Mike Portnoy leaves Dream Theater...

[Harry Hughes]

Wait... what?? I thought Dream Theater broke up in 2002?



I was pretending, at least...

2002, eh?
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only guy who really didn't like 6DOIT much at all.
The band really peaked in 1994 with Awake though. They'll never top that.

 

[Mago]

WTF? that comes out of nowhere O.O

Although I didn't like the newer albums that much (He is right, I also think they should take a longer break and continue writing after this) I feel like a lot of DT
s stuff inspered me to write music myself, even if its not exactly the same kind....Portnoy leaving is crazy....

something is just wrong with the world...Lars stays and Portnoy leaves?? uke:

 

[Mago]

And I'm extremely glad I don't have to hear him trying to sing anymore

True though

 

[Kazrog]

I'm happy for him and I think he made the right decision.

 

[Williamn]

Now while having been a long time fan, I kinda have a feeling it might actual be good that he left.

As far as I could tell from interviews and so on it seems like he was the biggest reason they started trying to pull of a more (mainstream/nu) metal image which just dident fit them at all IMO.

 

[Skinny Viking]

Lets all listen and cry

What are you? A chick?

should we all sit down and watch "Titanic" together as well?

 

[crillemannen]

Never saw this coming. Although i also thought their release the last couple of years has not been that great there have always been a couple of songs that rocked. Still loves the Metropolis pt. 2 and SDOIT album. Despite that they have been a huge inspiration for me, but perhaps they should call quits, and start over somewhere else. I always thought that MP was the engine in the DT train. Well i wish him good luck and all the best

 

[Notuern]

that sucks, he was the only thing I liked about dream theater

If thats the case, then he knew about Mike leaving about a year ago.
My cousin tracked the record, so i got to hear about it about 10 months ago, and thats when LaBrie had decided to let my cousin track the album.. so he probably planned to do one long before that.

Edit:
You edited your message just as i pressed the quote button you bugger!
Anyways, you know what i responded to so..

 

[grywolf627]

Yeah, the care factor for me couldn't be any lower. Even for those who are fans, isn't it generally accepted that they stopped writing decent material for several years?

I can understand him wanting to move on after all this time. Might as well try some new things before throwing in the towel for retirement. Respect to him for that.

I've got to agree with this. Yes, I own ALL of their albums, and will continue to do so. But like many others, for me...they peaked with Awake and it's been downhill since. Maybe this will bring some new blood/fresh ideas to the band. If Labrie is capable of putting out an album like his new one (though I've only heard one track from it), maybe there's hope? I'm not knocking on Portnoy's drumming. There's a reason he's considered one of the best. But like was said by someone else...at least I won't be subjected to his vocals any more.

Good luck to all parties involved.

 

[GeertSamuel]

Anyhow...possible replacements... Gavin Harrison? Allthough Porcupine Tree is one hell of a band, commercial wise it would be a big step up for him, as would it be for his pay checque.

 

[jacare]

Was definitely shocked to read this, but at the same time, wasn't though.
I deeply respect the talent of all the band members, but I really wish they knew when to hang it up and bow out of the game with dignity while at the top of their game, rather than having continued on like they have for the last 10 years putting out some seriously uninspired sounding recordings.
Apart from the odd song here and there, I find it extremely hard to listen to anything the band has released post-SFAM.
Especially that whole AA-Suite thing, it just started to become a complete joke, and an excuse for the band to reuse riffs. To me, that's just fucking lazy and showing they've lost the plot
Now let's see what Portnoy can do in a different environment, rather than being shackled to a band that refuses to move forward and has been stuck in second gear for about 10 years now.

I agree with you. For a band of their league, they should write much much more than few good songs per album. I also don't like Mike singing AT ALL, and I don't like some elements that I'm pretty sure he brought to the band. Lately, I've been preferring his work on Neal Morse's band than on DT itself. Good luck to all!

 

[shredder10]

Mike: "After having had such amazing experiences playing with Hail, Transatlantic and Avenged Sevenfold this past year, I have sadly come to the conclusion that I have recently had more fun and better personal relations with these other projects than I have for a while now in Dream Theater... "


BINGO.

 

[Morgan C]

My first thought was that this is a good thing. I love MP and I love old DT, but new DT is complete shit and Portnoy is partly to blame. I really hope they
a) Get a decent replacement drummer, not a show-off
b) Start writing material BEFORE they hit the studio
c) Get an external producer
d) Get Jens Bogren to engineer/mix
e) Write music like on each of their solo CDs.. it baffles me how musical and talented they sound on their solo CDs (LaBrie, Petrucci and especially Rudess), and when they combine it's like it's a competition.
f) Rehire Kevin Moore

 

[Limak]

My first thought was that this is a good thing. I love MP and I love old DT, but new DT is complete shit and Portnoy is partly to blame. I really hope they
a) Get a decent replacement drummer, not a show-off
b) Start writing material BEFORE they hit the studio
c) Get an external producer
d) Get Jens Bogren to engineer/mix
e) Write music like on each of their solo CDs.. it baffles me how musical and talented they sound on their solo CDs (LaBrie, Petrucci and especially Rudess), and when they combine it's like it's a competition.
f) Rehire Kevin Moore

+1

Portnoy, as much as I like his drumming, was the main reason they went the nu-metal/metallica-clone way. He's also the reason they started adding this rap bullshit to their albums that didn't even make any sense musically. Don't get me wrong, he's an awesome drummer, but he seems to be the major fault in their songwriting for past few albums.
I think this is good news for me and other old school DT fans as they will propably get off the mainstream now(Portnoy was their poster face and ,,commercial whore,, type, other band members are rather humble and seem like they just want to play their shit rather than commercialising it).

All they need to do now is to kick Labrie out. Then get proper replacement and they may shine again.

 

[RemoWilliams]

This is...rather interesting. Without Portnoy the music will likely take a different direction, maybe old, maybe something new. We will have to wait and see. And for wanting Kevin Moore back, he would obviously add something different, yet he isn't the old Kevin Moore like he was back when.
Also with Portnoy leaving I wonder how the production aspects will go now?

 

[guitarguru777]

Morgan Ågren will join Dream Theater and they will be better than ever.

Ya and everything will sound like The middle section of Metropolis and they will loose all their musicality. Sorry but yes hes technically amazing, hes just not musical to me.

Honestly top 3 choices in my opinion:

1. Terry Bozzio
2. Jason Rullo
3. Mark Zonder

Other then that I really dont see anyone wanting to step into these shoes. It will most likely be some "you tube" kid.

As for Portnoy being the problem in the band over the past 5 albums I disagree. The problem with the last 5 albums is there is no Kevin Moore. Kevin Moore was the purveyor of the DT sound. Every keyboard player since him has been overstepping the boundaries of what keys in DT were in the 90s. Moore played in the pocket and didnt have to play a billion fucking miles an hour. I hate Rudess in this band, I really do. Sherinian fit better imho.

 

[RemoWilliams]

Man, reading some responses I found I'm not as hard on Dream Theater as a lot of people are Guess I've never had a problem with any of there albums, or I just don't have expectations.

 

[Chris_P_Critter]

If he ran the band, why didn't he just put his foot down. He obviously has the right, if he truly did put that much work in.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Man, reading some responses I found I'm not as hard on Dream Theater as a lot of people are Guess I've never had a problem with any of there albums, or I just don't have expectations.

Honestly, I was thinking the opposite, it's so relieving and refreshing to see how many people are on the same page as me (meaning, absolutely forsaking the band from Train of Thought onwards )

 

[Machinated]

boring

i guess a big loss for dt in terms of what he is to the band, but maybe now it will make them think about what they are doing/where they are. either they will buck their ideas up and revive the band with some new blood/energy and release something decent, or just pack it all in all together.

ive found the last couple of DT albums pretty unimportant and boring - theres no need for them to do anything more like that.