MusicRadar.com recently spoke with DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess about bringing Mike Mangini on board as the replacement for founding drummer Mike Portnoy. An excerpt from the discussion is available below.

MR: Mike Portnoy went off with AVENGED SEVENFOLD, but in December, when it became clear that he wasn't staying in that band, he came to you guys and asked if he could rejoin.

Rudess: "Yeah, that was a very challenging time. It was several months later, and what basically happened was…[pauses] You know, just to give you an idea of how deep this was to lose him, how difficult it was…after we got off the phone with him, when he told us what was going to happen, that he was leaving…I literally sat on the steps of my studio and cried. This is a guy who's a friend of mine, who we all love and admire. We didn't want to see it come crashing down. The whole thing brought me to tears. But we all realized that we had to find a way to keep going. This is our business. We enjoy it, we love it – how do we keep doing this? So we went into motion. Through us putting our heads together, we decided, OK, we've got to find another drummer. And that resulted in us finding these seven amazing drummers to check out. And that, too, was also very emotional: How do you bring a new guy into a situation where you've been with somebody else for so long? It was a very heavy thing."

Petrucci: "It was sort of like when somebody dies. After you're done crying, the planning kicks in: 'OK, we've gotta do this, we have to arrange the funeral and put everything in order.' Even though we were in shock and were filled with a lot of emotions, we knew we had to carry on."

MR: But still, Mike asked to rejoin…

Rudess: "Yes, well, OK, so we put everything together. We got the drummers in, which everybody knows, and we filmed the audition process and put a lot of care into the documentary. So after that whole process, we found somebody who we thought was great - Mike Mangini. 'Oh my God, this guy is fantastic! This can work. We can do it.'"

Petrucci: "And something I should point out – Mike Mangini's life changed dramatically. He was a professor at Berklee, and he had to give notice that he was leaving. He's got a wife and two kids – the whole thing. So he came down and we started making a record. Everybody was supportive at the label. Things were feeling good. We had our feet on the ground again. And then Mike asked if he could get back in..." [He shakes his head]

MR: It was too late.

Rudess: "Yeah. You know, Mike Mangini resigned from Berklee. You can't just tell him… We were in motion with him. We were invested in Mike Mangini and our future. Everything was going full steam. So Mike Portnoy came to us and asked to rejoin: 'Hey, guys I've reconsidered, I've made a…a mistake.' It was like, 'Oh my God, you can't do this to us. You can't pull the rug out from under us like this.' It was…[sighs] it was hard. Here we went through this whole drama, and we finally found this new guy who we were happy with. At a certain point, you just throw up your hands and go, 'This can't be happening!'" [laughs]

Click here for the complete interview.

A little more than a month after drummer Mike Portnoy’s sudden departure from Dream Theater, the band held three days of auditions in New York City. Over an incredibly productive three-day period, the band played, jammed and spoke candidly and at length with seven of the world’s greatest drummers. The remaining members of the band got to know the candidates musically, personally and professionally and thus assessed the fit of each drummer’s incredible chops with the band’s trademark prog-rock sound.

After intense consideration, the band has unanimously chosen drummer Mike Mangini (EXTREME, STEVE VAI, ANNIHILATOR) to fill the seat behind the kit which was left vacant by Portnoy’s departure late last summer.

Dream Theater began telling their intense tale on April 21st when the band took to its Facebook Page to give fans a glimpse into the audition process. A video tool that was powered by new technology prompted fans to ‘like’ the page in order to unlock exclusive content. Much to the joy of fans, a trailer for the 3-part documentary series on the audition process was then revealed. Those that ‘liked’ the page then received updates on when and where the actual documentary would be airing.

The series, which is featured on Roadrunner Records’ YouTube Channel, has received an overwhelmingly positive response from fans and critics alike and amassed over 1.5 million views in one week's time. Additionally, both Dream Theater and Mike Mangini were trending topics on Twitter this past Friday, behind only Royal Wedding-related topics.

Keyboardist Jordan Rudess reflected on Mangini’s audition saying, “From the first countoff to the very last note of the final song, every beat Mike played was not only in perfect time, but also executed with an undeniable sense of virtuosity and musicality.”