Mike Portnoy

Re: Mike Pourtnoy

I have respect for Tools drummer, and I liked the stuff from Creed, but all these others, I have never heard.

The reason I like Portnoy so much is his depth. There are albums they have that they play several different types and styles of music( listen to Change of seasons). He can go slow(which drives me crazy) and he can go fast. he can get technical, or play a little bluesy, or jazzy. I have learned 10 fold since I started playing DT. Hes not the fastest, the cleanest, or the most technical, but to say hes no good, to me is bold. I used to think I was a mediocre drummer, back when I played ONE from Metallica, and a little Pantera. But since I have stepped up to DT, I feel I am at least 2-3 times better.

One thing I have noticed though. If I dont play an album for awhile, say like Images and Words, and I go and try to play, Its like starting over. It might just be because I suck, but I only get about 2-3 hours practice a week.

I guess I need to try a few new groups, But im a little wearry of the crazy stuff. I have 3 kids and a wife who likes country(gag), so I have to keep it cool. I bought my Disturbed from Wal-mart because its edited. I dont get into the satanic stuff, or the really raw stuff, like Dio, or Zombie, but any bands along the lines od Tool, or Dream Theater, I would definately consider. Also I'll need band names, im not up on my drummers to much.

Im just a guy who likes to jam, I dont play in a band, never will. I like complex and crunchy music, and killer drums. Maybe someday my son will be a good drummer.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

I've never really gotten Pornoy. Its probably more a 'taste' issue with me. Also, as a fusion purist, I don't really get into the rockprogification (my word) of fusion. In otherwords, bands that incorporate fusion elements and chops, but try to make it somehow more standard rock sounding, to appeal to a broader listening audience. For me, its all or nothing. Either you are a rock band or you are a fusion band. The inbetween stuff is just really neither of each.

I liked Portnoy on the Modern Drummer DVD when he did the Beatles bit. It shows he is indeed musical and a far superior drummer than I'll ever be. Its just when he switches to that rediculous purple kit that he loses me. His playing is intense and awesome there too, but its just not my gig.

Not being a Dream Theater fan (my brother, a non-musician being their biggest fan ever), I can say I really dig their bassist. He's the only guy in the band demonstrating one lick of restraint.

Sorry to sound disrespectful (I'm not), but I just don't get them. Maybe its the fact they are such superior players on their instruments that the average rocker dude is just blown away by how good they are (in respect to other rock bands?). I dunno, I'm just throwing that out there for discussion.

stu
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

Stu_Strib said:
I've never really gotten Pornoy. Its probably more a 'taste' issue with me. Also, as a fusion purist, I don't really get into the rockprogification (my word) of fusion. In otherwords, bands that incorporate fusion elements and chops, but try to make it somehow more standard rock sounding, to appeal to a broader listening audience. For me, its all or nothing. Either you are a rock band or you are a fusion band. The inbetween stuff is just really neither of each.

How do you figure that prog is borrowing from fusion more than the opposite is true? Billy Cobham was certainly influential for many of the fathers of modern prog drumming, but equally I don't think there's a lot of fusion drummers who aren't borrowing a few things from the likes of Bill Bruford on a regular basis. And they all borrow from the likes of Buddy Rich, Tony Williams and Elvin Jones.

You seem to feel that fusion is this source of all choppy musicianship and that other styles are just riding their coattails. Modern fusion chops are a combination of the paradiddle stuff made popular by both Bruford and Cobham, jazz drumming and afro-cuban material. It's quite easy to argue that modern prog is born of the same roots and therefore is no less valid in any way. It would be quite easy to argue that fusion is just pornificiation (my word!) of jazz and prog chops.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

Stu_Strib said:
I've never really gotten Pornoy. Its probably more a 'taste' issue with me. Also, as a fusion purist, I don't really get into the rockprogification (my word) of fusion. In otherwords, bands that incorporate fusion elements and chops, but try to make it somehow more standard rock sounding, to appeal to a broader listening audience. For me, its all or nothing. Either you are a rock band or you are a fusion band. The inbetween stuff is just really neither of each.

What do you think fusion is? You could argue that "prog" is fusion as well...fusion is just the "fusion" of styles.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

Well either way, if fusion borrows from DT or vice versa, I don't like the middle ground that DT walks. Is it rock or is it fusion? Its somewhere in between. I'm not saying its bad, I just think DT has a bit of an identity crisis.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

Stu_Strib said:
Well either way, if fusion borrows from DT or vice versa, I don't like the middle ground that DT walks. Is it rock or is it fusion? Its somewhere in between. I'm not saying its bad, I just think DT has a bit of an identity crisis.

Not really, it's genre-happy prog rock. It seems like you're willing to give legitimacy to modern fusion as a genre (when it really is an amalgam of 70s fusion, jazz, latin and 80s AOR rock/pop) yet you won't extend the same to modern "prog-revival" music (which is an amalgam of 80s metal and 70s prog, mainstream rock and fusion). Dream Theater have a very clear identity - they rip off Rush about 80% of the time, and a combination of 80s and 90s metal and alt-rock acts (Pantera, Tool, Rage Against The Machine etc) the other 20% of the time.

I don't see how you can have respect for one as a unique style yet critique the other as suffering from an identity crisis. I think they're both suffering from one, being as fusion doesn't fuse styles anymore and prog isn't progressive. But you seem to disagree with one while asserting the other, which is just odd.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

finnhiggins said:
Not really, it's genre-happy prog rock. It seems like you're willing to give legitimacy to modern fusion as a genre (when it really is an amalgam of 70s fusion, jazz, latin and 80s AOR rock/pop) yet you won't extend the same to modern "prog-revival" music (which is an amalgam of 80s metal and 70s prog, mainstream rock and fusion). Dream Theater have a very clear identity - they rip off Rush about 80% of the time, and a combination of 80s and 90s metal and alt-rock acts (Pantera, Tool, Rage Against The Machine etc) the other 20% of the time.

I don't see how you can have respect for one as a unique style yet critique the other as suffering from an identity crisis. I think they're both suffering from one, being as fusion doesn't fuse styles anymore and prog isn't progressive. But you seem to disagree with one while asserting the other, which is just odd.

Eh, I don't disrespect either. Please don't put words in my mouth. I PREFER one over the other, because I feel its more true to the pure form of musicality, while the other adds an element of popular music to it, and, as already established, I don't particularly care for pop-music.

The part where you say they are 20% Pantera/Tool/Rage (although they've been around longer than Tool and Rage) is exactly why I don't like them as much. Its that 20% (dare I say sell-out?) that seems like a concerted effort to be more popular, rather than be more gooder (my word!).

My point is I prefer the purists to the popularists is all. Completely 100% my opinion and perrogative. Your disagreement is kinda silly. Its like me saying I like Green Day, then you saying they are just a ripoff of 70s and 80s punk. Well, yeah, so. I still like it. (hypothetically speaking, of course).

I think we killed the whole "fusion sucks and is nothing more than crappy porn music" thread elsewhere.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

finnhiggins said:
Personally I think he's a basher playing complex music. His actual physical technique is pretty shocking, and to my ears he uses that whole 2xhands/2xfeet/4xhands/2xfeet stuff far too often. I also think the size of his kit is ludicrous for the musical results he gets, he could play the same kind of stuff on a kit a third of the size and still have plenty of room to move.

For that kind of stuff I'd vastly prefer to listen to Thomas Haake with Meshuggah (start with "Destroy Erase Improve") or something like Fredrik Thordendal's "Sol Niger Within" featuring Morgen Agren on drums.

But that's just me. I just reckon Portnoy kind of fits the profile his history would suggest - somebody who went to Berklee but never went to class.

.


i definately agree with this... but nevertheless hes still a good player.. does anyone know if that video of him at the drum clinic is by any chance the drum clinic in texas??
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

Stu_Strib said:
The part where you say they are 20% Pantera/Tool/Rage (although they've been around longer than Tool and Rage) is exactly why I don't like them as much. Its that 20% (dare I say sell-out?) that seems like a concerted effort to be more popular, rather than be more gooder (my word!).

You mean, unlike that 20% of fusion that sounds like 80s AOR? Oh, and just to address the swiping-from-Rage-and-Tool thing... that came later. First Tool/RATM cribs I noticed were on Scenes From A Memory (both in the early minutes of "Home") and there's a really obvious Pantera riff on "The Test That Stumped Them All" from SDIT. So yeah, that's just in recent years. Before that they just sounded like Rush, so I guess you can enjoy them as purist for everything prior to Falling Into Infinity, no?

My point is I prefer the purists to the popularists is all. Completely 100% my opinion and perrogative. Your disagreement is kinda silly. Its like me saying I like Green Day, then you saying they are just a ripoff of 70s and 80s punk. Well, yeah, so. I still like it. (hypothetically speaking, of course).

I think we killed the whole "fusion sucks and is nothing more than crappy porn music" thread elsewhere.

This is a touch different. You do repeatedly seem to assert that other bands or styles of music are derivative of fusion (which suggests that fusion is superior, these other styles inferior) on a regular basis. That's really not the case. Fusion is derived from a bunch of other styles - hence the name - and those styles have also influenced other genres. It's a bit like saying that Brazillian music is derivative of Hip Hop because they share some minor rhythmic similarities in that they're both basically born from an African rhythmic tradition. You're quite welcome to say that, but it just doesn't make any sense.

If you want to talk about purists in Fusion, what are you listening to Vital Information for? They're very much later generation, heavily influenced fusion rather than the innovators that Return to Forever, Lifetime, Mahavishnu or Headhunters were. Your words don't add up to your tastes.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

Portnoy is a very talented drummer in a difficult band (to play for). His style fits the music quite well, and he has several intricate fills to show off, plus he eats odd time sigs for breakfast.

However, I think he uses the 2x/2x/2x method way too much for my liking. A few more variations on it would be fine, but he seems pretty content with it. Oh well.

I like the fact that he makes use of his entire drum set during the course of DT's albums, and not just regulate himself to the bass and snare like oh so many other drummers out there. Hey, its progressive rock anyway, and he fits the bill nicely, though I wouldn't place him as the poster child for it.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

I own a lot of video of Mike P. I love his "efficient play"
And he really is a big drums freak....

..but

People said "look at his double bass technic.. so great"... NO WAY.. he can't go upper 200 bpm for 5 min... but may be its only because he don't show it.
Lot of people say also: "he 's the god of drums.. just look at his kit its the bigger one on the world...etc"

That I'm trying to say its that, in the same way for Travis Baker, some fans just hammered my head all time with Portnoy here, and Portnoy there.. "Ho, can you play like Portnoy pliz" or "hum I don't like the way you play, may be its because I allways listen to Portnoy"..etc

Ant Thats really boring......

Like my band.. they are professionnal musicians, really good player and all this stuff (but they don't know the "hidden" part of drum history).. and they want to write my scores in our songs, jus tin the way they heards drums on M.P records....

That make me really sick.

I really love Mike P. (and Travis B.), he's a model for me, but some people just make me hate them because they have big mouths and think that those drummers are the only drummers on the world....


so disgusting.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

K!lly said:
I own a lot of video of Mike P. I love his "efficient play"
And he really is a big drums freak....

..but

People said "look at his double bass technic.. so great"... NO WAY.. he can't go upper 200 bpm for 5 min... but may be its only because he don't show it.
Lot of people say also: "he 's the god of drums.. just look at his kit its the bigger one on the world...etc"

That I'm trying to say its that, in the same way for Travis Baker, some fans just hammered my head all time with Portnoy here, and Portnoy there.. "Ho, can you play like Portnoy pliz" or "hum I don't like the way you play, may be its because I allways listen to Portnoy"..etc

Ant Thats really boring......

Like my band.. they are professionnal musicians, really good player and all this stuff (but they don't know the "hidden" part of drum history).. and they want to write my scores in our songs, jus tin the way they heards drums on M.P records....

That make me really sick.

I really love Mike P. (and Travis B.), he's a model for me, but some people just make me hate them because they have big mouths and think that those drummers are the only drummers on the world....


so disgusting.
I agree Mike P and Travis both play with very technical and consistant style and are both fantastic drummers.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

how have you seen his shoes?
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

Well, I actually expected more positive feedback on Mike. And Ive never heard of DT "ripping off" other bands. Oh well, its what you like I guess. Ive always thought they were pretty original.
Mike can play fast, I have a video of them playing Metallica's Damage Inc. with some screeming "singer" dont know who it is. Anyway, Its definately faster than metallica played it, but Id put money on the fact that Larz cant play DT's stuff, and alot of the people here like Larz . But, I also know he cant play as fast as Panteras drummer. I used to be pretty fast, but as I started to play DT, I lost the speed, and replaced it with technical abitlity. Thats what I like. I like the sound of the double basses going full tilt, but to me its more about the odd beats. And that he is good at.
As for him(or them) ripping off Rush, I dont see it. JMO, but I think Mike is better than Peart. Peart is a percussionist, in that he plays some other percussion instruments, Mike is a drummer. I guess Peart is a much better musician, but Mike is a better drummer.
As for the rest of the band I think they are all just as talented, except the singer. They have excellent timing as a group, and do very well together.
Again what bands do these other drummers play for, i might listen to them a bit.
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

DrummerDad said:
Well, I actually expected more positive feedback on Mike. And Ive never heard of DT "ripping off" other bands. Oh well, its what you like I guess. Ive always thought they were pretty original.

They've certainly been doing some blatent borrowing of late. Compare the start of "Home" with the start of "46&2" by Tool, and the subsequent distorted wah riff with about half of RATM's "Evil Empire" album. Also the unison motif in "The Test that Stumped Them All" with "By Demons Be Driven" by Pantera.
 
Mike is one of my favourite drummers i just love all his stuff. I have 5 of the dream theater albums, live at budokan dvd and the liquid drum theater dvd and they are all amazing. I luv his drum sound live. To me he is a true drum god!
 
Re: Mike Pourtnoy

K!lly said:
People said "look at his double bass technic.. so great"... NO WAY.. he can't go upper 200 bpm for 5 min... but may be its only because he don't show it.

lol, are you a bit insane? Could you please tell me anyone who can go at 200 bpm for 5 mins?? lol I think noone can do this , except some complete WFD nerds
 
.. it's was an image....

but I'm sure that "unknowed" people can do it.... and that doesn't mean they're good drummer....

it was an "example"
 
for me, since metropolis part II (except for falling into infinity, wich I think is really poor), mr portnoy has kinda lost his way...he is way too far from that drummer who created those excellent arrangements for "when dream and day unite" and "images and words"... remember erotomania and 6 o´clock? where are them?

I wont demand for a band toalways put out great masterpieces but in fact, for me, dream theater has lost the way home since kevin moor quit them...
 
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