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

[Tick]

First, let me add the obligatory, thanks for posting, Peter, its very cool you took the time to pop on in.
I do have a question for anyone who can answer. Who is the much older guy in the auditions? He looks like Micky Thomas from Jefferson Starship.

[Nihil-Morari]

Wait a second, you drummed on Seven Deadly Pieces?

I've been wanting to check that out since I first saw that trailer you posted, which must've been around 2006.
Great music, great drumming. And how awesome that you've been lurking here and now even posting here!

Thanks for all the info!

[King Postwhore]

Thanks so much for posting Peter.  It's great to see great musicians posting here on DT. 

[Nihil-Morari]

It's great to see great musicians posting here on DT. 

Aww thanks man.

[Tick]

First, let me add the obligatory, thanks for posting, Peter, its very cool you took the time to pop on in.
I do have a question for anyone who can answer. Who is the much older guy in the auditions? He looks like Micky Thomas from Jefferson Starship.

Can someone please, "take the time" and answer my inquiry please?

[King Postwhore]

It's great to see great musicians posting here on DT. 

Aww thanks man.

When I typed that I was wondering who would be the first to do this.

[wolfking]

Great post Peter, thanks for your time, a real pleasure to have you here.  Oh, and not to sound like a pathetic fan, but your influence, drumming and vocals, helped make Static Impulse album of the year and really, one of the best albums I've heard in the last five years.

[King Postwhore]

First, let me add the obligatory, thanks for posting, Peter, its very cool you took the time to pop on in.
I do have a question for anyone who can answer. Who is the much older guy in the auditions? He looks like Micky Thomas from Jefferson Starship.

Can someone please, "take the time" and answer my inquiry please?

I think you're talking about Mike Mangini.  He had the part down the middle with the hair not yet touching the shoulders.

[Nihil-Morari]

First, let me add the obligatory, thanks for posting, Peter, its very cool you took the time to pop on in.
I do have a question for anyone who can answer. Who is the much older guy in the auditions? He looks like Micky Thomas from Jefferson Starship.

Can someone please, "take the time" and answer my inquiry please?

Someone looking like this?

[Nihil-Morari]

Oh wait, now I look at it again, I guess you mean Virgil Donati. This guy?

[wolfking]

First, let me add the obligatory, thanks for posting, Peter, its very cool you took the time to pop on in.
I do have a question for anyone who can answer. Who is the much older guy in the auditions? He looks like Micky Thomas from Jefferson Starship.

Can someone please, "take the time" and answer my inquiry please?

Do you mean Derek Roddy.  Can you quote a timestamp?

[tri.ad]

Hello Peter, and thanks for posting. Always interesting to get more insight about the audition. Hope you'll stick around for a while.

[SixDegrees]

.

[skydivingninja]

Very cool to see you posting here, Peter!  Glad we didn't scare you off.  Thanks for taking the time to let us a bit more about the auditions! 

[jonny108]

Welcome to the forum Peter, onwards and upwards man! Now you've auditioned for DT I wouldn't be suprised if you get countless bands asking you to join

[Tick]

Oh wait, now I look at it again, I guess you mean Virgil Donati. This guy?

That would be the guy! Thanks. Am I off in saying he resembles Mickey Thomas? Especially if you've seen Micky lately. They look very similar.

[alexbio]

Ok in my opinion is Mike Mangini.
-Check out the video at 2.10, they show a drumset.
-Compare that drumset with the one Mangini is using at 2.45, you'll definitely see that the look exactly the same.
-Unless they want to fool us with this video-trick, he's gonna be the drummer.
-You can find a collage picture on my wall to prove that what i'm saying might be true.

I bet 100 bucks that Mangini is the drummer!! DT are you gonna pay for that? :-)

file:///C:/users/alessandro/My%20Pictures/dream_theater_video_collage.bmp

[skydivingninja]

Its been explained that all of the drummers used the same kit.  Doesn't mean anything.

[ariich]

I agree that it is most likely Mangini, but not for any of the reasons you just posted. All 7 drummers used the same kit for the auditions.

EDIT: ninja'd

[MajorMatt]

Thanks for posting Peter and welcome to the forum! Very cool of you to give us a bit more insight into the audition process, I look forward to seeing the videos and to reading your diary.

[thyer]

now mike Mangini web site will be update in may ;-)

[?]

Wow, this video raised my interest again! I like how they let the fans know who the drummer candidates were. It's also nice to hear some info from Peter himself!

[JasonScandopolous]

Thanks for posting Mr. Wildoer!  Glad to have your insight on this, it is holding us over until the next video release by DT!

P.S. will check out static impulse later today, I figure I've got two reasons to do so now (JLB & your nice post).

[Jamesman42]

All this said I can also add that I work as a math teacher.   

Hey, that's my major (for high school)! How do you like it?

[ReaPsTA]

Hey there!

Well finally I feel I can post here. I've been following this forum quite closely since September and I want to thank you all for entertaining reading! Most of all I'm very impressed with the detective work around here and the enormous commitment concerning the audition, fantastic fans!

Thanks for posting!

I have so many things I've read over the last months that I would like to comment. I don't remember all and I'm not sure how much I can say without destroying the next video(s). I've been a DT fan since I saw the "Pull me under" video on MTV's Headbanger's Ball in the spring of 1993 and I don't consider myself being a guy that just wanted a gig and not being a fan like some may think!

That's really cool to hear.  Sorry if anything I posted came off as presumptuous.

I want to clarify one thing that was discussed here yesterday regarding the odd meter "test" the guys threw at us. First of all it was not like the normal rehearsal auditioning for DT, I mean it's DT! I was nervous for a month before the audition and when they told me they wanted to try some new ideas and then when they started playing the first idea I almost froze, ha ha ha. I could almost not hear what they were playing! I promise it was not easy.

Well, the guys are very humble and fantastic individuals and told me all the other drummers were kind of surprised too when presented to this test and that it was cool. Like already quoted here I got my head around it so and so and one idea we even jammed around. At the day of my audition even Virgil told me that I was in for a treat at some point on the audition, didn't make me less nervous, ha ha ha!!! All this said I can also add that I work as a math teacher.     I guess I'm the only one out of all the seven that don't do music full time but work a normal day job.

All of this was really interesting.  I enjoyed how even Virgil thought it was challenging.

If you have the time - How does being a math teacher influence you as a drummer?  Music and math seem to go together a lot, and you have a unique experience with that.

I enjoyed the videos and am looking forward to the English diary.  Thanks again for posting.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Hey guys. I've been really busy the past few days. Seems like a ton of information has come out. I don't think I have time right now to go back through the thread so if someone doesn't mind, could someone fill me in?

Sorry for being lazy.

[ReaPsTA]

Hey guys. I've been really busy the past few days. Seems like a ton of information has come out. I don't think I have time right now to go back through the thread so if someone doesn't mind, could someone fill me in?

Sorry for being lazy.

4/21/2011:  DT release video trailer of the new drummer auditions on the band's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dream-Theater/7677942180).  The video reveals that the following seven drummers auditioned:  1. Mike Mangini 2. Thomas Lang 3. Virgil Donati 4. Marco Minnemann 5. Aquiles Priester 6. Derek Roddy 7. Peter Wildoer.  We still do NOT know when the full video will be released, in what format (online/bonus content with new album/one video vs. several/etc.) or when the new drummer will be announced.

Drummer World thread with some really good posts by Derek Roddy and Peter Wildoer on the auditions.

https://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74093

Excerpt from njdfan's FB chat with Wildoer:

Peter Wildoer -My audition started with two jams where we set the levels for in ears and just felt eachother out, musically that is. ;-) After that we went through the three songs they sent me. I guess you'll get to know what songs it was on the next ep...isode of the DT video. ;-) At last they wanted to try some new ideas. This was HAAAAAAAAARD! The ideas were in weird odd times and not one bar with the same meter. Very cool ideas and I got my head around it so and so after a while. If those ideas end up on the new DT album it will be PROG! :-)

[Ben_Jamin]

Wow. Sounds like you guys had a great time Wildoer. Feels good knowing all the auditionees are real cool people and are connecting with us DT fans.

[emtee]

VERY surprised the drummers were allowed to say ANYTHING publicly about the process until the final guy
was named. I thought they would all have to sign confidentiality clauses, gag orders...etc. Interesting
comments by them so far. It will be very interesting to see what the new guy is allowed to offer from a
creative perspective...or if DT just wanted someone to come in a lay down what they envisioned, at least
for this one album anyways.

[bosk1]

Peter, thanks for taking the time to post here.  It means at lot to us as fans and a lot to me as the guy who runs this place.  

Hopefully, if you see some comments from people that come across as negative or critical, you won't be put off by that.  This is a fan site, but we try to keep things somewhat loose and allow people to express criticism and dislikes right along with their praises and their likes.  Sometimes, it's easier to be brought down by the few negative statements and lose sight of the many positives.  But I find that, oftentimes, those who are the most outspoken about their musical dislikes are also the ones who will turn right around and be just as outspoken about the things that they like, so it all kinda comes out in the wash for the most part.

[jsem]

Subscribed to your youtube channel. 

I loved the "making of Static Impulse" videos, whoever put those up. Swedish countryside epicness. Thanks for posting here Peter!

[erik16]

One idea that has been tossed around a few times is that you can see from the video a nugget that betrays it's Mike Mangini. If that's true then the nugget is as follows:
At 2:10 in the video *snip* the voiceover says: "a new member behind the kit" and then it shows a kit with Zildjian cymbals and two Crash symbals uphigh. Then at 2:44 there's a short view of Mike Mangini and he is using the same cymbals and the same setup. So this could be a hint, a distraction or just a random drumset at 2:10. I think it's either a hint or a random set.

[bosk1]

Please do NOT post links to YouTube.  At least for now, the band does not want the video linked from anywhere outside Facebook, and management has been having YouTube take it down when people have posted it there.  Thank you.

[JPX]

It will be very interesting to see what the new guy is allowed to offer from a
creative perspective...or if DT just wanted someone to come in a lay down what they envisioned, at least for this one album anyways.

Why would DT get an elite, world class drummer then dictate exactly what they play? Not only that but JP, JM, JR and JLB aren't drummers, so at the most they might suggest a time or feel.
Also from the 'test' that Peter mentioned, it seemed like they wanted to see what these guys could come back with on original passages which to me says they wanted to see their personalities as a drummer come through.

[Ben_Jamin]

They all used the same set.