Mike Portnoy's DRUMEO video series

[hefdaddy42]

That was a fantastic video!  Cool to hear that "almost" story about MP and Nickelback.

I wouldn't be surprised if he had multiple similar stories about other well-known bands.

[nobloodyname]

That was as entertaining as I hoped it would be! Could watch him doing those all day.

[Indiscipline]

I really struggle to come up with a musician more perfectly suited for that kind of content.

[The Letter M]

So, do we think Mike will bring some Nickelback in for the new album's "inspiration corner" CD stack?

Honestly, I wouldn't mind a fairly straight-forward heavy-rocking metal song on the next album. Something (relatively) simple and fun to rock out to in a 4-5 minute range. Say what you will about the albums of this line-up between Scenes and BC&SL, but when they crafted a decent metal song, it was really good. Some of those first-single type songs are some of my favorites from that period.

-Marc.

[Architeuthis]

I was thinking Mike was using too much crash cymbal. It turned the original recording had way less crash. He still did a great job for hearing it on the fly.. 

[King Postwhore]

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

That's a great play through and example of a drummer making a song 5-10% better. It's already a good song but you can hear how bleached and stripped down it is. MPs style immediately made it more engaging and a pair of balls.

[wolfking]

Killer rendition with the double bass.

I must say, I don't think I ever really realised how much of a strong personality MP is.  Dont ask me why.  Can see where the drive and work ethic comes from but can also see why he's not everyone's cup of tea.

[ReaperKK]

I remember thinking the same thing when I listened to the WDADRU commentary.

[MirrorMask]

I have to watch this, from Drumeo so far I just randomly stumbled upon the Megadeth drummer listening to The Killers' Mr. Brightside for the first time and laying down his drum parts for it. It's gonna be cool to see Mike directly in action!

[hefdaddy42]

I must say, I don't think I ever really realised how much of a strong personality MP is.  Dont ask me why.  Can see where the drive and work ethic comes from but can also see why he's not everyone's cup of tea.

Well, that's why he dominated the band for 20+ years.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I know that this Drumeo session was scheduled for a long time, and it was a neat coincidence that it coincided with Portnoy's return to DT, but this video served as a great reminder to me of how good a promoter MP is. There are a lot of people who will stumble onto this video and discover Dream Theater for the first time because of Portnoy. I would not be surprised if this played a role in them getting him back in the band - He has a bit of that salesman aspect to him (which is both a gift and a curse ).

[jingle.boy]

That version of Burn It To The Ground was in-fucking-credible.  I hope someone makes it available for download some how.  I suppose I could save this YT clip to an .mp3, then trim just the song. 

[emtee]

Amazing. The man continues to blow my mind. Elite talent.

Also worth noting, sometimes playing in front of a small select group can be a little intimidating. It's kind of like an audition where every move is being analyzed and every mistake is amplified. It's a completely different dynamic than playing in front of a big crowd. MP handles this setting with ease and confidence. This is a testament to his ability.

[bosk1]

I didn't know the song.  After having heard it, I don't care for it at all.  Not my thing.  But that said, I loved this performance.  Stuff like this is a great reminder of just how talented MP is, even though the song is pretty simple from a rhythm standpoint.  It's easy for some to reflect back on Mangini and fall into the trap of feeling like Portnoy is somehow "inferior."  And his tendency to "just wing it" and taking his comments about practice out of context and blowing them out of proportion, it's tempting to let those types of things feed that narrative.  But let's not forget that while, even by Portnoy's admission, Mangini might be the "better" drummer, if Mangini is in say the top .1 % of rock/metal drummers in the world, Portnoy is still in the top 1 or 2%.  He's still elite and still just an absolute beast on drums. 

Also worth noting, sometimes playing in front of a small select group can be a little intimidating. It's kind of like an audition where every move is being analyzed and every mistake is amplified. It's a completely different dynamic than playing in front of a big crowd. MP handles this setting with ease and confidence. This is a testament to his ability.

Absolutely!  Very well said.

[The Letter M]

And Mike is, of course, humble enough to let the Drumeo guys keep his flubs and "oops" faces in the final cut of the video. He's a dang good sport about the whole thing, which was just fun and refreshing to watch. Of course, this comes from the guy who played on a Hello Kitty drum kit for a YouTube channel several years ago, so he's not above doing fun and goofy stuff.

-Marc.

[wolfking]

I must say, I don't think I ever really realised how much of a strong personality MP is.  Dont ask me why.  Can see where the drive and work ethic comes from but can also see why he's not everyone's cup of tea.

Well, that's why he dominated the band for 20+ years.

Yeah clearly.

[goo-goo]

Would love for MP to produce Nickelback after hearing this song with his playing. Still keeps it very rocking but with better drumming. Not saying Adair can't play but the song's quality was way better with MP's drumming.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I didn't know the song.  After having heard it, I don't care for it at all.  Not my thing.  But that said, I loved this performance.  Stuff like this is a great reminder of just how talented MP is, even though the song is pretty simple from a rhythm standpoint.  It's easy for some to reflect back on Mangini and fall into the trap of feeling like Portnoy is somehow "inferior."  And his tendency to "just wing it" and taking his comments about practice out of context and blowing them out of proportion, it's tempting to let those types of things feed that narrative.  But let's not forget that while, even by Portnoy's admission, Mangini might be the "better" drummer, if Mangini is in say the top .1 % of rock/metal drummers in the world, Portnoy is still in the top 1 or 2%.  He's still elite and still just an absolute beast on drums. 

This is a great way to look at it. Is Mike Portnoy the fastest drummer in the world? Hardly. The most technical? Nope. Does he have an impeccable sense of timing, groove, and rhythm? Absolutely! Is he still a master of his craft? You bet! Plus he is a joy to watch play the drums.

[HOF]

That was a brutal song, even with MP shredding it on the drums.

[Setlist Scotty]

I thought it was cool although like Bosk, I'm not really a fan of the song.

The one thing that I would be curious about is how does NB feel about his performance? Might their drummer try to incorporatea bit of what MP did next time they do the song live? And I wonder what the diehard NB fans' take was on MP's performance. Did they hate it, feel it brought more energy to the song or just appreciate it being a different interpretation?

[Deadeye21]

MP doing Nickelback was fun. But, looking forward to the next video that “really put him through the wringer” according to this social media.

Either we’re getting TDoE, Instrumedley or it’s finally time to see what he does with an MM track!

[Dream Team]

MP being his usual awesome self  .

I believe the man can play thousands of songs from memory. What a brain.

[MirrorMask]

Watched the video, loved it!

The best part was when he heard the actual song, with a simpler drum line, and he said "That's why they're rich and famous and I'm just a nerd prog metal guy" 

"Thank God that gig didn't happen, I would have been fired immediately! this guy is fucking up all of our songs" 

[HOF]

A little off topic (slight MP connection with A7X), but I thought this Drumeo video with Nic Collins (Phil's son) learning an Avenged Sevenfold song "as fast as possible" was cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMEfALJmG8

[gzarruk]

Another little off topic post, Pianote (same thing as Drumeo but with... piano) is posting another video with Jordan this friday. Here's the teaser for a track they made him learn (so good).

https://youtube.com/shorts/bRLAAJ-zavA?si=dDSdeAzKk64XPFy4

And here's the link for the actual video premiere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrrcbUAghQA&ab_channel=Pianote

[Lonk]

A little off topic (slight MP connection with A7X), but I thought this Drumeo video with Nic Collins (Phil's son) learning an Avenged Sevenfold song "as fast as possible" was cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMEfALJmG8

That was pretty cool. and yeah, the double ride part in this track is awesome.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

A little off topic (slight MP connection with A7X), but I thought this Drumeo video with Nic Collins (Phil's son) learning an Avenged Sevenfold song "as fast as possible" was cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMEfALJmG8

That was super cool! I also had no idea Phil Collins had another son. I knew of Simon Collins.

[HOF]

A little off topic (slight MP connection with A7X), but I thought this Drumeo video with Nic Collins (Phil's son) learning an Avenged Sevenfold song "as fast as possible" was cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqMEfALJmG8

That was super cool! I also had no idea Phil Collins had another son. I knew of Simon Collins.

Ha! I guess you didn’t follow Genesis’ last tour at all? He was the drummer for that one and his dad’s last solo tour.

[MinistroRaven]

This video reaction made me ROFL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHAWBSm1D3M

[gborland]

That was super cool! I also had no idea Phil Collins had another son. I knew of Simon Collins.

Phil's take on the matter: https://youtu.be/cddQn1mZRfI?si=QoK1AYo2BTbaHfJx&t=130

[HOF]

That was super cool! I also had no idea Phil Collins had another son. I knew of Simon Collins.

Phil's take on the matter: https://youtu.be/cddQn1mZRfI?si=QoK1AYo2BTbaHfJx&t=130

I had a feeling that was coming!

[Lax]

The videos are cool, I laughed so much at his face of disappointement when listening to the nickelback song after rocking it so harder !

[gzarruk]

I'm really really hoping the learning challenge is playing a MM era DT song.

[Chino]

I'm really really hoping the learning challenge is playing a MM era DT song.

I imagine some MM era songs are going to have to be played. I'm curious it MP will stay true to them or add his own flavor. Manghini seemed like he stayed pretty close to the source material, while occasionally taking some liberties on things like the outro of Finally Free.