Mike Mangini interview (excerpt)

One of the things that I’ve noticed – as a very long time Dream Theater fan – there’s always this kind of rush have some sort of news or media story. “Oh, it’s like old Dream Theater!” They’re always chasing this nostalgic version of Dream Theater. I think if you’re a fan of Dream Theater at this point, you’re there for the whole thing, and you’re not just here because of Pull Me Under, 30 years ago, whatever. When I listen to Invisible Monster – especially the guitar parts – you hear it’s like signature John, but it’s also pushing the edge of the modern string skipping arpeggiated riffage that’s going on right now, like these young guys started doing. I get what you said when you say it’s kinda like us reacting, being like “ah we wanna be Dream Theater” and I can hear it, and it’s almost like “yeah we wanna be Dream Theater, but there’s some new tricks in the bag.”

Because The Alien was the first one written and Invisible Monster was the sixth one written. In fact, when we wrote Invisible Monster, we thought we were done. And so that was just like “well, you know, what haven’t we done?” and John said [in other interviews] that I said in rehearsal or in the writing process “hey let’s do something a little different here, like more mid-tempo maybe, cause we didn’t do that yet.” I actually don’t remember every detail of who said what or who did what. [laughs] “Oh, ok!” I do remember that, because John Myung – I don’t remember what the heck he said that prompted that thought from me, but I blew it out. Anyway, that’s what you got – you technically got the first and last songs written, even though wrote a song after Invisible Monster, which was Awaken the Master, cause John got an 8-string guitar and wanted to use it. And we’re like “well, let’s put another one on. We have the room anyway.” As far as mentioning the nostalgia... I mean we’re under a microscope to the point that it’s almost hilarious. You know how it’s like it doesn’t matter how long – there’s a small group of fans that just, no matter what, there’s nothing I can do right. Which is fine – people are used to what they’re used to and all that. That just doesn’t bother me. I’m just, like “Okay, if that is what it is, I understand that.” But even with that crowd, all the first comments that come up are slamming us and it’s all that crowd. In other words, why are they always the first ones to comment if it’s true? They’re just waiting for it and just waiting to be the first ones – is that true?

Yeah, I think there’s a vocal minority that are the ones that are engaging quickly.

They’re always waiting on our every move even though they don’t like us anymore. I find that bizarre.

I think they want to prove themselves right – I think that’s what it is – they wanna prove their hot take’s right.

All I know is one thing: that they’re there, and they’re there all the time. So I’m just wondering why as far as that. But maybe it’s, again, a nostalgia thing where, “Hey, I’m a fan of AC/DC. I really don’t want them going too far off from ‘Back In Black.’ I don’t.” Every band has had a couple of albums, an era or whatever it is, that certain people just like, and when it gets changed, it’s uncomfortable. Here’s the thing, the bottom line about it all: I understand that. I said it from day one: “I’m not gonna be liked by X percentage of people.” And I wouldn’t like me either. [laughs] So whatever.

Do you feel any different after recording this album versus the last few that you’ve done with Dream Theater – different circumstances – especially Distance Over Time where you guys had that amazing cabin experience in that studio? Everything that went with that, versus how you guys recorded this one.

Yes, I feel differently – I feel better. It’s the best one, it was the most amount of teamwork thus far musically speaking. And I’m not talking about everybody putting in an exact amount of parts and notes – that’s not what I mean by equal. What I mean by equal is that everyone chimed in on everything equally, meaning there’s always gonna be people in the band that do more than others in certain areas, it’s just what’s gonna be. I’m not gonna sit there on the drums with the keyboard behind me pretending that I’m gonna sit there and go through four different inversions and progressions. Jordan’s gonna do that, and John’s gonna be right there with him or John’s gonna be suggesting things like that. When I say it’s the most equal thing, I meant that we’re all chiming in. That’s why the music is what it is, because everyone evaluated everything. “Are we OK with every single feature?” and five people are like “OK, well I’ve got an idea – let’s try that.” “No–yes.” Everything went through a filter so it was really gratifying in that way, because I was able to spend more of my past years and my engineering abilities with Jimmy T., learning from him, going back and forth so that when he got all that stuff set up, I knew what was going on, he knew what I knew, we tried some things we talked about. And then I’m a believer in autonomy and I was like “OK, go in the room and do it how you do it.” It was the same thing with how Andy mixed it as well. I mean of course I have opinions on this and that and whatever. We just had a lot more of everybody in there. And Petrucci did a fantastic job producing in that way on this album. Just kinda like “do this, do that.” Just like “OK.” And then it’s like “alright, I got this riff.” “Yes you do, and no one else does – let’s hear it!” It was amazing. So the vibe was great, the teamwork. And at the end of the day, I can hear more of what I’m doing than I have ever in my era here. So it’s growth – it’s a growth thing. I just feel better in every way about this one, so there you go!