Metal Kaoz recently caught up with ex-DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy who talks about his future plans, and his new band, ADRENALINE MOB - also featuring SYMPHONY X vocalist Russell Allen, guitarist Rich Ward (STUCK MOJO, FOZZY), guitarist Mike Orlando and bassist Paul DiLeo (NENA).

An excerpt follows:

Q: Everyone in this band has a rich musical background; do you believe that this adds pressure to Adrenaline Mob as a band?

A: "It puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the band. First of all, there is a lot of pressure coming from my side, since this is the first band after Dream Theater and AVENGED SEVENFOLD, so there is a lot of focus on what I will do next. Also, this is the first ‘real’ band that Russell has done outside of Symphony X. And the biggest pressure comes from the fact that people coming to the show are expecting to watch a progressive metal band and Adrenaline Mob is NOT. We realize that this is not Dream Theater or Symphony X and, in fact, this is the fuckin’ point of that. If we wanted to play progressive, we could do it in Dream Theater or Symphony X. This is a totally new ‘beast’. There is a side of me that always loved aggressive, riff oriented music like PANTERA, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY or SLIPKNOT and things like that. Of course, I still love Progressive music and million times signature and 20 minutes epic songs, but I have been doing this for 25 years. So, it was time to do something different and this goes also for Russ."

Q: Do you feel that you have to apologize or explain yourself for this move?

A: "I don’t think I have to apologize for this and I am excited and proud of this band. But I feel that I have to explain and help people to understand that by this EP is not going to sound like a progressive metal band. As long as they leave their expectations aside and take it for what it is, then there is no apologize necessary."

Read the full interview at this location.

Adrenaline Mob tour dates:

September

1 - Tempe, AZ - Club Red
2 - Santa Ana, CA - The Galaxy Theater
3 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
4 - Las Vegas, NV - LVCS
6 - Tulsa, OK - The Marquee

Samson, Hartke, Zoom, and Best Buy Music Gear will present a second installment of their Metal Masters Clinic series, on Monday, September 12th at the Best Buy Theater in New York City, NY.

Scheduled to appear are SLAYER's Kerry King, ANTHRAX' Charlie Benante and Frank Bello, MEGADETH's David Ellefson and Mike Portnoy.

Portnoy talks about the event in a new video below:

In the previously posted video below, David Ellefson talks about the upcoming clinic:

“It’s always great working with Best Buy and all of these artists on an individual basis,” says Mark Menghi, Samson’s Director of Marketing. “So, we wanted to put all of them together to create a clinic experience on a scale that has never been done before.”

The clinic is free and will begin at 5 PM. Wristbands will be available on a first come, first served basis on the day of the clinic only, outside the Best Buy Theater, located at 1515 Broadway, West 44th Street. A minimum of 500 wristbands, with a limit of one per person, will be available.