Mike Portnoy recently appeared as a guest on Drumeo and transformed Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ into a metal version.
During Drumeo’s First Time series, Portnoy was tasked with creating drum parts for a song he had never heard before—Swift’s ‘Shake It Off.’ After hearing a clip without drums, he immediately began to play along. “What the hell was that?” the Dream Theater drummer said after his first attempt at the song.
When the host asked, “Mike, you actually don’t know what that was?” Portnoy replied, “I have not the slightest clue. It sounds like something out of Disneyland in Japan or something.”
After completing his final take on the track, the drummer asked, “Who is it? What is it?” Once he found out it was Taylor Swift, he added, “Oh my God, that’s Taylor Swift? Like only the biggest artist on Earth. Wow, that’s Taylor Swift. I had no idea. What’s the name of that song?”
When the host told him the song was ‘Shake It Off,’ Portnoy messaged Swift, saying, “That’s exactly what I’m about to have to do. Taylor, I’m really sorry. I still would play with you in a heartbeat. I swear I wouldn’t do that [laughs].”
“Wow, well, there you go. Perfect example. Biggest artist in the world and I don’t know a single one of her songs. My daughter is going to get a kick out of this,” he added.
Portnoy also played Nickelback’s ‘Burn It To The Ground’ with double bass on Drumeo. He hadn’t heard the song before, so after listening to it and taking notes, he played it his way.
Later, he compared his version to the original, which was played by Daniel Adair, and noticed that he added an extra bar and used double bass, unlike Adair’s pump-and-kick style. “This is why they’re rich and famous and I’m just a f*cking prog guy,” Mike said about the song.
He later shared, “That was a good song, man. I could fine-tune that and make a really cool drum part, but I think it’s better just the first impression. I’m sure if I ever did end up touring with them it would be the most fun shows ever in my life.”
Portnoy and Dream Theater will release their new album, ‘Parasomnia,’ on February 7. It’s their first with Portnoy since 2009’s ‘Dark Clouds & Silver Linings,’ after he rejoined the band in late 2023.
