GODSMACK Recruits Ex-DREAM THEATER Drummer MIKE MANGINI Following Departure Of WADE MURFF
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GODSMACK has recruited former DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Mangini to sit behind the kit for the remainder of the Sully Erna-fronted band's "The Rise Of Rock" tour following the abrupt departure of Wade Murff.
Mangini made his live debut with GODSMACK Friday night (June 12) at the Morton Amphitheater in Riverside, Missouri. He was joined on stage by the rest of the band's current lineup, consisting of guitarist/vocalist Sully Erna, bassist Robbie Merrill and guitarist Sam Koltun, who previously toured with the band in Europe in early 2025. Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen here.
Murff joined GODSMACK this past spring and played more than a dozen shows with the group between May 8 at the Welcome To Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida and May 30 in Houston, Texas.
Just hours before his last show as the drummer of GODSMACK, Murff shared a post in which he appeared to look forward to the remainder of the gigs on the tour, writing: "Houston TX tonight! Little break coming up and then we come back and light up #kansascity. What a great start to the tour! Thank you to everyone who came out and saw 'The Rise Of Rock' show with #godsmack #stonetemplepilots and #dorothy!"
On June 6, it was announced that Murff would fill in for BLACK VEIL BRIDES drummer Christian "CC" Coma (born Christian Mora) for the remainder of that band's 2026 European tour due to "an unfortunate personal and private matter". Murff played his first show with BLACK VEIL BRIDES on June 10 in Munich, Germany.
During an April 23 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Erna stated about Koltun and Murff: "Sam's on board now full-time, and he's gonna be the new player from this point forward. And the drummer that we chose, his name is Wade Murff. He's worked with DAUGHTRY and some other acts. A fairly under-the-radar kind of guy. A strong player. A great dude. Really good with attention to details, as Sam is."
Sully continued: "I have complete confidence in this, although we start rehearsals next week. I'm just really confident that this is gonna be just as good, if not better than ever, because these guys came in with the right attitude. They honored the catalog, they honored the playing. They didn't try to reinvent it. And as you know, a guitar can sound like a guitar, a drum can sound like a drum. Until you replace the vocalist, that's when the sound really changes. So I really feel that the fans will be able to come and enjoy the music as they have always known it, because it won't sound foreign to them, like there's a new singer singing GODSMACK stuff. And plus their showmanship even elevates it a little bit more. I mean, [former GODSMACK drummer] Shannon's [Larkin] hard to replace. He's the GOAT [Greatest Of All Time]. If you see that dude play, he's a tough cookie to replicate or replace live visually. But this guy, Wade, he's strong. He's got some great chops, and he's really playing the stuff solid. I'm very happy to take them on tour and introduce them. And this is gonna start the next chapter in our life here, GODSMACK 2.0."
Based in Los Angeles, Murff reportedly began playing the drums at age 4. He credits LED ZEPPELIN's John Bonham and VAN HALEN's Alex Van Halen as having sparked his interest in rock drumming. But it was SLAYER's Dave Lombardo and PANTERA's Vinnie Paul Abbott who fueled his desire to become a hard-hitting metal drummer.
Wade built a solid reputation as a go-to drummer for established acts, seamlessly filling roles in live performances, tours, and recordings. His credits include work with DAUGHTRY, PRONG, Sebastian Bach, ORGY and Doyle (of the MISFITS).
Mangini announced his exit from DREAM THEATER in October 2023. Mangini, who had been with the progressive metal band for 13 years, was dismissed from DREAM THEATER in order to make way for the return of the group's original drummer, Mike Portnoy.
Mangini joined DREAM THEATER in late 2010 through a widely publicized audition following the departure of Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER 40 years ago. Mangini beat out six other of the world's top drummers — Marco Minnemann, Virgil Donati, Aquiles Priester, Thomas Lang, Peter Wildoer and Derek Roddy — for the gig, a three-day process that was filmed for a documentary-style reality show called "The Spirit Carries On".
Mangini made his name in the hard rock world in the mid-1990s when he played with EXTREME, before landing the gig with guitar legend Steve Vai in 1996. Nearly a decade later, Mangini took up a full-time teaching position at the world-renowned Berklee College Of Music.
In February 2025, Mangini launched a new band, MONOLITH, with Hernán "Motley" Rodríguez on bass and vocals, and Andy Barrow on guitar.
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
