Mangini won the Modern Drummer Magazine 2017 readers poll for best prog drummer

[erwinrafael]

Facebook message of Mike Mangini:

"Nice surprise to me... I believe someone posted I was up for this. Thank You to those who were aware and voted. I was practicing my feet and listening to songs I'm recording in Los Angeles next week. I'll post more on that in a couple of months probably. Anyway.. thank you. 30 years in basements, garages and little pay for jobs is part of the joy of success today. May all you who get a break enjoy it!"

Well-deserved, Mike. And yes, we noticed that you said you are recording songs in Los Angeles and we are looking forward to that.

[bl5150]

Well done Mike 

[mikeyd23]

That's awesome! 

[goo-goo]

Is he recording drums for his solo album?

[gzarruk]

Is he recording drums for his solo album?

That's what I was wondering when I read his post too. Hope he gives more updates about that soon 

[erwinrafael]

A bit off-tangent, but I found this exchange in Mangini's Facebook quite funny:

Poster: "what happened there to your drumset during 2nd half of Hamburg show?"

Mangini: "What happened is that my "righty" hihat cable broke right away in that set. I had to play songs lefty on the spot. I just somehow did it and confidently waited to move the pedal out of the way a few songs later. Believe me, I don't "take the time" to learn everything both ways, but luckily, I was able to do it more easily than I imagined. That was cool. Then, I was also discussing with my tech when he could pull off possibly replacing that cable hihat. I told him I'd just play the I&W and COS lefty, but we found a spot and he replaced it with literally less one second to spare before my first hit, which I was prepared to play standing up! Those things almost never break, but it is an involved change if they do- not as bad as busting a kick drum head. So thanks for noticing."

So he was prepared to play the whole Images and Words and ACOS as lefty on the spot.  Best prog drummer indeed. 

[mikeyd23]

A bit off-tangent, but I found this exchange in Mangini's Facebook quite funny:

Poster: "what happened there to your drumset during 2nd half of Hamburg show?"

Mangini: "What happened is that my "righty" hihat cable broke right away in that set. I had to play songs lefty on the spot. I just somehow did it and confidently waited to move the pedal out of the way a few songs later. Believe me, I don't "take the time" to learn everything both ways, but luckily, I was able to do it more easily than I imagined. That was cool. Then, I was also discussing with my tech when he could pull off possibly replacing that cable hihat. I told him I'd just play the I&W and COS lefty, but we found a spot and he replaced it with literally less one second to spare before my first hit, which I was prepared to play standing up! Those things almost never break, but it is an involved change if they do- not as bad as busting a kick drum head. So thanks for noticing."

So he was prepared to play the whole Images and Words and ACOS as lefty on the spot.  Best prog drummer indeed. 

Wow, that's pretty crazy. Cool story.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Well deserved. Mangini has to put up with a lot of silly criticism. It's good to see him getting some positive recognition from fans.

[gzarruk]

So he was prepared to play the whole Images and Words and ACOS as lefty on the spot.  Best prog drummer indeed. 

yeah, that's just unreal, I don't think any other drummer could say they can do that on the spot without rehearsing it lefty first. Just another proof we gut one of the world's finest drummers on DT 

Well deserved. Mangini has to put up with a lot of silly criticism. It's good to see him getting some positive recognition from fans.

Indeed. I'm really glad he got this, and IIRC, he was going against very tough competition (Matt Garstka, Gavin Harrison, etc)

[Kotowboy]

Not saying this to be a twat but - he's taught himself to be ambidextrous. It's kinda what he does.

So he has to play the hi hats on the left side of the kit ? That shoulda been 0 problem for him.

Everything else is in the same place.

Also doesn't he have two sets of hi hats per side ?

Not like he had to play the entire set with one arm

[bosk1]

Not saying this to be a twat but - he's taught himself to be ambidextrous. It's kinda what he does.

Yeah, but still an incredible challenge to play an entire song that way with zero practice doing it like that, especially one (two) that is that long and complex.  And even though everything else is in the same place on the kit, if you are reversing your timekeeping hand, you are playing EVERYTHING else differently.

Not like he had to play the entire set with one arm

Funny that you bring that up.  I saw Frank Hannon's Kaleidoscope this past weekend, and Frank's drummer is missing his right leg.  When I found out, my first reaction was to make comparisons to Rick Allen.  But it's kind of its own unique set of challenges.  But what he does is use the left pedal of a double bass pedal, and he has just developed a lot of foot speed with his left foot.  And to work out the high hat, he just has two high hats next to each other; one open, and one closed, and his hands are fast enough that for songs that require an open/closed or closed/open sound, he has just developed a fast enough stroke when he hits them quickly in succession in such a way that, in the context of a song, it sounds similar enough to a single hit and then opening/closing with your foot that you don't notice the difference.  Anyway...

[cramx3]

Congrats to MM and that's pretty cool how he adjusted during the set 

[hefdaddy42]

A bit off-tangent, but I found this exchange in Mangini's Facebook quite funny:

Poster: "what happened there to your drumset during 2nd half of Hamburg show?"

Mangini: "What happened is that my "righty" hihat cable broke right away in that set. I had to play songs lefty on the spot. I just somehow did it and confidently waited to move the pedal out of the way a few songs later. Believe me, I don't "take the time" to learn everything both ways, but luckily, I was able to do it more easily than I imagined. That was cool. Then, I was also discussing with my tech when he could pull off possibly replacing that cable hihat. I told him I'd just play the I&W and COS lefty, but we found a spot and he replaced it with literally less one second to spare before my first hit, which I was prepared to play standing up! Those things almost never break, but it is an involved change if they do- not as bad as busting a kick drum head. So thanks for noticing."

So he was prepared to play the whole Images and Words and ACOS as lefty on the spot.  Best prog drummer indeed. 

Holy crap 

[TAC]

Facebook message of Mike Mangini:

"Nice surprise to me... I believe someone posted I was up for this. Thank You to those who were aware and voted. I was practicing my feet and listening to songs I'm recording in Los Angeles next week. I'll post more on that in a couple of months probably. 

So Mangini is the drummer in MP's Prog Metal Supergroup??

[Adami]

And that, boys and girls, is how TAC was banned from the entire internet.

[TAC]

 

[SwedishGoose]

 

[KevShmev]

Well deserved. Mangini has to put up with a lot of silly criticism. It's good to see him getting some positive recognition from fans.

Amen.

[rumborak]

That is indeed an impressive amount of skill, especially considering how meticulously sequenced many of his runs are.

[erwinrafael]

"I was practicing my feet and listening to songs I'm recording in Los Angeles next week."

I don't think it's his solo work. The way he refers "to songs", it's like there are already songs recorded without a drum track that he would play to. I also think that if it's his solo stuff, he would be recording it somewhere near his home in Boston.

So who is in Los Angeles?

Steve Vai.

[Adami]

So who is in Los Angeles?

Me.




Let the speculation begin!

[erwinrafael]

So who is in Los Angeles?

Me.




Let the speculation begin!

LOL

Did you happen to see this guy?



Mangini posted on March 11. This guy posted this pic while recording at Capitol Records studio on March 13. 

[Kwyjibo]

Well deserved. Mangini has to put up with a lot of silly criticism. It's good to see him getting some positive recognition from fans.

Yeah, this, Congrats to Mike

[devieira73]

Wow, cool! Although I like Jeremy Colson a lot, it would be very cool if Mangini is recording again with Vai. And more so, if Mangini plays with Vai at the show in Brasilia in june.

[gzarruk]

Did you happen to see this guy?



Mangini posted on March 11. This guy posted this pic while recording at Capitol Records studio on March 13. 

It would be amazing to have Mike recording with Vai again. Also, It was Mangini who goy Pillip Bynoe an audition for Steve's band in the 90's, so it would be really cool to see them playing together again 

[Adami]

So who is in Los Angeles?

Me.




Let the speculation begin!

LOL

Did you happen to see this guy?



Mangini posted on March 11. This guy posted this pic while recording at Capitol Records studio on March 13. 

Sorry, all bassists look the same to me.

[bill1971]

Facebook message of Mike Mangini:

"Nice surprise to me... I believe someone posted I was up for this. Thank You to those who were aware and voted. I was practicing my feet and listening to songs I'm recording in Los Angeles next week. I'll post more on that in a couple of months probably. 

So Mangini is the drummer in MP's Prog Metal Supergroup??

Mangini's award wasn't really for him but for lifelong recognition of DT drumming over the years.



And WOW to his switching up like that!!!!

[Herrick]

Mangini's award wasn't really for him but for lifelong recognition of DT drumming over the years.



And WOW to his switching up like that!!!!

I don't know if you were joking but I thought something similar. I'm not a Portboy but I can't think of any Mangini drum parts from the last two albums that made me rewind them and listen to them again except for one part in Illumination Theory. And to be fair to MM, he hasn't has much opportunity to impact the song writing. Still I am happy for him. He seems like a really good dude and he's clearly a great drummer.

[erwinrafael]

Why take away from Mangini the credit for winning based on individual merit? Modern Drummer has been running these polls since 1979, and believe me, the lineup of awardees is credible:

https://www.moderndrummer.com/modern-drummers-readers-poll-archive/

I don't see the need to undermine the award as if Mangini won it only because voters took the whole of Dream Theater's work into consideration.

[goo-goo]

Why take away from Mangini the credit for winning based on individual merit? Modern Drummer has been running these polls since 1979, and believe me, the lineup of awardees is credible:

https://www.moderndrummer.com/modern-drummers-readers-poll-archive/

I don't see the need to undermine the award as if Mangini won it only because voters took the whole of Dream Theater's work into consideration.

Hasn't he won some MD's Best Educator award? I thought he did with The Grid or one of the other books he has.

[erwinrafael]

Why take away from Mangini the credit for winning based on individual merit? Modern Drummer has been running these polls since 1979, and believe me, the lineup of awardees is credible:

https://www.moderndrummer.com/modern-drummers-readers-poll-archive/

I don't see the need to undermine the award as if Mangini won it only because voters took the whole of Dream Theater's work into consideration.

Hasn't he won some MD's Best Educator award? I thought he did with The Grid or one of the other books he has.

Yes. And he won best recorded performance with ADTOE when he also won the MVP award. Then last year he won best recorded performance - video with BTFW.

[rumborak]

I don't begrudge MM the award, good for him I say.


Overall though, Modern Drummer should retire the "Prog" subsection in their polls. There's only a handful of bands, so it often is just "which band released an album in that year".

[erwinrafael]

It's not like there is no competition. Mangini was up against Craig Blundell, Aric Improta, Jimmy Keegan and Novene Koperweis.

[rumborak]

Jimmy Keegan isn't in a band, and certainly didn't release anything with him on it in 2016. Craig Blundell has yet to appear on a SW recording, he was so far a Marco Minnemann live replacement.
The other guys I had to actually look up who they even are. I'm not saying MM isn't worthy of the award, he clearly is, it's just that the "Prog" section has just a few big hitters in it (Rush, DT, PT) that the award travels between.

[erwinrafael]

The staff of the magazine, who are really good drummers, are the ones who narrow down the nominees. So they would tend to select the real drummer's drummers in a genre, and these drummers would not necessarily be popular. When the ballot is opened to the public, the ones that many people really know would tend to have an advantage.

And there were big prog releases last year with known drummers. Big Big Train by Folklore with Nick D'Virgilio. F E A R by Marillion with Ian Mosley. Affinity by Haken with Raymond Hearne. Theories of Flight by Fates Warning with Bobby Jarzombek. I think the question would be, why were these drummers not included in the ballot by the Modern Drummer staff? Did they not make the cut in terms of quality of output?