DREAM THEATER To Play One New Song During European Tour

During a recent interview with the Artisan News Service (see video below),guitarist John Petrucci of progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER was asked if the band's upcoming dates will feature material from the much-anticipated new DREAM THEATER CD, which is expected to surface late summer/early fall via Roadrunner Records. "The album's gonna come out sometime in September, [and] at that point, we'll start our headlining [tour] in the U.S. where we will incorporate a lot of the new material and the production of the show will be centered around the new material," he replied. "But up until then we do festivals in July in Europe and we'll just play one of the new songs and it'll be part of the mix type of thing. So you won't really see that until the fall, until the album is out and we start to really tour in support of it."

The new issue of U.K.'s Rhythm magazine, which hit shelves yesterday (Monday, June 6) contains a nine-page feature on Mike Mangini, the newly recruited drummer for DREAM THEATER. Mangini talks about how he landed the DREAM THEATER gig; preserving former DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy's legacy as well as creating his own; and that grueling audition process. The magazine also takes a look around Mangini's massive set-up, takes tips on playing odd time signatures and delves deep into Mangini's technique behind the kit. Plus the magazine takes a closer look at the six guys that missed out on the much-coveted DREAM THEATER gig.

DREAM THEATER has tapped Andy Wallace (AVENGED SEVENFOLD, WHITE ZOMBIE, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, SEPULTURA, SLAYER, NIRVANA) to mix its new album. The band's keyboardist, Jordan Rudess, said, "We are all REALLY excited to have [Andy's] magic touch!"

In a recent interview with Music Radar, DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess were asked if Mike Mangini contributed to the songwriting on the band's forthcoming CD. "Mike didn't write with us," Rudess replied. "Basically, we got in the studio and did our thing. We wrote songs and sent them to him. He came in and just nailed his parts. He's incredible. I'm finishing my keyboard parts right now, and I'll go to the computer to see how things are lining up, and I'm just speechless. The guy doesn't mess up!" [laughs]

"We had the demos, had them fully written out, and he learned them and added his own stuff," Petrucci stated. "But every time he would do something, if I said, 'Hey, can you do that again?' he'd do it, and it would be perfect. The guy is he's out of his mind! [laughs] People are not going to believe how great he is."

"But what's really special about him is, he's not just a technician," Rudess added. "Yes, he plays his parts perfectly, but he comes at everything as a total musician. Everything he does has real soul and a depth of feeling."

When asked how not having DREAM THEATER's former drummer, Mike Portnoy, in the recording and writing process changed the band dynamic, Petrucci replied, "It was a lot quieter. [laughs] Mike Mangini's playing style is different. He plays very hard, but he's got a very deep groove. He almost plays behind the beat just a little bit even through he's right on the money. He's extremely locked in, but if he does do something technical, he's still right there."