In a new interview with Loaded Radio, Dream Theater frontman James LaBrie opened up about Mike Portnoy’s return to the band. He also spoke about former drummer Mike Mangini and his reaction to Portnoy rejoining.
LaBrie praised Mangini’s professionalism, saying, “Well, he was very professional about it. [It was] very admirable of him to have been… He took it in style and class.”
“I mean, obviously, I think it would have been upsetting — it must have been upsetting — but he took it for what it’s worth and even saying things like, ‘It kind of makes sense, guys. I see why this should be happening and why this would maybe inevitably be happening. It just makes sense for the band and the amount of history that you all have together. It seems natural.’ So, he was a class guy. Classy,” he added.
After Dream Theater announced Portnoy’s return to the lineup, Mangini broke his silence about the matter in an interview. Fortunately, Mangini’s departure and Portnoy’s return were not marred by drama or hard feelings. “All I know is the decision was made and when I heard it, all I pictured was, ‘Oh, this is an original guy going back to his band. Uh, okay. All right. Let’s go to the next thing.’” he said in a chat with Eddie Trunk.
“It was nothing more. I was told. It was just nothing more than — it seemed so simple to me. And maybe intuitively it’s, like, ‘Oh yeah, I get it.’ And that was that. That’s really it,” the drummer added.
Later in a Drumeo interview, Portnoy praised how smoothly everything went without drama. He commended Mangini for handling his replacement with class and shared relief over how well Mangini took the news. He also acknowledged that being replaced is never easy.
In other news, Dream Theater’s new album ‘Parasomnia’ is coming out in just a few days.
