John Sykes And Mike Portnoy Join Forces In New Power Trio

Drummer Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Avenged Sevenfold, Adrenaline Mob) has joined forces with guitarist/vocalist John Sykes (Whitesnake, Blue Murder, Thin Lizzy) and an as-yet-undisclosed bassist in a brand new power trio. The project is currently recording material at a Los Angeles studio, with Portnoy describing one song as "copping the Zeppelin/Sabbath vibe" and another as "Floyd meets Purple! Some serious old-school classic rock."

Portnoy and Sykes appeared Monday, July 25th at a taping of season eight of VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show". The program's co-host Eddie Trunk tweeted about their new collaboration, "I heard demos. Sounds like killer Blue Murder meets '1987' Whitesnake. Amazing!" He also said that the new group will perform some Blue Murder material when it hits the road.

Sykes announced his departure from Thin Lizzy in July 2009, explaining that "I feel it's time to get back to playing my own music."


Mike Portnoy recently posted this message:


"Yes, this is what I've been working on here in LA for the last week or so (as well as a few days at the end of May).

John and I have been working with a bass player as well (no, not Dug Pinnick) and the announcement of who it is will be made at a later point...let's just say it is a completely ridiculous modern-day power trio!!!

We've demo-ed 12 songs so far and will begin recording the album in the fall. "