Drum legend Mike Portnoy (NMB, The Winery Dogs, ex-Dream Theater) recently guested on 22 Now, hosted by Twisted Sister bassist Mark Mendoza. During the livestream chat, Portnoy looked back on his musical influences growing up

Portnoy: "What made me want to be the type of drummer that I became - I saw The Who's The Kids Are Alright (1979); hey put out the movie right after Keith had died. I had already been listening to The Who for 10 years, I grew up listening to 'Tommy' and 'Who's Next,' and all that stuff, but back then, as you know, we didn't have VHSs and DVDs, so I hadn't seen Keith with my own eyes until The Kids Are Alright came out.

I went to the movie theater to see it, and from the very opening number when they come out and do 'My Generation' and Keith blows up his drum kit, and Pete (Townshend) smashes his guitar. I couldn't take my eyes off of Keith. I was like, 'Not only do I want to be a drummer, but I want to be a drummer like that...' where you can't take your eyes off of him. Like he's playing lead drums, and so that was that moment for me where I was like 'I want to do that, I want to be a drummer like that.' I love Ringo (Starr / The Beatles), I love Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones), I love John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), but Keith had that personality. He was captivating and he did everything like a lead instrument. Sadly, that's why we lost him so young and so early.

"I was motivated by that, and then later on, Lars Ulrich had a big influence on me. Not for drumming, but because he was the drummer in the band that was also the leader of the band. You could tell that he had a lot to do with their creative direction, and the songwriting, and obviously the fan club and the merchandise, so he inspired me as well.

Seeing a drummer play the lead role, and that was kind of what my role in Dream Theater was for all those years - 25 years with Dream Theater. So I kind of was modeling myself between Keith Moon, Neil Peart, and Lars Ulrich, and somewhere in between is what came out like me."

Watch the complete livestream via Facebook here.