If you’ve been following Mike Portnoy since his departure from Dream Theater, then you know he’s been keeping himself pretty damn busy. In addition to playing in his own groups like Adrenaline Mob and Flying Colors (plus numerous other projects still in the works), Portnoy has done the occasional fill in gig for bands in need of a drummer. More recently, he played with Stone Sour during their Rock In Rio gig. And now his services are being called for by Fates Warning.

It was announced today that Portnoy will be playing behind the kit for Fates Warning on April 14 when they open for Queensryche in  São Paulo, Brazil. The band released the following statement confirming the news:

“We’re pleased and excited to announce that Mike Portnoy will be our special guest drummer for our April 14th show in São Paulo, Brazil. We had a great time playing with Mike back in 2005 at the Headway festival in Holland and we’re happy that he’s able to help us out again. We’d also like to make it clear that Bobby Jarzombek is still the drummer for FATES and will be with us for our European shows in March as well as on the new record we’re currently working on. Unfortunately, Bobby committed to another gig on the same day (ironically, in the same city) before this show was planned.”

As the band said in the statement, the last time Portnoy played with the prog metal group was at the 2005 Headway Festival in Holland. And though it’s only one gig and not in America, it’s still cool to hear since this might actually be the most prog thing Portnoy has done in a while.

In case you’d like to stroll down memory lane, you can watch video of Fates Warning performing with Portnoy at the Headway Festival in 2005 after the jump.

“Another Perfect Day”:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOFl8Rxs0Rk[/youtube]

“The Eleventh Hour”:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ6XDMfVGOg[/youtube]