As expected, Dream Theater have chosen Mike to be their drummer. Except it’s not Portnoy, it’s the other one. Mangina or whatever his last name is. Here’s what he had to say of the situation:
“It means so much to me, I almost felt like crying a couple of times. [Laughs] I didn’t know what to do.”
Well, I know what I’d do: count my lucky stars, and start thinking of that beach house I always wanted to spend my retirement in.
To remind you, Mike Mangini was one of the seven drummers who were chosen to audition for the role. The entire list:
Aquiles Priester (age 39) (Angra, Paul Di’Anno)
Peter Wildoer (age 36) (Darkane)
Marco Minnemann (age 40) (Kreator, Necrophagist, Ephel Duath, Joe Satriani)
Virgil Donati (age 52) (Planet X, Seven the Hardway)
Derek Roddy (age 38) (Hate Eternal, Nile, Today is the Day)
Mike Mangini (age 48) (Steve Vai, Extreme, Annihilator)
Thomas Lang (age 43) (John Wetton, Robert Fripp, Glenn Hughes)
Rumor has it Lars Ulrich was supposed to audition as well, but the other guys insisted it wouldn’t be fair, so they bribed some film producers to keep him busy instead.
