Mike Mangini - Dream Theater
Dream Theater was in need of a new drummer and Mike Mangini, the uber talented drumming veteran, stepped in to take the reins. His contributions to A Dramatic Turn Of Events, the new Dream Theater record, are numerous and his presence is felt the instant you press play. At a recent stop on their Mike gave Metal Exiles a few minutes of his time to let the DT fan know exactly why he is in the band.
An interview with Mike Mangini of Dream Theater..
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: With your varied past, what do you think are your biggest attributes that allow you to handle all of these situations?
Mike Mangini: It’s my pattern recognition. It studied how to listen to and feel all of the odd numbers between one and twenty. For example, from a mathematical perspective if you can get a hold of a five rhythm, it repeats five quick notes, that’s the key to Armenian and other ethnic music. I trained to recognize the prime numbers and with that I can go anywhere.
Metal Exiles: You are in Dream Theater now but you were in Extreme with varied bands in between but you acclimate yourself to each situation.
Mike: That is something that is a gift. We all show up a certain way and I showed up liking a certain kind of music. If you had put me in a different genre like Jazz I could have lasted awhile because I do like it a lot but I do not like it like I like heavy metal or rock. Smashing tubs is just fun, just watching everything bend, it is a love for it, it is out of my control.
Metal Exiles: You worked with James LaBrie on some of his solo projects. What did you learn from working with him that helped you in Dream Theater?
Mike: I learned how to get the job done under duress with a second spent complaining about anything. Just get it done. On the first two records I did with James, Mullmuzzler One & Two, we had a total of two days to get the drums done and that includes the drum sound. It also included me learning the songs. I got the sounds, learned them and recorded them: two days. If that is not stress I do not know what it is.
Metal Exiles: So you just came in with a blank slate?
Mike: I had fragments when I came to the studio but nothing was finished. When it came to the third record I charted out things and I had three whole days for that one. The point is, to work together with a common goal when everybody is on the same page cannot be beaten. You work under duress and get it done.
Metal Exiles: So to go back to the last one, how do you acclimate yourself so well to these different situations?
Mike: It’s a combination of things in my control and out of my control. The thing out of my control is the music that I like. With the choices I have to work on, my body to be able to hit things and my mind to be able to understand them, that’s a ton of hours and it’s a lot of preparation. Let me elaborate, its management. I did not go to music school, I was not allowed to go. I had scholarships to go and I still was not allowed to go.
Metal Exiles: Why not?
Mike: My dad had me outside one day and he looked me dead in the eye and said I am not sending you to school for something you can already do. I had won every contest I was a part of so I went to school for accounting and software engineering. It was a management course that I took that changed everything for me. It was a management course that taught me to ask the right questions. How does this work, what is the answer I am looking for, how what and why. For me to get ready for a situation, there are management skills to use. For the Dream Theater audition I wrote down all of the environmental things that could happen. If I am tired, what will I do? What if they spring a song on me that I did not prepare for, what will I do? What if they test me in different ways, what will I do? What if the gear I need is not there, what will I do? I made myself write down an answer for each thing even though it was painful.
Metal Exiles: You’re an outright positive person so what kind of positivity did you bring back into the band once you joined?
Mike: 100% understanding and support of the kind of beings that these guys are. I have a specific way to address that too. Jordan, James, John and John are the types of musicians that cannot stop their pursuit of what their potential is. These four guys have an undying pursuit of their instruments and their potentiality. That’s what we have in common and I addressed it, pointed it out and used as a way for them to know that I understood what I think makes them do what they do. That’s the biggest thing as they know they are understood and feel completely supported.
Metal Exiles: Because you are the same way..
Mike: Exactly.
Metal Exiles: In your drummer audition you said this was not just a gig. Do you think that your passion for Dream Theater is what got you the gig?
Mike: Yes, that is what it is. My technical ability is not enough alone. Each one of those other six guys does something the best because they put between ten and twenty years into something. Now unless another human being puts in the same time how can you have the same proficiency? Plenty of us out there popped onto the earth with some kind of talent to work with so I am fortunate in that way but you still have to work at it. Each of the other guys have something amazing, it is what it is. My passion allowed me show that the power of will is amazing. I had a flawless audition, I knew what they were going to play before they played it, it was spooky, like it was meant to be.
Metal Exiles: For the new Dream Theater record, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, how did your style play out with the way they record records?
Mike: This was different for them in that they write together, the entire band but this time there was no drummer there, it was just the four guys. What happens is when you construct something like that you formulate through trial and error. I come in after the trial and error and match frequencies with them. For example, my kick drums are matching what John Myung and John Petrucci are playing as a unison rhythm and I will take one of my available hands and follow what Jordan is doing and keep time with my other hand. Usually I assign one of my limbs to the actual click time keeping function and my other limbs come into play to match the music. When Jordan plays certain keyboard patches there is a certain cymbal tone to it, a kind of metal sound and I play one of my stacked symbols to it and I do it all over the record.
Metal Exiles: So what do you feel about A Dramatic Turn Of Events as a whole?
Mike: As far as the Dream Theater catalog goes, this is the most dynamic one to date. The word dynamic is an emotional and volume change from high to low and this record has tons of dynamics in it. One of the important things that I have not heard on any of the other records is that I use dynamics instead of a drum fill. I did not play a fill in some places, I just used a heavy beat and somewhat orchestrally with dynamics so I got really quiet, mad a tiny adjustment and brought it up and up and then back down instead of playing a beat and adding something else and so forth.
Metal Exiles: I know the album was written before you came in but what did you bring to the recording?
Mike: I brought the air moving power to it, meaning I chose a different selection of drumheads for this record. For example the ones I have on my kit now are a lot brighter, they have low end as well. The ones I used on the record have air moving low mids witch I typically would not opt for but I am smashing the crap out of each drum and those drums are real, there is no sampling at all to get the extra clean layered approach.
Metal Exiles: You have the Rhythm Knowledge set (Two Books)for sale. Tell your new found Dream Theater fans who might want to invest their lives into what it is about..
Mike: Here is the premise; you can spend 25 bucks on a case of beer. You drink the beer and you pee it out but if you spend 25 bucks on a book that saves you about 20 years of time, what is more valuable? What you get out of Rhythm knowledge is behavioral change. You can apply it to anything because my book breaks down drumming as only an example about how to retain information. The book is about retaining information so if someone wants to invest in how to use their time better and actually retain information and get better at something, buy the first book. The second book is a set of five exercises that breaks down anything that can possibly be played into simple exercises.
Metal Exiles: Is there a solo life for Mike Mangini or is Dream Theater if for you?
Mike: This is what I want, it is amazing in Dream Theater. I am a drummer that composes on an instrument , that means I bring in actual music, I just do not sit behind a drum kit and bark out five of these and six of those. I know, as a composer, how to get my ideas out and I can tell you flat out that the musicians I want to work with are these guys. Where else am I supposed to find in the same room a guitar player like this, a singer like this, a keyboardist like this and a bass player like this?
Mike’s contribution to the new Dream Theater opus, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, is magnified by the phenomenal material and he is certainly an amazing addition to the fold.
Official Mike Mangini Site
Official Dream Theater Site
BUY A Dramatic Turn Of Events
An interview with Mike Mangini of Dream Theater..
By Jeffrey Easton
Metal Exiles: With your varied past, what do you think are your biggest attributes that allow you to handle all of these situations?
Mike Mangini: It’s my pattern recognition. It studied how to listen to and feel all of the odd numbers between one and twenty. For example, from a mathematical perspective if you can get a hold of a five rhythm, it repeats five quick notes, that’s the key to Armenian and other ethnic music. I trained to recognize the prime numbers and with that I can go anywhere.
Metal Exiles: You are in Dream Theater now but you were in Extreme with varied bands in between but you acclimate yourself to each situation.
Mike: That is something that is a gift. We all show up a certain way and I showed up liking a certain kind of music. If you had put me in a different genre like Jazz I could have lasted awhile because I do like it a lot but I do not like it like I like heavy metal or rock. Smashing tubs is just fun, just watching everything bend, it is a love for it, it is out of my control.
Metal Exiles: You worked with James LaBrie on some of his solo projects. What did you learn from working with him that helped you in Dream Theater?
Mike: I learned how to get the job done under duress with a second spent complaining about anything. Just get it done. On the first two records I did with James, Mullmuzzler One & Two, we had a total of two days to get the drums done and that includes the drum sound. It also included me learning the songs. I got the sounds, learned them and recorded them: two days. If that is not stress I do not know what it is.
Metal Exiles: So you just came in with a blank slate?
Mike: I had fragments when I came to the studio but nothing was finished. When it came to the third record I charted out things and I had three whole days for that one. The point is, to work together with a common goal when everybody is on the same page cannot be beaten. You work under duress and get it done.
Metal Exiles: So to go back to the last one, how do you acclimate yourself so well to these different situations?
Mike: It’s a combination of things in my control and out of my control. The thing out of my control is the music that I like. With the choices I have to work on, my body to be able to hit things and my mind to be able to understand them, that’s a ton of hours and it’s a lot of preparation. Let me elaborate, its management. I did not go to music school, I was not allowed to go. I had scholarships to go and I still was not allowed to go.
Metal Exiles: Why not?
Mike: My dad had me outside one day and he looked me dead in the eye and said I am not sending you to school for something you can already do. I had won every contest I was a part of so I went to school for accounting and software engineering. It was a management course that I took that changed everything for me. It was a management course that taught me to ask the right questions. How does this work, what is the answer I am looking for, how what and why. For me to get ready for a situation, there are management skills to use. For the Dream Theater audition I wrote down all of the environmental things that could happen. If I am tired, what will I do? What if they spring a song on me that I did not prepare for, what will I do? What if they test me in different ways, what will I do? What if the gear I need is not there, what will I do? I made myself write down an answer for each thing even though it was painful.
Metal Exiles: You’re an outright positive person so what kind of positivity did you bring back into the band once you joined?
Mike: 100% understanding and support of the kind of beings that these guys are. I have a specific way to address that too. Jordan, James, John and John are the types of musicians that cannot stop their pursuit of what their potential is. These four guys have an undying pursuit of their instruments and their potentiality. That’s what we have in common and I addressed it, pointed it out and used as a way for them to know that I understood what I think makes them do what they do. That’s the biggest thing as they know they are understood and feel completely supported.
Metal Exiles: Because you are the same way..
Mike: Exactly.
Metal Exiles: In your drummer audition you said this was not just a gig. Do you think that your passion for Dream Theater is what got you the gig?
Mike: Yes, that is what it is. My technical ability is not enough alone. Each one of those other six guys does something the best because they put between ten and twenty years into something. Now unless another human being puts in the same time how can you have the same proficiency? Plenty of us out there popped onto the earth with some kind of talent to work with so I am fortunate in that way but you still have to work at it. Each of the other guys have something amazing, it is what it is. My passion allowed me show that the power of will is amazing. I had a flawless audition, I knew what they were going to play before they played it, it was spooky, like it was meant to be.
Metal Exiles: For the new Dream Theater record, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, how did your style play out with the way they record records?
Mike: This was different for them in that they write together, the entire band but this time there was no drummer there, it was just the four guys. What happens is when you construct something like that you formulate through trial and error. I come in after the trial and error and match frequencies with them. For example, my kick drums are matching what John Myung and John Petrucci are playing as a unison rhythm and I will take one of my available hands and follow what Jordan is doing and keep time with my other hand. Usually I assign one of my limbs to the actual click time keeping function and my other limbs come into play to match the music. When Jordan plays certain keyboard patches there is a certain cymbal tone to it, a kind of metal sound and I play one of my stacked symbols to it and I do it all over the record.
Metal Exiles: So what do you feel about A Dramatic Turn Of Events as a whole?
Mike: As far as the Dream Theater catalog goes, this is the most dynamic one to date. The word dynamic is an emotional and volume change from high to low and this record has tons of dynamics in it. One of the important things that I have not heard on any of the other records is that I use dynamics instead of a drum fill. I did not play a fill in some places, I just used a heavy beat and somewhat orchestrally with dynamics so I got really quiet, mad a tiny adjustment and brought it up and up and then back down instead of playing a beat and adding something else and so forth.
Metal Exiles: I know the album was written before you came in but what did you bring to the recording?
Mike: I brought the air moving power to it, meaning I chose a different selection of drumheads for this record. For example the ones I have on my kit now are a lot brighter, they have low end as well. The ones I used on the record have air moving low mids witch I typically would not opt for but I am smashing the crap out of each drum and those drums are real, there is no sampling at all to get the extra clean layered approach.
Metal Exiles: You have the Rhythm Knowledge set (Two Books)for sale. Tell your new found Dream Theater fans who might want to invest their lives into what it is about..
Mike: Here is the premise; you can spend 25 bucks on a case of beer. You drink the beer and you pee it out but if you spend 25 bucks on a book that saves you about 20 years of time, what is more valuable? What you get out of Rhythm knowledge is behavioral change. You can apply it to anything because my book breaks down drumming as only an example about how to retain information. The book is about retaining information so if someone wants to invest in how to use their time better and actually retain information and get better at something, buy the first book. The second book is a set of five exercises that breaks down anything that can possibly be played into simple exercises.
Metal Exiles: Is there a solo life for Mike Mangini or is Dream Theater if for you?
Mike: This is what I want, it is amazing in Dream Theater. I am a drummer that composes on an instrument , that means I bring in actual music, I just do not sit behind a drum kit and bark out five of these and six of those. I know, as a composer, how to get my ideas out and I can tell you flat out that the musicians I want to work with are these guys. Where else am I supposed to find in the same room a guitar player like this, a singer like this, a keyboardist like this and a bass player like this?
Mike’s contribution to the new Dream Theater opus, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, is magnified by the phenomenal material and he is certainly an amazing addition to the fold.
Official Mike Mangini Site
Official Dream Theater Site
BUY A Dramatic Turn Of Events
