MIKE PORTNOY Says He Spent Last New Year's Eve With DREAM THEATER Bassist JOHN MYUNG: 'We Had A Great Time Together'

Mike Portnoy has revealed that he spent last New Year's Eve with his former bandmate, DREAM THEATER bassist John Myung.

The ex-DREAM THEATER drummer addressed his relationship with Myung while filming a new video message on Cameo, which lets users hire celebrities to record brief, personalized video messages about virtually any topic.

Asked if he still keeps in touch with John, Mike said (see video below): "Well, actually, yeah, I do. And he, actually, he and his family came and spent New Year's Eve with us back a few months ago. We had a really great time together ringing in the New Year together. John is a very quiet guy, so we didn't post any pictures and we didn't put it out there. He's not really into the whole social media thing, so I wanted to respect that, and we kind of just kept it a nice, quiet evening between us, and we had a great time together. So it was great to see him and spend time together."

In the last couple of years, Portnoy has shared several photos of him hanging out with other DREAM THEATER members, including keyboardist Jordan Rudess and guitarist John Petrucci.

In February 2019, Portnoy and Rudess reunited on stage during the Cruise To The Edge to perform "Instrumedley" from DREAM THEATER / LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT. They were joined by NEAL MORSE BAND guitarist Eric Gillette and HAKEN bassist Conner Green.

Back in April 2015, Portnoy and Rudess both joined the British progressive metal band HAKEN on stage in New York City. Three months earlier, they were photographed having what appeared to be friendly banter at the 2015 NAMM show in Anaheim, California.

More than two years ago, Portnoy posted a photo of him hanging out with Petrucci in a move that clearly represented a thawing of tensions between the two musicians who had been friends for more than three decades.

Although Portnoy and his former bandmates in DREAM THEATER engaged in a public war of words following his exit from the group, Rudess told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation" that he harbors no resentment toward his longtime friend.

"When Portnoy left the band, there was tension — natural tension — because it was a big deal," he said. "But what's really important to me is finding that… especially somebody who I care about, who I had so much life experience with. And he's a really great guy. There are so many wonderful things about him. So I wanna enjoy that.

"People will say, 'Oh my God! DREAM THEATER is gonna have Portnoy back in the band.' That's not what it's about," Rudess added. "This is about people and people who spent a lot of time together being able to be close together and be friends."

Rudess acknowledged that some of his other DREAM THEATER bandmates have "their own feelings" about maintaining a connection with their former drummer. "But Mike and I enjoyed hanging out and chatting about old times and all the stuff," he said. "So it was really cool."

In November 2017, Mike told Loud that he left DREAM THEATER because he wanted to expand his musical horizons. "[I didn't] want to go to my grave and just be the drummer from DREAM THEATER," he said. "I knew there was way more to what I had to offer."