Mike Portnoy quits Dream Theater

[RWA]

He probably just has to turn up with his drumtech and roadie and bang away and at the end of the tour gets a nice fat paycheck.

Which is nice for a change, eh? Stuff like Transatlantic is great for his creativity and great for us fans but they hardly make a decent buck out of that. In fact, giving up DT is giving up his main source of income. Takes balls to do that.

[ich_bin_besser]

Listening to "Images And Words" again. Man, what great stuff - even after all these years!!  8-)

[Pajter]

When I first heard the news, I didn't really think much of it. Tonight I did feel a bit of sadness though. DT has been a huge part of my life, and now it's just not the same anymore.

On a side note, there's a topic over on Mike's forum, with the title: Just been Bummed all day!!!!!!!!

To be honest: I'm still laughing.  :lol:

[RacingHippo]

Wonder who on earth will be able fill MP's drum throne though and will the diehard fans accept them...?

Surely, there can be no better man for the job than this master of the skins!

[Ben Y-S]

I'm a little over the whole thing now. I was listening to Transatlantic's Whirlwind last night, and damn, it was incredible, more of that would be brilliant. I'm seeing Avenged later this year too, so I'll be glad to see him then too, but I'm still gutted, obviously. Last thing I did last night befofre sleeping was listening to Portnoy's drum solo on Once In A Livetime, and I really do think that after hearing that, they're gonna struggle with replacing him in DT.

[EvilDragon]

Word has it Mike Mangini could be a fill-in drummer.


I so hope they're gonna make a real album now. The last good album from them was 6DOIT, afterwards they only had some bright moments, but not really ideas brushed up to perfection (well, Octavarium was a nice concept, but the album has only one good song for me, and that's Octavarium). Lots of formulaic writing, and actually they started becoming very predictable, which got on my nerves. They totally need this change. And a new producer. OR OLD ONE.

I think the best thing they could do now is go back to BearTracks studios and reunite with Doug Oberkircher and David Prater, who did such an awesome job on I&W, ACOS and partially on SFAM and 6DOIT.

[Phrog]

They won't be getting Prater involved, there was an episode not long back where he started posting on a forum pretending to be an assistant engineer from the I&W sessions, bigging himself up and saying how awful to work with the band were. He was found out and thus made a right tit of himself!

That said, I think bringing in an outside producer would be an excellent idea - Steven Wilson?

[EvilDragon]

Wow that's nasty. Perhaps Mike's OCD was at fault?

Well they could still call Doug.

[ChrisX]

actually they started becoming very predictable, which got on my nerves.

Well, that is not only found in the writing but also very much in Portnoy's drumming style. I really can hear some his drumfills coming in from miles away and most of the times I know what kind of fill comes in. He does lots of those that start out with what sounds like a triplet kind of figure on his bassdrums. What he really should do is take the time and reinvent himself and his drumming style, strip away all unnecessary 'fat'.

[MikeEvs]

Interview with Mike done after the announcement:

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbe ... mID=145872

[gr8gonzo]

Good interview. Sounds more promising of them getting back together at some point. Mike's getting the time away from the band he wants and the rest of DT can continue with their plans. Only thing is, Mike will returned refreshed, but the others won't have had the benefit. Still, maybe the time without Mike's influence will have a positive impact on their writing. I'm hopeful, anyway.