 DVD)
  • "Testimony 2:Live Drum Cam" (MP4 Productions 2012, 1 DVD)
  • "Drumertá" (MP4 Productions 2012, 1 DVD)
  • "Drumming Colors" (MP4 Productions 2012, 1 DVD)
  • "Live Momentum" (MP4 Productions 2013, 1 DVD)
  • "The Drumming Dog" (MP4 Productions 2013, 1 DVD)
  • "Kaleidodrums" (MP4 Productions 2014, 1 DVD)
  • "Drumming Nature" (MP4 Productions 2014, 1 DVD)
  • "Hot Drums" (MP4 Productions 2015, 1 DVD)
  • "Metal Drumming" (MP4 Productions 2015, 1 DVD)
  • "The Similitude of a Dream Live" (MP4 Productions 2017, 1 DVD)
  • "The Great Adventure" (MP4 Productions 2019, 1 DVD)
  • "Third Degree" (MP4 Productions 2019, 1 DVD)
  • "MPMMXX" (MP4 Productions 2020, 1 DVD)
  • "The Absolute Universe" (MP4 Productions 2021, 1 DVD)
  • "LTE 3" (MP4 Productions 2021, 1 DVD)

Awards and recognition

Modern Drummer

Portnoy won the following Modern Drummer magazine Reader's Poll awards:

  1. Best Up & Coming Talent (1994)
  2. Best Progressive Rock Drummer (1995–2006, 2014, 2023, 2024)
  3. Best Recorded Performance (1995 for Awake, 1996 for A Change of Seasons, 1998 for Falling Into Infinity, 2000 for Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory, 2002 for Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, 2007 for Score, 2011 for Nightmare (Avenged Sevenfold) and 2014 for The Winery Dogs.[2]
  4. Best Clinician (2000, 2002)
  5. Best Educational Video/DVD (2000, 2002)
  6. Hall of Fame Inductee (2004 - youngest living member[3])
  7. MVP of the Year (2010, 2013)
  8. Best Rock Drummer (2015)

He also is the recipient of 16 DRUM! Magazine Drummie Awards including “Drummer Of The Year” three times (2011, 2012 & 2014) and was awarded Revolver’s Golden God Award in 2011 for Drummer Of The Year.[4]

He has released three instructional videos, "Progressive Drum Concepts", "Liquid Drum Theater", which has won awards from Modern Drummer Magazine, and his latest "In Constant Motion". He has released many "Official Bootlegs" on his website, including footage of the studio sessions for the Dream Theater albums Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Train of Thought, Octavarium and the Transatlantic release Bridge Across Forever. He has released bootlegs of his tribute bands Hammer of the Gods (a Led Zeppelin tribute), Yellow Matter Custard (The Beatles), Cygnus and the Sea Monsters (Rush), and Amazing Journey (The Who).

In the October 2009 issue of Rhythm Magazine, Portnoy was listed as #5 in their list of the Top 50 Drummers of All Time.[5]

He was featured on Fuse TV's Talking Metal where he joined with Bobby Ellsworth and the show's hosts in covering Motörhead's "Overkill."

On June 14, 2010, Mike Portnoy won the Metal Hammer Golden God Award for Best Drummer.[6]

As voted on by 6,500 drummers worldwide, Portnoy won the Drummies Award for Best Progressive Rock drummer in 2010, while Joey Jordison of Slipknot/Rob Zombie/Murderdolls won the award for Best Metal drummer.[7]

At the Revolver Golden God Awards on April 20, 2011, he won the "Best Drummer Award" for his work with Avenged Sevenfold.[8]

On June 7, 2011, Portnoy posted on his Facebook that he had won Drum! magazine's "Drummer of the Year Award" and the "Metal Drummer Award".[9][10]

Portnoy won the "Virtuoso" award at the 2013 Progressive Music Awards.[11]

References

  1. ^ "About". Adrenaline Mob. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
  2. ^ "Modern Drummer 2011 Readers Poll". Tama.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  3. ^ "Mike Portnoy Bio". Drumeo. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  4. ^ "MP Official Site Bio". Mike Portnoy.com. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  5. ^ "Mike Portnoy Named in Top 50 Drummers of All Time". Roadrunner Records. October 14, 2009. Archived from the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  6. ^ "Machine Head, Mike Portnoy Win Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards". Roadrunner Records. June 15, 2010. Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  7. ^ "MIKE PORTNOY, JOEY JORDISON WIN 2010 DRUMMIES AWARDS". Roadrunner Records. July 22, 2010. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
  8. ^ Josh Hart (April 21, 2011). "Revolver Golden Gods – Winners Announced! - Revolver Magazine". Revolvermag.com. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  9. ^ "Mike Portnoy wins several great awards from Drum! magazine!!". Facebook.com. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  10. ^ "Drummies 2011: Results Announced!". DRUM! Magazine. Archived from the original on October 25, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  11. ^ "Prog Awards 2013 – The Winners!". Prog Rock Magazine. September 3, 2013. Archived from the original on September 5, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2013.