MP's Shattered Fortress Tour

[ChuckSteak]

Why aren't MP and Labrie in good terms? What happened? Source?

[FOXAN03]

Why aren't MP and Labrie in good terms? What happened? Source?

No one knows MP has said he still gets on with a 2 or 3 (depending on the interview) of the original band and he's publicly been seen or said to be still friendly with JR and JP. JR in particular has still said they're friends and they've been photographed together on a couple of occasions and I've seen a post somewhere where he's said he's still friends with JP. So basically by process of elimination that leaves Labire and JM and JM is not the kind guy i would of thought to hold a grudge especially since they've known eachother since College.

[Zook]

Why aren't MP and Labrie in good terms? What happened? Source?

Only speculation, but Mike has talked shit about James over the years, and I'd assume James doesn't like that too much. He may have even been the main person keeping Mike from doing collaborations, which in turn would cause Mike's dislike.

[Elite]

Anyone else think MP should play a song from DT12 or TA?

I just wonder how everyone would react.

Mike Portnoy was doing signings at Be Prog and I kind of wanted someone to bring a copy of ADTOE for him to sign, just to see his reaction. I really wonder what would happen then.

[SystematicThought]

Probably similar to when a fan wore an ADTOE shirt to one of his signings. He took to Facebook to rip that fan apart and single him out for hurting his feelings

“Somebody came to my signing today wearing a “Dramatic Turn Of Events” shirt… REALLY??? Couldn’t find a DT shirt from 1985-2010? Please try to use come sensibility/sensitivity when choosing a shirt for an MP event…”

The when everyone said it was an overreaction on MP's part

Once again everyone’s got their panties in a bundle and have taken a post of mine and turned it into sensationalized “news”….ugh!
Look…it’s as simple as this: do what you want, say what you want, listen to what you want, wear whatever shirt you want…it’s a free world!!
All I’m saying is remember there are human beings on the other side of your words and actions!
I’m into peace, love and understanding…live and let live…sometimes we all get emotional, I am totally guilty of that, no question!! I am a passionate person…But I have no ill intent towards anybody and have no anger or resentments, so please don’t attack me as if I do…
Can’t we all get along??? Haha…
Lighten up, live and love! : )

[Elite]

You know, that second part is pretty sensible indeed. If he had really though that, there would have been no need for that first post. That's some double standards right there.

[Zook]

He told people to lighten up. HA!

[Architeuthis]

The people that trash on MP are no better. I think many read into his posts too much and take things out of context. I'd be willing to bet MP would be a fun guy to hang out with, I sure wish I could jam with him. I've jammed and recorded with some good drummers but that would be a whole different league.. 

[bosk1]

https://youtu.be/EqJvGNegbag

Sorry to add fuel to the fire but this is a very telling interview with MP. Says he originally offered to do this tour with the guys at DT he's still friends with, his relationship with DT and his obvious anger that they're playing a change of seasons.

Great interview! 

And I don't see it as adding fuel to the fire at all.  He was candid, but still professional and conducted himself well.  Honestly, if he always conducted himself this way, there would be very little room for criticism.

[TAC]

Yeah, he was fine in that interview. I still think he should be playing ACOS if he wants to. People get it.

[King Postwhore]

He should be able to play any DT song he was on.

[SystematicThought]

MP handled it fantastically. The interviewer was trying to goad him into giving a controversial response. Yeah, MP may be upset, that's fine, he has a right to. He handled it really well

[gmillerdrake]

https://youtu.be/EqJvGNegbag

Sorry to add fuel to the fire but this is a very telling interview with MP. Says he originally offered to do this tour with the guys at DT he's still friends with, his relationship with DT and his obvious anger that they're playing a change of seasons.

Great interview! 

And I don't see it as adding fuel to the fire at all.  He was candid, but still professional and conducted himself well.  Honestly, if he always conducted himself this way, there would be very little room for criticism.

Totally agree! MP was all class in that interview. That's what makes the times he's not so professional so angering. He has it in him as this interview can attest to.

[axeman90210]

https://youtu.be/EqJvGNegbag

Sorry to add fuel to the fire but this is a very telling interview with MP. Says he originally offered to do this tour with the guys at DT he's still friends with, his relationship with DT and his obvious anger that they're playing a change of seasons.

Great interview! 

And I don't see it as adding fuel to the fire at all.  He was candid, but still professional and conducted himself well.  Honestly, if he always conducted himself this way, there would be very little room for criticism.

This was my thought while watching it as well. Totally different vibe from his online presence.

[Adami]

Protip: Only do social media directly after a show.

[Mosh]

I think Portnoy often comes off harsher online than he intends to and the interview shows that.

He's right that it would've been difficult for DT to appear at this without sparking the rumor mill. Right now they're trying to sell DT with Mangini, it doesn't make sense to do a gig with Portnoy.

[ReaperKK]

Especially if said gig was a cruise ship, that's tough to block off.

[bosk1]

And especially if it is only some of the guys and not all of them.

[Adami]

Plus it's probably not wise to invite a pirate out to sea.

[King Postwhore]

Plus it's probably not wise to invite a pirate out to sea.

And this was how the internet was won. YAAAARRRRR!!!

[Mosh]

And especially if it is only some of the guys and not all of them.

Yea the way he said that also seemed to imply that JLB wasn't invited, which also would've  been weird.

[ToT-147]

I've been guilty of using couple and few improperly, although I try not to. It could be the same for MP.

Yeah, maybe.. But to confuse 30 (amount of DT lyrics he claims to have written in the interview) with 14 (actual amount of DT lyrics he wrote), that's another thing I suppose.. I wonder if he does these kind of things -cuz is not the first time precisely- on purpose; I mean, with the obsessive that he is with this little details and all that, I doubt he wouldn't know how many lyrics he wrote for a band he was in for 25 years and just after reviewing them in order to select some among them..

Also, he says he wrote, besides their lyrics, the vocal melodies for the three SFAM songs they're playing now?.. About that now, I just don't believe him, if that's what he meant..

[Adami]

I've been guilty of using couple and few improperly, although I try not to. It could be the same for MP.

Yeah, maybe.. But to confuse 30 (amount of DT lyrics he claims to have written in the interview) with 14 (actual amount of DT lyrics he wrote), that's another thing I suppose.. I wonder if he does these kind of things -cuz is not the first time precisely- on purpose; I mean, with the obsessive that he is with this little details and all that, I doubt he wouldn't know how many lyrics he wrote for a band he was in for 25 years and just after reviewing them in order to select some among them..

Also, he says he wrote, besides their lyrics, the vocal melodies for the three SFAM songs they're playing now?.. About that now, I just don't believe him, if that's what he meant..

Why not? I think that's how DT generally work. Unless the vocal melodies are part of the music (which happens often enough in their music) then whoever writes the lyrics demos the whole thing at home and usually end up writing those vocal melodies.

[Zook]

Yeah, Petrucci writes the melodies for his songs too. Haven't you heard his amazing singing demos?

[FOXAN03]

indeed was a good eye opener that he offered the invitation to the guys to perform with him. Classy by MP

[Setlist Scotty]

I think if he decided to do ACOS anyway, the only comparison would have been the vocals, to which I'm sure James would have gotten some not so good opinions about him.

Also, I think he may only be friends with JP and JR at this point. He and James aren't cool for obvious reasons, but I don't think he and JM have any beef, and it's probably more of the fact that JM is so introverted that he just never decided to stay in touch. I mean, how much did they actually talk to each other during the 25 years they were together?

MP actually explicitly said on FB that he has been on good terms with 3 of the 4 members of DT that he left behind, so I think he's mended any wounds he opened with JM over the years, if there were any at all.

-Marc.

That's good to hear.

Yes I noticed that was odd. The Facebook post was done just before the tour started but this interview was done after the Tilberg show.... so what happened? suddenly beef with someone in a few days or MP just mistyping or mis counting

I know for quite some time that things between him and JM were not cool, so a simple explanation is that maybe since he first invited the guys to join him on the cruise, that he's since patched things up with JM. After all, JM and MP literally live within walking distance of each other. So I wouldn't be surprised if at some point they crossed paths, intentionally or not.
 
 

Why aren't MP and Labrie in good terms? What happened? Source?

Only speculation, but Mike has talked shit about James over the years, and I'd assume James doesn't like that too much. He may have even been the main person keeping Mike from doing collaborations, which in turn would cause Mike's dislike.

Honestly, what "shit" has MP talked about JL? Aside from being stupid enough to get pissed off after seeing a click-bait Blabbermouth headline, nothing MP has said publicly could be described as what you are saying. Yes, there were different times that MP spoke candidly about how JL's vocal style might not be best for what DT wanted to do at the (then) present time, but I'd hardly call that talking "shit".

As for being the main person to keep MP from doing collaborations, not at all - no chance of that at all. What the guys do outside of their committed time to DT is entirely up to them.
 
 

The people that trash on MP are no better. I think many read into his posts too much and take things out of context. I'd be willing to bet MP would be a fun guy to hang out with, I sure wish I could jam with him. I've jammed and recorded with some good drummers but that would be a whole different league.. 

So true about people talking trash. And I recall one guy on here (forget his name) who just LOVED to talk crap about MP, but when he managed to get backstage at a festival MP was at, and MP complimented him on the (MP-era) DT shirt he was wearing, the guy totally pussied out and didn't have the balls to talk like he did here.

As for MP himself, you're completely correct in that he's a great guy to hang with. I've had the pleasure of having dinner with him 3 different times, besides doing 3 interviews, hanging out with him before the Cygnus and the Sea Monsters show (walking around Chicago, going into record stores) and just chatting with him at aftershows numerous times. He is a great person to spend time with - not some cocky rockstar jerk like many haters probably like to imagine that he is.
 
 

Yeah, he was fine in that interview. I still think he should be playing ACOS if he wants to. People get it.

Amen! I soooooo wish he would, for himself and for the fans.
 
 

I've been guilty of using couple and few improperly, although I try not to. It could be the same for MP.

Yeah, maybe.. But to confuse 30 (amount of DT lyrics he claims to have written in the interview) with 14 (actual amount of DT lyrics he wrote), that's another thing I suppose.. I wonder if he does these kind of things -cuz is not the first time precisely- on purpose; I mean, with the obsessive that he is with this little details and all that, I doubt he wouldn't know how many lyrics he wrote for a band he was in for 25 years and just after reviewing them in order to select some among them..

Also, he says he wrote, besides their lyrics, the vocal melodies for the three SFAM songs they're playing now?.. About that now, I just don't believe him, if that's what he meant..

While MP is detail oriented, he is also extremely honest. So in that case, I'd imagine he pulled that number out of the air, just has he does when he jokes about how he's in 86 bands at the moment. So, no, I doubt he's taken the time to count out exactly how many songs he wrote DT lyrics to. Funny too, because I'm counting that he wrote lyrics to 20 different songs (altho in the case of 2 of them, they were co-written: SDoIT and 8v); maybe you need to do a recount too.   

And regarding writing vocal melodies to the SFaM tracks? You better believe he has. That has always been a rule within the DT camp: whoever writes the lyrics writes the vocal melodies. While you may not think so, MP is more familiar with music than just being a drummer. He knows theory and has come up with musical parts to various DT songs (altho not as many as JP and JR). So it shouldn't be surprising that he did write the vocal melodies to the songs he wrote lyrics for. In fact, there's a version of TBoT with MP singing the lyrics, because he came up with the vocal melodies.    The only one who doesn't, is JM, who always submitted lyrics in poem form, requiring the other guys to reformat the words into lyrical format, which was one beef that they (not just MP) had.

[ToT-147]

I've been guilty of using couple and few improperly, although I try not to. It could be the same for MP.

Yeah, maybe.. But to confuse 30 (amount of DT lyrics he claims to have written in the interview) with 14 (actual amount of DT lyrics he wrote), that's another thing I suppose.. I wonder if he does these kind of things -cuz is not the first time precisely- on purpose; I mean, with the obsessive that he is with this little details and all that, I doubt he wouldn't know how many lyrics he wrote for a band he was in for 25 years and just after reviewing them in order to select some among them..

Also, he says he wrote, besides their lyrics, the vocal melodies for the three SFAM songs they're playing now?.. About that now, I just don't believe him, if that's what he meant..

Why not? I think that's how DT generally work. Unless the vocal melodies are part of the music (which happens often enough in their music) then whoever writes the lyrics demos the whole thing at home and usually end up writing those vocal melodies.

Ok, good point.. I didn't think of that.. Anyways, as John always says, the lyric writing comes almost always ("the 99% of the times") after the music, so they're not entirely Portnoy's, but then just let me be at least impressed on how he improved his lyrical/vocal melody skills, specially after those in FII..

[King Postwhore]

Scotty,  do you think MP talking in public how he felt James voice wasn't what he envisioned what he wanted for DT music in the future and was the catalyst to this issue between them?

[KevShmev]

Scotty,  do you think MP talking in public how he felt James voice wasn't what he envisioned what he wanted for DT music in the future and was the catalyst to this issue between them?

My impression, based off of the making of SC, was that LaBrie did not like the way Portnoy rode his ass in the studio when it came to recording vocals.  Yeah, yeah, he was the producer, so that was technically his job, but imagine being told how to sing by a non-singer (or someone with very limited vocal ability).  Flip that around and I doubt Portnoy would have liked LaBrie telling him how to play the drums. 

[ToT-147]

While MP is detail oriented, he is also extremely honest. So in that case, I'd imagine he pulled that number out of the air, just has he does when he jokes about how he's in 86 bands at the moment. So, no, I doubt he's taken the time to count out exactly how many songs he wrote DT lyrics to. Funny too, because I'm counting that he wrote lyrics to 20 different songs (altho in the case of 2 of them, they were co-written: SDoIT and 8v); maybe you need to do a recount too.   

And regarding writing vocal melodies to the SFaM tracks? You better believe he has. That has always been a rule within the DT camp: whoever writes the lyrics writes the vocal melodies. While you may not think so, MP is more familiar with music than just being a drummer. He knows theory and has come up with musical parts to various DT songs (altho not as many as JP and JR). So it shouldn't be surprising that he did write the vocal melodies to the songs he wrote lyrics for. In fact, there's a version of TBoT with MP singing the lyrics, because he came up with the vocal melodies.    The only one who doesn't, is JM, who always submitted lyrics in poem form, requiring the other guys to reformat the words into lyrical format, which was one beef that they (not just MP) had.

They're 17, not 14, my bad.. I was looking at this post but forgot the three songs above:

But if doesn't play ACOS, The Best of Times or Honor Thy Father he's only left with:

The Mirror
New Millenium
Burning My Soul
Just Let me Breathe
Strange Deja vu
Home
Finally Free
War Inside my Head
The Test That Stumped them all
Goodnight Kiss
Never Enough
Constant Motion

Its probably going to be a 2 hour set so theres not room for many surprises

Fixed.. Now that's the full list I think..

Yeah 6DoIT and 8V wouldn't count because he wasn't the sole writer; if they would, that still would be instead a 19, not a 20, but anyways, is still far from his 30.. 

About the vocal melodies, yeah, I think I've always pictured him like not capable of writing "good" vocal melodies, subjetively speaking of course.. ACoS ending, all the FII songs, the rap part of HTF, the ambient section of Home, the chorus of FF, TBoT, the chorus of TSF? yeah, I can imagine they're coming from the same guy, but the rest of what he has written it actually sounds more than good... it sounds like Dream Theater, if *I* know what I mean...

[King Postwhore]

Scotty,  do you think MP talking in public how he felt James voice wasn't what he envisioned what he wanted for DT music in the future and was the catalyst to this issue between them?

My impression was that LaBrie did not like the way Portnoy rode his ass in the studio when it came to recording vocals.  Yeah, yeah, he was the producer, so that was technically his job, but imagine being told how to sing by a non-singer (or someone with very limited vocal ability).  Flip that around and I doubt Portnoy would have liked LaBrie telling him how to play the drums.

I agree but Mike did talk about it in interviews and that's where James may have thought he crossed a line.

[KevShmev]

Scotty,  do you think MP talking in public how he felt James voice wasn't what he envisioned what he wanted for DT music in the future and was the catalyst to this issue between them?

My impression was that LaBrie did not like the way Portnoy rode his ass in the studio when it came to recording vocals.  Yeah, yeah, he was the producer, so that was technically his job, but imagine being told how to sing by a non-singer (or someone with very limited vocal ability).  Flip that around and I doubt Portnoy would have liked LaBrie telling him how to play the drums.

I agree but Mike did talk about it in interviews and that's where James may have thought he crossed a line.

Right.  I think it was around the time of Octavarium where Portnoy did an interview where he said that he wished they had a singer more like Daniel Gildenlow, and that if they had to start all over again, he wouldn't pick a singer like LaBrie.  That was one of those occasions where being totally honest is not always the best policy. Being PC and giving a bull shit answer is sometimes the better way to go.

[King Postwhore]

Yes. There was a few interviews that I think any rational person knows that's not backing up your teammate.

[ToT-147]

My impression, based off of the making of SC, was that LaBrie did not like the way Portnoy rode his ass in the studio when it came to recording vocals.  Yeah, yeah, he was the producer, so that was technically his job, but imagine being told how to sing by a non-singer (or someone with very limited vocal ability).

Not the same discussion, but actually in the same vein of my posts, I'd say I couldn't think of MP as being a bigger influence in James while learning the songs/rehearsing them/recording them than JP, or even JR.. I mean, yes, Portnoy did "directed" him in some way, but the melody/harmony thing was most of the times in Petrucci's command, or at least this is what I've always understood or deducted..

[King Postwhore]

Remember how JP handled the lead vocals for ADTOE.