PORTNOY OUT OF A7X, MARCO MINNEMANN IN DREAM THEATER???
When Mike Portnoy announced he would be leaving Dream Theater, many of you speculated in our comments section that drum great Marco Minneman (who played in Necrophagist for a while, among countless other musical endeavors) might be on the shortlist of potential replacements. The following is of course completely reckless speculation and nothing other than conjecture, but a recent announcement has given at least a shred of credence to the possibility that Minnemann might be the man to warm Protnoy’s drum throne until he and the band mutually decide it’s time for him to come back.
Reader Dean Ferro sent us this link earlier this week, announcing a collaboration between DT keyboardist Jordan Rudess and Minnemann:
Dream Theater’s legendary keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drum great Marco Minnemann appear on the BandCrashers.com platform in a two-hour live online streaming performance on December 15, 2010, from Chicago’s premier Plant 10 Studios, at 8 p.m. CST (9 p.m. EST and 6 p.m. PST). The “Musical Mind Meld” features special guest guitarist extraordinaire Daniel Jakubovic who will join Rudess/Minnemann in what is anticipated to be a no holds barred improvisational musical excursion through the minds of two of the greatest musicians in the world.
Sounds pretty cool to me. Rudess was an accomplished musician in his own right before ever even joining Dream Theater, so it’s possible this is simply a fun side-project for him. But coupled with the recent news that John Petrucci has acknowledged finding a new drummer without saying who, I’d say there’s at least an outside chance that it’s Minnemann. And Minnemann is insanely talented; I’d be all for it. Did any of you watch the Rudess / Minnemann collaboration event on Wednesday? If so, how was it?
Meanwhile, while we were busy yesterday fellating all the metal albums released in 2010, Portnoy posted on his Facebook page that he is out of Avenged Sevenfold for 2011. Here’s an excerpt:
Yes, the rumours are true…sadly my time with Avenged Sevenfold has come to an end…
The band has decided to carry on into 2011 without me…I had a great time with them throughout 2010, but it was their choice to end the relationship at the end of 2010 as was always the initial plan….
Portnoy makes it sound as if it was the band’s decision, not his, to part ways. He also says that this had always been the plan, but I could’ve sworn I’d read interviews where he said he’d be drumming with them in 2011. Whatever the case, I’d imagine the situation could involve a contract or some kind of agreement whereby the band had some kind of “option” to continue on with Mike after 2010, and they’ve declined to exercise that option. I’m sure the band will issue an official statement on the matter some time soon, but perhaps they already have a permanent replacement for The Rev in the wings. Meanwhile, Portnoy doesn’t seem to be too broken up about it:
As far as my future, I am excited by the endless musical possibilities that lie ahead of me…my love for music runs very deep and my taste is very broad and ecclectic which will give me the chance to explore many different things and collaborate with many great friends and artists I admire and respect…
Good deal. I’m bummed I didn’t get to see Mike play with A7X, but I’m actually happy that the A7X experiment is over because I’m really, really, really excited to see what kind of music he chooses to devote time to in 2011. I hope he does some truly experimental, wonderfully proggy, overly nerdy shit; you can bet your ass whatever it is will be good. Sadly I think a Liquid Tension Experiment is not an option.
-VN
