Peter Wildoer comments-responses

I’ve been a DT fan since I saw the “Pull me under” video on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball in the spring of 1993 and I don’t consider myself being a guy that just wanted a gig and not being a fan like some may think!

First of all, I’m by far the least known guy out of all the drummers and I’m extremely flattered to be part of this drummer list!!! All the other drummers are my drumming heroes and I have lots of albums, DVDs, books from all of them.

I want to clarify one thing that was discussed here yesterday regarding the odd meter “test” the guys threw at us. First of all it was not like the normal rehearsal auditioning for DT, I mean it’s DT! I was nervous for a month before the audition and when they told me they wanted to try some new ideas and then when they started playing the first idea I almost froze, ha ha ha. I could almost not hear what they were playing! I promise it was not easy.

Well, the guys are very humble and fantastic individuals and told me all the other drummers were kind of surprised too when presented to this test and that it was cool. Like already quoted here I got my head around it so and so and one idea we even jammed around. At the day of my audition even Virgil told me that I was in for a treat at some point on the audition, didn’t make me less nervous, ha ha ha!!! All this said I can also add that I work as a math teacher. I guess I’m the only one out of all the seven that don’t do music full time but work a normal day job.

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How much were you communicating with the other drummers throughout the process? What with speaking to Virgil and all that.

Wildoer: I was communicating the other drummers for the first time just days after I got the list for the audition. I just had to, I mean all of them are huge explorers of the drumming art and as I said, influences to me. Simply had to tell them how honored I was being among them! I only met Virgil in person and saw Mike Mangini from a distance when I was lurking the first day outside the audition place, ha ha ha...

Like some of you might have read, I met Virgil for about two hours at the hotel and that was amazing. He’s definitely one of my top three influences! After the auditions I once again contacted all the others and just briefly “discussed” the audition. After that I’ve been in contact sporadically with them.
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Glad to have your insight on this, it is holding us over until the next video release by DT!

Wildoer: I’m actually also looking forward to the next video! I think this is a cool way to present all this and I just love seeing the other drummers and their approach. I noticed a lot of people on different forums, news pages etc that really think this is stupid and a sell out. Personally I love to as much of my favourite bands/musicians and also as much behind the scenes as possible. We always do studio video diaries with Darkane because I want to see that stuff with my favourite bands. But I do understand everybody wants to know who the new drummer is.

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That’s really cool to hear. Sorry if anything I posted came off as presumptuous.
All of this was really interesting. I enjoyed how even Virgil thought it was challenging.
If you have the time - How does being a math teacher influence you as a drummer? Music and math seem to go together a lot, and you have a unique experience with that.
I enjoyed the videos and am looking forward to the English diary. Thanks again for posting.

Wildoer: No worries! I personally think it’s very hard to express nuances in text especially since I’m writing in english and I’m swedish.

Yeah, if Virgil think it’s hard then IT IS HARD! :)

I’ve had a lot of use in thinking logical and seeing structures and systems in complex music. Especially when coming up with new practicing routines where you turn and twist the simplest exercises and put them together forward, backward etc. Also I’ve had a lot of use when “calculating” polyrhythms. I have a great way of learning polyrhythms and then learn to hear and feel them. Here’s an example of some stuff that I like to do:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c93Yk_9qKDs

At 0:21 it starts with some polyrhythmic improvisation and at 0:48 I first play two bars of normal 4/4, then at 0:51 the stack (my right hand) start playing 5 against 4 for two 4/4 bars and at 0:55 the snare and kick join the 5 against 4 playing a normal beat but in 5 against 4 turning into a polymetric beat as I like to call it. Very musch inspired by Virgil Donati!

I will post my system of learning polyrhythms on my webpage as soon as I can find the time.

So yes, I personally think math can be helpful at some points but doesn’t really help with the groove. ;)

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Yeah, did Myung speak...or tackle James?

Wildoer: First of all, everybody involved in the auditions were the coolest people from the band, management, crew, film team etc. Totally professional and laid back and really made it a great time auditioning! To say the least I was nervous as hell but once in the room the vibe was just awesome! I enjoyed every minute of it, even if I was shit nervous, ha ha...

Yes, Myung did speak. He’s not the most talkative as you all know, but very very humble and nice. Him and I talked just briefly over the jam we had and how we locked in. JP, JR and JLB all like to talk as do I as you might have noticed. We had a fantastic time!

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I wonder why the other auditions are in a different studio. Maybe these 3 days of auditions were far apart scheduling wise. Seems strange to set everything up and then move it the next day.

Wildoer: I think it’s safe to comment on this. Auditions were moved the second day to another room but at the same place, S.I.R. Studios. Don’t know the reason but I think it was because the new room was bigger.

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Wildoer: JLB did sing along, it was all live.

Yeah, they had A LOT of gear and the bigger room was big enough for both gear and all the people in there (almost 20 persons in the room when I auditioned) and also included a huge catering that I could not eat of before the audition because I was so nervous, ha ha ha... But after I ate a lot and the guys ordered pizza that according to JP was the best in NYC! Tasted great!

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Is this footage new to you audiotionees too? Had you guys seen it before, OR is a lot of this footage new to you all too?

Wildoer: Yes, it’s new to us. We’ve seen our own parts that are coming up but not the others. I’m as curious as you!

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did Mangini really take the cab to the hotel? or was it just scenario? cause, we had a cameraman there. at least they should have a car to take Mangini to the hotel.

Wildoer: I know Mike took the train from Boston to NY and then most likely a cab to the hotel. I know that the camera team met Mike when he arrived. My wife and I also took a cab from the airport to the hotel. Since we arrived two days prior to the first audition day the film crew could not meet us. We stayed for almost a week to have some vacation to, not every day we’re in NYC! :)

Maybe a fun fact is that I saw when Mike got out of the cab at S.I.R. Studios where the auditions were held since I was there lurking and finding out where the studio were at. I was to intimidated to walk up to him.

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https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=22228.msg860385#msg860385

I was wondering, how long was the audition altogether? I know it must have been longer than the 8-minutes that was shown of Mr. Mangini’s, but it’s hard to tell from the edited film how long it actually took.

Wildoer: No worries asking whatever. I’ll have to judge what I can answer and not I guess.

Between the start of every drummer audition there were four hours. That left enough time for the drummer to audition, talk and get interviewed. Also the DT guys had a talk after each drummer auditioned.

I was the last one auditioning so there were no one after me. This is roughly what happened at my audition:
Meet and great, 10 minutes
Drum setup, tuning etc. 30 minutes
Warmup, 10 minutes
Jam, 15 minutes (this was simply amazing!!! Here I was jamming with these guys)
Went through the three songs, 30 minutes
“Test”, 15 minutes (but it felt like an hour, ha ha ha. No not really, was actually fun!)
Interview, small talk etc, almost an hour since there were no stress.
During this time I also had some food from the buffet and then the pizza that according to JP was the best in NYC! :)

I actually think all in all we were there for a bit more than three hours. Because of Static Impulse James and I talked a bit about that too. Also the manager and his wife are amazing persons and my wife and I talked a lot to the too.

All in all the whole audition was fantastic to say the least! Once again I have to say that all people involved were very very nice!!!

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It sounds like although DT were aware of the fact that the audition was something that needed to be taken seriously (and very adrenaline-inducing for the auditionee), they always tried to maintain a relaxed atmosphere, which is good imo.

Wildoer: And I hope that we’ll find out what that ominous “test” is very soon...

Yeah, they for sure wanted a great atmosphere.
The “Test” was operated by some aliens as far as I can remember. Memories dizzy there.

Could also be the fact that the “Test” was the part where the guys threw some odd meter riffs at the drummer to get the vibe how it would be working with him writing in the studio. Yeah, I remember now, I remember how it started, I just remember doing what they told me, told me...

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What did they send you to prep for the audition? I’m guessing some audio of the songs (CD? mp3?) and something written (actual sheet music? cheat sheet with the time signatures?). Anything else you can tell us about that?

Wildoer: We got sent the three songs in mp3 format and that’s it. It kind of felt overwhelming in the beginning that I had to learn all that! We didn’t get no sheet music or anything but I knew that a friend of mine had some DT Sheet music books and I borrowed it and there I had all of the meters etc, nice. :) Also I have Portnoy’s Liquid Drum Theater DVD so I could get a grip on “The dance of eternity”. That at least sped up the process of learning the songs.

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My question is: all of you seven used the same drum kit to audition, but there are some differences in the different sequences of the trailer video. Were you been able to customize that kit for your own best?

Wildoer: All drummers had enough time to set up the kit how they wanted it. Yes, we did use the same kit and there were plenty of toms, stands etc. and also some stuff that we individually asked for. The same goes for cymbals but I brought some special stacks and other specific cymbals with me. I also brought my twin kick pedal.

A “fun” thing is that I was the only drummer that used just one bass drum with twin pedals. All the others used two bass drums. I’ve never used double bass drums as that would not fit in my car! JR actually asked me how I was able to play their songs with just one kick drum when I was setting up. I said that I had a really fast right foot, ha ha ha... He looked at me very surpised then I said I use a twin pedal.

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https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=22228.msg864107#msg864107

Peter, could you tell us a little bit about the way you prepared for the audition? Did you know exactly what the auditions were going to be like? You obviously knew what songs were going to play, how did you go about learning them? We see that Marco made time signature charts, did you do any of that? What was the hardest section to learn? Did you discuss the drum parts with the other drummers that were auditioning? Too many questions I’m sure, but I would love to know these things!

Wildoer: I only got the three songs that we had to learn, besides all the technical info like flight times, audition time, drum gear available etc. I totally realized that we had to do some kind of test where the guys would throw ideas at us and then see what we did since that’s the way they work composing in the studio together.

Thinking back at it now I guess I felt kind of left in the dark. My main preparation was to know the songs in and out so even if I would be nervous at the actual audition my muscle memory would play it for me. Also I practiced every day ta make sure I was in top shape of course. All this is quite precisely documented in the “diary” I’ve written that I will post asap. Still working on that translation from swedish to english.

The whole learning process of the songs felt a bit overwhelming in the beginning but you just have to learn bit by bit and then listen A LOT to the songs to get to know them. I also imported the songs into Cubase (music program for computer) where I could loop the different riff and practice one part over and over. For The Dance of Eternity that was lots of work programming all the different meters but the hardest part was that the tempo is changing a lot as I think most DT material is not recorded to a click track. Here’s two screen shots from the Cubase session with meters on top (all the black lines with numbers) and the timeline (tempo changes up and down) underneath.

Like I previously posted I borrowed som DT guitar score/tab book from a friend and there I had all the music written out. This was crucial help for me as I like to read music.

I can’t say what part was the hardest but for me the actual drum parts was not overly hard to play but to memorize, THAT was the hard part. There are not to many difficult coordination stuff or overly difficult stickings involved but just a lot to learn.

I did not discuss any drum parts with other drummers.

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https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=22228.msg865446#msg865446

Regarding the notification, was everything that we saw about that spontaneous? Or were you told, and then they did a conversation with the cameras rolling as if it was the first time you heard when you actually already knew?

Wildoer: Yes, everything was spontaneous. No re-takes or additional takes. That very day all drummers got specific times when to call in. At that point we had just changed to winter time here in Sweden, turning the clock back one hour that is. Suddenly my mobile phone rang and there were Frank, the DT manager. He said “so what’s up Peter, when are you calling?”. We figured out that since they hadn’t changed for winter time in the US I was one hour late here. So my phone time had to be shorter. :(

Afterwards I got mails from both JLB and JP, because of the shorter phone time, telling me that they had a great time at my audition, so thanks to them!

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https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=22228.msg865423#msg865423

One thing I remember someone asked is when we got the notification. All drummers talked to the DT guys on the same day, that's when you can see MM and me talking on the phone getting our decisions (his a bit different than mine ;) ), and that was on November 5th.

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Another cool thing was that after we had played through the first song ANTR, Frank, their manager, asked me if I was cool. I said that I needed some water and he brought some bottles for me. When he put them on the floor by my floor tom he leaned over and whispered “You f***ing nailed it Peter”. That was a reliefe to say the least!