In a new interview with The Fix, drum legend Mike Portnoy open up about his battle with alcoholism and staying sober for the past 17 years. The discussion took place as he was gearing up for his upcoming Shattered Fortress shows, which highlight the Twelve Step Suite he wrote with Dream Theater about getting clean. An excerpt is available below.

As Portnoy tells The Fix, “I had my last drink on April 20, 2000, which was my 33rd birthday. It’s just by coincidence that I quit on my birthday. I immediately, the next day, attended my first 12-step meeting, and from that point on I was completely determined to follow a new lifestyle, work the 12 steps, go through the program, and it became a huge part of my daily life.”

Portnoy decided to clean up his act after he was told by two separate doctors that at the rate he was going, he wouldn’t make it to 40. Unlike a lot of rock stars who have had embarrassing meltdowns in public, for the most part Portnoy managed to keep his drinking and drug use private. 

“I was probably as much of a quote-unquote responsible alcoholic as you’ll find,” he says. “It was always, at least in the early days, something that I kept concealed, and I tried to delegate it to an end of the night kind of thing. I was never a day drinker or drugger because I could never function responsibly that way. At the end of the show, that’s when I would crack open my first drink, and I would go until I’d pass out at four in the morning each night, usually in the privacy of my home or my tour bus.”

Towards the end, however, the cracks began to show. At first, Portnoy would keep his partying confined to after the show. “Then it went from not drinking until after the show to not drinking until the encore, to not drinking until the keyboard solo, to not drinking until the opening band went on…it kept getting earlier and earlier.”

Dream Theater then played a gig in Texas where Portnoy was completely drunk onstage. When playing simpler forms of rock and roll, you can often get away with playing wasted, but with the demanding intricacies of progressive music, it’s usually pretty obvious when you’re not playing up to snuff.

As Portnoy recalls, at the gig, “I went on a rant on the microphone, and I remember I even stumbled on a drum part on our song 'Pull Me Under,' which I’d played a thousand times. That was a song I could do in my sleep. My wife carried me out to the bus after the show, and it was one of those moments of clarity where I realized it started to seep into my personal and professional life. I never used to play fucked up. Towards the end I did, and that’s when I knew I’d crossed the line.”

Go to this location for the complete story.

Portnoy recently checked in with the following update:

"You can take MP out of DT, but you can't take DT out of MP...

I've spent the last 6 & 1/2 years doing a million things that have NOTHING to do with Dream Theater, making all different kinds of music with so many great musicians but intensionally NOT playing or revisiting DT material. But now for the remainder of 2017 in celebration of my 50th Birthday, and as my gift back to you, I am finally ready to pay tribute to my past and revisit this music!

These Shattered Fortress shows will be a fully-immersive MP/DT experience. The type of show, setlist and environment that I always delivered to you great fans for all of those 25 years between 1985 to 2010. Everything from the house music when you enter the venue (cool rarities taken from my extensive DT archives) to the rare DT-era MP items I will have at the merchandise stand, even down to my stage clothes from previous DT tours that I will pulling out of retirement from my closet! (I hope they still fit!! Hahaha...). All leading up to the incredible show & setlist I have prepared for you...

Delivered by some of the best musicians in prog today (the amazing Haken along with prog's newest guitar hero, Eric Gillette) all playing this music with loving passion and extreme precision. For those of you that constantly post about missing me in DT, this is your chance to revisit those days with me.

Once the clock strikes 2018, I will be returning to all of the other bands and music in my life: Flying Colors, Transatlantic, The Neal Morse Band, The Winery Dogs, Metal Allegiance, and my brand new all-star band with Derek Sherinian.

For all of you that have been posting online for the past 6 years wanting to see me to "go back to DT", unless those guys have a change of heart, it seems this is the closest you are going to get!

There are no guarantees for tomorrow...there's only today! So, I am seizing the fuck out of the day... : )

This is the ONLY (and possibly last??) chance to share the DT experience with me and hear me play this music again.. THIS IS IT...CARPE DIEM!!

The biggest show of the tour at the 013 in Holland is already sold out! That means most a lot of others will as well, so get your tickets now to insure a spot in sharing these wonderful memories with me and celebrating my 50th Birthday with this music that was such a huge part of my life."

Portnoy has updated his master list of shows in 2017. Check it out below:

With MP's Shattered Fortress:

June
30 - Barcelona, Spain - Be Prog My Friend

July
1 - Paris, France - Trianon
2 - Malmo, Sweden - Slagthuset
3 - Esch Sur Alzette, Luxemburg - Kulturfabrick
4 - Milan, Italy - Teatro Della Luna
5 - Pratteln, Switzerland - Z7
6 - Tilburg, Holland - 013
8 - Tel Aviv, Israel - Teatre Club
11 - Moscow, Russia - Yotaspace
12 - St Petersburg, Russia - Aurora
14- Loreley, Germany - Night Of The Prog

With The Neal Morse Band:

August
17- Minneapolis, MN - Amsterdam Hall
18 - Chicago, IL - House Of Blues
19 - Detroit, MI - St Andrew's Hall
20 - Pittsburgh, PA - Mr Smalls Theater
22 - New York City, NY - Gramercy Theater
24 - Boston, MA - Wilbur Theater
25 - Ridgefield, CT - Ridgefield Playhouse
26 - Glendale, PA - Keswick Theater
27 - Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Soundstage

September
1 - Cross Plains, TN - Morsefest 2017
2 - Cross Plains, TN - Morsefest 2017

With MP's Shattered Fortress:

September
8 - Atlanta, GA - Prog Power USA
10 - Mexico City, Mexico - El Plaza Condesa
24 - New York City, NY - Irving Plaza

With Metal Allegiance:

October 29 through November 2 - Cancun, Mexico - Metal Maya

With MP's Shattered Fortress:

November
16 - Auckland, New Zealand - The Studio
18 - Brisbane, Australia - Tivoli
20 - Perth, Australia - Astor Theater
22 - Adelaide, Australia - The Gov
24 - Sydney, Australia - Metro Theater
25 - Melbourne, Australia - The Croxton

For Shattered Fortress ticket links go to this location.