Guitarist TRACY G (Part I of II)
Interviewed by JP

Many people know of Tracy G from his days in Dio and perhaps a few older fans may recall one of his earlier projects WWIII.  However, what some casual fans may not realize that Tracy G. is not only alive and well he is kicking well into the new millennium.  Entrepreneur, business owner, musician, producer and author Tracy G has had a long and prolific career in the music industry.
We are delighted to have the chance to speak to him in our special two-part interview.  Part I will focus on his past and in the Spring we will catch up with Tracy again for Part II and talk about his new book and new album.

REVIEW AND PICTURES MY ARTO LEHTINEN AND MARKO SYRJALA

The masters of progressive metal Dream Theater are known for having fallen in love with Finland as evidenced by their visits to the northernmost country on every tour since 1995. In 1995 the band played here for the first time in a small club with Fates Warning supporting. Some time has passed by since those days and many things have changed. The band has released a bunch of albums, the latest one DRAMATIC TURN OF EVENTS came out in the fall of 2011, and Dream Theater is now playing in arenas. There are also some changes in the line-up as the core and founder Mike Portnoy is no longer in the band. As it is widely known Mr. Portnoy left the band in late 2010 to pursue other interests and he’s now replaced by new drummer Mike Mangnini.

DREAM THEATER

DRUMMER MIKE MANGINI

INTERVIEW AND PICTURES BY MARKO SYRJALA

Mike Mangini is an American drummer, and the current drummer for the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Mangini joined band in 2011 after the departure of founding drummer Mike Portnoy. Later on that same year the band released its latest opus DRAMATIC TURN OF EVENTS. Mangini’s earlier playing credits include Annihilator, Extreme and Steve Vai among others. He’s also well known for his work as a session musician and lecturing for years at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Mangini has also written two books titled Rhythm Knowledge about his unique drumming techniques, a practice method for deconstructing and simplifying complex poly-rhythms and time signatures. Dream Theater opened their 2012 European leg of “Dramatic Tour of Events” from Helsinki in mid January. It was at this tour stop that we had a pleasure to sit down with Mr. Mangini and discuss the current state of Dream Theater and some older stuff as well. Read on!