MP's rage outburst on stage.

[chris perra]

Portnoy's a loser... Reading his statement makes me laugh.. Blaming the situation of booking a shitty tour.. Which I'm sure he did himself,.. On people who are trying there best... Who he should know don't have the resources that they do in countries whith proper backilne ect.. Is a joke..

It didn't look like they weren't trying to accomidate Lord Portnoy... He had enough sticks to throw, enough cymbals to trash... And IF he had any sense at all he would bring his own snare, and cymbals.. Surely he could afford to do that.. If it's not in the budget to bring the essentials.. Then shut the hell up and suck it up. That's ridiculous.. A big drumming superstar, who was voted "best drummer" by all the magazines .. Can't deal with the everyday trials and tribulations of being on a tour that he booked.. I'd love to hear how his band feels about Angry man...

[druid13]

No excuse for Mikey's behavior at all here...none.

All drummer have eqipment problems...not all throw shit around and publically humiliate the techs...

Hell the cymbals probably got busted up and I am sure they were not his to bust up. MacAlpine looks like he wanted to leave right there.

Likely the ONLY thing the audience took home as a memory was this embarassing fit of stupidity.

[Odd-Arne Oseberg]

That's what makes this worse. He doesn't seem to understand where in the world he is. That gear belongs to someone else who probably cares for it.

[Cymbalfeltfetishist]

Ok, so I've have never really had someone set up my drums for a gig, let alone traveled abroad for a gig...but it's really fucking hard to understand why you would conduct yourself like that. Sure I may be irratated on the inside somewhat, but to throw my gear...WHILE they are trying to fix the problem is hard to comprehend.

I'm sure back in the day, when Mike was a mere mortal and upcoming drummer, there were gear problems..what did he do? Cry and storm off the stage? He probably just dealt with it and put the snare mic back on when the song was over. He probably thought, "man, one day I will be established, be able to tour throughout the world, use any gear I want, have someone set it up for me where I just have to sit down and play..if something goes wrong, someone will fix it for me, that would be awesome!!"

Evidentally, I was wrong. He has all that stuff and throws a hissy anyways. Bad taste. I actually like some of the music he has played on and feel he is a good drummer - this has nothing to do with that. But that behavior is ridiculous at the level he is at.

[Da Chooch]

Can we get back on topic please? I was enjoying the whole Portnoy acting like a child thing.
=)

I dunno steve, thought Danzig getting some change for what he threw out was pretty danged funny...

[Clint Hopkins]

I think after the Dream Theater separation he might be trying to stay in the public eye any way he can. The fact that this was the best thing he could come up with to do that is not surprising.

[Julián Fernández]

Hey Randy, since it´s been a while... would you tell the real reason behind the DT departure?

[littlegrooves]

I'm not Randy, but here is my guess:

MP: "Hey guys, I want to tour with this young metal-hip band called Avenged Sevenfold. They actually sell out venues in the U.S. and it would be cool to play for some non-musician audience members. Plus, the band worships me and I'll get first dibs on groupies. They might even give me a member-cut of the tour earnings cause I'm Mike Portnoy."

DT: "Um... okay, for how long?"

MP: "A year, maybe longer."

DT: "What are we supposed to do in the meantime?"

MP: "Wait for me to get done touring, of course."

DT: "Um... that might not work for us."

MP: "Well, then! It's my band, and I'm taking it with me! My band (stomps feet)!"

DT: "Sorry Mike, but we still have 2/3 of the founding members on our side and there is no contract, so we keep the name. After you leave, then we are going to do a mini-online soap opera about auditioning for your drum seat. Then, once you get kicked out of that teeny-bop metal band by a bunch of formerly "star-struck" twenty-something year olds for being an ass, then we still won't want you back cause our new drummer isn't a control freak and is fun to be around-- oh, and he's a better drummer than you are, to boot. You'll then have to form a band out of ex-Planet X/Alice Cooper/Niacin/Mr. Big members. You'll throw a fit while on tour in Manila and they'll get totally embarrassed having you in their band and they will break up after the tour. Then you'll create a band called "The Mike Portnoy Experience Project Experiment (a.k.a. TM -PEPE)" that will be comprised of recent Berklee drop outs who worship you and will want to play your groundbreaking tunes and put up with your sh*t. You'll be lead vocalist, back-up vocalist, guitar tech and play drums in the band, all at the same time. Interns from the audio program at the Art Institute of San Francisco will be forced to be your personal drum tech as a part of their community service graduation requirement."

MP: "Yeah, right... whatever, losers..."

[Rene]

The interview with a7x frontment is interested: "well mike, we only hired you to fill a gap for a short period of time. Your not the one to fill in the spot permanantly".
I think it was the moment the other dream theather members were waiting for, just to get rid of him.

In an interview with Nikki Blakk of California radio station 107.7 The Bone, Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Zacky Vengeance talked about unwillingly being caught up in some of the drama between their former touring sticksman Mike Portnoy and his former band Dream Theater.


Zacky commented on Portnoy leaving Dream Theater and Avenged Sevenfold, saying, “It was something that we were not used to at all. We had never, ever experienced any kind of in-the-spotlight drama; we just always stay in the shadows and keep any of our personal business private. And he is a very different character — he always goes straight to fans on Twitter or whatever. That’s how he dealt with his band, and it was new to us. We like to be in touch with our fans, but we’re also very private.”

The guitarist continued, “And he’d been talking about quitting Dream Theater, that he wasn’t necessarily happy, and he was excited to be playing with us; we were playing huge shows and stuff. I think he got caught up in the moment, got excited. We begged him to consider what he did, because we were in no position to find a permanent replacement, because in all honesty, you can’t replace Jimmy, who was our best friend — first and foremost — besides being an amazing drummer.”

Zacky goes on to say “He told us, ‘Hey, I’ve got good news and bad news. I quit Dream Theater.’ We were like, ‘Oh, no. Well, if you’re happy, then that’s good.’ [And he was like], ‘Now I can be with you guys.’ And we were like, ‘That’s not necessarily what we decided upon. And you should take your time and reconsider.’ And he was like, ‘Well, I put out my press release.’ We were like, ‘Dude, that’s not how we do business. You should have talked to us before.’

But the drama didn’t end there. Zacky further commented: “Then it was back and forth [between Mike and his former Dream Theater bandmates]. We were out of it; we had nothing to do with it. We were just trying to get back on our feet. So when all that was going down. t was causing us a lot of heartache, to be honest — to see our name in this drama-filled love triangle.”

Despite undesired and indirect participation in said love triangle, Zacky and A7x have no hard feelings towards the kit minder, who stepped in when they needed him the most. He said, “He helped us out at a really vulnerable time, and for that we will always be extremely appreciative. But for us, we were so unstable at that point that any unneeded attention was just very harmful to us. Obviously, it didn’t work out, but I think it’s for the best — for him and for us.”

http://loudwire.com/zacky-vengeance-avenged-sevenfold-speaks-mike-portnoy-dream-theater-drama/

[Steve Holmes]

^^ Wow the hits just keep coming with guy. Doesn't sound like he handled the (fragile) situation maturely, much less professionally.