Dream Theater parted ways with founding drummer Mike Portnoy in September 2010. The band held auditions for his replacement the following year and saw drummers like Derek Roddy (ex-Hate Eternal), Virgil Donati (Planet X), Aquiles Priester (Angra), and Peter Wildoer (Darkane, ex-Arch Enemy) try out. Ultimately the band chose Mike Mangini, who plays with the band today.
In an interview with Meltdown, Mangini said his success came down to being super prepared and literally not making any mistakes. Which given everything we've ever seen from Mangini isn't shocking. Mangini made the comment about "making no mistakes" to clear any speculation that he got the gig due to being friends with vocalist James LaBrie and playing in his band Mullmuzzler. Which doesn't really make sense, considering LaBrie also worked with Wildoer for 10 years in his solo project.
"I was not friends but was an acquaintance. Let me backtrack. I recorded with James LaBrie. 'Cause what happened was Extreme and Dream Theater did a show together in '95 in Europe and we became friends. James actually approached me in '95, saying, 'Man, I'd like to work with you in the future.' And I'm, like, 'Yeah.' And so he got a solo album deal and, sure enough, he called me and I ended up recording with him. So I got to know him a little it. We weren't hanging out and all that stuff. So when you say 'friends,' it's different. And no, I really didn't know anybody.
"One gets a gig because I showed up and I didn't… The fact is I didn't make any mistakes; I played everything correctly. Not even a single one — nothing. Nothing was off. And that kind of got me the job. I was prepared."
As a quick reminder of Mangini's skills, here he is playing Dream Theater's "The Alien" at 110% speed. Dude is a machine.
You can also check out the two-part documentary of the audition process below.
