Back in 2010, Mike Portnoy, Dream Theater’s founding drummer, quit the band. Not wanting to give up a good thing, the band decided to continue on without him, and began searching for his replacement. This led to a series of auditions by the top drummers of our day, including Virgil Donati (Steve Vai, Planet X), Aquiles Priester (Angra), even Derek Roddy (Hate Eternal) – and then of course, Marco Minnemann (The Aristocrats, Paul Gilbert, fucking NECROPHAGIST!?!?!) who auditioned at the behest of Jordan Rudess.
But in this interview Marco reveals, unbelievably, that before he was asked to audition for the band, he had never listened to them, and didn’t know any of their names.
Wat.
I can’t believe the dude had never so much as heard “Pull Me Under” on the radio before, especially considering he’s damn near a god of progressive rock/metal himself. Not a band that flies under most people’s radar, even if you hate them, you know who they are.
Despite his ignorance, he pulled off a massive performance and was a favorite of the band. What a wacky dude.
Myth / February 20, 2014 12:54 pm
Man, would’ve been even better if he would’ve gotten the gig ahead of Mangini
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MoshOff / February 20, 2014 2:13 pm
He did, he just wasn’t able to relocate/commit to the degree they were asking him to.
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geeteekay / February 20, 2014 7:26 pm
No, he didn’t.
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Torsten Bier / February 20, 2014 2:13 pm
Dude, nobody listens to the radio anymore.
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DavidOfAum / February 20, 2014 2:15 pm
IT MAKES ALL SENSE NOW! Still love the dude and his honesty. Respect!
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oneblackened / February 20, 2014 3:35 pm
Marco didn’t want to commit full-time to Dream Theater – he has so many projects going that it would have been silly to do so.
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Pedro Muñoz RamÃrez / March 7, 2014 4:36 am
Glad Marco didn’t get the gig, he would be focused only on DT while leaving all of his great projects striding.
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Dookie / April 26, 2014 1:09 am
New music featuring Marco: http://youtu.be/ZYuLuPcvW9w
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