Well, if you ask him, he has his metal side, his hard rock side, his prog side, and his pop side (FC).
And I've written about that before. For me, if there is any drop-off in the material with him, it is, in my opinion, when he started talking about "genres". The beautiful thing about the early DT was they didn't give a f--- if it was "prog" or "metal" or "rock", they put it out. I bought I&W on release, and I was blown away because it was like Alex Lifeson playing with Iron Maiden and Steve Perry singing. I LOVED it. Instead of mixing the prog, the metal, the pop, etc., his projects since about 2010 have been the "metal project" and the "prog project" and the "pop project" and the "hard rock project". Just play, man. Just play.
Phil Rudd doesn't have a style, he just plays a beat, so people don't care much if he keeps doing that over and over. 95% of drummers out there don't have the very signature style that Portnoy does, so when you hear that sound....you know it.
I get your point, and I agree with it, but I object to the example; there's a reason that Malcolm kept giving Rudd a shot in the band even though they fought like cats and dogs. He IS simple, but he has a certain Jenny seequaw that makes AC/DC work. it's not provable, really, because I have all the albums, know the songs and know who plays on them, but I think I could tell you an AC/DC song with Rudd and without. When the recent rumors came about that AC/DC is in Vancouver, and that Johnson was there with the band (but so was Axl), I was excited, but I didn't really get invested, until I heard that Phil is there too. I think Phil is more important than anyone not named "Young" in that band.
I’ve always thought MP would be a great fit for Alter Bridge. <CUT>
I think MP has been a victim of very formulaic bands and playing.
Blasphemy alert, but I think AB is same-y and formulaic, other than Myles (I love Myles). It's by far my least favorite Myles project, and for that reason. It's still good, there's nothing, necessarily, wrong with "formulaic" if it's of a high quality (and AB is) but I greatly prefer Myles in Slash's band or solo.
The way things are going, the only real shoot in MP being in a big band is probably Iron Maiden. Nicko last year said mentioned retirement for him was close. I think the other Maiden guys have a lot more gas to keep going than Nicko (he is the oldest IM member I think).
He is. He's 66, the next oldest is Steve at 62, then the guitar players are all 61 and Bruce is 60. My GOD, can you believe that Iron Maiden are all in their SIXTIES? Where the f--- has the time went??? I generally hate those "if so-and-so leaves, who would replace them?" conversations - it's still a band, might even be a good band, but I'm a firm fan of chemistry in a band - but I would pay to see Mike in Maiden. I think he would bring it the gravitas it deserves. I really wished he would have come to the USA with Twisted (I know they played a date or two, but I mean a tour).