Marco Minnemann interview (excerpt)

Interviewer: So I hear about you auditioning for Dream Theater. And then they, obviously they ended up going with another drummer. Can you tell me about that experience?

MM: Yeah, Dream Theater was kind of a funny story, I really, it’s almost like, you know,.. I have to kind of be aware of not saying something wrong here, no, no, it’s okay. No, look, Jordan, he was a friend of mine, you know, and we did like this thing called like the music of mind meld (?) which was actually after the auditions and... the funny thing was, when he contacted me and said, like, ‘hey do you want to try out for us?’, I, to be very honest, was like, going more like, you know what, I ... I was never really a big fan of the band... I really didn’t know too much material about them. But we were planning on getting together anyways, and preparing for the music and mind meld (?) so I said like, ‘what the heck, let’s just play, and see where this is going,’ I didn’t even know the names of the players in the band, you know, so,..they sent me three songs, one very long one, then a pretty complex one, like YYZ kind of like thing, and they took it a bit further, it was like a lot of parts, and one kind of mellow, more like gospelly kind of thing.

And so we had a few days to rehearse it, you know, a week or something, and um, and then we played and actually the chemistry was amazing, I think you know, we really felt it was really something special going on. And uh, and so actually there were some discussions like how serious I would be in, to be in Dream Theater and all this kind of stuff, and...The big key moment was, I’ll never forget that moment, it was actually kind of funny because I was very honest about it, so they asked me then, the singer and the guitar player, since when am I a Dream Theater fan, and how many records I have, and stuff, and I said like ‘I’m sorry, it was the first time I heard your music and I..’ and I was just completely honest and I’ll never forget the look on their face, they’re like, ‘Oh. Well, could you imagine being a band member and stuff?’

I was like ‘Oh, God, ok, here we go, yeah, and of course you know, it was great, but I just knew from that discussion, and I remember like Jordan telling me look if you’re in Dream Theater, you know, it’s..ah ah.. this is going to be number one, you know. This is like, you know, you know nothing, I mean, you know, you can do side projects and stuff, but if Dream Theater calls it’s going be it. And I ended up on the West Coast, the East Coast. There were like so many kind of things, you know. But, yeah I remember we like talked about, and this is actually very nice

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MM: Yeah I remember, we talked about, and this was actually very nice, and I just got an email from John Pet.... the other day. Actually, because we wanted to do like another project together, or like another band at some point when everything clears up with our schedules. And I’m looking very much forward to it, because the one with John was actually amazing. But, you know, look, it’s it’s kinda one of those things. I couldn’t really picture myself in the band as well. Because I write music, and the music I write is very, pretty different from that, and you know. And you like think about, man. Do you really, really like the band? Are you really a fan? Can you really like identify yourself with that band?

Interviewer: And those are important questions.

MM: That’s very important questions. And these guys, you know, know that very much too, because they’re long enough in business. And, uh, wonderful people, great chemistry, and, I think you know, I think the way it came out, actually got projected very well. So I’m actually quite happy.

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Interviewer: and you know, and, and that’s the reason I wanted to talk to you about that Marco, is because, people that are Dream Theater, uh, Dream Theater fans, they hear about Marco Minnemann go in and auditioning for Dream Theater. So in their mind, you’re a huge Dream Theater fan.

MM: Yeah, yeah, I know.

Interviewer: And you didn’t get the gig but it’s not always that way. It’s, it, it works out for a reason is what the point is here. So you’re, it it it’s something, there’s so many other facets, so many other elements that have to be in place. Because that show doesn’t come through, doesn’t mean many other good things aren’t going to come from it.

MM: Well, you know, that was my, you know first of all, I thought like of course, you know when the whole audition thing happened and was filmed, I didn’t know it was filmed at first, you know. I thought like, actually no, you know, I just wanted to do this for fun here and kinda see where this is going. I didn’t want to end up somewhere being in a soap opera show, or something there you know. And that was like a reason why I first though “oh shit, you know, you just opened a can of worms or something” I didn’t know what happened there but, um, actually, in the end I wasn’t actually very happy about it. The funny thing is, there were actually many really good drummers auditioning, you know, and and playing with them like, all, pretty much a lot of, a lot of high caliber players. You know, like Virgil was there as well. Fantastic drummer. And you know, and and, this is like one of these kind of things I have to kind of say that I remember, like talking to Jordan, after actually Virgil auditioned, you know and uh, you know for a band, it’s kind of sometimes, sometimes weird to kind of play with, I think, I don’t, I sometimes doubt, there is even a right way to kind of just play for half an hour with a certain person and then kind of adjust or something like that.

Because especially players like Virgil, have like a lot of depth, you know that, that you can’t spot in maybe just in the first ten minutes. You know what I mean it’s like, you know, like like if they would’ve, if the chemistry didn’t work or lock that well or whatever it doesn’t really mean, you know that, that you know. That exactly, that it wouldn’t you know because, you know these are, are high caliber players. And like artists as well. You know, so like you know with calibrating over like, you know one or two weeks, there could be something wonderful coming out you know. So you know, um, I did feel actually bad, uh, uh, for you know, for all, for a few players. You know, just, you know to not having a chance to stretch out, to take a look at the material, you know longer or something like that. You know, but um, actually to very honest, I can only say I had a really good time. You know, I, I, personally had a really good time. The chemistry was..

Interviewer: and your relationship with John Petrucci and the band is obviously still good, there’s no... it’s not, it’s not what it appears on the outside.

MM: Yeah, yeah, well you know, thing is, I gotta say it was like, very much all the material they gave me was pretty much my favorite because I’m totally into that area of kinda you know automators (?) and stuff like that. So to me it really felt natural, I was like, “eh, let’s do this” you know I was like, oh it’s just I, I enjoy playing music. This is like in the important things, it’s just like uh, well, I think that’s what I wanna, what I wanna project anyways, it’s like, you know I do what I love here, you know I do, it’s like a passion you this is like what I want to do in life. And um, so yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s just like thinking, thinking back of it, it was like, I don’t know, you know, I, I, I was, I was even asking, asking them to not actually film me, or kind of you know put me even like into, into the kind of series or something. But you know, I was um, I just let go of that thought, you know, because these are nice people, and stuff like that, so I thought like “ah, you know, what the hell”, it’s, let’s just do it. And uh actually very very nice, and thank you actually so much for um, um, for writing all these nice comments on my Facebook wall all the time, and uh, um, well I got a lot of good things out of it I must say.

Interviewer: Yeah, good for you.