Mike Portnoy intensifies the drama between him and his former band Dream Theater once again. Back in December, Portnoy claimed that after reaching out to rejoin the band, DT told him no. Now it appears that they won’t even talked to their former drummer.
When asked by fan via his official fan forum what will become of YtseJam Records, the record label Dream Theater created to release official live bootlegs (and what spells out Majesty backwards, their original name), Portnoy had the following to say:
“As this question seems to come up every few weeks, I may as well go on the record:
I have no idea why JP would have said Ytsejam Records wouldn’t be effected…
I was the one that handpicked and decided on every title, compiled the music and videos for the CD’s and DVD’s and oversaw the artwork and liner notes.
John’s side of the YJR Production team consisted of dealing with the manufacturing factory and staying on top of the payments and deliverys after I produced all of the titles…
Being I have the entire 25 year archive of every studio and live recording from 1985 to 2010 in my home, and being the band currently refuse to answer my emails or calls, I honestly can’t see any upcoming releases…
It’s a shame too….I was already working on another batch before all of this went down….”
Ouch! While it does seem a little harsh to have supposedly cut all contact with Portnoy, it’s not exactly like either party has helped the situation. Both sides seem to be a bit overly press-happy when talking about the split, which A7X’s M. Shadows even pointed out previously. At this point, for both die-hard Dream Theater fans and metal listeners in general, all of this drama is getting a bit tiring. I’d go out of my way to say that we’d all be more interested in hearing about Portnoy’s new projects, as well as find out about who Dream Theater’s new drummer is, than all of this bickering. But I guess we’ll find out about both in due time. Until then, guess we should just enjoy the soap opera known as “Dream Theater: The Mike Portnoy Departure.”
