"There was a really dark time in my life, there was drinking. I found myself huddled near my desk in tears, there was just so much going on in my life - y'know? One night I was researching, when I came across the concept of Tulpas. A Tulpa is something you create - it's like a hallucination but you can feel it. I was lonely. Across my desk my old copy of Banjo-Kazooie laid on the floor. I just didn't want to feel lonely anymore, so I spent nights in the dark, focusing, imagining, creating. Soon I heard that familiar voice. That humble "hyuck!" sound. Was my computer on? It sounded just like him... Banjo. From under my covers I peered, the edge of my room he stood. Banjo stood there and I wasn't alone anymore. Banjo became my tulpa, and to this day he remains with me, at the edge of my bed, playing those banjo tunes - sometimes I request songs. 'Hey Banjo, can you play some John Fahey?'. Oh Banjo, please don't ever leave me." - Mike Portnoy, 2007, from an interview with Pitchfork