Mike Portnoy leaves Dream Theater

I love Portnoy's body of work-- but do feel that his influence in Dream Theater is (was) reaching George Lucas levels of narcissism.  I empathize with the stresses he has been under described in his post, but feel like he would have only rail-roaded the band into oblivion if he hadn't made this decision.  I am happy he's made the right choice, and am confident that both parties will have a boost of quality to their output given fresh musicians to work with. I am more excited about Dream Theater now than I have been for years!

Maybe Myung will now have a little more chance to shine, and will finally be able to do that free-form jazz exploration "Jazz Odyssey" for Dream Theater Mark II.

On another note, is it true that Christian Vander has been asked to replace Portnoy?
 

Man, DT was the first band I saw live, EVER.They have a special place in my heart.
Hope Portnoy's doing the right decision.
Best of luck to the DT guys.

Logan wrote: Maybe Myung will now have a little more chance to shine, and will finally be able to do that free-form jazz exploration "Jazz Odyssey" for Dream Theater Mark II. On another note, is it true that Christian Vander has been asked to replace Portnoy?

That's a weird announcement. I can't remember any other band member who announced that he would quit later some time next year, but would stay for the recording of another album and performing another tour. That being said, maybe it is a joke - or the others decide to agree to having a break, and he decides to stay. Either way, I really don't care - they've released so many great albums over such a long time, I would be perfectly content with them calling it quits right now.

Seen a few people talking as though DT are calling it quits or splitting- officially, this is not on the cards at the moment. For now, the band have unambiguously decided to continue without Mike. Of course it's possible that they could rethink things and fold later but for now they're definitely continuing.

JJLehto wrote: Like no band has ever had a major member leave before. Tragic

This isn't necesarily a bad thing. If the band survives, I mean the guy did a lot.
Keep in mind, they released I&W and SFAM after LaBrie and Rudess joined.
Maybe Myung will write some more lyrics always liked his songs.
And how is more Transatlantic a bad thing?

I was not very fond of their latest albums anyway so maybe that's not so bad.

TheGazzardian wrote: Textbook wrote: I'm not the biggest DT fan but something's wrong if he thinks Avenged Sevenfold and Transatlantic are a step up.   Whether the next DT record will suck is something we can't possibly comment on until we've heard it. It's a step up for his happiness, that's the important thing. Not a DT fan but this news still surprised me.

I think the $40,000 a show he's allegedly getting with AS might have something to do with his decision.

Edited by Tony R - September 09 2010 at 04:04