MIKE PORTNOY: “ERIC GILLETTE Reminds Me the Most of JOHN PETRUCCI”

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Mike Portnoy recently sat down with Dream Theater World (the official world wide fan club of the band) before the Neal Morse Band show in Malmö. Among other topics, Portnoy talked about touring under the name Shattered Fortress, with whom he recently played Dream Theater’s “12 Step Suite” at the Cruise to the Edge festival, and is also scheduled to play it on a select number of festivals during the year. You can watch the full interview below.

Asked about how he gathered the Shattered Fortress band, which includes Haken members and Eric Gillette from the Neal Morse Band, Portnoy said:

“[Well] I guess it dates back a few years… Haken was doing a US tour and my son’s band Next To None was opening for them. And at the final show of the tour they asked if I would come up and play ‘The Mirror‘ with them. And so I went up and played ‘The Mirror‘ with them, and they just killed it—it was perfect. So in the back of my mind, I thought if I was ever going to do the ‘12 Step Suite‘—this is the band. You know, they are all incredible musicians individually and even as a band, I think Haken is the new, this new generations’ prog metal super-band. I think they are just, they are kind of like what—what I used to do with Dream Theater reminds me of, but a modern-day version. So I knew, in the back of my head I wanted to have them as my backing band if I was to ever do the ‘12 Step Suite.’ But then I had the idea of also adding Eric Gillette because Eric plays with me in the Neal Morse Band and of all the guitar players I’ve played with through the years he reminds me the most of John Petrucci. He’s just got such a similar style. So I knew I wanted him to be a part of it as well, so you know, here we are now with three guitar players. You know because Haken has two guitar players, I wasn’t gonna have one without the other, and then Eric as well. So it’s now a big kind of Dream Theater orchestra.”

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