Marco Minnemann Recalls Auditioning for Dream Theater After Portnoy Departure, Explains Why He Didn’t Get Gig Despite Great Chemistry (excerpt)

Posted Jun 07, 2020 09:39 AM

During a conversation with UG’s David Slavković, Marco Minnemann looked back on auditioning for Dream Theater in 2011 after the departure of the band’s original drummer Mike Portnoy.

Back in 2011, you were auditioning for...

Dream Theater! [Laughs]

Dream Theater, of course! You ended up as a runner-up, with Mike Mangini taking the spot. But you were one of the fan favorites, with some of the band’s hardcore fans even being dissatisfied with the final choice. How do you look at this whole thing now, almost a decade after it happened?

Always a fun thing. To be honest, I never took it that seriously. It was just a thing that happened on the spot. I’m dear friends with Mike Portnoy, and I’m also dear friends with the guys from Dream Theater. With [keyboardist] Jordan Rudess, as you know, I worked on many projects, and still work on some. It was not even considered that I would actually play on the audition, it was just a fun decision, like, ‘Hey, let’s have a fun time jamming!’ I didn’t even know the Dream Theater music; they gave me a few songs, which I just learned and played, and it was just a fun time. But when we played, all of a sudden it became really serious; all of a sudden, they all really liked it! [Laughs] And I liked it too – I thought, ‘Hang on, we have great chemistry here!’ But I wasn’t the right guy for them. I told the story many times, but it was the truth. They really liked it, and they said, ‘How many [Dream Theater] albums do you have?’ And I said, ‘I actually don’t have any of your albums!’ And they said ‘How many songs do you know?’ And I said ‘Well, the ones you just gave me.’ And that was really a big deal for them because they were looking for someone who’d really like to be a part of the band and tour with them all the time. So that’s the history. Everything in good spirit, I think the impressions were overall good, and that’s the story. We’re still all friends. I regret because John Petrucci later asked me if I wanted to play on his new solo album that was right after and also tour with him, and I couldn’t do it because I was on tour with Steven Wilson by that time. And then again something happened, but we managed to work things out. And then also with Jordan Rudess, obviously, but I’m still in touch with John Petrucci. There might be something along those lines that we could collaborate, but if I had been in Dream Theater, I would have given up the most of my activities like The Aristocrats, which are my band and that’s my home. So, these are fine decisions to make for everyone, you know – the bands, the artists... But I’m very pleased to have gotten such a good response! [Laughs]

You mentioned a few songs that you learned for Dream Theater. Was there any particular song, or a part of a song, that you had trouble learning?

No, I have to clearly say no. I’m used to playing music that is like that. And man, sometimes I get production like you have no idea. Actually, just right now I finished a production – which was fantastic, to be very honest – from this guitar player, a very, very fast guitar player. Terry Syrek is his name. Holy cow, that is such elaborate stuff! It is really complex, very long songs, very fast, and if it’s not fast it’s still brutal. And literally, it was like doing a workout and doing math at the same time, like, going to the gym and doing math! [Laughs] That was hard. And I brought my dear friend, Mohini Dey – she’s a great bass player – she’s at it right now and she sends me all these messages and keeps me updated, and she’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s really intense!’ And she likes it too, but you know, that was a hard production. But the Dream Theater was cool, you know, it was prog-rock songs. So actually it was fun, actually, it was good, yeah.

Are you generally familiar with Mike Mangini’s work? Are you in any kind of contact with him?

Oh absolutely! Mike and I go back for years, for 22 years now! We even played in the same band, called UK, with Eddie Jobson and a few other players. We know each other very well. This was all really a friendly, family setting, so to speak. [Laughs]

So no competition between you guys?

No! We’re doing all well! [Laughs]