Godsmack has recruited former Dream Theater drummer Mike Mangini to complete the remainder of the band’s “The Rise of Rock” tour, following the abrupt departure of Wade Murff. Mangini made his live debut with the band June 12 at the Morton Amphitheater in Riverside, Missouri, joining vocalist/guitarist Sully Erna, bassist Robbie Merrill, and guitarist Sam Koltun.
In an Instagram post following the show, Mangini wrote: “Taking this all in today with show 1 done. And just like that, I finally get to play these dream venues in the USA with my Boston brothers in Godsmack. I need to thank a lot of people for putting this together so quickly. I can’t even express how grateful I am to Sully, Robbie, Sam, and the entire organization for trusting me with no rehearsal.”
Murff had joined Godsmack this past spring, playing more than a dozen shows from May 8 at the Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, FL, through May 30 in Houston. On June 6, it was announced that Murff would fill in for Black Veil Brides drummer Christian “CC” Coma for the remainder of that band’s 2026 European tour due to what was described as “an unfortunate personal and private matter.” Hours before his last show with Godsmack, Murff had written on social media: “What a great start to the tour! Thank you to everyone who came out and saw ‘The Rise of Rock’ show.” He played his first show with Black Veil Brides on June 10 in Munich, Germany.
Mike Mangini was dismissed from Dream Theater in October 2023 after 13 years to make way for the return of the group’s original drummer, Mike Portnoy. Mangini had joined Dream Theater in late 2010 following a widely publicized open audition in which he bested six other candidates — Marco Minnemann, Virgil Donati, Aquiles Priester, Thomas Lang, Peter Wildoer, and Derek Roddy — a process documented in the reality series “The Spirit Carries On.”
Prior to Dream Theater, Mangini played with Extreme in the mid-1990s and joined Steve Vai’s band in 1996. He later became a full-time instructor at Berklee College of Music. His solo debut, Invisible Signs, arrived in November 2023; in February 2025, he launched a new band, Monolith, with Hernán “Motley” Rodríguez (bass/vocals) and Andy Barrow (guitar).
