Steven Wilson + Mikael Akerfeldt project (Mike Portnoy?)

[MetalManiac666]

No, just seems like typical DTF to me.

[Xanthul]

This is one of quite a few topics that have gone to utter shit lately. Is there something in the air?

love

[moffatt]

Lars Ulrich anyone?



 

[SoundscapeMN]

people remember that demo that Steven Wilson uploaded to his myspace 3 or 4 years ago called "Cut Ribbon"? I recall that was intended for this project.

[SoundscapeMN]

https://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=140507

Portnoy in? the article mentions Portnoy, but there is no quote from Wilson there with his name.

PORCUPINE TREE's Steven Wilson revealed to Chordstruck Magazine that he has begun work on material for his much-anticipated collaboration with Mikael Åkerfeldt  from OPETH and Mike Portnoy from DREAM THEATER. "I started writing with Mikael last month, finally," he said. "It's still in the very early days.

"We wrote about 15 minutes of music last month in my studio near London and we're very excited about it.

"I think people are going to be very surprised by the direction.

"If they're expecting some kind of death-metal-progressive rock, they're going to be surprised [because] it's not like that."

He continued, "If you put the two of us together, the last thing we're going to do is something similar to what people already know from our most high-profile project.

"It's very arty, very ambitious; it's going to be epic.

"We're still writing.

"[It's going to be] very dark, very twisted, very experimental.

"It's still rock music, but we're trying to do something really, really special and really different with this."

In a September 2009 interview with Australia's PyroMusic.net, Mike Portnoy stated about the project, "The three of us each mentioned wanting to work with each other years ago, and since then it's kind of been this rumor that won't go away. I think all three of us regret ever mentioning it at this point, but I think the hype or anticipation around it has surpassed anything we possibly could realistically deliver. So I think now all three of us are kind of hesitant to do it, because there's been so much hype about it. (laughs)

"This is an example of where the Internet can somehow be a bad thing and I think... that's why I try to keep as tight of a lid on things as possible when we're making a record, because anything that is said or leaked or heard, it opens up this can of worms of discussion and once people start discussing and discussing and discussing and dissecting and anticipating, they build up such a level of hype and expectations in their head that it's impossible to ever satisfy it. So that's one of the bad things about the Internet.

"In answer to your question though, I think we'd love to work together, but at this point, we just don't know when."

(Thanks: Marko Kutberg)

[Nick]

Yeah, that looks like the writer was assuming rather than knowing.

[Marvellous G]

This whole thing sounds too good to be true, and to be honest I'd rather Portnoy (gasp) wasn't involved in a way. 

[KevShmev]

Considering it has never really been confirmed that Portnoy is in on this project, and Wilson doesn't mention him there, that is very bad reporting there.  Even if he ends up being a part of it, making the leap that the writer of that article did is pretty poor.

[Nick]

I think Portnoy would do a great job on this, but at the end of the day I'd rather this project go with a wild card, somebody relatively unknown and fresh.

[Perpetual Change]

Yeah, that looks like the writer was assuming rather than knowing.

Yup. I was going to post that article yesterday. But then I realized that there's actually nothing new there, aside from, I assume, the reporter assuming that Portnoy's gonna be a part of this. Bad form, Blabbermouth. Bad form indeed.;

[Sigz]

at the end of the day I'd rather this project go with a wild card, somebody relatively unknown and fresh.

Agreed.

[skydivingninja]

https://www.metalinjection.net/finally/project-feature-mikael-akerfeldt-mike-portnoy-steven-wilson-finally-launched?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+metalinjection+%28Metal+Injection+%3A%3A+Latest+Posts%40paul

This article seems pretty certain that Mike will be/is involved, anyone hear anything else?

[Sigz]

I'll wait until one of them confirms it.

[robwebster]

Well, Portnoy seems to reckon his name's been on the cards for a hell of a while. I'm going to trust him until told otherwise.

And I mean, to be fair, schedules are a bastard - specially if you're Mike Portnoy. Very poss that he could be axed from it due to timing issues. Just getting Mikael and Steven together at the same time's a chore. But Portnoy's been attached to it for a fair while, so I'm gonna keep him in my "mental log" of this project.

[orcus116]

Well if that's the case then I'm attached to the new JJ Abrams/Spielberg project.

[robwebster]

Are you seriously implying that your working relationship with JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg is anything like as close as Portnoy's acquaintance with Akerfeldt and Wilson?

(If so, tell Abrams he's ace, from me! Don't worry about Spielberg. Although I do like Jurassic Park. Tell him to stick to dinosaurs.)

[orcus116]

 

I wish. I'm just saying I have to agree with everyone who has said that whenever Wilson or Akerfeldt talk about the project they only refer to each other, or at least from what I've seen. The only one who has said Portnoy is in the project is Portnoy.

[robwebster]

Haha, you're right of course - I do figure they're the core. But I don't think Portnoy would have stuck his name on it if it wasn't at all in the pipeline - at least at some point. I'd be very surprised if he was just making stuff up to get attention.

[TL]

I wouldn't be shocked if MP is supposed to be in on this, but they're keeping quiet about that because scheduling has his involvement up in the air.

I think it will definitely be a very different end result depending on whether MP is or isn't involved, and I can say definitively that I'm incredibly excited about this either way.

[Perpetual Change]

Plenty of people have been talking about this and Mike would have commented on it by now if he knew anything.  This seems to me to be another example of Blabbermouth jumping the gun.  We already know they do some pretty shotty reporting. It looks like they don't even try to contact the sources they quote for further comment, even if, as in Mike's quote, the statement is from last year.

[glaurung]

I'm actually surprised they come out about this at all before they had everything figured out. People have been over speculating about this for so long they must have know what would happen.