Portnoy's DT Departure

It's no stretch to say that Mike Portnoy is one of the greatest drummers out there today. His sheer speed and ability to create masterful beats at such speed is the influence of many drummers that I both know personally and those who I read about. As such, anyone influenced by Portnoy knows at least a little bit about his time with Dream Theater. I won't bother getting into details about how DT came to be or anything like that, since any idiot can look it up on Wikipedia.

No, This is more of a quick editorial on my own feelings of Portnoy's DT Departure (Title Drop, hooooo!!). I recently went to see DT in Concert with Iron Maiden back in July. As I most likely mentioned in my Pseudo-review of the concert, it was my first real experience with Dream Theater, and I instantly became a pretty big fan of theirs. Being such a newcomer to the DT family, I can't claim to have some kind of long-running history with the band, but as Eddie Trunk so eloquently put it; DT losing Portnoy is like Rush losing Geddy or Niel. Let's face it; as Awesome as DT is and was, Portnoy practically made the band. And it doesn't help the fact that he simply wanted to take a break and the band pretty much dumped him for it.... in a sense.

In fact, from what Portnoy said on Eddie Trunk's radio show a few days back, he's brought up the idea of  slowing down or taking a "couple of years' hiatus" to "recharge [their] batteries and be reinspired" a few times in the past, more often last year and this year than any other time. It just came down to Portnoy desperately wanting a break, and the other guys desperately wanting to continue going (Which is something DT seems to do very well, based on what Portnoy said about their "pattern" that he wanted to break up a bit).

Now, I'm not opposed to DT moving on without Portnoy. In fact, I don't expect any band to simply wait around while their Drummer gets his mojo back. Because, let's face it, you don't know when, if ever, they will. What bothers me is simply the fact at how quickly they all came to the same conclusion; Mike had to leave, even if neither parties wanted it. It just seems a bit fast that it happened, and I worry about DT's future if they can't work out a simple disagreement of "Let's take X time off to get some new ideas".

A bit of hope is at the end of the tunnel for Portnoy fans, though, since he's said he's not taking a break from music - just the opposite. He's working his ass off, apparently. He just wanted a break from Dream Theater, and hopes to be on stage with them again at some point in the future.

What's in DT's future is another question entirely. I doubt that they'll ever recapture the magic they had back when they first started, or even recreate anything they had with Portnoy without him. That's what's going to be interesting to watch unfold; how the fans treat the drummer they pick up to replace Portnoy. No matter how great of a Drummer he is, he (or she, for that matter) will always be compared to Portnoy. Die Hard fans will probably react to a good drummer with "He's good.... but he's no Portnoy", fanatics with what you might expect from 12 year old kids who just discovered the internet, and people like me who're just passing fans may actually accept the new guy/girl with open arms, if a bit of cautious curiosity.

Personally, I kinda want to see Lars Ulrich behind the kit, just to see how stupid he looks standing up while a keyboard spins around in a circle while a man plays five notes at a time on it..... on second thought, maybe not...




Read a transcript of Portnoy's interview here