In my opinion, over the years, Mike Portnoy's focus has shifted from MP as a drummer to MP as a brand, as such, he has stopped practicing regularly, has put more emphasis on the marketing aspect of his work. Post-DT, he has largely been the least instrumentally capable member of the bands that he has been in. His strategy has been to surround himself with rather capable musicians to compensate for his own inability to play.
Some things about this paragraph have bothered me since reading it yesterday, and I had to let it sit for a bit to collect my thoughts.
I think your comment about Mike focusing more on the "brand" of Mike Portnoy is pretty spot on. I think that started a lot earlier on than most people realize, and has grown through the years. Where I disagree with that concept somewhat is on there being shift
from "Mike Portnoy the drummer"
to "Mike Portnoy the brand." I don't think the focus on Mike as "the drummer" has diminished much. And it doesn't HAVE TO be at the expense of an emphasis on "the brand." Yes, there definitely has been more emphasis on "the brand." But I don't see much if any shift away from "the drummer" at all. "Practicing less" doesn't necessarily equate to that. Plus, I think the "practicing less," which Mike has made no bones about, is often taken out of context, and more is made of that comment than he meant. As I understand it, the emphasis in his commentary along those lines is that he doesn't, as younger drummers more often do, sit alone in a practice room honing specific techniques. But the loss of time doing that is also met with an increase in time
actually playing as a drummer. It isn't like he is spending all his practice time sitting on the couch with a bowl of ice cream.
And that brings me to the comment I disagree with most in that paragraph about "surround[ing] himself with rather capable musicians to compensate for his own inability to play." I don't hear any "inability to play." Say what you want about Mike the person (and from my interactions with him, I could say plenty). But Mike the drummer is world class. We can argue all day about which drummers might be "better." But I don't really care to. He is in that elite class in his genre where I think ranking is pretty pointless. Is he perhaps a bit sloppier and looser live nowadays than, say, in the Awake era? You can make that argument if you like, and I won't challenge it. But there is no "inability to play" anywhere that I am hearing, either on albums or live. And he has
always tried to surround himself with great musicians, no matter what band or project he is on. I'm not sure what musician doesn't. Why NOT get the best guitar player, keyboardist, vocalist, bassist, etc. that you can find that suits the project you are working on? That point doesn't really hold any water, and isn't really supported by the facts. Mike surrounds himself with elite musicians because he is an elite musician. I don't even really see how that is debatable.
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Topic: Sons of Apollo (feat. Portnoy & Sherinian) (Read 466466 times)