Dream Theater's new drummer is MIKE MANGINI

I was pretty disapointed to see Mike mangini as their pick (not that he isn't amazing... because he is), but going in if i were to rank each drummer on who i thought was the most talented I would've actually put Mangini in last place. I wish Thomas Lang or Marco were chosen, but then again, I'm still really excited to see what mangini can do with their songs.
 
i'll bet it's downright likely that his personality weighed in. they came right out and said they were looking for someone to be part of their "family". personality would have to be a big factor in that decision. he does seem like a great guy and that must have been a big check in the plus column for him.

Personality played a huge role, as it does in almost any audition.

Which is why the gig was Mangini's from day one.

He is from the Boston area, the band is based out of New York area, so they have the East Coast vibe connection, while everyone else lived further away.

Two of the current members of DT went to Berklee, Mangini teaches (er.. taught) at Berklee.

Mangini played on all but one of James LaBrie's solo projects (Peter Wildoer being on the most recent album).

They all knew each other through Steve Vai (John Petrucci having been on a few of the G3 tours with Vai).

There was already a friendship and bond between the band and Mangini before any of the auditions took place, and that was something the other 6 just did not have going for them.

Which as I said before, I'm almost surprised they even bothered with formal auditions and didn't just call him and say "hey, wanna be in a band?"
 
Anyhow,

an interview was posted by Drum! magazine with Mangigni about the audition process
http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/how-i-got-the-gig-mike-mangini/

A few choice highlights:

I think of this as wanting to be in a marriage, not a ’gig’ in the normal sense of that term.
With regard to my sound, I took time to examine what I sound like from outside of myself on the drum set via a video camera
.

I was just all business about it when I got the songs. I grabbed the nearest pencil and paper and got to work. I then bought these big pencils for kids with big erasers on them. [laughs] I wrote everything out. Then I listened to them at half speed; at 75 percent speed; at full speed; at 40 percent speed before even practicing them with the slow-downer software

The waiting part was awful in this Twilight Zone kind of way. I almost threw up between classes at Berklee – probably that was during Marco’s audition, as I know I what time he auditioned and that is the time I got ill. And I was really wrecked because I wanted it so badly.
 
This is a very inspiring assemblage of videos, thanks Bernard! It was nice to see each player's story in the context of a huge audition: the top flight guys you'd expect to see, some faces I've never heard that just killed it, the personalities involved on both sides of the equation, what a great thing to watch as the process unfolded.

Try to calculate how many hours of practice, how many dollars in gear, how much unbridled commitment it took to make that whole event happen. 7 top players, putting all that on the line to work with a top flight band. Very humbling.
 
So i completed the audition movies with Peter Wildoer and Aquiles Priester

Remember: Pete and Aquiles made it into the winning three - Mike taking the job.

http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/peterwildoerdream.html

Bernhard

Thank you soo much Bernhard for putting up the final videos with Aquiles and me! Means a lot to me to be presented on the worlds best drum page, Drummerworld!!! :)


This is a very inspiring assemblage of videos, thanks Bernard! It was nice to see each player's story in the context of a huge audition: the top flight guys you'd expect to see, some faces I've never heard that just killed it, the personalities involved on both sides of the equation, what a great thing to watch as the process unfolded.

Try to calculate how many hours of practice, how many dollars in gear, how much unbridled commitment it took to make that whole event happen. 7 top players, putting all that on the line to work with a top flight band. Very humbling.

Very glad you enjoyed it "Spreggy"! I guess I might have been one of those faces you've never heard of? If so, thanks a lot! ;-)

Interesting view, yes there were lots and lots of time and effort put into this from everyone involved from booking flights/hotel up until the hours spent learning all the material etc... A huge project thinking of it that way.

Cheers and all the best my fellow drummers!
Peter Wildoer
 
Peter, Everytime I re-watch your DT audition I get more and more impressed. And I've never even heard of you;) New fan here!!
 
Thank you soo much Bernhard for putting up the final videos with Aquiles and me! Means a lot to me to be presented on the worlds best drum page, Drummerworld!!! :)

Cheers and all the best my fellow drummers!
Peter Wildoer

Awesome and beautiful playing Peter - what more can I say than thankyou :)
 
Some big names and from watching the videos some really phenomenal players. How incredible was Marco Minnemann... I believe Mike deserved to win in the end but Minnemann really killed it.
 
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Peter, Everytime I re-watch your DT audition I get more and more impressed. And I've never even heard of you;) New fan here!!

Thanks! Makes me very happy!!! Have to say that I love Tesseract and they are one of the bands I listen to the most at the moment.

Awesome and beautiful playing Peter - what more can I say than thankyou :)

Thank you soo much! Glad you like it. :)


I just want to make sure everybody read the interview that there's a link to earlier in this thread, great reading and very inspiring! Mr. Mangini is putting his heart and soul into his new task!

Cheers,
Peter
 
Thanks! Makes me very happy!!! Have to say that I love Tesseract and they are one of the bands I listen to the most at the moment.



Thank you soo much! Glad you like it. :)


I just want to make sure everybody read the interview that there's a link to earlier in this thread, great reading and very inspiring! Mr. Mangini is putting his heart and soul into his new task!

Cheers,
Peter

As a change, being an old school Pestilence fan that paid attention to the line up when Resurrection Macabre was released I have actually heard of you Pete :)

I was equally impressed by your audition, you certainly displayed that you are a very capable drummer, you were in the company of some fantastic musicians and you didn't get swept under the rug. To the contrary you managed to really show off incredible talent from what I've seen in the videos, you would have made a great drummer for DT.

As a side note, you performed the growls on James's solo record didn't you?
 
It will be very interesting to hear the new album now! I remember Falling Into Infinity,
which wasn't very well received by the fans (although I like most of it), and then with
the change of keyboardist (Derek Sherinian out, Jordan Rudess in) booooom they
came with Metropolis Pt. 2, which was a killer concept album.

Now they have Black Clouds Silver linings out, which hasn't been received too well
(although again, I like it, haha), and I'm hoping for some booooooom with the new disc!
 
New Modern Drummer interview excerpt:
Modern Drummer: Have you created a drumkit to fit the specific needs of Dream Theater?

Mangini: I showed up for Dream Theater ready for Dream Theater. Meaning the drumkit's core was designed years earlier, but I prepared a kit design with Dream Theater's music in mind, with Mike Portnoy's incredible drumming style in mind. My Dream Theater setup is designed for my left foot to be hitting a 26" bass drum. I'm playing totally lefty on a big bass drum. Mike had to get up off his stool and move to another stool to hit a 26" bass drum. He also had to get up and move to another kit to play a smaller bass drum. I have a 26" to my left, an 18" bass drum on my far right, and two 22" bass drums in the center of my kit.
manginikit.jpg

Kit looks great. Let's all say a prayer for the new drum tech...
 
Man, as much as I'm not a DT fan, I'll be very interested to hear the new stuff, and (gasp!) might even go see them when and if they come through here. I'd love to see Mangini play that thing.
 
Is this going to be one of those tours where although John Petrucci lives ten minutes from my house, NY will be the last show on the last leg of the tour?
 
In July they're coming to my town actually! I'm just not sure yet if I can afford it...

Fairly certain they are coming down to Australia as well. Their last tour went really well, they brought Pain of Salvation for support though and most of the people I spoke to agreed that they stole the show on the Melbourne leg.

I recall the time before that was a three hour set, their first tour of Australia and they bring that down here, it was incredible.
 
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