Poor Dream Theater. The band must give hundreds of interviews a month, and each one probably asks them if there is ever a time when Mike Portnoy would return to the band. I guess it's not the press' fault, seeing as though Portnoy was in the news recently for saying he would be opened to rejoining.
To be fair, Portnoy tweeted that he wasn't the one who brought it up and that he was asked a question and answered honestly and his statement was taken out of context and then press outlets turned it into "I want to return to Dream Theater." That must suck, but at the same time, Mike, you are not new to the game, you know how things work. You have to be careful with what you say!
Anyway, Dream Theater frontman James LaBrie was interviewed by the exact same station that had the Portnoy interview last week, so being good journalists, they followed up and asked LaBrie for his opinion, if he ever sees Portnoy returning to the band, to which he replied:
"That possibility, I don't see it ever happening; it's not gonna happen," the singer replied. "Because, first and foremost, Mike Mangini is a full-fledged member of the band now, he's a phenomenal drummer and he's doing everything that we could possibly want as a drummer in a band. He's helping us realize exactly what we wanna do right now musically. And he will be our drummer until the day that we finish doing this, when we conclude. Mike Portnoy was a big part of our past, but I think that's where it's going to remain. He was a drummer from the past. And as far as presently and into the future, it will be Mike Mangini, and we all feel very strongly about that. He's an incredible drummer, he's an incredible asset to the band, and he is fulfilling out wildest dreams as far as what we're doing musically and what we're doing with each album. So that's the way it stands."
Which makes perfect sense! It would be incredibly disrespectful to the band's current drummer, Mike Mangini to state anything but that. That's their guy, he's on their team and they're good with him. It's clear, the entire ordeal with Portnoy leaving in 2010 left a huge strain on the relationship and the rest of the band is just not interested in revisiting.
So, can we just all move on now? Portnoy is working with Winery Dogs and putting together a Progressive Nation cruise and LaBrie put out a new solo album and Dream Theater and gearing up for a new release this fall.
