Avenged Sevenfold speak about Mike Portnoy's departure from Dream Theater

Fri, 10 Sep 2010

In the wake of Mike Portnoy's news that he was leaving Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold's Bassist Johnny Christ has spoken out about their shock at the announcement.

In an exclusive interview with Classic Rock Magazine, the bassist told them how the band had no idea it was coming. "It’s been a crazy day for us. Mike made his announcement last night [September 8], and we’re as astounded as everyone else. We only found out ourselves via a conference call. As huge fans of Dream Theater it’s hard to imagine them without Mike Portnoy, but it was a decision that he had to make for himself at this point in his life. It didn’t have anything to do with us."

Yesterday morning (Wednesday night to our friends in the US) Mike Portnoy shocked fans, including Avenged Sevenfold as he announced his departure from Dream Theater. Click here for the full story.

Since the news hit, some Dream Theater fans have pointed the finger of blame at the Huntington Beach band, the speculation of various music sites aswell haven't helped as they ask, did Mike Portnoy leave Dream Theater to join Avenged Sevenfold full time?

"It’s too early to address that type of question," sighs Johnny as he continues when asked if Mike would be staying with the band. "All we know for sure is that Mike will be with us until the end of this year. We’re scheduling some more tour dates and given that he’s left Dream Theater we might be able to hold onto him a little longer. But we’ll have to see how that goes."

So far, A7X have no immediate plans of bringing in a permanent replacement for The Rev, who sadly passed away at the end of 2009, the bands own future still has been undecided by its members.  Since the success of Nightmare and the fans response on the Rockstar Uproar Festival tour in the US the band could be beginning to consider what will happen after the touring cycle in terms of writing another album, but the thought of replacements for Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan are currently not on the agenda.  "We won’t know for sure until the end of this touring cycle. Trying to write again without ‘The Rev’… I just don’t know how that would feel. We’re still taking things one day at a time; the last thing on our minds is replacements." He concludes.

Avenged Sevenfold and Mike Portnoy are currently on tour in the US & Canada with the Rockstar Uproar Festival, before they head to the UK for their Co-Headlining tour with Stone Sour, with support from Hell Yeah. Check out tour dates here.


Here's a few videos we found related on YouTube;

Mike Portnoy talks about recording with Avenged Sevenfold and the upcoming tour:




Avenged Sevenfold Rockstar Uproar Video Reel: 



Learn to Play some of Avenged Sevenfold hits with this DVD by Andy James