Michael Mangini is an American musician who is the current drummer of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, following the departure of founding drummer Mike Portnoy in 2010. He has also played for bands and artists such as Annihilator, Extreme, James LaBrie, and Steve Vai. Before joining Dream Theater, Mangini was a faculty member at Berklee College of Music.
Background
Born on April 18, 1963, in Newton, Massachusetts, Mangini first started playing the drums when he was two and a half years old, being inspired by Ringo Starr of The Beatles. He would practice two to four hours a day and by the time he was nine he was already mimicking Buddy Rich performances.
Education
After graduating from Waltham Senior High School in 1981, Mangini put aside his music studies to pursue a computer science major at Bentley University. After graduating he started programming software for the Patriot Missile program. At the same time, he was working on a program that studied the links between the human brain and body.
Career
In 1987, Mangini scored one of his first high-profile gigs, playing drums for Boston's Rick Berlin Band. This would be his first collaboration with bassist Philip Bynoe. He also taught drums privately in Boston during this time.
In 1991, Mangini joined the thrash metal band Annihilator, playing drums on several tracks for the band's album Set the World on Fire. He went on to tour with the band in support of this album until 1994. That year, he joined Boston hard rock band Extreme, replacing original drummer Paul Geary. Mangini played on several songs on Extreme's 1995 album Waiting for the Punchline, and appeared with the band on the Late Show with David Letterman.
After Extreme disbanded in 1996, Mike was informed through drummer Jonathan Mover that guitarist Steve Vai was auditioning drummers for his live band. Mike successfully auditioned for Vai's band and relocated to Los Angeles. From late 1996 to early 2000, Mangini was the highly regarded drummer of Vai's live ensemble, which also included bassist Philip Bynoe, guitarist Mike Keneally and beginning in 2000, guitarist Dave Weiner. Mangini appeared on Vai's studio albums Fire Garden and The Ultra Zone, and the live album Alive in an Ultra World.
During a hiatus on Vai's Ultra Zone tour in 2000, Mangini returned to Boston, where he served as an associate professor at Berklee College of Music. He also formed the short-lived band Tribe of Judah with former Extreme frontman Gary Cherone and bassist Pat Badger. Mangini appeared on other albums during this time, including a Rush tribute record entitled Subdivisions and a second Annihilator album titled All for You. He also recorded tracks for artists Sal DiFusco, Bill Lonero and Chris Emerson.
In 2005, Mangini accepted a full-time teaching position at the Berklee College of Music in the Percussion Department.
In late 2010, Mangini, along with Marco Minnemann, Peter Wildoer, Virgil Donati, Aquiles Priester, Derek Roddy and Thomas Lang, auditioned to succeed Mike Portnoy as the drummer for Dream Theater.He had previously appeared on three solo albums by Dream Theater's lead singer, James LaBrie. Mangini was announced as Dream Theater's new drummer on April 29, 2011, several months after he actually joined. He has appeared on every Dream Theater release since.
Religion
Mike Mangini is a Christian. In an interview with Drum Magazine, when asked which historical dramatic event he would’ve liked to have witnessed, he said: "One dramatic historical event that I would have liked to witness was Jesus walking on water to the boat full of apostles. That ranks high on my list of “jaw dropping” events."
Views
Quotations:
"Music doesn't lie. All it can do is tell the truth. If you listen to A Dramatic Turn Of Events, you can tell that I have total respect for the band and the music, and that my mission was to enhance these amazing musicians and make what they do sound better."
"Technique should not be a means to an end. Technique is simply a tool."
"I believe that our musicality is a gift. We showed up on earth, and we were each given a gift."
Personality
Mike Mangini is a drumming virtuoso. His style is an amalgamation of speed, power, ambidexterity, and musicality that he is able to showcase behind a truly original drum setup.
Quotes from others about the person
John Petrucci: "Mike Mangini really helped us to get through a major bandmember change, and in a way, that was probably as smooth as any bandmember change could have gone. The way that he came in, his personality, his skills as a drummer, his background, his history… it clicked to the point where it was, like, if we would have met Mike [Mangini] twenty years ago, we would have been playing with this guy. If I would have grown up with him, I would have been friends with him jamming. And that's rare. It's rare to do that one time around."