An Exclusive Look into The Band’s Search for a New Drummer

[7StringedBeast]

I'm thinking more and more that it's Wildoer. By the end of Day 2, the band's conflicted as to who they want, but in the end, it was supposedly "clear." And we haven't seen James' comment of "that was the best, by far" or whatever, actually surface yet, have we? Which means it's in Part 3.

At this point, I think it's like 40% Mangini, 40% Wildoer, 15% Priester, 5% Minnemann.

Or its just editing magic.  They can leave stuff out whenever they feel like.  If they showed that line in ep 2, it'd give away too much.  By showing it in the coming ups or previews, it keeps us on our toes.  Just cause it hasn't been shown, doesn't mean it comes chronologically.  It could go the other way too, but you can't make that assumption.

[DP_Gumby]

Does anyone here know where I can buy that cookie monster t-shirt Marco had?   

https://www.charliepunk.de/KRUeMELMONSTER-Cookie-Monster-Sesamstrasse-T-Shirt-NOM-NOM-NOM-GRAU-MELIERT

Marco has always been and will remain my #1 choice. Not only is he so technically capable, I think he would add to most during songwriting.

I think this is very much it. Mike would augment the band and synchronise with them, whereas Marco would add something new to the band.

Thanks man, you just made my day so much better. 

[russellmania]

On one hand, I agree that Jordan has taken too much liberty with old keyboard solos, so him criticizing other drummers for it is kind of weird.

On the other hand, there's a huge difference between changing one keyboard solo and changing an entire song's drumming.

Also keep in mind that we're only seeing a fraction of their audition.  ANTR is 15+ minutes and we see maybe 30 seconds of them playing it, so any of them could have changed some things significantly, like trying to add fills during a verse or something.  The funny thing is that I think tone-wise, Lang sounds the most like MP.

I know there are people rooting for Lang, and personally I just listened to Stork for the first time yesterday and that actually sold me on him as my top choice, but I don't think anyone can deny that Mangini and Marco are the front-runners right now based on the auditions.  

[Tunnel Vision]

I didn't think Derek would fit in from the start, but I was really impressed with him. Derek's blast beats = Incredible...WOW

Lang is probably my favorite drummer here and I think his takes on the songs were really awesome. That said, I was kinda irked when jordan brought up how he didn't take to lang's interpretations. We don't get to see all the audition footage though, so who knows what particular points jordan is talking about.

I though Virgil's drummer was really cool. (As JP said in the video), I was concerned when it seemed like he just wasn't "getting it", but being able to come up with his own interpretation on the fly was really awesome.

Marco's playing was really impressive as well. I can definitely see why jordan would want to play with marco in a side project.

Overall, I guess I'm not surprised that JM said the two best candidates for them are Mangini and Minnemman. (I want to see more footage of lang tho...  )

[kartmaze2]

I really liked Lang's parts! James seemed more pumped about him than the others... A bummer that he isn't among the candidates, cause I think he would've been awesome in DT! And I certainly wouldn't mind if he interpered the songs differently. We still have the old tracks on CDs, right?
Minnemann seemed to click very well with the guys together with Mangini, and they probably put a lot of weight on that... I'm happy with both Mangini and Minnemann, and I would've been happy with Lang too.

Great episode!

[phentalmyst]

it's one thing to change drum fills and put your own spin on a drum pattern, but it's a completely different story to play something like blast beats over the rag time section of TDOE. not saying anyone did THAT, but the band should be...as they put it...comfortable.

[chrisgazpacho]

I think it's pretty clear at this point it's Mangini.  Marco was awesome but his playing is just not metal enough for DT.  There is not enough weight in his playing.  I think Mangini's interpetation of the riff is the cloeset so far to how MP would have played that part.  Not to say that they want an MP copycat, but I think it's really important to keeping the sound of the band intact with someome who has similar feel to MP.  I think with Mangini they will have someone who can stay true to Mike's parts but also add his own personality to it.  The feel and the weight of his playing is very similar to MP. Like JP siad, it sounded like they could have gone out that night and played a gig.   All the guys today just didn't fit I don't think.  It reminded me of Nick D'Virgilio playing with Fates Warning.  Just didn't work, different feel, signature fills missing etc.

[YtseBitsySpider]

I've said before Lang is just too good.
He's like......Sheldon hanging out with the rest of the phd friends on Big Bang Theory.

[Jamesman42]

At this point, I think it's like 40% Mangini, 40% Wildoer, 15% Priester, 5% Minnemann.

Eh, I would drop Priester down to 10% and the other 3 to 30% apiece.

[bosk1]

And we haven't seen James' comment of "that was the best, by far" or whatever, actually surface yet, have we? Which means it's in Part 3.

I don't think so, because that comment was in reference to Minneman.

[randymarsh]

Watched Marco's audition 5 times already and I think Marco is over qualified/too good for Dream Theater.

One thing I notice with these videos are the tone/sound of each drummer. Roddy's hits are too trashly/harsh sounding to me while Marco's playing almost sound like pop like.

[Adami]

I've said before Lang is just too good.
He's like......Sheldon hanging out with the rest of the phd friends on Big Bang Theory.

You know what? I'm going to go with that. I like it.

[skydivingninja]

In the process of watching episode 2.  Damn, watching Thomas Lang play the audition tune...that better make it on the new album!

[ReaPsTA]

This is just a personal opinion.

A lot of people like the fact that Marco's a super fun guy who adds some of that feeling to the songs.  But honestly, that to me is the biggest strike against him.  Almost all of my favorite least DT moments are "fun" sections like the weird falsetto at the end of Razor's Edge on CiM, or the circus thing in UAGM on Score.  And, at least to me, the lighter attitude towards the music has resulted in a lot of the crazier solo sections that detract from the songs.  I don't expect or want Mangini to just come in and magically change DT's songwriting on his own, but in the context of DT I do like that he brings a more serious demeanor to his work than Minneman.

[7StringedBeast]

One thing I noticed from what we have seen thus far, is that Mangini wants it the most.  He really really wants to be in Dream Theater while the other guys were more like, yeah it'd be cool to find a home as a drummer.  But Mangini seems dead set on that home being Dream Theater.

[Tunnel Vision]

I've said before Lang is just too good.
He's like......Sheldon hanging out with the rest of the phd friends on Big Bang Theory.

Ever since MP left the band, I have watched TONS of drummer videos...many more than I usually would have. The first thing that hit me while watching Lang was just how incredible his playing really is. I'm not a musician so I can't really understand how good all of these guys are, but lang's playing really stood out to me and left me in awe.

[Jamesman42]

I think Marco and Lang also commented on wanting to find a more permanent musical home. Someone correct me if I am wrong.


But yeah, Mike wants it the most thus far.

[zxlkho]

One thing I noticed from what we have seen thus far, is that Mangini wants it the most.  He really really wants to be in Dream Theater while the other guys were more like, yeah it'd be cool to find a home as a drummer.  But Mangini seems dead set on that home being Dream Theater.

tbh I think that's probably why he got the gig.

[nikatapi]

Love that Marco is wearing an om nom nom t-shirt in episode 2 of the #dreamtheater doc.

OM NOM NOM!

I hope this is an indication for Marco being the new drummer.
I was blown away by his audition.

[7StringedBeast]

One thing I noticed from what we have seen thus far, is that Mangini wants it the most.  He really really wants to be in Dream Theater while the other guys were more like, yeah it'd be cool to find a home as a drummer.  But Mangini seems dead set on that home being Dream Theater.

tbh I think that's probably why he got the gig.

Yeah, if he did get the gig, this is why I think he did too.  I still think Minnemann would be a better choice for the band from what I've seen.  He appeared to play the parts perfectly to the album and the jamming stuff sounded incredible!  Imagine what he could do on the new album!  Which is the most important thing to me.

[jdprsaga]

And we haven't seen James' comment of "that was the best, by far" or whatever, actually surface yet, have we? Which means it's in Part 3.

Well i thought of this too but then i watch the first part again and when james say that line they are dressed with the same shirts than day 2.. and we know part 3 is on the third day so i guess they were dressed different.

[The Presence of Frenemies]

This is just a personal opinion.

A lot of people like the fact that Marco's a super fun guy who adds some of that feeling to the songs.  But honestly, that to me is the biggest strike against him.  Almost all of my favorite least DT moments are "fun" sections like the weird falsetto at the end of Razor's Edge on CiM, or the circus thing in UAGM on Score.  And, at least to me, the lighter attitude towards the music has resulted in a lot of the crazier solo sections that detract from the songs.  I don't expect or want Mangini to just come in and magically change DT's songwriting on his own, but in the context of DT I do like that he brings a more serious demeanor to his work than Minneman.

Agree with absolutely everything here, except for the fact that I happen to like the falsetto on the CiM Razor's Edge. But that's just because I like high vocals.

Rudess alone brings enough zany-ness to DT. And I don't necessarily mind it, but the problem is that JP and certainly JM don't go too "fun" all the time, so we get these inappopriate keyboard sections like the TDEN ragtime or the awful fast thing in TRoAE (arguably my least favorite part of any DT song).

I think that in a side-project where it's more improvised, Minnemann could be great, particularly in an instrumental setting like TDOE or the Liquid Tension stuff. But Mangini brings more grounding, which is what DT needs from their new member, IMO.

Wouldn't have minded Donati, though.

[Jamesman42]

the awful fast thing in TRoAE (arguably my least favorite part of any DT song).

Which part? I think I know what you're talking about but I wanna know before I hurt you.

[Dr. DTVT]

I liked the second episode more than the first.

The one thing that kind of gets me is that if DT didn't want the drummers to put their own spin on it (the knocks on two of the drummers), they should have made it more clear.  I'm sure that they could play it more true to the original if they thought they were supposed to.  I guess saying "too much interpretation" is a much kinder reason for saying someone isn't in the running, but it still seems like something that should have been taken out of the equation by simply stating what they wanted.

[7StringedBeast]

I liked the second episode more than the first.

The one thing that kind of gets me is that if DT didn't want the drummers to put their own spin on it (the knocks on two of the drummers), they should have made it more clear.  I'm sure that they could play it more true to the original if they thought they were supposed to.  I guess saying "too much interpretation" is a much kinder reason for saying someone isn't in the running, but it still seems like something that should have been taken out of the equation by simply stating what they wanted.

The less DT said about what they wanted before the audition, the better more pure auditions they would be getting.

[JPX]

Is it just me or has the Trunk tweet made this experience less enjoyable because it feels like a foregone conclusion?
While there have been other indicators, without that, I think there would be more speculation.

[The Hiryuu]

So the whole "blown away" thing was Wildoer or Priester?

And we haven't seen James' comment of "that was the best, by far" or whatever, actually surface yet, have we? Which means it's in Part 3.

Well i thought of this too but then i watch the first part again and when james say that line they are dressed with the same shirts than day 2.. and we know part 3 is on the third day so i guess they were dressed different.

They didn't necessarily show the auditions sequentially, did they? Could be that Wildoer or Priester auditioned on day 2.

That, or they didn't change their clothes.  


(And they sure are selling Mangini HARD. Either it's PAINFULLY obvious that he's the new drummer or it's a massive massive massive red herring.)

[theanalogkid7]

I think this episode more than the last really helped to show just how difficult the riff is they were working.  Of course, in turn that should us the skill level of MM and MM.

[The Presence of Frenemies]

the awful fast thing in TRoAE (arguably my least favorite part of any DT song).

Which part? I think I know what you're talking about but I wanna know before I hurt you.

The fast thing before the band comes back in and it kicks into an keyboard solo (that's actually quite good, mind you). I think JP does some unison tapping with it actually, so it's technically not just a keyboard part.

It just always struck me as completely inappropriate for the song, since TRoAE is so heavy throughout and that part is really light.

[JPX]

So the whole "blown away" thing was Wildoer or Priester?

And we haven't seen James' comment of "that was the best, by far" or whatever, actually surface yet, have we? Which means it's in Part 3.

Well i thought of this too but then i watch the first part again and when james say that line they are dressed with the same shirts than day 2.. and we know part 3 is on the third day so i guess they were dressed different.

They didn't necessarily show the auditions sequentially, did they? Could be that Wildoer or Priester auditioned on day 2.

That, or they didn't change their clothes.  

That comment was 100% said during the Marco audition, they just didn't show it this episode for whatever reason.

[Aniland]

And we haven't seen James' comment of "that was the best, by far" or whatever, actually surface yet, have we? Which means it's in Part 3.

I don't think so, because that comment was in reference to Minneman.

You don't know that, Bosk.

[7StringedBeast]

the awful fast thing in TRoAE (arguably my least favorite part of any DT song).

Which part? I think I know what you're talking about but I wanna know before I hurt you.

The fast thing before the band comes back in and it kicks into an keyboard solo (that's actually quite good, mind you). I think JP does some unison tapping with it actually, so it's technically not just a keyboard part.

It just always struck me as completely inappropriate for the song, since TRoAE is so heavy throughout and that part is really light.

omg jamesman doesn't have to hurt you, cause I'm going to do it for him!  That part is sooooo cool.  Too light?  Whaa?  

 

[YtseBitsySpider]

I've said before Lang is just too good.
He's like......Sheldon hanging out with the rest of the phd friends on Big Bang Theory.

Ever since MP left the band, I have watched TONS of drummer videos...many more than I usually would have. The first thing that hit me while watching Lang was just how incredible his playing really is. I'm not a musician so I can't really understand how good all of these guys are, but lang's playing really stood out to me and left me in awe.

Im in the same "layman" boat. I have excellent ears though....and while I can't put into technical terms what I hear, I know it's better.

[bosk1]

And we haven't seen James' comment of "that was the best, by far" or whatever, actually surface yet, have we? Which means it's in Part 3.

I don't think so, because that comment was in reference to Minneman.

You don't know that, Bosk.

Yes, I do know that because Minneman is in the shot, as has been posted by several other people.

[7StringedBeast]

Please see my first post on this page regarding editing in TV shows.