Watch Mike Portnoy play along to The Winery Dogs, Xanadu with drum cam footage
He also explains why he’s singing “Maybe I’m Justin” during the song’s chorus backing vocal part
The Winery Dogs - the power trio comprising Mike Portnoy, Ritchie Kotzen and Billy Sheehan - returned to action this week with a brand new single, Xanadu, and now, Mike Portnoy has uploaded footage of himself playing along to the track on his YouTube channel.
Shot in Mike’s home practice room, the video gives us a close-up shot of his playing on the up-tempo, bluesy funk-rocker, but we get additional footage of Mike performing his backing vocals too.
The description adds some trivia regarding the chorus lyrics, where Portnoy explains that when he recorded his backing vocals, Ritchie Kotzen hadn’t sent him the lyrics so he’s singing “Maybe I’m Justin”, having misheard the song’s actual line, “Maybe I’m jesting”.
Earlier this week, Justin Hawkins of The Darkness uploaded a video to his YouTube channel titled “F****n Hell! This is RIDICULOUS!!” where he revealed that he hadn’t heard The Winery Dogs until now, and shared his thoughts on Xanadu, also picking up on the “Maybe I’m Justin” line.
The Winery Dogs will release their third album, III in February 2023, with UK tour dates set throughout the year. For more information, click here.
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I'm a freelance member of the MusicRadar team, specialising in drum news, interviews and reviews. I formerly edited Rhythm and Total Guitar here in the UK and have been playing drums for more than 25 years (my arms are very tired). When I'm not working on the site, I can be found on my electronic kit at home, or gigging and depping in function bands and the odd original project.