Lost your password?

MOB

MIKE PORTNOY Says ADRENALINE MOB Was ‘Not Growing Fast Enough’

Manos Spanos
Journalist and musician Barbara Caserta of Italy's Linearock conducted a 30-minute video interview with drummer Mike Portnoy (THE WINERY DOGS, DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ADRENALINE MOB) prior to THE WINERY DOGS' concert at Live Club in Trezzo sull'Adda, Milan, Italy. You can now watch the chat below. Asked what led to his departure from ADRENALINE MOB, the band featuring Russell Allen (vocals; also of SYMPHONY X) and Mike Orlando (guitar), Portnoy said: "I'm very proud of the album I made with ADRENALINE MOB and I think that there was really a great chemistry there; it was a great band. I was definitely behind it. I spent two years of my life developing it and trying my best. But at the end of the day, I came out of DREAM THEATER wanting to do a lot of different things, and I wasn't ready to commit exclusively to any one band. I had just spent 25 years with one band — and side projects, obviously, but committed to one band. And I said right from the beginning I was gonna plant many different musical seeds and see which grew, and that would kind of dictate where I would go and what I would do. And I spent a good solid two years giving my all to ADRENALINE MOB. But it only blossomed a little; I kept waiting for it to truly blossom and waiting for touring opportunities to come around, which never happened, and waiting for certain things to happen that never happened, so when it came time for them to start to want to do a new record, it's, like, well, I have five months of THE WINERY DOGS dates on the calendar, so I had to make a decision; I couldn’t be in two places at the same time. Luckily, up until now, I've been able to juggle all these different things and make the schedules work out, but finally it came to a head where it's, like, 'OK, do I do a record with ADRENALINE MOB or do I tour with THE WINERY DOGS?' And it's, like, well, ADRENALINE MOB is not really growing fast enough. I don't have time to get into a van and play to a hundred people a night for the next ten years to develop this when I have other opportunities and things like THE WINERY DOGS and other things that are offering opportunities and situations that I need to follow through with. So I haf to make a decision, and one shoe had to drop, and unfortunately, it happened to be ADRENALINE MOB."
04 min read

ADRENALINE MOB To Open For AVENGED SEVENFOLD

Manos Spanos
ADRENALINE MOB will be the opening act for AVENGED SEVENFOLD on July 16 at La Crosse Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Also on the bill isFIGHT OR FLIGHT, the new band featuring DISTURBED guitarist Dan Donegan and drummer Mike Wengren. Says ADRENALINE MOB: "After coming off an amazing run in South America with HALESTORM, we have, unfortunately, parted ways with drummer Mike Portnoy due to scheduling conflicts, as you all know. "We had an incredible run with Mike and made two great albums together, as well as many great shows and tours since we've launchedADRENALINE MOB. It was a pleasure to share the stage with such a great talent, but as a band, we need to be able to move forward and work as hard as we can to take ADRENALINE MOB to the next level. We wishMike all the best in everything he does! 'As far as filling the drum position... we will not be announcing a permanent replacement just yet. We are currently seeking out the right person to fill the spot at this time and will use a fill-in for the AVENGED SEVENFOLDahow on July 16.
02 min read

ADRENALINE MOB Singer: ‘We Don’t Wanna Wait Around’ For MIKE PORTNOY

Manos Spanos
Brazil's Wikimetal podcast recently conducted an interview withADRENALINE MOB and SYMPHONY X vocalist Russell Allen. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud player below. On whether they knew drummer Mike Portnoy was leaving ADRENALINE MOB before Mike released a statement announcing his departure: Russell: "Of course we knew about it before he made it public. He's been, obviously, real busy with THE WINERY DOGS, which is his next band that he's doing. The truth of it is we wanna keep working, we wanna keep doing ADRENALINE MOB and we don't wanna wait around for Mike to have the time [to put into ADRENALINE MOB]. And he doesn't know when he will have the time again, so that's really what's going down. Mike Portnoy was asked to be in the band by myself. Me and [guitarist Mike]Orlando had already written all the material, so [ADRENALINE MOB's debut album] 'Omertá' was completely finished before Mike joined the act. And it's a bummer, but he's got his sights on other things, and he's not gonna stick around. So we wish him the best of luck, but the MOB's gotta go on."
02 min read