Space Dragons does sound like a Jordan Peterson lecture. "Space is the infinite. That which instantiates all that is beyond rational comprehension. Dragons of course are a simulacra of the dangers we've accumulated within our collective unconscious. The body of a snake with the wings of a predatory bird. Thus, you have to barter with the infinite to find and slay the dragon and thus, rescue the princess. Much like St. George slaying the dragon and saving the virgin. Except in space." JP is still a legend tho. If he wrote lyrics for DT, I might give them another shot.
I decided to watch to spite the title, i've never been reverse click-baited this hard. This is a must watch for any aspiring power metal singers out there
The dream theater tryout thing was completely staged. All the other drummers involved are moderately miffed about it. It was a produced show to try and soften the blow. Mangini was the pick from the beginning. Seriously. Lang is cool and talented and whatever, Roddy isn’t a good fit, Marco Minneman technically won the whole “competition” since he’s just that damn good, but he didn’t give a flying fuck about DT beforehand (as he should, cuz it’s just self indulgent busy prog music), Virgil Donati fucked up a bit even though he’s one of the absolute best players in the world, but they don’t want a self absorbed virtuoso, Aquiles Priester was included to satisfy the Brazilian/South American crowd (because that’s a huge majority of their actual fan base, Priester was WAY out of his depth here. Also COME TO BRASIL JAJAJA... that shit. Yeah.) Anyways. Yay Mike Mangini. He’s a swell dude who plays with next to no feel, but he’s still really fucking good. And he’s respectful. They wanted a goddamn robot for DT, they got it.
So if the whole thing was staged, why didn’t any of the drummers say this even 10 years later? No one actually knows if it was. Sure it was filmed like a reality tv show but I highly doubt it was staged. They gained no fame or notoriety from that little series at all. Also, mike mangini plays with feel but it depends on the songs. There’s plenty of examples on RU-vid where he does. He’s good, he can be a robot but he can also,play loosely too and let it swing. Y’all need to stop with the “it was staged” stuff. It’s been 10 years and he’s perfectly fine as a member of the band.
@@nathandrums0 they did get notoriety, I’m pretty sure that tryout aired on live tv (don’t remember the network but it did.) And several of those drummers DID speak out about it later in interviews, that’s where I’m getting my info from to finally piece it all together. Marco Minneman specifically talked about it in a magazine interview, about how he feels like he nailed the tryout and didn’t even give a shit about DT before the tryout, and Derek Roddy has said some things in the past as well about it, especially on his own forum if I remember correctly... something about how as the tryout date approaches they had a bunch of weird stuff to sign, legal documents and NDAs and he got the vibe that this wasn’t going to be a legitimate free for all. By the time he was trying out he was pretty sure it just wasn’t even on the table to begin with. Virgil hasn’t said much but he’s kinda single minded, keeps to himself. Doubt he’s trying to let it get to him even though he really wanted a band like DT to find a home. Thomas Lang is respectful about it through and through but I think he’s even commented on it before. Point is, that infamous tryout they turned into a show definitely wasn’t on the up and up. They already had picked Mike. And he’s probably the best fit for the band, skill set aside. That, I won’t argue with.
@@1dudecrush is there links to these interviews? If there’s evidence I’d actually be interested in reading it or watching. As far as mangini goes though, dude has impeccable skills and feel. If you watch the “take this for the pain” documentary it shows mike’s full jam session with the band and there’s a lot of energy and sections where his feel is off the charts. I think his “robotic” side is forced out because of the riffs that John writes. They feel stale and very straight forward with no emotion or feel behind them. Mangini probably writes what goes with the music rather than implementing his own feel to it. At least that’s what I gather anyways.
@@nathandrums0 I don’t have links tbh, I’m sorry I can’t back up what I’m saying here, but I’m 100% confident you can find tidbits here and there if you dig. Marco said something in a drumming magazine interview if I remember correctly. Like I said with Roddy, that was mentioned in his forum somewhere... very easily removed. Might not be able to ever be found again. I’m not tryna slander anyone either, I love Mike Mangini and the rest of those guys. But that ultra high production level tryout was a farce. The rest of those guys got used for a display. Just because DT wanted people to think they had absolutely secured the best of the best for the replacement for Portnoy. They knew there would be crazy fallout, and they weren’t wrong lol.
@@1dudecrush I feel as though DT has become more of a business model than a band nowadays honestly. I’m sure mangini just gets walked over constantly when it comes to creative influence. He’s definitely a beast of a drummer for sure.
Competing in the worlds goofiest fill competition and your opponent hits you with the fill at 7:08 ... You'd just have to pack your shit up and go home.
I agree with your critiques on the video. He is like me with no video editing skills so it ends up being sloppy whitewashed quality. It over powers the fact that he's a kick ass drummer. Maybe he should get an editor of sorts.
