Mike Mangini, Mike Portnoy profiles

Mike Mangini

“Controlling the timing of a song and connecting the rhythms of the other musicians” gets new Extreme drummer Mike Mangini’s adrenaline flowing. Attracted to “the banging, hitting, and rhythms,” three year-old Mike beat cans and pans while his older siblings played albums, segueing to a four-piece Japanese kit his grandfather bought him for his fourth birthday. He briefly took lessons the following year, then from 10-18, and took inspiration from Buddy Rich, Bobby Columby, Danny Seraphine, John Bonham, and Neil Peart. He currently admires Terry Bozzio, Dennis Chambers, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Jonathan Mover. Mike uses Remo drums, DW pedals, and Zildjian cymbals and sticks, but plays keyboards to write music. He hopes “to push the limits of my mind and body drumming-wise, while being a team player during groove playing,” and suggests that those starting out “learn by copying other drummers while taking the time to slow down and rewind the music. Study math for understanding rhythm, study language for connecting musical ideas.” Mike will be heard on Extreme’s forthcoming Waiting For the Punchline disc, due next year.

Mike Portnoy

“I was a very hyper child, always fidgety and banging on things. I was a big music fan early on so the combination of the two made it inevitable I’d become a drummer,” says Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy, who toyed with Mickey Mouse kits as a kid and took piano lessons, but “needed something more aggressive.” After playing a real kit on a visit to his Florida cousin’s house at 10, he got one of his own for his 11th birthday, a sparkle blue Royce four-piece that he traded in five years later for a double bass black Tama Imperial Star, just recently retired. Mike took a few lessons but is basically self-taught, learning from his Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Who, and Beatles albums. The drummers of those bands plus Neil Peart were his main influences (“I was a Rush fanatic in high school and knew how to play every song backwards and forwards”), along with Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colaiuta, Simon Phillips, Bill Bruford, and Rod Morgenstein. He currently admires Vinnie Paul, Mark Zonder, Charlie Benante, Stephen Perkins, and Igor Cavalera. Mike loves the challenge that drumming poses (“it requires the use of all four limbs”) and the fact that he gets to sit at all times, “a major plus if you’re a lazy bum like me!” He dabbles in guitar, bass, and keyboards “but I’m not very accomplished on any of them.” Mike’s endorsements include Mapex drums, Sabian cymbals, DW pedals and hi-hats, Remo heads, Hot Sticks, and Latin Percussion. Taking his aggressions out not on his drums but “on my good friends and by throwing full-on temper tantrums,” Mike intends to “continue to learn as much as I can and grow as a drummer, push and challenge myself by trying to create new and exciting approaches to the drums,” and go beyond that by continuing to write and arrange music in Dream Theater. His advice: “Keep a very open mind – don’t just listen to and learn heavy metal. Check out pop music, jazz, fusion, progressive music, hip-hop, industrial, alternative, thrash, etc. Every kind of music has something valuable to learn from. Don’t be one-dimensional. Don’t ever give up or lose faith in yourself or your band. The only way to succeed in this crazy business is persevere. There’s always going to be setbacks to face and the only way to succeed is to never lose hope.”