Mike Portnoy leaves Dream Theater

Hey Guys, 🙂

Too bad they couldn’t have come to some sort of agreement…:(

Ya know what I see as ironic? DT has always cited the great Canadian prog-rock band Rush as a major influence, right?!? Well, I think the rest of the guys in DT perhaps could’ve/should’ve learned from Rush’s handling of the Neil Peart (great Rush drummer since late-1974!) situation. You see, Neil lost his wife to cancer and his only daughter to a car-accident within a few months of one another and, as you could all imagine, he nearly lost it, and needed an “indefinite-hiatus” from the band. Picture it: One moment your a happy family-of-three, and then a few months later, you’e all alone…Sad. Anyways, the other two members of Rush (bassist – Geddy Lee and guitarist – Alex Lifeson) did what they thought was right and granted Neil Peart as long of a hiatus as he needed, knowing that there was a good chance that he might never feel capable of returning! Anyways, it turned out that those guys split-apart for about 4-years (approximately.) When they finally re-convened, they were rusty, but they realized what a special thing that they shared making/playing music, and they are now (IMO) a better band than they were before the hiatus!

Now I’m NOT saying that Dream Theater should automatically take a break because that worked for Rush! No two situaqtions are identical, and I’d venture to say that in terms of record-sales, popularity, etc, Rush could probably better financially-afford a long hiatus than Dream Theater can?!? (I’m NOT positive of this, but Rush sells out arena’s and stadiums (15,000 – 70,000 seats-per-night) whereas DT seems to tour in smaller, more appropriate-sized venues for the demand of their fanbase (say 1500 – 10,000 seaters.) Besides the gross-numbers, there’s also the obvious “divide-by-3” for Rush versus “divide-by-5” (production/staff/crews NOT included.)

It is my belief that bands that are partly defined by certain virtuoso instrumentalists or singers, can never re-capture that certain “chemistry” they get when it’s that certain lineup/personnel. It seems like most fans understand this, but internally, the bandmembers are too close to it, and they let bruised-egos and personal-feelings get in the way of a full appreciation of such “chemistry!” :rolleyes:

For example, Led Zeppelin never continued (as Led Zeppelin) without John Bonham. That’s NOT to say that Zeppelin couldn’t have found another excellent drummer, but it would’ve been different. The Doors (wisely!) never even considered continuing on once their mysterious & charasmatic singer Jim Morrison passed away. That all said, The Who replaced maniacal-drummer Keith Moon, but they lost a certain (albeit reckless and insane) spirit & style when he died. AC~DC replaced original singer Bon Scott (with Brian Johnson) and proceeded to make their biggest-selling record ever (the timeless “Back In Black” LP!) However, Johnson for years has sounded like “Donald Duck” live compared to the “ballsy” Bon Scott! The Allman Brothers Band (eventually) replaced the amazing guitarist Duane Allman after he died tragically in a motorcycle-wreck. So clearly there are plenty of examples of bands soldiering forward, but one has to wonder if some of these bands (like: The Who and Lynyrd Skynyrd) might’ve been better-off (legacy/reputation-wise) if they had elected to honor their late bandmates by shutting-it-down?!? Tough call in some cases, isn’t it??? :confused:

Only time will tell if Dream Theater regrets their decision to soldier-on sans Mikey Portnoy?!? That said, I have a great idea for a replacement for Portnoy (since the decision to replace him has been made anyways!) My homeboy originally from Waltham, Massachusetts – U.S.A. (and ex-Extreme and Steve Vai virtuoso-drummer AND – {I think?} – the FASTEST drummer in the world (I believe he has the record for single-stroke attacks on an electronic stroke-counting pad of 1208-strokes-in-one-minute! BTW, my numbers are probably off, so I’m sorry if they are!) His name: Mike Mangini! BTW, Mike is NOT just about speed! He has perfect-time, is an independence-freak, can handle any level of polyrythms and odd-time-signatures, and plays very melodically in vocal-oriented situations! He’s GREAT! 😎

Just my (many) opinions!

P.S: How is Sean Conklin handling this news?!? He must be devastated – LOL! 😉

~Bill Meehan~ 🙂

@Sean Conklin 11648 wrote:

Hey Bill,

haha, nope not devastated. While I am sad for their sakes, I’m actually looking forward to what direction this takes DT in. I honestly haven’t thoroughly enjoyed DT’s last 3 or 4 albums, Six Degrees was the last album of theirs that really blew me away. So I’m hoping this lineup change will give them some new inspiration!

Hey Sean, 🙂

You’re probably right. Sometimes events/situations like this actually breathe new life into a band! I hope for their sake (and their fans’) they kick-it-up a notch! 😎

BTW, I was serious about my idea for them to recruit the unbelievable Mike Mangini. My longtime best-friend and drummer Gregg took lessons off Mike back in the early-90’s, so I got to know him a bit. He has more energy whether drummimg or NOT than anyone I’ve ever met. He’s intense to say the least! 😉

I hope they at least try to contact him! 😎

~Bill Meehan~ 😀

I actually had the pleasure of going to one of Mike’s clinics, a couple years ago. He’s a mad man.. I’d still rather see someone like Virgil, though.

I too have not been pleased with DT’s last two albums, at least. It’s obvious that they are trying to please, a specific crowd (which is cool), but I find that the songs got too cheesy, especially with the back-and-forth guitar&keyboard race! LOL. The last CD I digged was Octavarium. I’m honestly not even sure how many they have released, since then!

wow…that is big news…maybe the band will take a different approach from the formula they have adhered to for a long time now. I think they are playing too heavy, and not melodically enough as they did on the first two albums. Since Jordan Rudess came on board, the music has gotten heavier and heavier for whatever reason. John plays as fast as he can, without the fluid melodicism that I enjoyed on the first album especially.

He still has that killer tone, but I miss the dynamic, melodic fluidity as on Images and Words. This is just my opinion guys, don’t kill me…lol. I will always buy Dream Theaters’ stuff, I am a lifelong fan. And as a lifelong fan, I want to see them go in a direction that best showcases their expertise and musical abilities on their instruments, without it sounding so dark all the time. I wish them all the best in their musical endeavors. I am excited to see what comes next.