Mike Portnoy leaves Dream Theater...

[Skinny Viking]

seriously, why don't both of you knock it the fuck off

I'm not taking sides, nor am I trying to "police" the thread but it would just be so nice if we could have a thread that doesn't fall into schoolyard dick swinging bullshit

Jeff, you really do come across sometimes like someone who HAS to be right ... like you'll just keep hammering your opinion until suddenly everyone says "wow, dude Jeff is totally right and I can't believe I didn't see that before". Its cool man, we all got your well stated opinions and points ... some agree, some don't, there really isn't much more for you to say on it. I think you're a very intelligent person who makes some fantastic comments, you just don't need to KEEP doing it in each thread

Guru .. you hit Defcon 1 WAY too easy sometimes ... much of your blowout on Jeff could have been expressed without all the "fucking fuck FUCKS" which just made it seem way more confrontational than you may have intended it to be. Just relax man, everyone has made their points and like Jeff's, some will agree, some won't and the world will keep turning.

Is there really much more to be said in theis thread by anyone? We've all expressed what we think about him leaving DT, his motives, why it could be good, why it might be bad, what albums were great, what albums sucked, the possible future, the fantastic and not so fantastic past ... let it fizzle out without ending it on such a sour note, yes?

 

[Menthal]

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

Amen brother!

 

[guitarguru777]

Guru .. you hit Defcon 1 WAY too easy sometimes ... much of your blowout on Jeff could have been expressed without all the "fucking fuck FUCKS" which just made it seem way more confrontational than you may have intended it to be. Just relax man, everyone has made their points and like Jeff's, some will agree, some won't and the world will keep turning.

Oh I agree, it just how I talk. I am an asshole NY'er who cant stand for people trying to force opinion on others. As you stated its the guys M.O. and it always rubs me the wrong way. I don't care about people who actually carry opinions that differ from mine, but when they force it upon people and try and hammer away as to say "THIS IS THE WAY ITS GONNA BE MOTHERFUCKER SO YOU BETTER LIKE IT" I immediately jump into asshole mode. "oppression of the weak minded feeds the evil of the world" ... just been that way since birth brutha

 

[Skinny Viking]

Oh I agree, it just how I talk. I am an asshole NY'er who cant stand for people trying to force opinion on others. As you stated its the guys M.O. and it always rubs me the wrong way. I don't care about people who actually carry opinions that differ from mine, but when they force it upon people and try and hammer away as to say "THIS IS THE WAY ITS GONNA BE MOTHERFUCKER SO YOU BETTER LIKE IT" I immediately jump into asshole mode. "oppression of the weak minded feeds the evil of the world" ... just been that way since birth brutha

Fair enough .. I have my issues with a couple people on here as well so believe me I get it but I found now the best thing is to just put them on the ignore list and enjoy the rest of my day

You're both good dudes and you're probably both closer in personality than you guys might think at 1st but for civility's sake maybe everyone can agree that we're all at least curious to see what happens next in the DT camp. Should make for a few more interesting threads over the next couple months I'm sure

As for the asshole NY'er thing ... I believe one of my 1st responses to you a while ago was "go fuck yusself" So no need to explain there

 

[tarbh666]

So, anyways, back on topic. Who'll get MP's job? I hope they go for somebody like Sean Reinert. His style would totally suit DT.
As shitty as it is with MP leaving I'm very interested in what direction MUSICALLY they'll go. All their solo albums have killer stuff on them so hopefully they'll combine all the best elements of their playing abilities. I for one would love to hear John Myung run wild on the next album. The last few albums he has been buried in the mix by MP's bass drums.

 

[Skinny Viking]

So, anyways, back on topic. Who'll get MP's job? I hope they go for somebody like Sean Reinert. His style would totally suit DT.
As shitty as it is with MP leaving I'm very interested in what direction MUSICALLY they'll go. All their solo albums have killer stuff on them so hopefully they'll combine all the best elements of their playing abilities. I for one would love to hear John Myung run wild on the next album. The last few albums he has been buried in the mix by MP's bass drums.

actually love both ideas there

Never even thought of Reinert as a replacement but I seriously just got 1/2 a chubby thinking about that and as for the bass, I agree. Its about time he's been given a proper treatment ... I swear sometimes I never even knew he was doing some really intricate stuff until I saw one of the live dvds

 

[amarshism]

Internet is srs bzns

 

[guitarguru777]

For me the solo albums were all kinda "bla" except for the new James Labrie record. That thing just fucking slays from start to finish. LTE for me was the peak of the Portnoy / Petrucci team. The first LTE record was just amazing to me. Especially Three Minute Warning, you could hear how they "write" and play of each other in that track. That to me was just an amazing experience.

While LTE 2 was good I just think it lacked some of the fire of the first one.

I did not like anything off Petruccis record at all. Hes changed so much as a guitar player over the last 20 years. he went from a guy with chops, feel, and speed, to a guy that just trys to play as fast as he can all the time. Kinda a bummer for me Under A Glass Moon is still my fave solo off any Cd of all time!

 

[iekobrid]

My best friend, Chris: <reacting to the news of Portnoy's departure> I'm actually pleased about this. I never cared for his drumming or production style.


Me: <blinks> You might as well have just said "What's a dream theater?"

 

[TheWinterSnow]

The fact that the band totally lacked enough creativity to come up with their own shit and virtually covered a Muse song is what ruins the song for me.
But each to their own

It wasn't like IaW and Awake weren't heavily blended combinations of Rush, Yes and Pink Floyd. And that is really the case for "when Dream and Day Unite". When you really think about it every band plays music in the style of what they were listening to. I do it subconsciously and have just recently discovered that I write very similar styles to what I am listening to the most during that time. And I think that i totally cool, to hear my favorite bands pay an influential homage to other favorite bands of mine, it just says that band has similar taste in music, and in away helps bridge the gap between the band and its fans.

So, anyways, back on topic. Who'll get MP's job? I hope they go for somebody like Sean Reinert. His style would totally suit DT.
As shitty as it is with MP leaving I'm very interested in what direction MUSICALLY they'll go. All their solo albums have killer stuff on them so hopefully they'll combine all the best elements of their playing abilities. I for one would love to hear John Myung run wild on the next album. The last few albums he has been buried in the mix by MP's bass drums.

Over the past couple of albums the band has gone more from everybody putting in work together to just, MP's band. JM has gotten to worse of it IMO as his bass has just become more drown out over MP's drums. Kind of seems like MP was trying to take the spotlight over the other guys and JM was the easiest pushover, you could always see it on their youtube and DVD videos when Portnoy was being a loud ass, Myung just scoots a long and goes off to hide from the excitement, of course if there was any guy in the band to push over, it would be him. It also seems though that in terms of opinions and spotlight at least in the studio that LaBrie gets pushed around as well, considering some stories that I have heard where Jordan came up with some ideas, James doesn't like it, Portnoy tells him, oh well, and their is no collaboration on it what so ever. Portnoy over the years has slowly become the guythat is involved in every process and if someone in the band has a say that is different from him, he ensures that his opinion is absolute.

Maybe with him about of the equation, we might see some more intricate work shine from the mind of Myung.

 

[iekobrid]

Dream Theater has always worn their influences on their sleeve, and fair play to 'em. I know my friends can often listen to an old song I recorded and tell if I was listening to a lot of Ayreon or System of a Down or John Sykes during that period. And I recall that one of the first things I liked about DT as people was when I learned that they chart their songs using references to other bands "The King's X section is followed by the Marillion section which flows into the Metallica section". "Hey, I do that too! It's like they're real people!" I said to myself.

I'm all for writing riffs or songs that pay stylistic homage to another band, but when you write something that sounds like it was taken directly from one specific song by another band, that's where an embarrassing line has been crossed IMO. :/

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

I'm all for writing riffs or songs that pay stylistic homage to another band, but when you write something that sounds like it was taken directly from one specific song by another band, that's where an embarrassing line has been crossed IMO. :/

For me, the biggest offenders in this regard are the main riff of "Home" and the second verse of "The Great Debate", both such appallingly obvious Tool ripoffs

 

[JMarz]

For me, the biggest offenders in this regard are the main riff of "Home" and the second verse of "The Great Debate", both such appallingly obvious Tool ripoffs

Home > Tool though, so it's okay.

 

[iekobrid]

The one that usually springs to mind for me is "Hollow Years from an Italian Restaurant".

 

[Chryst Krispies]

http://www.metalinjection.net/editorials/female-perspective-portnoy-quit-dream-theater

I loled.

 

[iekobrid]

A girl allegedly sent this to an acquaintance of mine:

"i am seriously sitting here crying. i have listened and cared about their music since i was 17. I thought that they were the ones whom i could count on for continuing to create while sticking to their musical beliefs amongst all of the crap that's out there. I sincerely hope that DT finds a worthy replacement. I really haven't been this affected by a musical 'tragedy' since Steve Clark died. Yes, i get Mike's reasons. He honestly came off a bit high and mighty with "leader" and working every moment of every day/year to further the band. I'm not with them, so i don't know. I'm just glad I got to see them this past summer and i will absolutely continue to see them.
and i was having such a nice day, too "

 

[blueswede]

Hmm I can´t see why MP leaving the band should be a bad thing. After Kevin Moore left DT, they`ve been a sinking ship ever since (musicwise). Now we maybe get to hear some genuine DT´s tuff instead of ripp off songs of Portnoy´s favourite bands !

 

[J the TyranT]

Couldnt possibly be all the little A7X dickriders that were popping about being tons younger and cuter than those trying to hop onto the Dream Theater train, right? Cuz its not like he was at a bar after a show trying to pick up some action or anything. That could be part of the "Fun" he was missing?