Mike Mangini interview

Corrado Bertonazzi: Did you enjoy your show yesterday?

Mike Mangini: So much my belly is happy, my face is happy, the crowd was great it was crazy.

CB: What's the biggest challenge for you in that kind of show with all the new material?

MM: Nothing. It’s about the day, about the work before the show. [laughs]

CB: Do you have time to practice?

MM: No.

CB: Only warm up before the show.

MM: Sì.

CB: What are you playing when you warm up?

MM: I make sure [I get] the basic motion [with] the limbs, and then I make the motions bigger and play more slow and controlled.

CB: You are an incredible musician. You always try to expand your abilities over the comfort zone. When you’re at home, relaxed, do you still practice that way or you just maintain your skills at a certain level?

MM: I practice something where I have a flaw or a problem. For example, the last couple of times we have a break, I had some injuries. I injured myself doing the yard work with the trees and the bushes and the landscaping, right? My chest bone split, so I was not able to do this motion [holds his hands up], but I had to play the whole Images And Words tour with the broken chest. It was very painful, and it took four years to heal, I think, to heal – because there’s no surgery, there’s no correction. I was pulling the tree... Rip! Crack!

This time I practice this motion with my legs just with the heels [lifting just his heels up and down], and I practice different rhythms – 5, 3, 8, things like this with dynamics, because I never learned this right.

other guy: You mean the swivel technique or...?

MM: All of it, yeah. I didn’t know these things, so I couldn’t really practice the full drum set and the motion, so I sat – no pedals, just on the ground – and I played a little football [motioning with a videogame controller].

CB: Thinking about your musical career, is there something, thinking about the past – something that to you, about technique or practice routine – something that you wish you had discovered earlier on your path?

MM: Yes. This. [moving his heels up and down again] I wish I discovered that, because it has allowed my legs to have dynamics and play all the middle tempos that used to be more difficult. The fastest tempos and the slower tempos weren’t the most difficult for me, because the faster tempos you could move the ankle [rapidly drumming his hands on his chest]. I have this in my genes, so this I could do.

But it’s in the middle, in control – I had those problems. But this technique has allowed me to bring the faster down slow and strong. I wish I had discovered that. I didn’t know. I just started trying to make the feet like my hands. And I used to be able to do the middle tempos in the 1990s with Extreme. I had all the tempos. And something happened, I don’t know what happened. I broke. In the decade of the 2000s. I didn’t practice so much.

Well, I was practicing a lot of different Latin styles – Brazilian, Afro-Cuban – and I did many clinics with Horacio. So I work a lot on the groove from getting my swing back, because I used to play swing, jazz, all that stuff. But then, for many, many years I had to earn a living, and people that paid me paid me to play like a machine – and complicated.

CB: You were inspiring many drummers around the world, even before Dream Theater. I’m a big fan of Steve Vai, for example – I remember very well the period when you played with him. Who is inspiring to you today? Is there a musician or a drummer you want to share and say, “Man, this is a very good drummer”?

MM: No – I will tell you it’s really bad, because there are too many! [laughs] What I mean – so many drummers now we know about. We have YouTube and big things like this, and so [there’s] many videos you can see. And drummers have each something that’s strong that they do. It could be something physical, like feet or hands, just like speed. It could be different groove, different sound, different setup. There’s so many areas that the person can be great. And so we do – we have many, many drummers with so many qualities and gifts. This is the inspiration – this piece, this little bit here. This might sound ridiculous, but I can’t spin a drum stick to save my life, so I might look at any of you guys that can do this!

CB: Are you working on new material?

MM: The band doesn’t work on new material – well, we have at soundchecks, but we don’t do the soundchecks anymore. That’s how good our crew – we just show up. So I never check the drums – basically I never. I mean, I have gone to the drums if we’re early and there’s nothing happening, I may just go, “Whoa, I can practice for 10 minutes,” or something.

CB: Is this the only moment you can play the drums?

MM: Right on stage.

og: The real drums.

MM: Yeah, right on the stage. And it doesn’t feel the same as how I warm up – it’s different.

og: You warm up on little drum pads?

MM: Yes. But no, the band is not writing. We will get together, and the band is so quick! We will show up with ideas and we will have too many ideas, and we will do that. We have two more tours to do – we have to go all the way through Asia...

CB: With the same concert?

MM: The same, yeah – Scenes From A Memory and Distance Over Time. And then we will be playing in the fall – I don’t think that’s announced, so I want to be careful what I say – but we won’t be alone, it will be a special tour. So we’re going to do that, and then I believe we have to go record.

CB: This is a little different, the new album from previously, because of shorter songs. I think it’s a little bit easier to listen – is this a specific choice?

MM: Yeah. The first time I was a part of the writing for real – like songs. Songwriting is interesting because you can be in a room and speak and make suggestions, but I’m talking: Song. Writing. You write the music to the song. That’s what I contributed – writing music. Not, “Oh, I’m writing...” No – what do you mean writing? Here’s the note, here’s the key signature, it’s in D, you’ve gotta hit the A-flat instead of the A – that kind of writing. Riffs, things like this. And everybody throws in together, because mainly John and Jordan will go back and compose, because that’s what their instruments do. That’s the key signatures, that’s the music writing right there. I mean, I can suggest anything – any drummer can – all they want, and it helps, it changes things for sure, but that’s not “music writing”. So we all wrote music, and James can sing perfectly, so they know the key signature, they know the notes. So that’s when I say “music writing”. So it was the first time for me, which was exciting. And yeah, we discussed – let’s make powerful and place the crazy stuff only in a couple spots, like ‘Pale Blue Dot’.

CB: After [almost] ten years with the band, what are you learning from your bandmates?

MM: Well, I’m learning that they’re extraordinary people first – extraordinary musicians – because they’re very quick. This is the songwriting for me again. This is why I had to work to show up with pre-written ideas, and then I had to be quick and wake up in the morning and say, “OK, well we didn’t finish the song and they’re in the key of B, so what can I actually write for the music that might work?” And then when people take turns, they have a suggestion – so John Myung: “Try this,” and Jordan’s, “Try this,” and Petrucci’s, “Try this,” and James is like, “Try this.” And so me, instead of going, “Yeah, let’s hit five of these and two of those and three of these,” it’s like, “No, no, no.” Bang – and I have a list of things to play. “What about this? Here’s some music.” It’s different. So I don’t know what will happen next time, but I had a good time with Distance Over Time.