Mike Portnoy has a new Dream Theater cover band

[Bertielee]

The problem here is that there seems to be no in-between : either you defend MP and you're considered a MP fanboy, or you criticize him and you're considered a MP hater. All black, or white. And notice that it's practically always the same people taking the lead in one or the other situation, so much so that, albeit in a nice way at times, there seems to be a "feud" going on.

In response to the MP post : MP will be MP, for good or for worse. In any case, nothing he has done since the split will make me forget what he did for the band, even if what he says might seem exaggerated sometimes.

B.Lee

[Dublagent66]

Good thing it was CLEARLY a joke..




" "

Yeah, clearly understated.

[Dream Team]

Don't you guys think it is reasonable to think that MP had more of a hand in writing the 12-Step songs than most of the other ones?

[Enigmachine]

I think I may have found out why he comes across as needlessly passive-aggressive. Look at this corrected message.

Joe Balo, I don't need their blessing to play these songs any more than they need mine to play them.

You saying "they wrote the bulk of the music" is a huge assumption on your part! I co-wrote and arranged all of the music, wrote all of the lyrics and vocal melodies as well as co-Produced every one of the recordings.

The entire concept and idea was solely mine.

Me playing these songs on my own with other musicians is no different to Roger Waters playing Pink Floyd songs with his own band.

As far as not announcing the lineup in advance, if you read what I wrote above you'd see I'm planning on keeping it a surprise for the unveiling at my 50th Birthday Concert on Cruise to the Edge.

If you're uncomfortable buying tickets without knowing my band, then you'll have between February and July to make up your mind.

I think it comes off much better after changing all those ellipsis (which make it look as if he's holding something back, maybe also showing bitterness) to full stops, removing the chaossystem-esque capitalisations (which areneedlessly emotional, even if it's just casual emphasis) and removing the bracketed phrases (which push the point a bit too hard, possibly coming across as aggresssive). I think that the last legit dumb thing he said was about the guy wearing a ADToE shirt, but the way he tends to write messages makes it seem like he's being passive-aggressive even when he isn't. I could be wrong on this, though.

[Bertielee]

Don't you guys think it is reasonable to think that MP had more of a hand in writing the 12-Step songs than most of the other ones?

I personally think he had. The 12-step suite was about him and his way to rehab, so it's normal in a way. On a side note, I think the 12-step suite took too much room in DT discog, given that all the tracks composing it are not of the same quality.

B.Lee

[bosk1]

Don't you guys think it is reasonable to think that MP had more of a hand in writing the 12-Step songs than most of the other ones?

I'm not so sure.  I mean, it depends on what you consider "writing," which is a debate we've had here many times, and one where there is a huge amount of disagreement in the music industry in general. 

My basic understanding (and some of the details could obviously be off) is that JP and JR and always come up with the VAST majority of riff/melody/chord progression ideas, and the band would then "write" by jamming those ideas out together.  During that process, MP would come up with creative variations, arrangement ideas, and new riff/melody/chord progressions based on the original ideas from JP and JR.  And he would occasionally have a riff/melody/chord progression idea himself.  But he doesn't write on or play on a traditional compositional instrument, so that is understandable and isn't meant to be a knock on him.  But anyway, he was always very active in his role as a "writer."  I'm not sure that changed drastically with the 12SS songs.  I think a lot of the original riff/chord/melody ideas were likely JP and JR, with MP doing what he always did.  That is my educated guess, for what it's worth.

But as for lyrics and vocal melodies, I have no doubt that that is all mostly him.

[Kotowboy]

MP doesn't play a "melodic" instrument does he ?

I know he played a bit of bass in "Nightmare Cinema"

But I don't think i've ever seen him or anyone else say he writes actual music on a melodic instrument.



Brann from mastodon sings his musical ideas to the guys and they work it out.

[hefdaddy42]

FWIW, and I have certainly been critical of some of MP's posts in the pasts, there is nothing wrong with this last post.

[Setlist Scotty]

Not even MP will argue that JP and JR come up with the bulk of the music parts that make up DT's songs. BUT MP also did come up with different music parts included in the songs - not as many as JP and JR, but still enough that it is noteworthy. And he also was heavily involved in the arranging of the songs, which is also a significant part of songwriting.

He kinda did argue exactly that. His quote from FB literally states that a fan is making a big assumption by thinking JP and JR wrote the bulk of the music and then he basically goes on to try to prove why that assumption is wrong.

I think you missed a subtle point that I made - I specifically said "music parts" not music. As Bosk eloquently put it in his last post, it stands to reason that to a great extent, the riff/melody/chord progressions originally came from JP and/or JR, but MP was involved in the shaping and arranging of those ideas, as well as the song arrangements in general. And he did contribute certain riff/melody/chord progressions too - just not to the same extent as JP and JR.

Another thing that does get overlooked are the vocal melodies, which he certainly was involved with for all the songs he wrote lyrics to, but he was probably involved in to varying degrees in other songs. Even in the case of the JP-penned TDEN, MP came up with the idea to do more of a rap for the verses in that song, instead of singing a melody as JP originally written.
 
 

I certainly won't argue that the man has said things in the past that weren't cringeworthy, but you can't blame the man for getting exasperated when fans (or former fans) love to criticize every little thing he does, especially when people cast all sorts of doubt on to what his contributions to the band and songwriting were. I'm pretty sure just about every single person that posts on this board would get more than just a little irritated if whatever they worked so hard on and gave so much of their life to was discounted and credit was taken away from them, which is what is happening now and has numerous times in the past.

His supposed "passive-agressive" statement is stated as such to prove the point he's making - going beyond simply refuting them. And quite frankly, I'd rather have a detailed explanation instead of being left to wonder what proof there is.

I can understand his irritation, but more often than not, he seems to make things worse by responding to critics online. Scotty, I know you and Mike are friends, but even you have to admit that sometimes the best thing for Mike would be to simply not respond to this stuff?

And I'll state this again, I'm not hating on MP or trying to diminish his contributions, I'm just trying to look at this as fairly as possible (Translation - not through MP-hater glasses or through MP-fanboy glasses).

For starters, yes I am friends with him, and yes I agree that there are occasions where it was best for MP to keep his mouth completely shut. But should he remain quiet regards everything? Absolutely not. The man has a right to explain things - maybe the way he types things (as Enigmachine points out) doesn't help, but there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to respond. And here's the thing - how much of making things worse is MP's fault and not that of the critics who look to pounce on and read into every little single thing he posts or says?

And to be clear, I also try to remain neutral and unbiased - I'm not perfect, but I think I do a decent job of it.    As I said, I don't agree with everything he's posted (particularly shortly after the split), but it also pisses me off when I see stupid allegations lobbed against him just because he is now perceived as "the enemy" of our favorite band.
 
 

Don't you guys think it is reasonable to think that MP had more of a hand in writing the 12-Step songs than most of the other ones?

I think Bosk's post is fairly accurate. MP may have been a bit more involved than with the other songs - I'd wager he was fully in control of the arranging of the songs (in particular TSF) besides the lyrics and vocal melodies - but to what degree he contributed more riff/melody/chord progression ideas is up for debate.
 
 

MP doesn't play a "melodic" instrument does he ?

I know he played a bit of bass in "Nightmare Cinema"

But I don't think i've ever seen him or anyone else say he writes actual music on a melodic instrument.



Brann from mastodon sings his musical ideas to the guys and they work it out.

MP can play basic ideas on guitar - don't forget he actually played Van Halen's Eruption at the beginning of the encore in 2007-2008. But the man could still humm or sing ideas if he couldn't play them on guitar or keys. I have an MP3 soundbyte he sent me where he recorded himself humming the main riff for ARoP when he first came up with the idea.

[mikeyd23]

Good post Scotty, without having to try to go quote by quote, I'll just say I agree with pretty much everything you said for the most part.

I have no doubt MP did contribute some to musical parts, to lesser degree than JP and JR, and I have no doubt he played a part in arranging those songs along with the rest of the band. And to clarify I certainly didn't mean Mike should never respond to anything, just that maybe, sometimes, random fan comments on social media should just be left alone, that's all.

[Setlist Scotty]

And to clarify I certainly didn't mean Mike should never respond to anything, just that maybe, sometimes, random fan comments on social media should just be left alone, that's all.

Understood, and I get where you are coming from. However, don't forget that there are hundreds if not thousands of fan comments that are made weekly that never get a response. When he responds to fan comments, it's because they are things he feels really need to be addressed.

[mikeyd23]

And to clarify I certainly didn't mean Mike should never respond to anything, just that maybe, sometimes, random fan comments on social media should just be left alone, that's all.

Understood, and I get where you are coming from. However, don't forget that there are hundreds if not thousands of fan comments that are made weekly that never get a response. When he responds to fan comments, it's because they are things he feels really need to be addressed.

Oh yeah, absolutely.

[Madman Shepherd]

For starters, yes I am friends with him, and yes I agree that there are occasions where it was best for MP to keep his mouth completely shut. But should he remain quiet regards everything? Absolutely not. The man has a right to explain things...

 

Nobody ever said he doesn't. 

This is the exact same debate style MP uses and does nothing to help his (or your) case.

[Dream Team]

What I meant was, there were 4 albums where he knew there would be an AA song ahead of time. He may have been thinking of the kinds of riffs and melodies he wanted and explained them to JP/JR.

[Ravenfoul]

Scotty, for sure given your position, you do a damn fine job being level-headed and as least biased as you can be. Just wanted to point that out. I just hope that MP has friends in his circle that at least, you know, tell him 'hey man, maybe you should look at things X instead of Y' because I get him talking and being who he is; and although this wasn't actually bad IMO, he's done worse in the past over smaller things.

As far as his contributions go. I'm sure JP and JR thinks he contributed less, and that MP thinks he contributed more, but it probably is somewhere in the middle. The dude freaking LOVES music. Seriously. He knows how to communicate and develop musical ideas even if he hadn't laid a finger on a compositional instrument. I mean I'm not even a huge defender of MP, but it does suck to see him get so shit on so consistently - aside from when he's actually earned it which happens now and again. Everyone's got their skeletons though. Mike's are just more visible because that's how it is for him and his career.

I guess that was a mini rant.

[PetFish]

I've always wondered how writing credits work.

It's easy when, say, JP comes in with Wither and it's all done, but what if James suggest a different word or two or Jordan says to extend the bridge or whatever.  Do they automatically get a writing credit or can they later claim they should have if there's a bad breakup?

Would a musician withhold something cool for a particular song that they didn't 'write' out of spite if they knew they wouldn't get a writing credit?

Look at all these pop-fluff songs that have 8 different writers on them and none of them is the actual singer, how does *that* even work?  Jay-Z says "what up" once in the song and gets credit for it?

        

[Setlist Scotty]

Nobody ever said he doesn't. 

Not directly, but by their actions - specifically the way they pounce on and critique every little thing that the man posts - they are saying so indirectly.
 
 

I've always wondered how writing credits work.

It's easy when, say, JP comes in with Wither and it's all done, but what if James suggest a different word or two or Jordan says to extend the bridge or whatever.  Do they automatically get a writing credit or can they later claim they should have if there's a bad breakup?

Actually, I think you bringing up Wither is an excellent example of how it works. Here's what MP said regarding the fact that JP got the sole songwriting credit:

MP: That’s his song, no two ways about it. He came in one day and played on the piano, actually. He doesn’t really know how to play piano, but he knows how to construct block chords, so he sat down and showed Jordan these kind of block chords, and sang the melody. He said “this is something I have” and we were like “oh yeah, this is really nice. Let’s turn this into a song.” And it was such a simple song, we didn’t want to mess with it. There was no reason why we should “Dream Theater-ize” it. It was a strong melody, a strong chord progression. John had a real good vision of the kind of tonality it should cover. So there was no reason to mess with it. We were like “let’s just do it. And you [JP] will get the full credit – we don’t need to pretend that we wrote this with you, because we didn’t.” It was really something he had, and we brought it to life.

SH: So it wasn’t like he had a demo that he brought from home?

MP: No – he brought in the chords and the melody, and then we brought it to life as a band, but we didn’t really add or change anything to it that would justify us getting any writing credit. And then me and him as producers inevitably orchestrated it together and had ideas on how to orchestrate it – put this here and put that there.

So it seems that the basic chords and melody (beside the lyrics and vocal melody) were what determined that this was his song. Anything done beyond that was merely helping to bring "it to life".

[Mosh]

The writing credits discussion is interesting because it really varies from band to band. In the case of DT, I always assumed they just gave equal credit out of diplomacy. JR's recent comments about The Astonishing seem to support that.

I think it's possible Portnoy had a greater hand in the 12SS stuff, especially later on. I believe him when he says that he wrote all the vocal parts, that combined with the melodies make up a pretty major part of those songs. I also assume he wrote many of the riffs, since a lot of them are somewhat simple. Also a ton of riffs in the 12SS are clearly based on drum patterns. I'm not saying the guy wrote everything, but I think he was certainly the creative director of these songs and probably came up with more musical ideas than usual.

Personally I think writing credits should go to whoever has the major ideas of the song. The chord progressions, melodies, rhythms, etc, whoever comes up with that should get credit. I relate things like coming up with a drum part or a bass line later on more to the arrangement side of things. That's just my opinion though and how I would prefer it if I was in a band. But that just sort of shows how subjective this process can be.

[Kotowboy]

U2 have always split everything 25%

No surprise it's been the same 4 guys for 40 years.

[KevShmev]

For starters, yes I am friends with him, and yes I agree that there are occasions where it was best for MP to keep his mouth completely shut. But should he remain quiet regards everything? Absolutely not. The man has a right to explain things...

 

Nobody ever said he doesn't. 

This is the exact same debate style MP uses and does nothing to help his (or your) case.

Agreed.  You can't make a habit out of fact checking people on social media, much less the internet in general, unless you want to lose your mind.

And with Portnoy, too often his cases of fact checking/"telling it like it is" is usually him giving his version of the facts, which we have seen turn out to be not exactly accurate at times.

[Zook]

inb4thelock

[Mosh]

U2 have always split everything 25%

No surprise it's been the same 4 guys for 40 years.

Same with Van Halen, but they still couldn't keep it together.

[red barchetta]

It's not really about the verity of what he said. Most of the die-hard fans know who does what in the band. It's how he says it and how he beats the point to death.

You mean like how DTF beats the point to death?

These things only happen when he posts another one of his ME ME THEM posts...

In between those we never mention MP's passive aggressive outbursts.

For every supposed outburst "ME ME THEM" post MP makes, I have to see 100 outburst exaggerated "ME ME THEM CAPITALIZED PRONOUNS" Kotowboy posts, which is far worse than any of MP's indiscretions.

 

[red barchetta]

Good thing it was CLEARLY a joke..




" "

You are always joking.

[red barchetta]

Not even MP will argue that JP and JR come up with the bulk of the music parts that make up DT's songs. BUT MP also did come up with different music parts included in the songs - not as many as JP and JR, but still enough that it is noteworthy. And he also was heavily involved in the arranging of the songs, which is also a significant part of songwriting.

He kinda did argue exactly that. His quote from FB literally states that a fan is making a big assumption by thinking JP and JR wrote the bulk of the music and then he basically goes on to try to prove why that assumption is wrong.

I think you missed a subtle point that I made - I specifically said "music parts" not music. As Bosk eloquently put it in his last post, it stands to reason that to a great extent, the riff/melody/chord progressions originally came from JP and/or JR, but MP was involved in the shaping and arranging of those ideas, as well as the song arrangements in general. And he did contribute certain riff/melody/chord progressions too - just not to the same extent as JP and JR.

Another thing that does get overlooked are the vocal melodies, which he certainly was involved with for all the songs he wrote lyrics to, but he was probably involved in to varying degrees in other songs. Even in the case of the JP-penned TDEN, MP came up with the idea to do more of a rap for the verses in that song, instead of singing a melody as JP originally written.
 
 

I certainly won't argue that the man has said things in the past that weren't cringeworthy, but you can't blame the man for getting exasperated when fans (or former fans) love to criticize every little thing he does, especially when people cast all sorts of doubt on to what his contributions to the band and songwriting were. I'm pretty sure just about every single person that posts on this board would get more than just a little irritated if whatever they worked so hard on and gave so much of their life to was discounted and credit was taken away from them, which is what is happening now and has numerous times in the past.

His supposed "passive-agressive" statement is stated as such to prove the point he's making - going beyond simply refuting them. And quite frankly, I'd rather have a detailed explanation instead of being left to wonder what proof there is.

I can understand his irritation, but more often than not, he seems to make things worse by responding to critics online. Scotty, I know you and Mike are friends, but even you have to admit that sometimes the best thing for Mike would be to simply not respond to this stuff?

And I'll state this again, I'm not hating on MP or trying to diminish his contributions, I'm just trying to look at this as fairly as possible (Translation - not through MP-hater glasses or through MP-fanboy glasses).

For starters, yes I am friends with him, and yes I agree that there are occasions where it was best for MP to keep his mouth completely shut. But should he remain quiet regards everything? Absolutely not. The man has a right to explain things - maybe the way he types things (as Enigmachine points out) doesn't help, but there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to respond. And here's the thing - how much of making things worse is MP's fault and not that of the critics who look to pounce on and read into every little single thing he posts or says?

And to be clear, I also try to remain neutral and unbiased - I'm not perfect, but I think I do a decent job of it.    As I said, I don't agree with everything he's posted (particularly shortly after the split), but it also pisses me off when I see stupid allegations lobbed against him just because he is now perceived as "the enemy" of our favorite band.
 
 

Don't you guys think it is reasonable to think that MP had more of a hand in writing the 12-Step songs than most of the other ones?

I think Bosk's post is fairly accurate. MP may have been a bit more involved than with the other songs - I'd wager he was fully in control of the arranging of the songs (in particular TSF) besides the lyrics and vocal melodies - but to what degree he contributed more riff/melody/chord progression ideas is up for debate.
 
 

MP doesn't play a "melodic" instrument does he ?

I know he played a bit of bass in "Nightmare Cinema"

But I don't think i've ever seen him or anyone else say he writes actual music on a melodic instrument.



Brann from mastodon sings his musical ideas to the guys and they work it out.

MP can play basic ideas on guitar - don't forget he actually played Van Halen's Eruption at the beginning of the encore in 2007-2008. But the man could still humm or sing ideas if he couldn't play them on guitar or keys. I have an MP3 soundbyte he sent me where he recorded himself humming the main riff for ARoP when he first came up with the idea.

Wow, he did have a huge part in the writing. It makes me understand why I find DT less melodic or maybe still very melodic but the harmonies are not as good for me

[Madman Shepherd]

Nobody ever said he doesn't. 

Not directly, but by their actions - specifically the way they pounce on and critique every little thing that the man posts - they are saying so indirectly.
 

Again, no.  Just no.  You're being hysterical and not making any sense. 

Yeah, I get Kotowboy seems to be the most vocal Portnoy critic around here, and occasionally he crosses the line, in my opinion.  But no, Kotowboy does not pounce on "every little thing" Portnoy posts and neither does anybody else.

I decided to check out what Portnoy has posted and nobody has criticized him for posting movie reviews.  Did Kotow criticize him for this Winery Dogs drum kit tour?  Nope.  His post about going to something called Rockfest or shooting a Neal Morse video?  Of course nobody did. 

The only thing that gets brought up around here is Dream Theater related because this is still a Dream Theater message board and it is often because Mike Portnoy makes himself a target with his capitalization habits and passive aggressive behavior. 

In fact, he had a questionable post about Avenged Sevenfold a day or two ago where a fan said that its too bad he wasn't asked to continue and that their next album sucked.  Portnoy chimed in that it was a shame (passively laying some blame on A7X) and then admitting he was too high profile while finishing it up by saying, "I get it."

First, nobody around here posted about it until I just did because I wanted to see just how much people pounce on your boy.  Second, even though those weirdly passive shots at the band don't amount to much, it is still weird he would respond to a fan that says A7X sucks without Rev or him (Portnoy) in the band and Portnoy sorta not really disagring with him but end on a passive neutral vaguely positive, "I get it."  Point being, if we pounced on him for "every little thing" (which we clearly don't) then why didn't anybody bring up this weird post which is slightly bigger than a "little thing" but clearly not a "big thing?"

The reason?  Because your logic is beyond flawed. 

[Bertielee]

Nobody ever said he doesn't. 

Not directly, but by their actions - specifically the way they pounce on and critique every little thing that the man posts - they are saying so indirectly.

Sorry, Scotty, but now you're putting words into people's mouths?!? And yes, you're biased because you are his friend and it's normal to be biased in this case but, unless you are able to read people's thoughts, your assumption is invalid.

B.Lee

[phospheneSOI]

That post mentioned by Madman Shepherd was shocking.

After seeing this thread I decided to check out Mike's Portnoy's Facebook. I was feeling a bit sorry for him - he's clearly, for some bizarre reason, got some sort of insecurity despite how good he is and what he's achieved - but than I saw that reply and lost all sympathy.

If you want to cringe beyond belief - check it out. Madman Shepherd's made is sound more bearable than it actually is, he actually replied to a post tht says "The only thing I can think of is that they didn't want a drummer of your caliber and popularity to upstage the death of the Rev"... what is he thinking!?

He also had a jokey pop at someone who calls him Michael and the whole thing spirals out of control. It's good entertainment at least.

[Kotowboy]

Not stirring shit but... isn't Portnoy saying "it's a shame they didn't keep him on" completely against

what he previously maintained that he was only ever going to do the album & tour ?


See YouTube video "Wikipedia fact or fiction" for details.

[Plasmastrike]

Nobody ever said he doesn't. 

Not directly, but by their actions - specifically the way they pounce on and critique every little thing that the man posts - they are saying so indirectly.
 

Again, no.  Just no.  You're being hysterical and not making any sense. 

Yeah, I get Kotowboy seems to be the most vocal Portnoy critic around here, and occasionally he crosses the line, in my opinion.  But no, Kotowboy does not pounce on "every little thing" Portnoy posts and neither does anybody else.

I decided to check out what Portnoy has posted and nobody has criticized him for posting movie reviews.  Did Kotow criticize him for this Winery Dogs drum kit tour?  Nope.  His post about going to something called Rockfest or shooting a Neal Morse video?  Of course nobody did. 

The only thing that gets brought up around here is Dream Theater related because this is still a Dream Theater message board and it is often because Mike Portnoy makes himself a target with his capitalization habits and passive aggressive behavior. 

In fact, he had a questionable post about Avenged Sevenfold a day or two ago where a fan said that its too bad he wasn't asked to continue and that their next album sucked.  Portnoy chimed in that it was a shame (passively laying some blame on A7X) and then admitting he was too high profile while finishing it up by saying, "I get it."

First, nobody around here posted about it until I just did because I wanted to see just how much people pounce on your boy.  Second, even though those weirdly passive shots at the band don't amount to much, it is still weird he would respond to a fan that says A7X sucks without Rev or him (Portnoy) in the band and Portnoy sorta not really disagring with him but end on a passive neutral vaguely positive, "I get it."  Point being, if we pounced on him for "every little thing" (which we clearly don't) then why didn't anybody bring up this weird post which is slightly bigger than a "little thing" but clearly not a "big thing?"

The reason?  Because your logic is beyond flawed.

I hope this is a joke. You really don't miss the point that much.

[hefdaddy42]

Nobody ever said he doesn't. 

Not directly, but by their actions - specifically the way they pounce on and critique every little thing that the man posts - they are saying so indirectly.
 

Again, no.  Just no.  You're being hysterical and not making any sense. 

Kotowboy does not pounce on "every little thing" Portnoy posts and neither does anybody else.

I decided to check out what Portnoy has posted and nobody has criticized him for posting movie reviews.  Did Kotow criticize him for this Winery Dogs drum kit tour?  Nope.  His post about going to something called Rockfest or shooting a Neal Morse video?  Of course nobody did. 

The only thing that gets brought up around here is Dream Theater related because this is still a Dream Theater message board and it is often because Mike Portnoy makes himself a target with his capitalization habits and passive aggressive behavior. 

Calm down, pal.  Scotty isn't wrong.

Pretty sure that when he says some people pounce on "everything" MP posts, the "DT-related" is implied and understood.  Obviously, the man has a life and posts about other stuff that isn't DT-related.

The only thing that gets brought up around here is Dream Theater related because this is still a Dream Theater message board

That's exactly right, which is exactly what Scotty is talking about.

[cramx3]

Mike Portnoy 's Shattered Fortress headlines ProgPower USA XVIII. This is not a a band. This is not a project. The is an *event.* Mike will perform the "12 Steps Suite" in its entirety with his prog friends. Expect to also hear a few other Dream Theater songs that he was involved with as writer as well.

From progpower USA's FB.  Looks like confirmation of other DT songs to be performed.

[BlobVanDam]

I wonder if he'll take the opportunity to perform TBOT? I'm not sure it would fit such an event or be way too long, but it seems like something MP would want to perform at some point as a tribute. I'd definitely expect to hear The Mirror (because it's a good mid length straight up metal song, not because it has anything to do with the 12SS). Out of the rest of the songs he wrote lyrics for, there are many contenders.

[King Postwhore]

Blob that would be the perfect time to do so.  I hope he does.

[ChuckSteak]

Any topic Mike Portnoy related always goes 10+ pages.