Bobby Jarzombek (excerpt)

GTDS: See one thing I was really surprised about is the Dream Theater drummer auditions. I was really surprised not to see you on the video.

BJ: I was asked to do that, actually. I got called from the management. It was October 2010. I was on the road with Halford, and I remember thinking I knew they were gonna do that – they were gonna make calls to people. And I told some friends of mine “I hope they don’t call me for this.” The reason I said that is because I didn’t know what my reaction would be for one, and it was kind of crazy that Portnoy was out of the band. So their management called me, and I initially said I’d have to think about it. I remember Frank Solomon said “what do you mean you have to think about it?” And I was like “it’s a big sort of commitment all the way around.” He told me “we called seven or eight guys, and you’re the only guy so far that has said that he has to think about it.” I was on the road with Halford as I mentioned, and I said “well, when are you doing auditions?” and it was like a 10 day window when I was coming home from when we were doing US to Japan or South America or whatever. I said “I’m not even home when you do these auditions.” And they said “well we would get back together again and reschedule and make a special session if you wanted to do it another time.” I said “well, I have 10 days. Send me the songs.”

So they sent me three songs and it’s like 28, 29 minutes worth of music. I’m thinking “God, that’s a lot of music to learn for an audition.” And I totally understand it, because they need to know and they need to give the guys as much stuff as possible. So I checked it out and I was like “I don’t even have time to learn this.” I’m gonna have 10 days when I get home, and then I would have to have everybody wait for two months for me to get back. And then I thought “what’s even going on here? Is Mike in the band? Is Mike out completely?” I thought to myself “surely he’s gonna be back in the band at some point.” I guess judging from has happened in the media and stuff – I don’t want to add anything that’s been said, but I guess it’s Mangini’s gig and maybe it will always be his gig. But I had thought at the time when I saw this “they’re going to get this resolved.” I’m gonna learn these songs, I was playing with Halford, I had worked with Sebastian, I had worked with Fates Warning. I said “there’s no way that Mike Portnoy’s not going to be back in the band.”

So after all this stuff, I just looked at the whole thing and I said “it’s not my gig to be had.” One thing though that I was curious – I had talked to some of my friends (musicians) – and I knew some of the guys that were up for the audition. So I was really curious, and as it turns out, I was really glad that Mike Mangini got the gig, because I thought he was the right, perfect fit. He comes from a rock background. He understood initially what the band wanted out of a drummer to play the parts the way Mike Portnoy played the parts, and to give the band that sort of heavy feel that they needed, along with the progressive feel. That some things that I think I could have done, if I had been part of that, but I think Mangini has so much more to offer than I could on other levels, as a musician.

So I thought he was the perfect fit. And it would’ve bothered me I think maybe if one of the other guys would have gotten gig that I didn’t think were perfectly suited for the band. It might seem kinda weird cause it’s not my place to say, whether I have an opinion about it because it doesn’t matter what I think. But I was kind of glad to see that, because Mike Mangini such a cool dude as a person and great drummer musician. I think it all worked out for the best. But yeah, it was very strange that I did get asked and I turned it down, even to audition.

GTDS: I would have really liked to have seen Marco, perhaps hear a new track with him on the drums, cause I think he did a really, really good job. But I think you’re right – Mike Mangini was the right guy for the job.

BJ: I think he was just the right guy because I think he approaches music the way those guys do and just his background. I hear it. I can hear a lot of the guys and know exactly what their background is, where they’re playing and how they’re approaching things. I just think that Mangini has the right sort of mindset for it. It’s kind of a weird thing. I’ve heard some drummers that I think are technically great drummers, but I can hear them play on a record. And it would be the same thing for me, as if I try to play something that was really jazzy, that was out of my element. Jazz or Latin or any of the styles that I didn’t really grow up and love playing. I’m not gonna sell that well. Maybe to somebody that’s not a really educated listener or really educate drummer, maybe I would sell that, and they would believe that I’m playing the music correctly. But to the guys that really know, it’s not exactly right – it doesn’t sound right, it doesn’t feel right. I think that some of those guys in the auditions – which are great drummers – it just wouldn’t have been right. On certain levels, it would’ve been a little weird.