What drove Mike to create the Siamese Monster?
MP: I had been using my last setup for the last two albums and tours, and I felt that it was time for a new kit. When I started to put it together I was faced with the decision of going bigger or smaller. I had been using smaller kits on the Transatlantic and Liquid Tension albums. Most of the clinics I had done were also on a smaller kit, and I was really starting to enjoy it. But the more I thought about it, I felt that going smaller with Dream Theater just wouldn’t be appropriate. I didn’t think the fans would accept seeing me perform on a smaller kit. I can remember when Neil Peart scaled down to a single bass drum. As a fan, I was disappointed. So I came up with the idea of putting together the small kit with the big kit and incorporating it all into one huge kit. It’s set up so that I can play certain songs with one kit, and then move over to the other kit for a different sound.
