Dream Theater

[Matt Rosenblum]

I agree with Matus and Steve that Mike pushed the songs live. Like Steve said he needs to lay back more! I have been a fan of theirs for a long time and saw them on Images and Words, Awake,and Scenes from a Memory tours. They were really great back then, and I think they have had some cool albums since, especially Octavarium. I just wish they would get back to some more verse-chorus songs with all the stuff thrown in between like the earlier music. I actually like Portnoy's playing in Transatlantic lately more than in Dream Theater. Anyway, I am looking forward to the future of the band with the new drummer, and I hope the best for Portnoy as well!

[deseipel]

edit my post here...

Gonna pull an Oliver Stone move here.

If you look at the t-shirt the lead singer is wearing on day one, in particular during
the Mangini post fireside chat, it is the same shirt worn when he makes the teaser
announcement at the end of the second video, "Welcome to the family"

1. He alternates the same t-shirt every other day
2. He has two of the same shirts, wore it on day one and three.
3. He wears a different shirt on day two (video 2)

Therefore, he made the announcement on day one and told either Roddy or Mangini you
got the gig. It wasn't Roddy...they made it clear his feel wasn't there.

Draw your own conclusions.

Very perceptive, lol. What this means is that they offered Mike the gig on day 1? So why even audition the others?

1. the whole production is fake and the real auditions were weeks ago.
2. part of it's fake (they knew they wanted Mike) and the others were brought in for the show.
3. the sequence of events, as shown to us, were not accurate: Mike auditioned last? But was told he was first?


It's hilarious what you could surmise or deduce in order to guess the correct winner.

[YamahaPlayer]

I noticed the thing about the shirt as well... other option is the "welcome to the family" bit is fake as well.

btw, things like that are called continuity in motion picture making. In this case, someone wasn't paying attention...

[Mark P]

I thought this was public knowledge already??
Surprised to see this massive thread on it, anyhow...

In my opinion, and not wanting to give anything away, how could you NOT have given that gig to Mike Mangini just based on what we saw in those vids?

He had the parts down the best of all the contenders, he seemed to gel with the Dream Theatre guys the most, he nailed every stage of the process, he looked the most into it, the comments from the rest of the band were the most flattering of any player, you saw more of his prep work and his pre-audition phase (airports, home etc..) than anyone else.

He seemed like the best fit to me.

MP

[Andrew<3'sVinnie]

I thought this was public knowledge already??
Surprised to see this massive thread on it, anyhow...

In my opinion, and not wanting to give anything away, how could you NOT have given that gig to Mike Mangini just based on what we saw in those vids?

He had the parts down the best of all the contenders, he seemed to gel with the Dream Theatre guys the most, he nailed every stage of the process, he looked the most into it, the comments from the rest of the band were the most flattering of any player, you saw more of his prep work and his pre-audition phase (airports, home etc..) than anyone else.

He seemed like the best fit to me.

MP

I think most people have been assuming it was Mangini, but there was no definitive "proof" anywhere. Do you have insider knowledge?

[Da Chooch]

+1 on what pusey said. Mike just KILLED the audition. the fact that there's already history and that they're already successful band w/ a huge fanbase, all they would want is to "keep it goin". If i was over 40 (which i am) and had a successful band and needed a replacement, I'd want to hang w/ one of my buds. I don't need to prove anything more to myself nor do I want any room for added drama. Mike is the logical choice.

[Thunderboy]

Like many of you already mentioned it's nice to see some well produced and edited drumming auditions caught on cam. I was really into DT for a long time, but lost interest when things started to sound the same as the record before. MPs drumming is not what I listen to for inspiration but DT sure has some really cool compositions.
Still waiting for part 3....... but IMO Mangini is the right choice, from what was presented he kicked some serious butt in all three phases.
Virgil is really cool as always but maybe too uniqe compared to the rest of DT.
Derek seems like a really nice guy but feels too unmusical and one sided to me.
I really love Marco but as some of you already commented maybe he is actually too happy, but he has really a lot of soul in his playing he is fun to watch.
Thomas Lang is way too precise and surgical, but I was really surprised that he had trouble learning the riff parts, I thought he could nail things like that more easily. His "musical home" is clinic touring the rest of his life IMO.
Just watched the Priester video posted here, and he really sounds like an MP-clone, not enough creativity.
Although I'm also Swedish I wouldn't vote for Wildoer, he's nowhere near the other guys auditioning. If we would send a Swedish contestant maybe Tomas Haake of Meshuggah would be better although he's more of a "harder" player and wouldn't fit DTs style.

To all HODers....very entertaing to read all your thoughts about this process and the drummers, even the fusion/jazz guys here have interesting opinions on this. Keep it up guys!

[sejuba]

Aren´t shows like this supposed to surprise everyone at the end ?

From everything that was shown so far, its pretty obvious M.M. is their n.1 choice...
but how cool would it be if he didn´t get the job ? I have nothing against the guy,
just thought it would be quite interesting ( from the perspective of someone who´s watching a reality show such as this one ) to
see someone else being picked.


We still have another 2 drummers to go. So far, I´ve liked Marco the best.

I just love all these theories you´ve guys came up with.
The keyboard player was really sincere about his thoughts on Marco...he definitely dug the guy.

[Steve Holmes]

I don't think that he's better than the others, but it's clear that he is very influenced by portnoy and his style of drumming fits the band

Yeah, he keeps rushing the offbeat 16th notes, just like MP would do

HAHAHA Nice

[Gaddabout]

I thought this was public knowledge already??
Surprised to see this massive thread on it, anyhow...

In my opinion, and not wanting to give anything away, how could you NOT have given that gig to Mike Mangini just based on what we saw in those vids?

He had the parts down the best of all the contenders, he seemed to gel with the Dream Theatre guys the most, he nailed every stage of the process, he looked the most into it, the comments from the rest of the band were the most flattering of any player, you saw more of his prep work and his pre-audition phase (airports, home etc..) than anyone else.

He seemed like the best fit to me.

MP

I noted before they even started this how it would be inconceivable if Mangini wasn't the guy. The only thing I thought would affect that would be if MM felt some sort of loyalty to Portnoy, but he didn't seem to be suffering from any guilt in the video. I should've known better. Musicians aren't known for throwing themselves on their swords in the name of honor when it comes to a good money gig.

All we're doing is playing along. It's kind of cathartic to watch and fun to discuss. And I'm such a hypocrite because I'm the world's biggest critic of reality shows. haha!