Mike Portnoy once again defended Lars Ulrich from all the folks bashing his drum playing, telling The Void:
“He’s one of my heroes. I’ll defend him to the end.
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“I’ll tell you what: you don’t have to be a great drummer to be the most important guy in the band. And that’s what I learned from him.
“First of all, I do love [Lars’s] drumming. But as far as I’m concerned, you don’t have to be a great drummer to be somebody that’s important.
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“Some of my heroes are guys like Lars, or Peter Criss, who takes the heat for a lot of stuff, or Ringo Starr, who takes the heat. These guys are my heroes… Those guys are all very important to their bands.
“Lars, obviously – he’s the leader of [Metallica], and he showed me those leadership qualities. But Ringo and Peter Criss, those guys were so important to the bands’ chemistry; they were important personalities in those bands.”