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Mike Portnoy Plays ‘Name That Tune’ On A Set Of Hello Kitty Drums

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 13:03 PST, Oct 7, 2015

Mike Portnoy is, without a doubt, one of the greatest rock and metal drummers to ever sit behind a kit. On a recent visit to Loudwire’s studio, however, the founding member of Dream Theater found himself playing an impromptu game of “Name That Tune” on the simplest (and most unlikely) of drum kits.

Portnoy was visiting Loudwire with his new project Metal Allegiance, who recently released their debut album. The group also includes Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick, as well as Megadeth’s David Ellefson and musician Mark Menghi. Loudwire‘s staff couldn’t help but show Portnoy their new Hello Kitty drum kit, and he quickly found himself sitting behind the drums, enlisted in an off-the-cuff game of “Name That Tune.”

[Warning: Abundant Adult Language]

The Hello Kitty drum kit consisted of nothing more than a kick drum (single pedal), one snare, one rack tom, and one cymbal adorned with a gold star. Though Portnoy is used to sitting behind a veritable city of drums, he nevertheless managed to find a way to play some of hard rock and heavy metal’s greatest songs on the bare-bones pink kit.

Playfully observing that “Dave Lombardo wouldn’t play this s***!”, Portnoy starts out with several straightforward tunes, including Kiss’ “Love Gun” and “Strutter.” Portnoy immediately segues into Slayer, taking a stab at “Criminally Insane” and “Raining Blood.” During the second Slayer tune, Portnoy gets so animated that the kit falls apart, flying across the room and leading to the video’s first “technical difficulties” break.

Portnoy quickly returns with his version of “When The Levee Breaks,” before asking for requests. He bashes out Megadeth’s “Holy Wars” before taking a shot at Metallica’s work, only to be foiled by the lack of a double pedal. Portnoy manages to play a version of Rush’s “YYZ,” a classic milestone for rock drummers worldwide, making full use of his single cymbal. He then plays Rush’s “2112,” starting with the intro before going right into the song itself (and causing the kit to fly apart for a second time).

Portnoy closes the video by playing a drum fill from one of Metal Allegiance’s tunes, “Let Darkness Fall.” Pointing to a host of classic bands who have used opening drum fills in their work (including Iron Maiden’s “Where Eagles Dare” and Rainbow’s “Stargazer”), Portnoy says that the band deliberately set out to include that feature in one of their own tunes, as Entertainment Weekly points out. Portnoy tears apart the drum kit for a third time during the fill, however, bringing the video to a close.

A founding member and longtime drummer for Dream Theater, Portnoy played with that band for more than 20 years before departing the group ahead of their 2011 release A Dramatic Turn Of Events, which saw drummer Mike Mangini taking over behind the kit. Since leaving Dream Theater, Portnoy has kept himself consistently busy, playing in a host of metal bands and supergroups, including Flying Colors (where he is joined by Deep Purple’s Steve Morse and Neal Morse of Spock’s Beard), as well as The Winery Dogs, a group he formed with Billy Sheehan and guitarist Richie Kotzen. Mike Portnoy’s work can most recently be heard on albums by The Winery Dogs and Metal Allegiance, both of which were recently released.

[Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images]

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