Take it as what it is, a joke.
Open Letter to Mike Portnoy.
Dear Mike,
It's time to choose whether the story of Dream Theater ends here or whether it will still continue an undetermined period of time. We've been working with this creation for twenty-five years and we are not ready to give up yet. Dream Theater is a way of life, something to live for, and we're certain we can't let it go.
Equally certain is the fact that we cannot go on with you any longer. During the last year something sad happened, which I've been going over in my head every single day, morning and night. Your attitude and behavior don't go with Dream Theater anymore. There are characteristics I would never have believed to see in my old dear friend. People who don't talk with each other for a year do not belong in the same band.
We are involved in an industry where the business-side of things is a necessary evil and something to worry about all the time. We are also a band which has always done music from the heart, because of friendship and the music itself. The mental satisfaction should always be more important than money! Dream Theater is a band, it's an emotion. To you, unfortunately, business, money, and things that have nothing to do with those emotions have become much more important. You feel that you have sacrificed yourself and your musical career for Dream Theater, rather than thinking what it has given to you. This attitude was clearly shown to me in the two things you said to us back in NY: ”This is burning me, can we take a hiatus?” and ”Remember, John, that I could leave this band at any time, giving you only one day's warning in advance”. I can't simply write any more songs for you to drum.
You have said yourself that you are the ”great frontman” of Dream Theater. Now that supremacy ends and we will continue Dream Theater with a new, open drummer. We're sure this is an equally big relief to you as it is for us. We have all been feeling bad long enough.
You told us that no matter what, the next DT album will be your last one. However, the rest of us want to continue as long as the fire burns. So there's no sense in doing that next album with you, either. The four of us have been going over this situation countless times and we have realized that this is the thing we want to do in life. It's all we can do.
In interviews I've mentioned that if Mike leaves, that would be the end of the band. I understand that people will think this way. Dream Theater is, however, a scenery of my soul and I'm not ready to let go because of one person. A person who wants to focus his creativity to somewhere else, a person whose values don't match mine.
We were never bothered by the fact that you exaggerated your credit in writing/arranging songs, you never in 25 years asked our thoughts before going to the studio. Not the fact that while on tour you always wanted to force us to play different songs, not worrying about the stress Jordan had to go through to change his sounds every night. Not the fact that you pretended to be an undisputable front image of the band. We accepted and felt ok about everything except selfishness, underestimating the fans, and wanting to take a break. It was agreed by the five of us that Dream Theater would be the priority in everything that we do during 2009-2010. Still so many things were more important to you. The ultimate example being an already sold-out show, which you wanted to cancel because you needed to rehearse with Avenged Sevenfold, hold meetings with other bands and go to the movies. I couldn't think of a worse way of being selfish and dismissing our fans.
Dream Theater is a way of life and a job with many obligations. To each other and to the fans. With you we can't take care of those duties anymore.
Deep within we don't know what drove us to this point. Somehow Avenged Sevenfold has changed you from the cool guy you were into a diva, who doesn't think or act the way he used to. You are too sure of your irreplaceableness and status.
It's obvious that you blame your stress and misery on us four. And you think we don't respect or listen to you. Believe us; We have always had the uppermost respect towards you as a wonderful drummer and as a friend. And very often during the past couple of years the plans were made according to your decisions only. You were always the only one who wanted more money and credit from the shows. This ”compensation and more credit from everything” –attitude is the fact that we are most disappointed of!
We wish that from now on you will listen to your heart instead of your OCD. Do not wither yourself.
This decision is not something we are especially proud of but you gave us no choice. The gap between us is too wide. And the decision is made by us four unanimously. We are beyond the point where things could be settled by talking.
All the best for your life and career,
John Petrucci
James LaBrie, John Myung, Jordan Rudess
Thanks Tuomas for helping us find the words
Topic: All these feels (Read 9025 times)
