Simple example of a 3
4 time signature: here there are three quarter-notes per measure.

The time signature (also known as meter signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat.

In a musical score, the time signature appears at the beginning of the piece, as a time symbol or stacked numerals (such as or 3
4) (read "common time" and "three four time", respectively) immediately following the key signature (or immediately following the clef if the piece is in C major, A minor, or a modal subset). A mid-score time signature, usually immediately following a barline, indicates a change of meter.

There are various types of time signatures, depending on whether the music follows simple rhythms or involves unusual shifting tempos, including: simple (such as 3
4 or 4
4), compound (e.g., 9
8 or 12
8), complex (e.g., 5
4 or 7
8), mixed (e.g., 5
8 & 3
8 or 6
8 or 3
4), additive (e.g., 3+2+3
8), fractional (e.g., 2½
4), irrational meters (e.g., 3
10 or 5
24), or other meters.

Simple time signatures[link]

Basic time signatures: 4
4, also known as common time (); 2
2, also known as cut time or cut-common time (); plus 2
4; 3
4; and 6
8

Simple time signatures consist of two numerals, one stacked above the other:

• the lower numeral indicates the note value which represents one beat (the "beat unit");
• the upper numeral indicates how many such beats there are in a bar.

For instance, 2
4 means two quarter-note (crotchet) beats; 3
8 means three eighth-note (quaver) beats.

The most common simple time signatures are 2
4, 3
4, and 4
4.

Notational variations in simple time[link]

A semicircle, or , is sometimes used for 4
4 time, also called common time or imperfect time. The symbol is derived from a broken circle used in music notation from the 14th through 16th centuries, where a full circle represented what today would be written in 3
2 or 3
4 time, and was called tempus perfectum (perfect time).^[1] The symbol , a "semicircle" with a vertical line through is also a carry-over from the notational practice of late-Medieval and Renaissance music, where it signified tempus imperfectum diminutum (diminished imperfect time)—more precisely, a doubling of the speed, or proportio dupla, in duple meter.^[2] In modern notation, it is used in place of 2
2 and is called "alla breve" or, colloquially, "cut time" or "cut common time".

Compound time signatures[link]

In compound meter, subdivisions of the main beat (the upper number) are split into three, not two, equal parts, so that a dotted note (half again longer than a regular note) becomes the beat unit. Compound time signatures are named as if they were simple time signatures in which the one-third part of the beat unit is the beat, so the top number is commonly 6, 9 or 12 (multiples of 3). The lower number is most commonly an 8 (an eighth-note): as in 9
8 or 12
8.

An example[link]

3
4: A simple signature, comprising three quarter notes. It has a basic feel of (Bold denotes a stressed beat):

one two three (as in a waltz)

Each quarter note might comprise two eighth-notes (quavers) giving a total of six such notes, but it still retains that three-in-a-bar feel:

one and two and three and

6
8: Theoretically, this can be thought of as the same as the six-quaver form of 3
4 above with the only difference being that the eighth note is selected as the one-beat unit. But whereas the six quavers in 3
4 had been in three groups of two, 6
8 is practically understood to mean that they are in two groups of three, with a two-in-a-bar feel (Bold denotes a stressed beat):

one and a, two and a

Beat and time[link]

Time signatures indicating two beats per bar (whether it is simple or compound) are called duple time; those with three beats to the bar are triple time. To the ear, a bar may seem like one singular beat. For example, a fast waltz, notated in 3
4 time, may be described as being "one in a bar". Terms such as quadruple (4), quintuple (5), and so on are also occasionally used.

Actual beat divisions[link]

As mentioned above although indicated by the score as a 3
4 time the actual beat division used can be the whole bar particularly in faster tempos. Correspondingly in slow tempo the beat indicated by the time signature could in actual performance be divided into smaller units.

Interchangeability, rewriting meters[link]

File:3-4 equals 3-8 drum pattern.png

3
4 equals 3
8 time at a different tempo  Play (help·info)

On a formal mathematical level the time signatures of, e.g., 3
4 and 3
8 are interchangeable; there is a sense in which all simple triple time signatures, be they 3
8, 3
4, 3
2 or anything else, and all compound duple times, such as 6
8, 6
16 and so on, are equivalent – a piece in 3
4 can be easily rewritten in 3
8 simply by halving the length of the notes. Also other rewritings of time signatures are possible, most commonly a simple time signature with triplets can be translated into a compound meter.

12
8 equals 4
4 time at a different tempo and requires the use of tuplets  Play (help·info)

Although formally interchangeable, for a composer or performing musician the different time signatures can and often have different connotations. Firstly and perhaps most importantly a smaller note value in the beat unit implies a more complex notation which can affect the ease of performance; secondly the beaming affects the choice of actual beat divisions mentioned above - it would for example be more natural to use the quarter note/crotchet as a beat unit in 6
4 or 2
2 than the eight/quaver in 6
8 or 2
4; thirdly the time signatures are and have traditionally been associated with different styles of music; e.g., it would seem strange to notate a rock tune in 4
8 or 4
2.

Stress and meter[link]

For all meters, the first beat (the downbeat, ignoring any anacrusis) is usually stressed (though not always, for example in reggae where the offbeats are stressed); in time signatures with four groups in the bar (such as 4
4 and 12
8), the third beat is often also stressed, though to a lesser degree. This gives a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed beats, although notes on the "stressed" beats are not necessarily louder or more important.

Most frequent time signatures[link]

Simple time signatures
4 4 (quadruple)	Common time: widely used in most forms of Western popular music. Most common time signature in rock, blues, country, funk, and pop[3]	Simple quadruple drum pattern: divides four beats into two  Play (help·info)
2 2 (duple)	Alla breve, cut time: used for marches and fast orchestral music. Frequently occurs in musical theater. Sometimes called "in 2", but may be notated in 4.	File:Half time rock pattern.png Simple quadruple drum pattern: divides four beats into two  Play (help·info)
4 2 (quadruple)	Never found in early music (which did not use numeric time signatures), and rare since 1600, although Brahms and other composers used it occasionally.
2 4 (duple)	Used for polkas or marches	File:Simple duple drum pattern.png Simple duple drum pattern: divides two beats into two.
3 4 (triple)	Used for waltzes, minuets, scherzi, country & western ballads, R&B, sometimes used in pop.	File:Simple triple drum pattern.png Simple triple drum pattern: divides three beats into two  Play (help·info)
3 8 (triple)	Also used for the above, but usually suggests higher tempo or shorter hypermeter.
Compound time signatures
6 8 (duple)	Double jigs, polkas, sega, salegy, tarantella, marches, barcarolles, Irish jigs, loures, and some rock music.	Compound duple drum pattern: divides two beats into three  Play (help·info)
9 8 (triple)	Compound triple time, used in triple ("slip") jigs, otherwise occurring rarely (The Ride of the Valkyries, Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, and the final movement of the Bach Violin Concerto in A minor (BWV 1041)[4] are familiar examples. Debussy's Clair de lune and Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (opening bars) are in 9 8)	File:Compound triple drum pattern.png Compound triple drum pattern: divides three beats into three  Play (help·info)
12 8 (quadruple)	Also common in slower blues (where it is known as shuffle) and doo-wop; also used more recently in rock music. Can also be heard in some jigs like "The Irish Washerwoman".[citation needed]	File:Compound quadruple drum pattern.png Compound quadruple drum pattern: divides four beats into three  Play (help·info)

Complex time signatures[link]

	19 16 Time Drum Beat noicon
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Signatures that do not fit into the usual duple or triple categories are known as "complex", "asymmetric", "irregular", "unusual", or "odd" although these are broad terms, and usually a more specific description is appropriate. Most often these can be recognised by the upper number being 5, 7, or some larger number other than 9 or 12.^{[5][not in citation given]} Although these more complex meters were and are common in some non-Western music, they were rarely used in formal written Western music until the 19th century. The first deliberate quintuple meter pieces were "apparently published in Spain between 1516 and 1520",^[5] although other authorities reckon the Delphic Hymns to Apollo (one by Athenaeus entirely in quintuple meter, the other by Limenius predominantly so), carved on the exterior walls of the Athenian Treasury at Delphi in 128 BC, are probably earlier.^[6] The third Larghetto movement of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 1 (1828) is an early, but by no means the earliest, example of 5
4 time in solo piano music. Reicha's Fugue 20 from his 36 Fugues, published in 1803, is for piano and is in 5
8. The waltz-like second movement of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony, often described as a "limping waltz",^[7] is a notable example of 5
4 time in orchestral music. Examples from the 20th century include Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War", (5
4) from the orchestral suite The Planets, Paul Hindemith's "Fugue Secunda in G",(5
8) from Ludus Tonalis, the ending of Stravinsky's Firebird (7
4), and the fugue from Heitor Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9 (11
8).

Examples from the Western popular music tradition include Radiohead's "15 Step" (5
4) and "Paranoid Android" (includes 7
8).^[8] Progressive rock also made frequent use of unusual time signatures, the best known examples being the use of shifting meters in The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" (1966) and the use of quintuple meter in their "Within You, Without You" (1967).^[9]

The jazz composition "Take Five", written in 5
4 time was one of a number of irregular-meter experiments of The Dave Brubeck Quartet, which also produced compositions in 11
4 ("Eleven Four"), 7
4 ("Unsquare Dance"), and 9
8 ("Blue Rondo à la Turk"), expressed as 2+2+2+3
8, this last being a good example of a work in a signature which, despite appearing to be merely compound triple, is actually more complex.

However, such time signatures are only considered unusual from a Western point of view. In contrast, for example, Bulgarian dances use such meters extensively, including forms with 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 22, 25 and other numbers of beats per measure. These rhythms are notated as additive rhythms based on simple units, usually 2, 3 and 4 beats, though the notation fails to describe the metric "time bending" taking place; or as compound meters, for example the Bulgarian Sedi Donka, consisting of 25 beats divided 7+7+11, where 7 is subdivided 3+2+2 and 11 is subdivided 2+2+3+2+2 or 4+3+4.^{[citation needed]} See Variants below.

Mixed meters[link]

While time signatures usually express a regular pattern of beat stresses continuing through a piece (or at least a section), sometimes composers place a different time signature at the beginning of each bar, resulting in music with an extremely irregular rhythmic feel. In this case the time signatures are an aid to the performers, and not necessarily an indication of meter. The Promenade from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) is a good example:

Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition "Promenade"  Play (help·info)

Burt Bacharach's song "Promises, Promises" likewise features a constantly changing meter. The Beatles' All You Need is Love varies from 7
4 to 4
4 in different places.

Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (1913) is famous for its "savage" rhythms:

Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, "Sacrificial Dance"

In such cases, a common convention followed by some composers (e.g., Olivier Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur and Quatuor pour la fin du temps) is simply to omit the time signature. Charles Ives's Concord Sonata has measure bars for the first two measures only, then is entirely unbarred for the rest of the piece.

Some pieces have no time signature, as there is no discernible meter. This is commonly known as free time. Sometimes one is provided (usually 4
4) so that the performer finds the piece easier to read, and simply has 'free time' written as a direction. Sometimes the word FREE is written downwards on the staff to indicate the piece is in free time. Erik Satie wrote many compositions which are ostensibly in free time, but actually follow an unstated and unchanging simple time signature throughout. Later composers have made more effective use of this device, writing music which is almost devoid of any discernible regularity of pulse.

If two time signatures alternate repeatedly, sometimes the two signatures will be placed together at the beginning of the piece or section, as in this example, the chorus from the song "America" from West Side Story: in this case, it alternates between 6
8 (in two) in the first measure of each pair and 3
4 (in three) in the second measure.

Variants[link]

Additive meters[link]

To indicate more complex patterns of stresses, such as additive rhythms, more complex time signatures can be used. Additive meters have a pattern of beats that subdivide into smaller, irregular groups. Such meters are sometimes called "imperfect", in contradistinction to "perfect meters" in which the bar is first divided into equal units. ^[10]

For example, the signature

which can be written (3+2+3)/8, means that there are 8 quaver beats in the bar, divided as the first of a group of three eighth notes (quavers) is to be stressed, then the first of a group of two, then first of a group of three again. The stress pattern is usually counted as one-two-three-one-two-one-two-three. This kind of time signature is commonly used to notate folk and non-Western types of music. In classical music, Béla Bartók and Olivier Messiaen have used such time signatures in their works. The first movement of Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio in A Minor is written in 8
8, in which the beats are likewise subdivided into 3 + 2 + 3 to reflect Basque dance rhythms.

Romanian musicologist Constantin Brăiloiu had a special interest in compound time signatures, developed while studying the traditional music of certain regions in his country. While investigating the origins of such unusual meters, he learned that they were even more characteristic of the traditional music of neighboring peoples (e.g., the Bulgarians). He suggested that such timings can be regarded as compounds of simple two-beat and three-beat meters, where an accent falls on every first beat, even though, for example in Bulgarian music, beat lengths of 1, 2, 3, 4 are used in the metric description. In addition, when focusing only on the stressed beats, the simple time signatures themselves will count as beats in a slower, compound time. However, there are two different-length beats in this resulting compound time, a one half-again longer than the short beat (or conversely, the short beat is ²/₃ the value of the long). This type of meter is called aksak (the Turkish word for "limping"), "impeded", "jolting", or "shaking", and is described as an "irregular bichronic rhythm". A certain amount of confusion for Western musicians is inevitable, since a measure they would likely regard as 7
16, for example, is a three-beat measure in aksak, with one long and two short beats (with subdivisions of 2+2+3, 2+3+2, or 3+2+2).^[11]

Folk music may make use of metric time bends, so that the proportions of the performed metric beat time lengths differ from the exact proportions indicated by the metric. Depending on playing style of the same meter, the time bend can vary from non-existent to considerable; in the latter case, some musicologists may want to assign a different meter. For example, the Bulgarian tune Eleno Mome is written as 7=2+2+1+2, 13=4+4+2+3, 12=3+4+2+3, but an actual performance (e.g., Smithsonian Eleno Mome) may be closer to 4+4+2+3.5. The Macedonian 3+2+2+3+2 meter is even more complicated, with heavier time bends, and the use of quadruples on the threes; the metric beat time proportions may vary with the speed at which the tune is being played. The Swedish Boda Polska (Polska from the parish Boda) has a typical elongated second beat. In Western classical music, metric time bend is used in the performance of the Viennese Waltz. Most Western music uses metric ratios of 2:1, 3:1, or 4:1 (two-, three- or four-beat time signatures)—in other words, integer ratios which determine all beats to be of equal time length; so relative to that, 3:2 and 4:3 ratios correspond to very distinctive metric rhythm profiles—complex accentuation is used in Western music, but not as a part of the metric accentuation, instead viewed as syncopation.^{[citation needed]}

Brăiloiu borrowed a term from Turkish medieval music theory: aksak (Turkish for crippled). Such compound time signatures fall under the "aksak rhythm" category that he introduced along with a couple more that should describe the rhythm figures in traditional music.^[12] (Aksak is sometimes spelled as aksaac, because there isn't an exact transliteration from medieval Turkish into the Latin alphabet.)^{[citation needed]} The term Brăiloiu revived had moderate success worldwide, but in Eastern Europe it is still frequently used. However, aksak rhythm figures are to be found not only in a few European countries but on all continents, featuring various combinations of the two and three sequences. Yet the longest were found in Bulgaria; the shortest aksak rhythm figures would be the five-beat timing, comprising a two and a three (which can be also ordered as three followed by two).

Other variants[link]

Some composers have used fractional beats: for example, the time signature 2½
4 appears in Carlos Chávez's Piano Sonata No. 3 (1928) IV, m. 1.

Music educator Carl Orff proposed replacing the lower number of the time signature with an actual note image, as shown at right. This system eliminates the need for compound time signatures (described above), which are confusing to beginners. While this notation has not been adopted by music publishers generally (except in Orff's own compositions), it is used extensively in music education textbooks. Similarly, American composers George Crumb and Joseph Schwantner, among others, have used this system in many of their works.

Another possibility is to extend the barline where a time change is to take place above the top instrument's line in a score and to write the time signature there, and there only, saving the ink and effort that would have been spent writing it in each instrument's staff. Henryk Górecki's Beatus Vir is an example of this. Alternatively, music in a large score sometimes has time signatures written as very long, thin numbers covering the whole height of the score rather than replicating it on each staff; this is an aid to the conductor, who can see signature changes more easily.

Irrational meters[link]

These are time signatures, used for so-called irrational measure lengths,^[13] which have a denominator which is not a power of two (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc.). These are "based on beats expressed in terms of fractions of full beats in the prevailing tempo," for example 3
10 or 5
24.^[13] For example, where 4
4 implies a bar construction of four quarter-parts of a whole note (i.e., four quarter notes), 4
3 implies a bar construction of four third-parts of it. These signatures are only of utility when juxtaposed with other signatures with varying denominators; a piece written entirely in 4
3, say, could be more legibly written out in 4
4.

Metric modulation is "a somewhat distant analogy".^[13] It is arguable whether the use of these signatures makes metric relationships clearer or more obscure to the musician; it is always possible to write a passage using non-"irrational" signatures by specifying a relationship between some note length in the previous bar and some other in the succeeding one. Sometimes, successive metric relationships between bars are so convoluted that the pure use of irrational signatures would quickly render the notation extremely hard to penetrate. Good examples, written entirely in conventional signatures with the aid of between-bar specified metric relationships, occur a number of times in John Adams' opera Nixon in China (1987), where the sole use of "irrational" signatures would quickly produce massive numerators and denominators.^{[citation needed]}

Historically, this device has been prefigured wherever composers have written tuplets; for example, a 2
4 bar consisting of 3 triplet crotchets could arguably more sensibly be written as a bar of 3
6.^{[citation needed]} Henry Cowell's piano piece "Fabric" (1920) throughout employs separate divisions of the bar (anything from 1 to 9) for the three contrapuntal parts, using a scheme of shaped noteheads to make the differences visually clear, but the pioneering of these signatures is largely due to Brian Ferneyhough, who says that he "find[s] that such 'irrational' measures serve as a useful buffer between local changes of event density and actual changes of base tempo".^[13] Thomas Adès has also made extensive use of them, for example in his piano work "Traced Overhead" (1996), the second movement of which contains, among more conventional meters, bars in such signatures as 2
6, 9
14 and 5
24. His "Piano Quintet" (2000) makes such extensive use of these, including different lines juxtaposed with varying meters, that an alternate form of notation is not immediately obvious, or arguably desirable.^{[citation needed]} A gradual process of diffusion into less rarefied musical circles seems to be underway, hence for example, John Pickard's work "Eden", commissioned for the 2005 finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, which contains bars of 3
10.^{[citation needed]}

Notationally, rather than using Cowell's elaborate series of notehead shapes, the same convention has been invoked as when normal tuplets are written; for example, one beat in 4
5 is written as a normal quarter note, four quarter notes complete the bar, but the whole bar lasts only ⁴/₅ of a reference whole note, and a beat ¹/₅ of one (or ⁴/₅ of a normal quarter note). This is notated in exactly the same way that one would write if one were writing the first four quarter notes of five quintuplet quarter notes.

The term "irrational" is not being used here in its mathematical sense: an irrational number is one that cannot be written as a ratio of whole numbers, which all these signatures obviously are. Nevertheless, the term appears to be established now, although at least one such piece with a truly irrational signature already exists: one of Conlon Nancarrow's "Studies for Player Piano" contains a canon where one part is augmented in the ratio √42:1 (approximately 6.48:1).

Early music usage[link]

Mensural time signatures[link]

In the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period in which mensural notation was used, there were four basic "mensuration signs", which determined the proportion between the two main units of rhythm. There were no measure or bar lines in music of this period; these signs, the ancestors of modern time signatures, indicate the ratio of duration between different note values. The relation between the breve and the semibreve was called tempus, and the relation between the semibreve and the minim was called prolatio. Unlike modern notation, the duration ratios between these different values was not always 2:1; it could be either 2:1 or 3:1, and that is what, amongst other things, these mensuration signs indicated. A ratio of 3:1 was called complete, perhaps a reference to the Trinity, and a ratio of 2:1 was called incomplete.

A circle used as a mensuration sign indicated tempus perfectum (a circle being a symbol of completeness), while an incomplete circle, resembling a letter C, indicated tempus imperfectum. Assuming the breve to be a beat, this corresponds to the modern concepts of triple meter and duple meter, respectively. In either case, a dot in the center indicated prolatio perfecta while the absence of such a dot indicated prolatio imperfecta, corresponding to simple meter and compound meter.

A rough equivalence of these signs to modern meters would be:

• corresponds to 9
  8 meter;
• corresponds to 3
  4 meter;
• corresponds to 6
  8 meter;
• corresponds to 2
  4 meter.

N.B.: in modern compound meters the beat is a dotted note value, such as a dotted quarter, because the ratios of the modern note value hierarchy are always 2:1. Dotted notes were never used in this way in the mensural period; the main beat unit was always a simple (undotted) note value.

Proportions[link]

Another set of signs in mensural notation specified the metric proportions of one section to another, similar to a metric modulation. A few common signs are shown:^[14]

• tempus imperfectum diminutum, 1:2 proportion (twice as fast);
• tempus perfectum diminutum, 1:2 proportion (twice as fast);
• or just proportio tripla, 1:3 proportion (three times as fast, similar to triplets).

Often the ratio was expressed as two numbers, one above the other,^[15] looking similar to a modern time signature, although it could have values such as 4
3, which a conventional time signature could not.

Some proportional signs were not used consistently from one place or century to another. In addition, certain composers delighted in creating "puzzle" compositions which were intentionally difficult to decipher.

In particular, when the sign was encountered, the tactus (beat) changed from the usual semibreve to the breve, a circumstance called alla breve. This term has been sustained to the present day, and although now it means the beat is a minim (half note), in contradiction to the literal meaning of the phrase, it still indicates that the beat has changed to a longer note value.

See also[link]

• Schaffel
• Tala

References[link]

External links[link]

• Grateful Dead songs with unusual time signatures (Grateful Dead)
• Odd Time Obsessed Internet Radio - dedicated to "odd" meters
• audio clips of many time signatures, and Bounce Metronome Pro - a program that can play all the time signatures mentioned in this article, even the irrational ones like π
  4

v t e Musical notation and development Staff Bar & bar line Clef Da capo Dal segno Key signature Ledger line Musical mode Musical scale Rehearsal letter Repeat sign Time signature Transposition Transposing instrument Notes Accidental Flat Natural Sharp Dotted note Grace note Note value Beam Note head Stem Pitch Rest Tuplet Interval Helmholtz pitch notation Letter notation Scientific pitch notation Articulation Dynamics Ornament Trill Mordent Grace note Portato Accent Legato Tenuto Marcato Staccato Staccatissimo Tie Slur Fermata Tonguing Development Cell Coda Exposition Figure Harmony Hook Lick Melody Motif Ossia Ostinato Period Phrase Recapitulation Repetition Rhythm Beat Meter Tempo Theme Tonality Atonality Related Braille music Chord chart Figured bass Graphic notation Lead sheet Eye music Neume Tablature List of musical symbols

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2010)

The Basics
The Basics at the Oxford Art Factory, 2010
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Rock
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Independent, Albert Records
Associated acts	Gotye, Down Hills Home, Dog With Wheels, Blood Red Bird
Website	The Basics Official Website
Members
Wally De Backer Kris Schroeder Tim Heath
Past members
Michael Hubbard
Notable instruments
Lead guitar, drums, bass guitar.

The Basics ( /ˈbæzɪtʃ/ BAZZ-ich) are a three-piece band from Melbourne, Australia, formed by Wally De Backer and Kris Schroeder in 2002. Their style has been described as anything from 'indie-pop' to 'rock'n'roll' to 'pop-rock', though their records show they span a wide range of genres, including reggae, ska, country, and electro-pop. They are "recognised as one of Australia's hardest-working bands".^[1]

With close to 1000 shows in their ten-year career, their live performances are well-known for their sense of humour and energy.^[2]

Formation[link]

The Basics were formed after Kris met Wally at a party in Melbourne.^[3] The event was to see off the young aspiring producer, who was about to depart for Los Angeles, and together with a number of musician friends, the two jammed on some blues-rock standards. Later that night, they bonded over a mutual love of The Beatles, 70s and 80s cartoon theme songs and old Sierra adventure games.

Initially, they played around Melbourne as an acoustic guitar/drums combo, starting at The Opposition in Frankston and the House of Fools in Footscray, where in late 2002 they met Michael Hubbard and later invited him to join them on electric guitar.^[4] Though lacking any real experience with the instrument, Kris willingly purchased his first bass guitar, and the trio was born. During this time, the group start performing songs with more complicated three-part harmony.

During late 2002 and early 2003, The Basics recorded and released an album called Get Back through MGM Distribution. They began what was to become regular tours of the East and West coasts of Australia.

2004-2005: Current lineup[link]

Tim Heath joined the group in June 2004, after Michael decided to pursue his solo career, which has included being one half of Down Hills Home.^[4] Tim was reportedly the only person to reply to an advertisement in Melbourne's Beat Magazine looking for a new guitarist. Tim apparently answered the advertisement - which said the applicant "must have a love of 50s and 60s rock'n'roll" - thinking that he would be meeting "a couple of old guys to play with on the weekends over some beers". They soon recorded For Girls Like You.

The Basics in 2005 continued to tour and play small festivals, and after releasing For Girls Like You through MGM Distribution, they departed for a national tour of Australia, which lasted for two months and took them to every Australian state and territory. Stuart Padbury, a young Melbourne sound engineer, joined them on much of this tour. On returning, the band began demonstrating songs for a new album.

2006-2009: Touring and soundtracks[link]

In 2006, The Basics began recording what was to become known as Stand Out/Fit In. Taking several months, it was not completed until the end of the year, despite intentions to have it released in June. Instead, they held a successful 'album preview', where each of the tracks was demonstrated in 'rough form' accompanied by a music video for each (produced by Melbourne photographic artist James Bryans). The band also talked about the origins of the songs. This event brought a lot of attention to the band for the idea's originality. They pre-released a radio single 'Just Hold On' from the album. The band were invited to play the hugely popular Homebake Festival in Sydney, where they received a great response, after being introduced onto the stage by a short stocky Asian guy with big calves ("one of the highlights" wrote The Daily Telegraph).

In 2007, the band departed on a tri-state residency which saw them play Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane every week for the month of April - a bold move which brought further attention to the band for its original idea.^[5] Riding on the wave of this tour, Schroeder, De Backer and Heath departed on their first overseas tour which saw them performing 26 shows around Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom.^[6] They also toured twice more up the East Coast, one of which was with popular Japanese band The Bawdies. Their song 'Rattle My Chain' was used in a series of commercials for Volvo Australia. The song 'Hey There!' featured in the British film The Bank Job - starring Jason Statham - and was used as the backing for a February 2007 short film directed by Tim Longhurst called The Rip. Their song 'Better' was featured in a surfing documentary about the invention of the shortboard in 1967.

In 2008, the band appeared on Australia's Channel 9 for Australia Day celebrations, performing two of their songs - 'Just Hold On' and 'Hey There!' - to an estimated audience of 2 million. Securing an Australian Government grant, they embarked on a two-month tour of Australia, specifically targeting "culturally underprivileged groups" in rural and regional schoolchildren and Indigenous communities. The programme had them holding masterclasses and performing alongside Indigenous groups in the remote Northern Territory and Queensland.^[7][8] Their initiative also had them raising money for the charity Lifeline^{[disambiguation needed ]}, their contribution to which was recognised with a plaque at the end of the tour. Season two of Californication starring David Duchovny featured their cover of the classic 'Have Love, Will Travel', most famously covered by 'The Sonics'.

In 2009, The Basics for the first time enjoyed the support of Australian radio network Triple J, which had reportedly snubbed the band's previous material.^[9] The singles 'With This Ship' and 'Like A Brother' were added to the station's playlist, and momentum carried The Basics overseas for a second tour of the United Kingdom and Norway, and also a series of shows in Dublin, Ireland. They were joined by the longtime front-of-house engineer Stuart Padbury, who had been mixing them since 2005. The band was often seen in the Grafton Street Mall in Dublin, busking to promote their concerts there. Their second show in Oslo, Norway, saw the band perform with Hot Tub, one of the members of the Norwegian boy band "Boyzvoice", in his first performance for several years. Season Eight of Scrubs featured the song 'Lookin' Over My Shoulder'.

Despite all this promise, the band's album Keep Your Friends Close - produced and part-recorded by Peter Cobbin at London's Abbey Road Studios - though enjoying many favourable reviews,^{[10][11][12][13]} failed to impress Richard Kingsmill, music director of Triple J. This effectively ended the band's apparent upward spiral and the resulting album launch tour was reportedly "trying".

2010: Hiatus and live album[link]

In 2010, following the band's fourth stint at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and the recording of a yet-unreleased live album, an indefinite hiatus was announced on the band's websites. This was in part due to the impending release of a new album produced by Wally for his Gotye project, and also to reported tensions within the band following the previous year's disappointments.

However, this hiatus was soon broken with a two-month residency at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne, which saw an apparent return to form.^[14] The band's EP "Wait For You" enjoys airplay on Triple J.^[15] The Basics also played a one-off show at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory.^[16]

On 20 August 2010, The Basics released their fourth LP /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/, available free and exclusively from their website for digital download^[17]. The band had reportedly moved to expand their listenership through this free giveaway, though 300 "Deluxe" CD/vinyl versions have been printed. /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/ was recorded at the Northcote Social Club on 6 February, "in front of a live studio audience", and like the previous record, was mixed by Peter Cobbin at Abbey Road Studios. Technically a self-titled album, the phonetics spell out the accurate pronunciation of the band’s name. Kris Schroeder: "For years we’ve worked at bringing our live energy into the studio and thus far it’s been a bit hit-and-miss. Our trick this time was to pull a switcheroo and bring the studio to us instead; the result is the best and closest to us we’ve sounded yet."

Melbourne thespian and Dog With Wheels bassist David Bramble - friends with Heath from university days - has occasionally joined the band on tour, playing keys, often while sporting a large moustache. Other guests have included Jake Mason (saxophone), also of Cookin' on 3 Burners and The Bamboos^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Gideon Brazil (saxophone, flute), Simon Imrei (guitar and vocals) and Monty MacKenzie (saxophone).

Covers have often made an appearance from various sources: to date, some of the bands covered have been Cream, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, New Kids on the Block, Richard Berry, Sonny Curtis and The Crickets, JJ Cale, Harry Nilsson, Bill Scott, Ryan Adams and The Coasters (via The Beatles for their cover of Three Cool Cats).

Members[link]

Current

• Wally De Backer - drums, vocals (2002-present)
• Kris Schroeder - bass, vocals (2002-present)
• Tim Heath - guitar, vocals (2004-present)

Former

• Michael Hubbard - guitar, vocals (2002-2004)

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Get Back (15 January 2004)
• Stand Out/Fit In (5 May 2007)
• Keep Your Friends Close (25 September 2009)
• /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/ (20 August 2010)

EP[link]

• For Girls Like You (11 July 2005)
• Lookin' Over My Shoulder (10 February 2007)
• Like A Brother (5 June 2009)
• Wait For You (21 May 2010)

Singles[link]

• Call It Rhythm & Blues (20 August 2004)
• Just Hold On
• With This Ship (22 February 2009)

Upcoming projects[link]

The band is taking a three year hiatus, with an announced return to the stage together in early 2014. Wally De Backer launched Making Mirrors under his Gotye act in August 2011, Tim Heath will be touring and recording with Blood Red Bird, and Kris Schroeder recorded a solo EP titled, Patience in the Face of Control, before leaving Australia to work with the Red Cross in Kenya for a two year sabbatical.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Myspace Website

Mike Portnoy
Background information
Birth name	Michael Stephen Portnoy
Born	(1967-04-20) April 20, 1967 (age 45) Long Beach, New York, US
Genres	Progressive metal, heavy metal, progressive rock
Instruments	Drums, vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards
Years active	1984–present
Labels	Roadrunner
Associated acts	Dream Theater, Transatlantic, Liquid Tension Experiment, Neal Morse, OSI, Avenged Sevenfold, Adrenaline Mob, Stone Sour, Flying Colors
Website	www.mikeportnoy.com

Michael Stephen "Mike" Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Known for his drumming prowess and technical skill, Portnoy has won 26 awards from the Modern Drummer magazine^[1] . He co-produced six Dream Theater albums with guitarist John Petrucci, starting from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory through Black Clouds and Silver Linings. From A Change of Seasons onwards, Portnoy had been writing a significant amount of Dream Theater's lyrics. He is the second youngest person (after Neil Peart) to be inducted into the Modern Drummer's Hall of Fame (at 37 years of age).

Besides his work with Dream Theater, Portnoy is known for his many side projects and tribute bands. He is a founding member of Liquid Tension Experiment, an instrumental progressive rock band featuring fellow DT members John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess along with bass legend Tony Levin. He is also a founding member of Transatlantic, a progressive rock "super-group" featuring Spock's Beard keyboardist/vocalist Neal Morse, Flower Kings guitarist Roine Stolt and Marillon bassist Pete Trewavas. Portnoy has also recorded and/or toured/performed live with Avenged Sevenfold, Neal Morse, OSI, Hail!, Stone Sour, Fates Warning, Overkill and G3. Over the years, Portnoy has also created tribute bands to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Rush, and The Who, which has allowed him to perform the music of his four favorite drummers.

On September 2010, Portnoy announced that he had left Dream Theater after 25 years. He was replaced by Mike Mangini. Since his departure, Portnoy has started two new projects. One is with Symphony X singer Russell Allen and guitarist Mike Orlando, a straight rock/metal band called Adrenaline Mob^[2]. He has also started a progressive pop oriented band with Steve Morse, Neal Morse, Dave LaRue, and Casey McPherson called Flying Colors.

Dream Theater history[link]

Portnoy was born April 20, 1967 into a Jewish family and raised on Long Island in Long Beach, New York.^[3] According to a post made by Jordan Rudess on his forum, Portnoy is ethnically Jewish but does not practice. His father worked as a DJ at a local radio station, helping Portnoy gain an appreciation for music at an early age particularly, as Portnoy has pointed out, because he had access to his father's collection of LPs. He developed a preference for bands including Rush, Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Iron Maiden, and The Beatles, among many others. Portnoy claims to be self-taught as a drummer, though he did take music theory classes in high school. During that period he began playing in local bands, two of which (Rising Power and Inner Sanctum) recorded and released independent albums. He left Inner Sanctum (his last high school band) after being awarded a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. There, he met John Petrucci and John Myung. They formed a band, initially taking the name "Majesty" before changing their name to Dream Theater. They left Berklee soon after.

Influences[link]

In the April 2001 edition of Modern Drummer & Portnoy's website, he names Neil Peart,Buddy Rich, Frank Zappa, Vinnie Paul, Carl Palmer, Bill Bruford, Terry Bozzio, Nicko McBrain, Billy Cobham, Alan White, Nick Mason, Stewart Copeland, Phil Collins, Chester Thompson, Simon Phillips, Nick D'Virgilio, Andy Sturmer, Dave Lombardo, Jon Fishman, Vinnie Colaiuta, Ringo Starr, Peter Criss, John Bonham, Keith Moon and Lars Ulrich as influences.^[4]

Awards and recognition[link]

Modern Drummer

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

1. Best Up & Coming Talent (1994)
2. Best Progressive Rock Drummer (1995–2006)
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) and 2011 for Nightmare (Avenged Sevenfold).^[5]
4. Best Clinician (2000, 2002)
5. Best Educational Video/DVD (2000, 2002)
6. Hall of Fame Inductee (2004)

He has co-founded several progressive rock groups and projects, including Transatlantic and Liquid Tension Experiment.

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).

On September 18, 2006 within his website's forum Portnoy cagily stated that he had finally met one of his drummer heroes from youth from the band Rush;^[6] drummer Neil Peart (one of the few heroes from his youth Portnoy had never met, owing to Peart's legendary privacy), that "Neil and I have finally met and we spent some time together this week and had a great time...",^[7] and that a possible collaboration was underway/had been discussed with the teasing statement of "Patience everybody... all will soon be revealed!" It has now been revealed that this meeting was for an interview Portnoy did for his stint as guest editor of Rhythm Magazine.^[8] Portnoy had previously written the liner notes for the Japanese pressing of Rush's 2002 release Vapor Trails,^[9] but publicly denounced Peart in 2000 after Peart called the people involved in the Rush tribute "bar bands" .^[10]

In the October 2009 issue of Rhythm Magazine, Portnoy was listed as #5 in their list of the Top 50 Drummers of All Time.^[11]

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."

In June 14, 2010, Mike Portnoy won the Metal Hammer Golden God Award for Best Drummer.^[12]

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.^[13]

At the Revolver Golden God Awards in April 20, he won the "Best Drummer Award" for his work with Avenged Sevenfold.^[14]

In 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".^[15][16]

Drum kits and percussive equipment[link]

• When Dream and Day Unite/Images & Words Kit - This Tama Imperialstar kit (the previous model of the Imperialstar, unlike the 2007 Imperialstar, which is an entry level kit)and Zildjian cymbals which was bought originally by Portnoy himself through working three jobs. It was used until the end of the Images and Words tour when Portnoy was signed by Sabian and Mapex.
• Awake/A Change Of Seasons kit - This Mapex USA Maple kit was used on the world tour supporting the album Awake. It had two bass drums, one snare, six toms, two small timbales, a section of various percussion instruments, and four Octoban-sized drums in a 2x2 formation. This marked Portnoy's first use of Octobans on a record, which were custom-made by Mapex using maple as opposed to Tama's more traditional acrylic, giving them a slightly different, more "natural" tone.
• The Purple/Green/Red Monsters - These were Tama Starclassic kits which marked Portnoy's signing with Tama in the late '90s after his endorsement deal with Mapex fell through (they took the kit he was using off the market, meaning that he was endorsing a product the public could not buy.) Used for the recording of Falling Into Infinity" and "Scenes from a Memory and the North, South American, and Asian tours for said albums, they are so named because of their striking color/white/color fade finishes. Each version of the kit was kept in a different part of the world to avoid overseas shipping costs; the "Green Monster" was used for European tours and the "Red Monster" was used for Asian-market touring. It is similar to the "Awake" kit but features many more cymbals, the left-side octobans in a four-inline configuration (as opposed to his last kit which held them in a 2x2 pattern) and two more "low"-tuned octobans on the right side of the kit held overhead of the floor toms. This kit featured a snare drum with a foot-operated snare strainer mechanism which allowed for different snare drum sounds without having to use his hands to adjust it. On the Purple Monster Portnoy used DW 5000 Pedals, instead of the Iron Cobra Pedals. He uses this kit in his 1999 Instructional DVD "Liquid Drum Theater".
• Liquid Tension Experiment kit - A comparatively modest kit used in his supergroup project Liquid Tension Experiment. The bass drum and toms of this kit (not the snare, timbales, and cymbals) were the first Portnoy ever purchased used according to an interview where he gave a tour of his basement and this kit showed up. This kit was unique in that it used a pair of small timbales where the two smallest toms would normally be. It was otherwise a normal "seven piece" rock kit with three toms (five if you count the timbales), and a single bass drum with a double kick pedal. It marks the first time Portnoy uses a floor tom on either side of the kit for a recording (during footage from their Fan Club Show in 1998 featured on 5 Years in a LIVEtime, Portnoy's "Unplugged" kit contained a left-hand floor tom used heavily during that performance) with a 14" floor tom on the left and an 18" floor tom on the right. It is the first time Portnoy used his MaxStax cymbal line in the studio. Portnoy notes in his Liquid Drum Theater instructional video that the reason behind the smaller kit is that when Liquid Tension Experiment went into the studio to record the first album, The Purple Monster kit was still being shipped back from some shows they had played immediately prior in Brazil.
• Transatlantic kit - The kit used to record and tour behind the first Transatlantic album was the same as the Liquid Tension Experiment kit, but with five regular toms. When recording and touring behind the second Transatlantic album, Portnoy added his new Melody Master snare drums for the first time and some different cymbals including a set of custom made 15" hi-hats. The smaller Melody Master displaced the 14" floor tom, which was moved back to the right of the kit for the Transatlantic recordings. For the filming of Portnoy's 2007 "In Constant Motion" instructional DVD set, the Transatlantic kit was reproduced in Tama drums' new line of acrylic shells named Starclassic Mirage in the "Black Ice" finish. The original recording was done with more traditional Starclassic wood drums.
• The Siamese Monster - This kit was an amalgamation of two individual kits. The left side of the kit is laid out similarly to the Liquid Tension Experiment kit, with a floor tom on his left side, a modified tymp-tom on his right side, and three rack toms. The right side is laid out as a normal five piece kit but with the two rack toms reversed, a gong bass drum in place of a floor tom (with modified floor tom legs), and the ride cymbal in front of the hi hats, which allows him to share some of the cymbals and toms between the two kits. It has two stools, and while is not capable of being played in its entirety by one person, Portnoy often invites other drummers to sit in on the unplayed half during shows. It is a predominantly black kit with Majesty symbols around each individual drum. Much like the Colored Monsters, there were three identical versions of this kit for use when touring different continents, the North American kit being the "featured" kit with purple markings as was the case with the Colored Monsters. It was built by Tama for the recording of the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence album and tour as well as the Train of Thought album and tour.
• The OSI kit - Portnoy used the small (right) side of his Red Siamese Monster kit for the recording of the first Office of Strategic Influence album. For the second he downsized even more to a four-piece consisting of his signature snare, one timbale as a tom as previously used on his Liquid Tension Experiment kit, one floor tom, and a single 18" kick drum with a double pedal.
• Yellow Matter Custard kit - A specially designed set for use in Portnoy's Beatles tribute band, Yellow Matter Custard. It is modelled on Ringo Starr's kit, and is quite simple compared with his Dream Theater kits. Its in the sizes: 12"x8", 14"x14" & 20"x14". The cymbals are an 14" AA HiHat, an AA Crash on the left and a HH Crash/Ride on the right.
• Hammer Of The Gods kit - A John Bonham-replica kit that was used in Portnoy's Led Zeppelin tribute band. Custom-made acrylic shells were used (transparent amber), and the kit is always played while wearing the obligatory bowler hat.
• The Albino Monster - The previous kit used by Portnoy is similar to the Siamese Monster. Aesthetically, it is white with silver sparkle Majesty logos instead of the black/colored logos of the Siamese Monster. In layout it is almost exactly the same, the only differences being the right side of the kit mimics his earlier Hammer of the Gods kit; two of the timbales were removed, the 10" tymp-tom was changed to a 14", and the gong bass drum was replaced with a floor tom. He kept some of the cymbals from the right side of the Siamese Monster, including the 13" HHX Groove Hats, and the 19" Hand Hammered Fierce Crash, so there's more distance between the two sides in the Albino Monster, than there were in the Siamese Monster. So far it has been used for the Gigantour (a tour that Dream Theater participated in alongside Megadeth, Symphony X and several other bands) and throughout the Octavarium 2005-06 World Tour. The modification to the right side stemmed from sessions for Dream Theater's Octavarium album, where what began as an experiment became the inspiration behind most of Octavarium. When recording of Octavarium began, Portnoy brought along the Hammer of the Gods kit, resulting in the kit being used for part of the album: he ended up using it on five of the album's eight tracks. The kit utilizes larger "Rock" sizes, with a 14" rack tom, a 16" floor tom, an 18" floor tom, and a meaty 6.5" x 14" snare drum, much reminding of the drum sizes used by John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. Additionally, Portnoy only used a few crash cymbals, and used a splash and china sparingly. When touring began, Tama had the shells changed to traditional Starclassic Maple shells, because they didn't want Portnoy touring with a kit featuring shells that Tama didn't mass-produce for public acquisition. The touring kit includes two new limited-edition Mike Portnoy signature snare drums with the same matching finish used on the rest of the kit. On Tama's official website, Portnoy released details about changes to the kit for his upcoming tours, beginning with G3 in March. He says the left side will stay the same, but the right side will change. The sizes will change to more conventional sizes-22" kick etc. and will have three rack toms as opposed to the 'Bonham'-size, one rack tom kit of before. The shells would be Starclassic Mirage acrylic shells instead of the Starclassic Maple he has always used. He used this kit in his DVD In Constant Motion.
• The Mirage Monster- Revealed at Gods Of Metal 2007, this kit is made up of two kits once again, except built out of Tama's new Tama Starclassic Mirage acrylic drums in clear "Crystal Ice" finish. The left side is virtually identical to his previous kit, except made with clear acrylic shells. The new configuration of the right side of his kit has replaced the "Bonzo Kit" of "The Albino Monster." His new right side of the kit includes: a 22" kick and 3 rack toms (8", 10", and 12") "so it's going to be a little more of a conventional, small kit." (Click on "Interview" link button) The snares used are his Signature Melody Master snares. He uses 2 12x5" steel snares (one on the right side of the kit as a main snare and one on the left as a side snare) and uses one 14x5.5" maple shell snare. These snares are the same snares used in the last 2 kits (Albino Monster and Siamese Monster) and they are in the original black color. This kit has been scaled down to a relatively small double-bass kit for several shows taking place in smaller venues.
• Black & Silver Monster^[17]- Similar to the Mirage Monster, this kit is made up of two different kits, this time with the new Bubinga wood drums with a black and silver finish. This kit was used for the Black Clouds & Silver Linings tour. To record the album he used two diiferent sets of Tama drums - his main set was Starclassic Bubinga Elite and the second, smaller one was Starclassic Performer.

Several of Portnoy's drum kits make use of Roland electronic drum pads. Portnoy uses these as what he calls the "secret cowbell", to count off the songs in a way that only his fellow band members and the technicians can hear it. An example of this can be seen on the Score DVD, where it can be seen in the background that Portnoy counts off the song "Under A Glass Moon" on the pad. Portnoy explains the use of these pads in the commentary track of the "Drum Cam Only" version of the Live At Budokan DVD, as well as the "Mike's Stage Tour" featurette on the Chaos in Motion 2007–2008 DVD.

Tama has marketed two different sized Mike Portnoy signature snare drums, known as "Melody Masters" (named after Melody, his daughter), since the late 1990s. The smaller of the two has a 12x5" steel shell and the larger has a 14x5.5" maple shell. Both snare models have a unique three way snare strainer mechanism.^[18] Portnoy and Tama have custom-made versions in various colors to match the color schemes of the kit he was using at the time (i.e. The "Purple/Red/Green Monsters", "Siamese Monster" "Albino Monster", etc.). For 2006, in recognition of his 'Albino Monster' kit, he released only 250 of these snares worldwide in a white, gloss finish. The older colour (black) is not limited edition.

Sabian has marketed three different sized signature cymbal stacks, known as "Max Stax" (named after his son, Max). They consist of a hand hammered china kang-style cymbal on top of a splash (or crash) cymbal that can be played much more like a drum than a cymbal, used much more in traditional drum fills than most quickly decaying cymbal tones. Their sizes are 8/8", 10/10" and 12/14". Sabian has marketed odd-sized 7, 9, and 11" "Max Splash" cymbals which have a fast decay and can be used in fills and drum patterns that have the same namesake.^[19]

Portnoy has endorsed Promark sticks since the early 1990s. His signature stick is the TX420N.^[20] It is .531 inches in diameter, 16 1/8 in length, and has a 747 taper and nylon tip. The color of the ink and the design of the logo has changed several times. When Mike was in Dream Theater, it had purple ink and had the Dream Theater logo on it. When he toured with Avenged Sevenfold, the Pro-Mark logo was replaced with the Deathbat and used regular black ink. The "420" in the model number, which is printed on the sticks, is a reference to his birthday (and not a marijuana reference, as has been suggested). He is known for gripping his left stick on the reverse side to attain a different sound on the snare drum - at times he would incorporate the act of tossing his drumstick in the air to change to the other end.

Other instruments played[link]

Portnoy played John Myung's bass when Dream Theater performed as the fictitious band Nightmare Cinema. Before live performances of "Trial of Tears", he would sometimes switch instruments with John Petrucci and play a fragment of "Eruption" by Van Halen. In Nightmare Cinema he got the "alternate stage name" Max Del Fuvio. He was seen playing Pink Floyd's Sheep, in a sunburst 4-string Music Man Stingray belonging to Myung on The making of Systematic Chaos. He plays bass guitar during a jam by Liquid Trio Experiment 2.

Avenged Sevenfold, departure from Dream Theater and future[link]

In spring 2010, Portnoy filled in for Avenged Sevenfold's former drummer, Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, who died during production of the band's latest album Nightmare.

On May 5, 2010, Portnoy released a statement on his status with Avenged Sevenfold on their official website saying: "Although I wish I could stay on board with A7X in a more permanent capacity, the reality is that I am committed to Dream Theater as my main priority and I will need to resume work with DT to start a new album at some point in 2011.....However, I will be able to join my brothers in Avenged Sevenfold for at least the duration of their touring throughout 2010.....You can look at me like the band's "rebound drummer" to buy them some time until they are comfortable and ready to make a commitment to somebody new for full-time relationship in their future!"^[21]

On Wednesday, September 8, 2010, Mike Portnoy announced he would be leaving Dream Theater. In his official statement^[22] he said:

The rest of the band did not agree and decided to continue on without him. Because of this decision, Portnoy decided to leave Dream Theater. After auditioning seven world-class drummers, Dream Theater selected Mike Mangini to replace Portnoy.^[23]

On December 16, 2010, Portnoy announced via Facebook that although he would have liked to continue working with the band, Avenged Sevenfold had decided to stop using him as their drummer.^[24] He later announced that he had asked to rejoin Dream Theater, but had been rejected,^[25] as Dream Theater had already chosen their new drummer, Mike Mangini.

Portnoy announced, that he has started 2 musical projects; one project with Russell Allen, Mike Orlando, Rich Ward and Paul DiLeo, titled Adrenaline Mob, and another with Neal Morse, Steve Morse, Dave LaRue and Casey McPherson (confirmed by Portnoy to be called "Flying Colors.") Portnoy recently stated on Facebook that both band's drum tracks are done. (Adrenaline Mob released a debut EP in August 2011) ^[26] In response to twitter questions, Portnoy has stated "Flying Colors" debut album is scheduled to be released in 2012,^[27][28] and that a full release album for Adrenaline Mob is also slated for release in 2012.^[29]

On June 10, 2011, Portnoy announced on his website, that he would be playing a show in New York City on June 24, 2011 with Adrenaline Mob.^[30]

On August 5, 2011, one of Adrenaline Mob's new songs, titled "Hit the Wall," debuted on the Q104.3 radio station following a live interview with Portnoy about Adrenaline Mob, as well as his hopes for the future and his feelings towards Dream Theater.

On September 14, 2011 it was announced that Portnoy would fill in on drums for Stone Sour's show at Rock In Rio for drummer Roy Mayorga, who asked Portnoy to fill in due to Mayorga expecting the birth of his first child on the same day as the show.

Mike and John Sykes formed a band yet untitled together with Billy Sheehan as the bass player. In early January 2012, it was revealed that this band would not go ahead due to unknown reasons. Instead, Portnoy revealed that he and Sheehan are working with guitar great Richie Kotzen.

Personal life[link]

Portnoy and his wife Marlene (née Apuzzo) live in Upper Saucon Township in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania with their children, Melody Ruthandrea and Max John. Marlene used to be a guitarist in the all-female band Meanstreak, and two of the other members, guitarist Rena Sands and bassist Lisa Martens, are married to Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung, respectively.

Near the end of every year since 2001, Portnoy shares on his blog a personal choice on the top ten music recordings, films and TV shows released along the year.^[31]

Discography[link]

Instructional DVD releases[link]

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

• "Progressive Drum Concepts" (Rittor Music 1995 1 VHS/DVD)
• "Liquid Drum Theater" (Hudson Music 2000 2 DVDs)
• "In Constant Motion" (Hudson Music 2007, 3 DVDs)

Portnoy's self filmed performances[link]

Portnoy has self-released "drum-cam" DVDs of the last several Dream Theater and side project recording sessions through his own "MP4" production company. These are "in-studio" recordings typically consisting of Full Band, Isolated Drums tracks, and an Audio Commentary.

• "Asian Clinic Tour" (MP4 Productions 2001, 1 DVD) (out of print)
• "Ten Degrees of Turbulent Drumming" (MP4 Productions 2002, 1 DVD)
• "Drums Across Forever" (MP4 Productions 2002, 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)
• "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)
• "Testimony 2:Live Drum Cam" (MP4 Productions 2012, 1 DVD)
• "Drumertá" (MP4 Productions 2012, 1 DVD)
• "Drumming Colors" (MP4 Productions 2012, 1 DVD)

Credits[link]

Bands MP has played in, performed &/or recorded with:

1. Dream Theater (1985-2010)

2. Liquid Tension Experiment (1997-1999, 2008)

3. Transatlantic (1999-2001, 2008- )

4. John Petrucci/G3 (2001-2007)

5. Andy West (2001)

6. Neal Morse (2002- )

7. OSI (2002-2004)

8. Yellow Matter Custard (2003 & 2011)

9. Hammer Of The Gods (2003)

10. John Arch (2003)

11. Overkill (2004)

12. Fates Warning (2005 & 2012)

13. Cygnus & The Sea Monsters (2005)

14. Amazing Journey (2006)

15. Hail! (2010 & 2011)

16. Avenged Sevenfold (2010)

17. Flying Colors (2011- )

18. Adrenaline Mob (2011- )

19. Stone Sour (2011)

20. ___(just recorded new album of)___ (2012)

Singers MP has worked with:

1. James LaBrie (Dream Theater)

2. Neal Morse (Transatlantic, Neal Morse, Flying Colors, Yellow Matter Custard)

3. M Shadows (Avenged Sevenfold)

4. Corey Taylor (Stone Sour)

5. Russell Allen (Adrenaline Mob)

6. Casey McPherson (Flying Colors)

7. Ripper Owens (Hail)

8. John Arch

9. Ray Alder (Fates Warning)

10. Bobby Blitz Ellesworth (Overkill)

11. Jason McMaster (Cygnus & The Sea Monsters)

12. Daniel Gildenlow (Hammer Of The Gods, Transatlantic)

13. Gary Cherone (Amazing Journey)

14. Whitfield Crane (Hail)

15. Charlie Dominici (Dream Theater)

16. Chris Collins (Majesty)

Guitarists MP has worked with:

1. John Petrucci (Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, G3)

2. Paul Gilbert (Yellow Matter Custard, Hammer Of The Gods, Cygnus & The Sea Monsters, Amazing Journey)

3. Steve Morse (Flying Colors)

4. John Sykes (Unreleased Sykes/Portnoy Demos)

5. Roine Stolt (Transatlantic)

6. Jim Matheos (Fates Warning, OSI, John Arch)

7. Mike Orlando (Adrenaline Mob)

8. Synyster Gates (Avenged Sevenfold)

9. Zacky Vengeance (Avenged Sevenfold)

10. James Root (Stone Sour)

11. Josh Rand (Stone Sour)

12. Andreas Kisser (Hail)

13. Frank Aresti (Fates Warning)

14. Eric Brenton (Neal Morse)

15. Glen Drover (Hail)

16. Phil Demmel (Hail)

17. Dave Linsk (Overkill)

18. Tony MacAlpine (Portnoy, Sheehan, MacAlpine, Sherinian)

19. Richie Kotzen (Portnoy, Sheehan, Kotzen)

20. Rich Ward (Adrenaline Mob)

Bassists MP has worked with:

1. John Myung (Dream Theater)

2. Tony Levin (Liquid Tension Experiment)

3. Pete Trewavas (Transatlantic)

4. Billy Sheehan (Amazing Journey, PSMS, PSK)

5. Dave LaRue (G3, Hammer Of The Gods, Flying Colors)

6. Paul DiLeo (Adrenaline Mob)

7. David Ellefson (Hail)

8. Johnny Christ (Avenged Sevenfold)

9. Randy George (Neal Morse)

10. Kasim Sulton (Yellow Matter Custard)

11. Matt Bissonette (Yellow Matter Custard)

12. Sean Malone (Cygnus & The Sea Monsters, OSI)

13. Joey Vera (Fates Warning, OSI, John Arch)

14. DD Verni (Overkill)

15. Jason Rapisse (Stone Sour)

16. James LoMenzo (Hail)

17. Andy West (Rama)

18. John Moyer (Adrenaline Mob)

Keyboardists MP has worked with:

1. Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment)

2. Neal Morse (Transatlantic, Neal Morse, Flying Colors, Yellow Matter Custard)

3. Kevin Moore (Dream Theater, OSI)

4. Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, PSMS)

Musicians MP has jammed with:

1. Dweezil Zappa (Los Angeles 2009)

2. Steve Vai (Japan 2005, Los Angeles 2009)

3. Joe Satriani (Long Island 2002, Japan 2005)

4. Scott Ian (NYC 2011)

5. Charlie Benante (Chicago 2006, Los Angeles & NYC 2011, LA 2012)

6. Frank Bello (NYC 2010, Los Angeles & NYC 2011, LA 2012)

7. Kerry King (NYC 2011 & LA 2012)

8. Phil Anselmo (NYC 2011 & LA 2012)

9. Dave Mustaine (Dallas 2005)

10. Bruce Dickinson (London 1995, Los Angeles 1998)

11. Nicko McBrain (Florida 1998)

12. Paul DiAnno (Austria 1995)

13. Steve Howe (London 1995)

14. Steve Hogarth (London 1995)

15. Steven Rothery (London 1995)

16. Mikael Akerfeldt (NYC & London 2009)

17. Burton C Bell (Dallas 2005)

18. Doug Pinnick (Studio 1997, North America 2002)

19. Jay Beckenstein (Studio 1991, 1998 & 1999, NYC 2000)

20. Scott Rockenfield (Seattle 2004)

21. Alan White (Mexico 2004)

22. Mike Mangini (Boston 2002)

23. Jason Bittner (Wallingford 2006)

24. Richard Christy (Long Island 2005)

25. Martin Axenrot (NYC 2008, London 2009)

26. Blake Richardson (NYC 2008)

27. Chris Gartmann (NYC 2008)

28. Steve Frothingham (Los Angeles & London 2009)

29. Joe Travers (Los Angeles 2009)

30. Pat Skeffington (Los Angeles 2009)

31. Landryx (London 2009)

32. Chris Jericho (Toronto 2002)

33. Gregg Bisonette

34. Steve Smith

35. Terry Bozzio (Los Angeles 2010)

36. Jack Bruce (Anaheim 2011)

37. Jerry Goodman (Studio 2009)

38. Barney Greenway (London 1995)

39. Steve Hackett (London 2010)

40. Steve Moore (Switzerland 2011)

41. Dee Snider (Video 2012)

42. Dave Lombardo (LA 2012)

43. Chris Broderick (LA 2012)

44. Geezer Butler (LA 2012)

45. Lzzy Hale (Studio 2011)

46. Theresa Thomason (1999 & 2000, 2005)

Bands MP have Jammed with:

1. Zappa Plays Zappa (NYC, Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles 2009)

2. Queensryche (North America 2003)

3. Megadeth (Toronto 2005)

4. Beatallica (Madison 2004 & Columbus 2010)

5. Bigelf (North America & Europe 2009, South America 2010)

6. Fozzy (NYC 2010)

7. Pain Of Salvation (Paris 2001, Barcelona 2002, Australia 2009, Istanbul 2011)

8. Spock's Beard (Europe & North America 2000, Paris & London 2007)

9. Galactic Cowboys (North America 1993)

10. I Mother Earth (North America 1994)

11. Z02 (Buffalo 2010)

12. Enchant (Europe 1997)

13. Vanden Plas (Europe 1998)

14. Tiles (Europer 1999)

References[link]

External links[link]

• MikePortnoy.com
• VIDEO Interview with Portnoy on BackstageMusician.Com
• Interview with Portnoy in Drummer's Digest web magazine
• http://jacksonnewsnow.com/radio/1023-the-rocket/1023-the-rocket-latest/mike-portnoy-joins-avenged-sevenfold
• VIDEO interview with Portnoy at DrummersDigest.com
• Metal Sludge 20 Questions with Portnoy
• Progressive Nation 2008
• Portnoy discusses his memories of the now-defunct New York record store, Slipped Disc
• Mike Portnoy named the 5th best drummer of all time