Mike Portnoy recently appeared as a guest on Drumeo and turned Taylor Swift\u2019s \u2018Shake It Off\u2019 into metal.<\/p>\n
On Drumeo\u2019s First Time series, Portnoy was challenged to create drum parts for a song he had never heard before\u2014Swift\u2019s \u2018Shake It Off.\u2019 After hearing a snippet without drum tracks, he jammed along. \u201cWhat the hell was that?\u201d the Dream Theater drummer said after his first take on the song.<\/p>\n
When the host asked, \u201cMike, you actually don\u2019t know what that was?\u201d Portnoy replied, \u201cI have not the slightest clue. It sounds like something out of Disneyland in Japan or something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following his final take on the track, the rocker asked the host, \u201cWho is it? What is it?\u201d After learning it was Taylor Swift, Mike added, \u201cOh my God, that\u2019s Taylor Swift? Like only the biggest artist on Earth. Wow, that\u2019s Taylor Swift. I had no idea. What\u2019s the name of that song?\u201d<\/p>\n
When the host said it is \u2018Shake It Off,\u2019 Portnoy sent a message to Swift, saying, \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m about to have to do. Taylor, I\u2019m really sorry. I still would play with you in a heartbeat. I swear I wouldn\u2019t do that [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWow, well, there you go. Perfect example. Biggest artist in the world and I don\u2019t know a single one of her songs. My daughter is going to get a kick out of this,\u201d the musician concluded.<\/p>\n
On Drumeo, Portnoy also previously played Nickelback\u2019s \u2018Burn It To The Ground\u2019 with double bass. He hadn\u2019t heard the song before, so after listening and taking notes, he played it his way.<\/p>\n
Later, he compared it to the original with Daniel Adair on drums and noticed he added an extra bar and used double bass, unlike Adair\u2019s pump-and-kick style. \u201cThis is why they\u2019re rich and famous and I\u2019m just a f*cking prog guy,\u201d Mike said of the song.<\/p>\n
He then shared, \u201cThat was a good song, man. I could fine-tune that and make a really cool drum part, but I think it\u2019s better just the first impression. I\u2019m sure if I ever did end up touring with them it would be the most fun shows ever in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Portnoy and Dream Theater will release their new album, \u2018Parasomnia,\u2019 on February 7. It\u2019s their first with Portnoy since 2009\u2019s \u2018Dark Clouds & Silver Linings,\u2019 after he rejoined the band in late 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mike Portnoy recently appeared as a guest on Drumeo and turned Taylor Swift\u2019s \u2018Shake It Off\u2019 into metal. On Drumeo\u2019s First Time series, Portnoy was … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n