Progressive metal legends Dream Theater, lost their drummer when Mike Portnoy decided to leave the band. They held auditions and have selected their new drummer, but haven’t publicly revealed their decision.
They chose to record the seven audition sessions, and have begun posting 20 minute segments on YouTube. It’s sort of a YouTube reality series.
My initial reaction was annoyance, because Dream Theater is one of my favorite bands, and I’m dying to learn who will assume Portnoy’s thrown. However after watching the first segment, featuring Mike Mangini (Steve Vai, Extreme, Annihilator), I’m kind of hooked.
The guys from Dream Theater are some of the finest musicians on the planet, and the drummers who are auditioning are incomprehensibly talented.
The remaining drummers auditioning are:
Aquiles Priester (Angra, Paul Di’Anno), Peter Wildoer (Darkane), Virgil Donati (Planet X, Seven the Hardway), Derek Roddy (Hate Eternal, Nile, Today Is The Day), Thomas Lang (John Wetton, Robert Fripp, Glenn Hughes) and Marco Minnemann (Kreator, Necrophagist, Ephel Duath, Joe Satriani).
All of these guys (Dream Theater & the drummers) represent some of the best technical rock instrumentalists alive, and it’s pretty cool to watch them play.
My money is on either Mangini or Minnemann.
Give the series a look:
The Geek Whisperer 