egendary drummer Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold, The Winery Dogs) joins forces once again with emerging rock band Last Second Chance to unleash a powerful reinterpretation of “Roxanne” by The Police – recorded at none other than Studio 606, home of the Foo Fighters and their iconic Sound City Neve 8028 analog console.
This bold take on the classic track merges Portnoy’s explosive rhythmic style with the band’s rock sensibility, creating a raw and urgent rendition that honors the original while forging something unmistakably fresh. The release is accompanied by a music video shot entirely at Studio 606, capturing the rare energy of all musicians performing live together in one of the most iconic rock studios in the world.
Following their debut original single “Send Me A Sign,” the band continues to make waves by bringing together one of rock’s most revered drummers with two up-and-coming Italian rockers crafting the kind of sound that has been missing from the modern rock landscape.
Now available on all major streaming platforms, “Roxanne” is the second release from the band’s debut EP, “Past Forward – Part 1,” a collection of long-shelved songs now fully realized – with Part 2 already in the works.
Line-up: AxiA: Vocals Manuel Giusti: Guitar Mike Portnoy: Drums
Legendary drummer Mike Portnoy, renowned for his work with Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold, and The Winery Dogs, has collaborated with up-and-coming rock band Last Second Chance to release their debut single, “Send Me A Sign.” The track features a powerful anthemic rock chorus with a cinematic rock feel to it.
“Send Me A Sign” is the lead track from the band’s forthcoming EP, “Past Forward – Part 1,” set to release soon. This EP represents the first half of their debut album, with the second installment currently in development.
The official music video for “Send Me A Sign” features Mike Portnoy on drums and is now available on YouTube. The single is also available on all major streaming platforms.
For more information and updates, follow Last Second Chance on social media and streaming platforms.
Line-up: AxiA: Vocals Manuel Giusti: Guitar Mike Portnoy: Drums
Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy about reuniting with band and the bands new album Parasomnia, which was released on Century media Feb 7, 2025.
When asked about singer James Labrie’s health (as the had to cancel a show) “He’s okay, we’re in Biloxi (Mississippi) today and it looks like the show will go on. So he is doing much better. He really was in bad shape yesterday and couldn’t even speak so unfortunately we had a situation where we had to pull the plug on the show which you know I don’t know if that’s ever even happened with us. Sometimes these things happen. You know a singer’s instrument is their voice and sometimes if you’re really sick, I mean he literally couldn’t even speak, so it was it was rough but the show will go on today in Biloxi.”
When asked now that he is back in Dream Theater does he have less responsibilities, overall “Well things are delegated a lot more now than they were in my first round. Back before 2010 I was pretty much overseeing like everything and after a while it started to become a little overwhelming. Once I left obviously the bands divided up the responsibilities and delegated things. And now coming back it just took a little time to figure out who was going to do what. I think we got a real good system (now) and everybody’s a lot more involved than when I used to be back in my first time around. So it’s definitely more of a you know a band dynamic in that sense.”
When asked what was the specific moment where he knew he wanted to be back in Dream Theater “There wasn’t a specific moment, it was a culmination of a lot of smaller moments. I had reconnected with all the guys on a personal level so we were all in very good places personally. Then I had been connecting on a musical level with John Petrucci for his solo album and tour and then along with John (Petrucci) and Jordan (Rudess) together to do a third Liquid Tension Experiment album. So all these little kinds of baby steps kind of led the way and uh ultimately um here we are.”
When asked if their absence as the classic line-up made the heart grow fonder “Absence does make the heart grow fonder there’s no question about it. I think the time away we really learned to appreciate how special this chemistry of this lineup is. We now feel it now making the new album and now being on tour celebrating the band’s 40th anniversary. So this lineup is really like the classic lineup. We made so many memories through the years together with this lineup and so much music but yeah we all are so happy to be back together again.”
When asked how he feels about performing live the songs he was not on, like Barstool Warrior (Mangini era) “It was important to me, believe it or not. I’m the one that writes the set list and these guys gave me full on freedom when it came to the Mangini era material. I knew it had to be represented, you can’t just brush away five albums from these guys career because I’m back. It would have been pretty selfish and disrespectful. It wasn’t even considered to not be playing that material. Like I said they gave me the freedom to pick and choose songs that I could relate to and be comfortable with. When you come see the live show it sits right in the middle of the set very comfortably with everything else that is part of my catalog. “
When asked about a slight nod to Rush on the new album Parasomnia “There’s always Rush in every song Dream Theater has ever written throughout our entire career dating Back 40 years ago to the very first Majesty demos. Rush has always been our biggest collective influence. so yeah there’s no question that that stuff comes through. I mean there’s some riffs in The Shadow Man Incident that sound like it could have been off a Hemisphere or Permanent Waves and Night Terror has got a whole big kind of 7/8 section which is very Natural Science, so yeah I mean that stuff inevitably comes through no matter what.”
Track list 01 – In The Arms Of Morpheus 5:23 02 – Night Terror 9:55 03 – A Broken Man 8:30 04 – Dead Asleep 11:06 05 – Midnight Messiah 7:58 06 – Are We Dreaming 1:28 07 – Bend The Clock 7:24 08 – The Shadow Man Incident 19:32
James LaBrie – Vocals John Petrucci – Guitar John Myung – Bass Jordan Rudess – Keyboards Mike Portnoy – Drums
Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy & Randy George are returning to their Cover To Cover series of albums with ‘Cov3r To Cov3r’, the brand new third instalment. Featuring their renditions of classic tracks by the likes of King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Gerry Rafferty, David Bowie & more (includ-ing their cover of ‘No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed’ featuring vocals from Yes singer Jon Davison), the album will be re-leased on the 24th July as CD, Gatefold 2LP + CD & as Digital Album.
It is just 2 weeks till the album is released, and today they have launched a video for their cover of Jethro Tull’s Hymn 43. Watch the video now here:
Neal Morse comments: “When I was young and they packed me off to school, someone played me the second side of the Aqualung album by Jethro Tull and I was immediately consumed by it. Hymn 43 being one of my favorite tracks I was thrilled when the guys wanted to record this one. We kicked it out in one or two takes and it was a gas!”
They recently launch a video for their cover of ‘It Don’t Come Easy’, originally by Ringo Starr, and you can watch it now here: https://youtu.be/bdWuYRmstRI
The band previously released a video of their cover of Gerry Rafferty’s classic ‘Baker Street’. Watch it now here: https://youtu.be/IszlXuQ99Fo
As well as ‘Cov3r to Cov3r’, the ‘Cover To Cover Anthology (Vol. 1 – 3)’ will be released on the same day, collecting all 3 instalments together over 3 discs. The first two albums have also been newly re-sequenced and remastered, and will also be available on digital services. The al-bums have also been given brand new artwork, created by Thomas Ewerhard (Sons of Apollo, The Neal Morse Band, Avantasia).
‘Cov3r to Cov3r’ on Jewelcase CD & Gatefold 2LP + CD, and ‘Cover to Cover Anthology (Vol.1-3) on Limited 3CD Digipak are now available to pre-order here:
Morse, Portnoy & George first worked together on Neal Morse’s Testimony Live project back in 2003, and since then they have devised and recorded countless Neal Morse albums, including three with The Neal Morse Band.
The three friends have also released music as Morse, Portnoy & George: so far, two Cover to Cover albums have been produced, each being a collection of covers of their favorite songs. As Portnoy explains: “One of the first things myself, Neal and Randy usually start talking about what we can cover when we gather for one of Neal’s solo albums, should we have some leftover time at the end of the session. Most of the songs are rooted in the 60s and 70s and are songs / bands we grew up with.” Explains George, “We all share an attachment for this era of music, so we each throw out song ideas, see what sticks, and record the ones we like the most!”
The trio has covered songs from such greats as, Paul McCartney, Cream, The Who, Jethro Tull, Steely Dan, and many more. They also have also covered some prog classics from the likes of King Crimson and Yes.
The full track-listing for all 3 Cover To Cover volumes is below.
Cover To Cover:
Where The Streets Have No Name (U2)
I’m The Man (Joe Jackson)
What Is Life? (George Harrison)
Badge (Cream)
Maybe I’m Amazed (Paul McCartney)
Day After Day (Badfinger)
Pleasant Valley Sunday (The Monkees)
Tuesday Afternoon (The Moody Blues)
Can’t Find My Way Home (Blind Faith)
I’m Free / Sparks (The Who)
Where Do The Children Play (Cat Stevens)
Feelin’ Stronger Everyday (Chicago)
Rock N Roll Suicide (David Bowie)
Cover 2 Cover:
(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love & Understanding (Elvis Costello)
Lido Shuffle (Boz Scaggs)
Crazy Horses (The Osmonds)
Driven To Tears (The Police)
Come Sail Away (Styx)
Rikki Don’t Lose That Number (Steely Dan)
Lemons Never Forget (The Bee Gees)
The Letter (Joe Cocker)
I Saw The Light (Todd Rundgren)
Teacher (Jethro Tull)
Southern Man/Needle And The Damage Done/Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young)
Starless (King Crimson)
Cov3r To Cov3r:
No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed (Yes)
Hymn 43 (Jethro Tull)
Life On Mars (David Bowie)
Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty)
It Don’t Come Easy (Ringo Starr)
Baby Blue (Badfinger)
One More Red Nightmare (King Crimson)
Black Coffee In Bed (Squeeze)
Tempted (Squeeze)
Runnin’ Down A Dream (Tom Petty)
Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz)
Neal Morse is pleased to announce the release of ‘Sola Gratia’, his new solo progressive rock concept album, on the 11th September 2020, via Inside Out Music. Originating from a seed planted in his mind about writing a record based on the apostle Paul, ‘Sola Gratia’ quickly came together at the beginning of 2020. The album sees Neal working with long-time collaborators Mike Portnoy, Randy George, Eric Gillette, Bill Hubauer and Gideon Klein.
The title ‘Sola Gratia’ of course has echoes of Morse’s 2007 epic ‘Sola Scriptura’, about the life of Martin Luther, but was in fact originally the result of a simple marital misunderstanding: “I was talking to my wife Cherie about debuting this new piece at Morsefest 2020 (Morse’s annual fan convention in Nashville) and she said she thought it would be good for me to do a solo album. However, I thought she said ‘Sola album’ and – because some of the new ideas involved Paul’s aggressive pursuit of the early Christians, I could see a link to some of the themes of persecution in ‘Sola Scriptura’.”
The music was recorded ‘virtually’ in April 2020 at the height of the Coronavirus lockdown with long term collaborators Mike Portnoy (drums) and Randy George (bass): “It’s the first album we have ever made remotely: I sent them the basic tracks and asked if they wanted to rearrange things, but they just said ‘No, it’s great!’, so they just played to it and sent their parts back over. It wasn’t an easy way to make an album, but creating always has its challenges, no matter how you do it.”
As Morse explains, it was this process that decided that ‘Sola Gratia’ was to be a Neal Morse album, rather than being credited to The Neal Morse Band: “With the Neal Morse Band, the whole band works together on the writing, and while Eric Gillette plays some guitar and Bill Hubauer has added some keyboards on this one, neither of them wrote – or is singing – on this album.”
‘Sola Gratia’ will be released as a limited CD/DVD Digipak (featuring a ‘Making-Of’ documentary), Gatefold 2LP + CD, Standard CD Jewel Case and as a Digital Album. The cover art was created by another longtime collaborator, Thomas Ewerhard.
The full track-listing is as follows:
1. Preface
2. Overture
3. In The Name Of The Lord
4. Ballyhoo (The Chosen Ones)
5. March Of The Pharisees
6. Building A Wall
7. Sola Intermezzo
8. Overflow
9. Warmer Than The Sunshine
10. Never Change
11. Seemingly Sincere
12. The Light On The Road To Damascus
13. The Glory Of The Lord
14. Now I Can See/The Great Commission
Neal Morse will debut ‘Sola Gratia’ live at his annual Morsefest convention on the 18th and 19th September 2020. A very limited number of people will be able to attend in person, with the event also being streamed online. More details and tickets are available here: https://nealmorse.com/tc-events/morsefest-2020/
Look out for the first track release and pre-order opportunities starting on the 17th July.
Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy & Randy George recently announced their return to the Cover To Cover series of albums with ‘Cov3r To Cov3r’, the brand new third instalment. Featuring their renditions of classic tracks by the likes of King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Gerry Rafferty, David Bowie & more (including their cover of ‘No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed’ featuring vocals from Yes singer Jon Davison), the album will be released on the 24th July as CD, Gatefold 2LP + CD & as Digital Album.
Today they are pleased to reveal a video for their cover of ‘It Don’t Come Easy’, originally by Ringo Starr, and you can watch it now here:
Mike Portnoy comments: “Having done solo Beatles covers from both Paul (Maybe I’m Amazed) and George (What Is Life) on the 1st Cover To Cover, it was time to represent Ringo this time around…
I had the honor of singing the lead vocals on this one and am so proud to have none other than my daughter Melody doing the backing vocals mark-ing our first daddy & daughter duet!! And totally appropriate for it to be a Beatles-related song as she’s just as much of a Beatles fanatic as I am!”
The band previously released a video of their cover of Gerry Rafferty’s classic ‘Baker Street’. Watch it now here: https://youtu.be/IszlXuQ99Fo
As well as ‘Cov3r to Cov3r’, the ‘Cover To Cover Anthology (Vol. 1 – 3)’ will be released on the same day, collecting all 3 instalments together over 3 discs. The first two albums have also been newly re-sequenced and remastered, and will also be available on digital services. The albums have also been given brand new artwork, created by Thomas Ewerhard (Sons of Apollo, The Neal Morse Band, Avantasia).
‘Cov3r to Cov3r’ on Jewelcase CD & Gatefold 2LP + CD, and ‘Cover to Cover Anthology (Vol.1-3) on Limited 3CD Digipak are now available to pre-order here:
Morse, Portnoy & George first worked together on Neal Morse’s Testimony Live project back in 2003, and since then they have devised and recorded countless Neal Morse albums, including three with The Neal Morse Band.
The three friends have also released music as Morse, Portnoy & George: so far, two Cover to Cover albums have been produced, each being a collection of covers of their favorite songs. As Portnoy explains: “One of the first things myself, Neal and Randy usually start talking about what we can cover when we gather for one of Neal’s solo albums, should we have some leftover time at the end of the session. Most of the songs are rooted in the 60s and 70s and are songs / bands we grew up with.” Explains George, “We all share an attachment for this era of music, so we each throw out song ideas, see what sticks, and record the ones we like the most!”
The trio has covered songs from such greats as, Paul McCartney, Cream, The Who, Jethro Tull, Steely Dan, and many more. They also have also covered some prog classics from the likes of King Crimson and Yes.
The full track-listing for all 3 Cover To Cover volumes is below.
Cover To Cover:
Where The Streets Have No Name (U2)
I’m The Man (Joe Jackson)
What Is Life? (George Harrison)
Badge (Cream)
Maybe I’m Amazed (Paul McCartney)
Day After Day (Badfinger)
Pleasant Valley Sunday (The Monkees)
Tuesday Afternoon (The Moody Blues)
Can’t Find My Way Home (Blind Faith)
I’m Free / Sparks (The Who)
Where Do The Children Play (Cat Stevens)
Feelin’ Stronger Everyday (Chicago)
Rock N Roll Suicide (David Bowie)
Cover 2 Cover:
(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love & Understanding (Elvis Costello)
Lido Shuffle (Boz Scaggs)
Crazy Horses (The Osmonds)
Driven To Tears (The Police)
Come Sail Away (Styx)
Rikki Don’t Lose That Number (Steely Dan)
Lemons Never Forget (The Bee Gees)
The Letter (Joe Cocker)
I Saw The Light (Todd Rundgren)
Teacher (Jethro Tull)
Southern Man/Needle And The Damage Done/Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young)
Starless (King Crimson)
Cov3r To Cov3r:
No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed (Yes)
Hymn 43 (Jethro Tull)
Life On Mars (David Bowie)
Baker Street (Gerry Rafferty)
It Don’t Come Easy (Ringo Starr)
Baby Blue (Badfinger)
One More Red Nightmare (King Crimson)
Black Coffee In Bed (Squeeze)
Tempted (Squeeze)
Runnin’ Down A Dream (Tom Petty)
Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz)
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Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
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