Thomas Lang interview (excerpt)

Aquiles Priester: The question that could not be missing is: how you deal with being one of the six drummers who did not get the gig with Dream Theater?

Thomas Lang: [laughs] I came up with that line!

AP: Do you think you would enjoy being the band’s permanent drummer and giving up the control and freedom you always had in your career?

TL: Uh...

AP: This is a good question—

TL: Yes, it’s a good question.

AP: ...because they are playing every day the same setlist for two years in a row. They don’t change the songs anymore like they used to like when Mike was in the band.

TL: [thinking] Would I miss giving up control of that freedom? Yeah, probably. I mean, it’s hard to say because I’m not in the band. I didn’t get the gig, so this is all theoretical. But at the time, I wanted to know what the situation was like. I wanted to meet the guys in the band – that’s really why I did the audition, because yes, it’s an interesting job opportunity, but to me, like I said earlier, it’s always three things: the people, the music, the money. And I wanted to meet the people; that’s really why I took part in this whole thing, and I wanted to know more about the music, because I knew about Dream Theater, but I had never learned any of their songs, so it was a good opportunity to get into that headspace of Dream Theater music. The money in the beginning wasn’t relevant to me; only later when I found out more about this whole job and scheduling and everything – when I found out about the money aspect – then I would consider: would it make sense financially? But from a musical point of view, to give up... Is this exclusive [for Mike Mangini]? He doesn’t do anything else?

AP: No. Well, a little bit.

TL: I like writing music and I’m a writer and producer, so to have the opportunity to be involved in the writing process is very interesting for me. To give up the writing process and that sort of creative input, I would not enjoy. Also to be able to create all your own drum parts – because what I learned were Mike’s parts – that I also would not enjoy. If I had to play everything like somebody else all the time, I would not enjoy it.

AP: Actually, what I wondered would be good was if they gave the seven drummers the same songs with no drums, just a click track. “OK, do your own thing.” And then they could compare them.

TL: And then Aquiles would’ve gotten the gig! You would be the drummer now! You know what I think we should do? The six or seven drummers that went on the audition – we should have a camp called “The Dream Bonanza” or whatever. Or we should be called “The Six Dudes Who Didn’t Get The Gig” camp! [laughs]

AP: Let me tell you a story: in Brazil, people throw me to the lions.

TL: Oh, don’t be so mean Brazilians!

AP: But now I can see, to be honest, I am [better off?], because at that time – that was 2010 – I made a promise to my daughter; she was crying close to me because I didn’t get the gig, because she wanted to live in the United States. On that day I made a promise. I said, “We’re gonna live some day in the United States.” Six years later in 2016, we moved here. And I can tell at that time, when I was doing the audition, my audience in the United States was zero. Nowadays, Brazil is still my main audience, but the second one—

TL: ...it’s now in the US.

AP: So basically, in 10 years, my name grew enough to make this living and all my process of my green card, all this things was based on that audition. And also all the awards that I won afterwards.

TL: See all you drummers out there – this is how far you can come by not getting a gig! [laughs] Go up, do the audition, not get the gig, get awards, move to LA, lay on the beach.

AP: People must know that it’s not just a matter of who played better; it’s a lot of different things. So people think that I lost the gig because I missed one of the parts in the song. [laughs]

TL: No! OK, here’s a list of 10 things. The first nine are not about playing the drums; the last one is about playing the drums. It’s always like that in any audition process, especially if it’s a band situation. The most important thing is the first impression, the chemistry between people, the look. There are things that are considered like budgets. Where does the person live? Does the person need a work visa? Do we have to fly the person to every rehearsal, into every recording session? Do we have to put the person in a hotel every time we want to rehearse?

AP: Now I understand much better all the process, but I was really glad to be one of the seven.

TL: Is it a coincidence that the drummer who has the gig lives locally on the east coast, close to the band? Hmmmm... [laughs]