DREAM THEATER's MIKE MANGINI Slams Musicians Who Are 'Prejudiced' Against Other Styles Of Music

Drumtalk, the video podcast by German drummer and videographer Philipp Koch, conducted an interview with DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Mangini last year in Bonn, Germany. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about how important it is for musicians to stay open-minded and appreciate, or at least recognize, other styles of music, Mangini said: "I think the worst thing that you can do as a musician is to fall for the lie of prejudice through ignorance and not acknowledge what it takes to play other styles or what work it takes just to begin to perceive music. Meaning, how can you say something is musical or not when you can't process it first, when you don't even know what it is? You don't really have a right to judge it — [whether] it's musical or not. You can't make music with it, 'cause you don't know what it is.

"You know, this guy that plays brushes… Brushes can be the most musical thing ever in a proper setting," he continued. "Playing the bass drums and cymbals as loud as can humanly and as fast can be can be the most musical thing in the world in a proper setting.

"There's a prejudice towards… Let's say a jazz musician… The worst thing a jazz musician can do is to say that 'speed/death metal has no feeling, man — no groove.' Well, that person has probably never stood in front of a P.A system with somebody who worked their butt off to get their feet to move at 15 beats a second or something and those bass drums are flying through a P.A. system. Don't tell me that that doesn't have any feeling, because it practically makes me go to the bathroom; that's how much feeling that has. And then when you see the big picture of all that there is to do, you have respect for other people, you have respect for the work that they've done. And you might not like the music, you might not spend time with the music, but at least you have a respect for it, and it changes you, it changes how you view your own music."

Mangini went on to say: "I would have students that wanted to work on their feet, and in order to do that, you have to practice all the time and put hours in and sweat and sacrifice and suffer. And inevitably, a handful of those students came to me saying that a jazz student took the time — they actually took time out of their life — to knock on their door, to open the door and to say to that kid, Why are you doing that all day, man? It's so unmusical, man.'

"That's what a musican shouldn't do — put himself into that narrow-vision world where they ultimately get negative toward things that they don't know. Whereas that jazz kid could have learned something from that student practicing the same thing twenty hours a week; he could have learned how to repeat and practice. So maybe when he goes to an audition and he's having a bad day, he can call upon himself and at least be this good [raises hand]. You practice 'till you're that good [raises hand higher] but at least when it counts, you can be that good [lowers hand]. So the metal guy can learn something from the jazz guy, and the jazz guy can learn something from the Latin guy, and the Latin guy can learn something from the steel-drum player.

"So the worst thing you can do is choose to be ignorant, because you don't wanna look at what's available and what's out there. You don't have to like it, you don't have to practice it, you don't have to eat it, sleep it and drink it, but it's good to just know about it, so that you ultimately end up being at peace with who you are. You're at peace with the path that you've chosen, and you let other people be at peace with the path that they've chosen, and you respect it."

Mangini joined DREAM THEATER in late 2010 through a widely publicized audition following the departure of the band's original drummer, Mike Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER more than thirty years ago.

DREAM THEATER is continuing to tour in support of latest concept album, "The Astonishing", which was released on January 29 via Roadrunner.