Mike Mangini interview (excerpts)

Heavy Magazine: You're playing on the Zippo Stage at 7:00 p.m. tonight?

Mike Mangini: That's correct!

HM: You've gotta be looking forward to that.

MM: Usually. This whole tour’s been fun and it's been a whirlwind because, as you can see, if we’re all here doing these interviews, we’re not preparing in the normal ways, but so what? You’ve just get out there and do it!

HM: The sun has come out for you as well – we had torrential rain about three hours ago. The sun has come out for you now.

MM: I have a special phone with him. [points up towards the sky]

HM: [laughs] You say you're on a European tour and it runs right through to the end of July. You're basically hitting every single European country that you can think of. Is there any country out though that you haven't played before that you're looking forward to going, or have you played them all before?

MM: You know we’ve played them all before. I mean we haven’t been to Antarctica, and I don’t want to go. That’s for Metallica – it’s too cold for me!

HM: Well, I mean you’ve got Slovakia, you’ve got Italy, you've got Hungary, you got Poland and you got Malta – how many bands play Malta?

MM: All I think is food – like what am I gonna eat in each place? No joke!

HM: I can imagine! So what do you eat in the UK? Whatever is in catering?

MM: To me it's baked beans and bangers and...

HM: Bangers ‘n mash!

MM: ...eggs that I wish were turned over and cooked a little bit more.

HM: Yeah, you should come to my house. I always cook my eggs well.

MM: All right, good.

HM: Distance Over Time was released in February this year. As you just mentioned, it's the first Dream Theater album that you've written for and your fourth album, so it's are you proud of the album?

MM: Yes.

HM: You're not gonna say no, are ya?

MM: Well, no – I wouldn’t say “no”. But it’s great to be part of an effort that everybody was on the same page. In other words, it’s like a sports team – you cannot have a guy or a person taking it away. Otherwise, it’s not as focused. So that’s all I really cared about, I think. Even contributing music, songs, parts with bass, guitar. Like, “Here’s a song idea” the first time. It wasn’t so much about personally doing it – it was more that everybody was involved doing that. And everybody had something to say about everybody’s offerings, [laughs] so it was a team effort. It was amazing to be part of a team.

HM: How long did the whole writing and recording process take if everybody was involved? Was it longer than usual?

MM: It was actually quicker than usual – it was 18 days. And what’s interesting is, the opinions on that vary [from] “That’s not enough time” to whatever. I mean, opinions don’t even matter. The fact is, we were on the same page, so when a riff came up, we knew where to go next, and we just all knew what we were doing. That’s why it went the way it did.

HM: I've heard the scenery was pretty spectacular when you recorded the album. You had like wild birds walking past and lots of little wildlife–

MM: ...and a couple of hedgehogs that would walk out and... [motions like they would look up to see what’s going on] And I showed up early to actually write on my keyboard or computer, or practice a little bit, so I got to see some of the early wildlife. One of our guys ran into a bear – that wasn't so good – Maddie, I think. He didn't run into him, but... something happened.

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HM: After this European tour, what do you got after that? Is it back to the States?

MM: After this European tour, yes, it’s back home, deal with the house and all those other things – you know, have some time off. And then we’re touring the United States again and a few other places... it’s all being put together for the next year, so a lot coming up.

HM: I have some random questions here, Mike, but you have to roll the dice to see which question you get.

MM: Five! Just like the time signature of ‘Fall Into the Light’.

HM: Which other band do you have the closest bromance with – the closest friendship with? Which other band or bands?

MM: I couldn’t even...

HM: That’s a bad question for somebody who’s been around a long time.

MM: Yeah, I mean, all my brothers in Extreme... so that just comes to mind.

HM: Gary Cherone named one of your pieces, didn't he?

MM: Yeah yeah yeah yeah! It’s funny that you say that because like I just [ran] into Sully and other people, just hugging and talking about our sports teams – people from Boston really stick together!

HM: Absolutely. Let’s roll these dice one more time.

MM: Nine!

HM: What is your earliest musical memory?

MM: My earliest memory was setting up cans when I was two and a half, playing to Blood, Sweat & Tears...

HM: Which song? ‘Spinning Wheel’?

MM: No I think it might’ve been ‘More and More’. How do I remember that? I don’t know! That could’ve been when I was 7 – I was making that up. I opened up the record and looked at the shape of the drums and set up the cans so they would look like the drums.