So if Portnoy

[JayOctavarium]

finds himself in another "temporary" drumming gig after a7x, who would you fancy seeing him play with? I for one would love to see him tour with Black Label Society. It would work out perfectly because who they have behind the kit right now (Will Hunt) isn't permanent i dont think...

any other ideas?

and no one say DT... I am trying to look on the bright side...
 

[Darkes7]

Re-united Green Carnation.

[Sigz]

Demians would be pretty interesting with him methinks.

[Ħ]

Transatlantic would be awesome.  Or if Morse does any more albums.

[ScioPath]

A DT cover band.

[jsem]

A DT cover band.

[ZKX-2099]

A whole new band assembled by him would be interesting.

[hefdaddy42]

He should get his cover band buddies Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan, and Gary Cherone and make a new band.

[Nihil-Morari]

He should get his cover band buddies Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan, and Gary Cherone and make a new band.

Transatlantic would be awesome.  Or if Morse does any more albums.

Those two. Combined.

Preferrably TA, but if that's a no go, it should be a Neal Morse tour, but with a full 'big-name' band. With those people (although I don't know Gary Cherone)

[ZKX-2099]

Singer of Extreme.

[MetalManiac666]

He should get his cover band buddies Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan, and Gary Cherone and make a new band.

Transatlantic would be awesome.  Or if Morse does any more albums.

Those two. Combined.

[skydivingninja]

Demians would be pretty interesting with him methinks.

1. I didn't know you listened to Demians.
2. I really don't think Mike will go from "Big Cult Prog Metal Band" to "Very popular metal/metalcore band" to "Unknown French prog band."

I like Hef's idea of getting Mike, Gilbert, Sheehan, and Cherone together for some kind of project.  Or he might as well just keep doing Transatlantic.

[LCArenas]

He should get his cover band buddies Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan, and Gary Cherone and make a new band.

Transatlantic would be awesome.  Or if Morse does any more albums.

Those two. Combined.

[The Letter M]

I think Transatlantic would be the most popular answer, or rather, anything with Neal Morse. I loved that Mike was able to play on the Testimony Tour with him, and I love the live DVD with his performance! Great stuff. I wouldn't mind seeing Mike playing more of Neal's solo stuff live, no offense to Collin because he's an amazing drummer in his own right!

If not Transatlantic or Neal Morse solo stuff, I do think Mike should get up with Paul Gilbert again and form another covers band/project... maybe do a full-blown tour and do more than a handful of shows on the coasts. What could they do? Well, I wouldn't mind seeing a tour of what Mike considers his favorite songs/songs to play and cover, showing a wide-range of styles and genres that Paul Gilbert would undoubtedly be able to cover (cuz let's face it, the man can play anything). Maybe something that's like a Chronological Journey of his favorite songs growing up to songs he loves today. "Portnoy's Choice" Tour or something, ya know?

If not a tour, I wouldn't mind seeing Mike cover a classic album in the studio with some great guest musicians, since he likely has one or two classic albums he wouldn't be able to cover with DT now, it wouldn't be so bad if he decided to record them and release them as studio recordings. I know I'd buy it, especially if it was Rush, Yes, or Genesis. Part of me REALLY wants to hear him cover Rush's Caress Of Steel album, mostly because I'd love to hear SOMEONE cover "The Fountain Of Lamneth" and I would love to hear Mike play "Didacts And Narpets"! I think a bit of rearranging on TFOL could make the piece more cohesive and full and less a suite of songs strung end-to-end. Also, it'd be fun to hear him cover "I Think I'm Going Bald".

-Marc.

[rumborak]

You know, I've heard the Transtlantic and Neal Morse suggestions before, but I have to say that I don't think this would work. First of all, neither TA nor Neal Morse are big enough to support MP. Neal is struggling as it is to break even from what I hear.
Secondly, I can't see either Neal or Roine binding themselves to MP permanently. They have their own thing (Flower Kings, Near Morse solo) and I would think they saw their MP collaborations as a great thing on the side, but that's the extent of it.

rumborak

[Nihil-Morari]

I think that it'll remain a side project but I don't think Neal and Roine are the two biggest concerns for that.
Pete isn't gonna part ways with Marillion, The Flower Kings are nearly over, they haven't been going well (Roine even says it on the documentary of the latest DVD "When we tour the venues are half full at best") and Neal's solo albums are getting less and less too.
(BTW the fact that Neal just about breaks even is mainly because of all the free shows he's been doing for years and years)
Apart from that Neal will still release a lot of material, just because he writes so many songs (if TA were to be a full band, he would still release those Worship albums, just because there is no room for those on a TA albums, at least not nice he wouldn't even want to have those songs on his solo prog albums.

So if Pete would be open for it, I think we'll have Transatlantic as a full band, but I guess that won't happen.

[Jakartabassplayer]

Alter Bridge

[KevShmev]

He should get his cover band buddies Paul Gilbert, Billy Sheehan, and Gary Cherone and make a new band.

That would be cool, but who is gonna write the music?  I think Portnoy is more of an arranger and direction-guider, and when is the last time any of those other guys wrote a lot of good music?

[Sigz]

Demians would be pretty interesting with him methinks.

1. I didn't know you listened to Demians.
2. I really don't think Mike will go from "Big Cult Prog Metal Band" to "Very popular metal/metalcore band" to "Unknown French prog band."

Never said it was likely, just that I thought it'd be cool. And yeah, Demians is awesome.

[pogoowner]

It'd be interesting to see him work with Fates Warning. He's played with them before, and of course worked with Jim Matheos in OSI. And they don't have a permanent drummer right now. If FW had someone motivated like MP, maybe they'd actually get a new album made in a reasonable time frame.

[TL]

I love Transatlantic, but I really hope it doesn't become a regular thing. I think TA just being an occasional thing is part of what makes it special.

[rumborak]

This is just my personal opinion, but I also thought the last TA nowhere had the magic of the first two.

rumborak

[Sigz]

The Whirlwind was probably the biggest disappointment of 2009 besides The Great Misdirect.

[ariich]

Seems to be a real fanbase splitter, personally I think it's the best of their three albums.

[SoundscapeMN]

This is just my personal opinion, but I also thought the last TA nowhere had the magic of the first two.

rumborak

The Whirlwind was probably the biggest disappointment of 2009 besides The Great Misdirect.

you guys aren't alone. I'm of the feeling, in hindsight, had they written or demo-ed some music shortly after BAF, their 3rd LP could have been quite good. The old lightning-in-a-bottle idea. And the long period of time, among other things, just hurt the end result of The Whirlwind.

[Darkes7]

I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet... I'd love to see MP start his own full-on metal band (or project, whatever). He's apparently a lot into both older and modern metal (and many people here seem to suggest that most of the metal influences in later DT is him), and something really interesting could come out of it, seeing that he's rather ambitious as a songwriter. Something thrash with a slight prog edge and of course MP which means a unique style in itself sounds amazing.

[DarkEternalNight]

I'd like to see him join/start a Death/Thrash Metal band.

[Adami]

He should do some kind of generic prog. I mean, what else is he gonna realisticly do?


Unless he forms a super group, but those are usually off and on, not a full time gig.

[Perpetual Change]

You know, I've heard the Transtlantic and Neal Morse suggestions before, but I have to say that I don't think this would work. First of all, neither TA nor Neal Morse are big enough to support MP. Neal is struggling as it is to break even from what I hear.
Secondly, I can't see either Neal or Roine binding themselves to MP permanently. They have their own thing (Flower Kings, Near Morse solo) and I would think they saw their MP collaborations as a great thing on the side, but that's the extent of it.

rumborak

I think your overestimating how well those projects are actually doing. I don't think Neal Morse solo, Flower Kings, or even Marillion now at least anymore have bigger fanbases than TA does.

[ariich]

Marillion definitely does, but you may well be right about the other two.

[Perpetual Change]

Marillion definitely does, but you may well be right about the other two.

Why do you say that?

[Nihil-Morari]

Cause they're big in England. I'm not sure either.

[SoundscapeMN]

Marillion has a much larger fan base than Transatlantic. They even have "Fan Weekends" every couple of years, lol.

Spock's and The Flower King's I would think as well, overall have larger fan bases. Not by a lot, but if you asked the people who are fans of both Spock's and TFK along with TA, which band they prefer odds are they'll say the parent band 1st.

[Global Laziness]

To be honest, at this point in time I can't see Portnoy joining a band full-time (assuming we leave A7X out of this) or starting a new one. I personally see him working more as a session drummer or with a temporary supergroup or something.

[Perpetual Change]

Cause they're big in England. I'm not sure either.

Ah, I'd heard they don't even crack the charts in England anymore. Regardless, most prog bands making music now seem to have relatively small audiences in a relatively large amount of countries. To me, Marillion seem like a band that might have a bigger audience on their home turf, but not nearly as much international appeal as a Transatlantic.