Thomas Lang interview (excerpt)

Corrado Bertonazzi: Thomas there are many questions about the famous audition with Dream Theater. Can you ask you something about it?

Thomas Lang: Of course, yeah.

CB: It has been said that there was a significant marketing operation between that documentary, and many guys asked basically do you think it has affected you in a bad way – that experience.

TL: Not at all. I think for me, it was a good experience; it was all positive. Before the audition, I expected something slightly different than what actually happened, but that’s fine. The result was a positive experience for me. I feel good about my audition and how I played and performed, and I feel good about the decision in the end. It wasn’t the right gig for me. I wanted to know what the deal was, and management can’t tell you any details until you’ve done an audition and you will possibly be hired; so it’s a give and take. I wanted to find out what the deal was, so I went and did the audition, and then I found out what the deal was, and it wasn’t right for both sides, so it was all good. There was no negative aspect to it at all.

And yes, it was a great marketing idea of Dream Theater’s management. After Mike Portnoy left, the label and management were of course worried because Mike’s a founding member of the band and he appeals to a lot of drummers, so potentially the band would lose their drumming audience; they had to do something to cater to the drumming community specifically, to create a scenario where they can invite some of the world’s best drummers to play Dream Theater music for free. The only way you can do this is to call it an audition, and it worked! They got some great drummers, and everybody learned the music for free. They only had to pay for us to go to New York, play there, and film everything. They had a lot of content to put online and promote the search for the new drummer. It’s a great marketing thing.

CB: But you were expecting something different in the beginning before the audition.

TL: Well, yes, but those are details. I mean everybody was told it was a very confidential private audition, it was all hush-hush. So everybody I think expected it to be private and confidential, because that’s what everybody was told. Then when we showed up in New York, there were release forms to sign and consent forms for releases, which was not necessarily what I had expected or what I was told. A consent form to have things filmed and recorded yes, but not a release form. When I asked “Why are we recording this?” they said “Well, because the band may want to look back at the performances and make a selection. Maybe they don’t remember how this guy played or that guy,” so it’s like, “Oh yeah, totally, cool.” But then a release form is something else. I was expecting to only send a release form if I get the gig and the audition footage is being released after the fact, not before the fact. But of course, it’s a great idea and everybody signed it, because we were already in New York at that point. But I think it was a genius marketing idea, and kudos to the band and their management for coming up with that idea.

CB: In fact that video went viral.

TL: The video was very popular and I think for me personally, there was no negative aspect at all. You know, we do auditions all the time as musicians, and sometimes you get a gig and most of the time you don’t get a gig. You have to learn to deal with rejection as a musician or actor or anybody who’s in entertainment. It’s a normal process to not get a gig; it’s totally normal. So none of us feel bad about that aspect of it. It’s totally normal. And the reason why it happened isn’t because these are terrible drummers; these are all amazing drummers. It’s just most of them weren’t right for the gig for various reasons, and most of the reasons have nothing to do with drumming.