BOBBY JARZOMBEK

U.K. web site Give The Drummer Some! has posted a brand new audio interview with acclaimed drummer Bobby Jarzombek (FATES WARNING, SEBASTIAN BACH, HALFORD). Among other topics, Jarzombek talks about his early influences, being a self-taught drummer, working with JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford and ex-SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach, and, for the first time ever, about his turning down the DREAM THEATER drummer audition in 2010. Speaking about his decision to pass on an opportunity to try out for the slot left vacant by the departure of Mike Portnoy, Jarzombek said (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I remember this… It was October 2010. I was on the road with HALFORD, and I remember thinking… I knew [DREAM THEATER] were gonna do that. They were gonna make calls to people. And I told some friends of mine, I said, 'I hope they don't call me for this.' And the reason I said that is because I didn't know what my reaction would be, for one. And I thought it was kind of crazy that Portnoy was out of the band. "I got the call for it. And I initially… Their management called me. And I initially said, 'I'd have to think about it.' And I remember, Frankie Solomon, their manager, said, 'What do you mean you have to think about it?' And I was, like, 'I don't know.' It's a big, sort of, commitment, it's a huge commitment as a person and as a musician, whatever… I mean, all the way… It's just a commitment all the way around. So I thought about it and I said, 'Well, I have to think about it.' And he told me, he said, 'We called seven or eight guys, and you're the only guy so far ahs said that he has to think about it.' "I was on the road with HALFORD, as I mentioned, and I said, 'Well, when are you doing auditions?' And then there was, like, a ten-day window when I was coming home from when we were doing U.S. to Japan, or South America, or whatever. And I said, 'I'm not even home when you're gonna do these auditions.' And he said, 'We would get back together again and reschedule and make a special session if you wanted to do it another time.' And I said, 'Well, I have ten days. Send me the songs.' So then they send me three songs, and it's, like, 28 or 29 minutes' worth of music. And I'm thinking, 'God, that's a lot of music to learn for an audition.' And I totally understand it. Because they need to know. And they need to give the guys as much stuff as possible. "So I checked it out and I was, like, 'I don't even have time to learn this. I'm gonna have ten days when I get home,' and then I would have to have everybody wait for two months for me to get back. And then I thought, 'What's even going on here? Is Mike [Portnoy] out completely?' And I thought to myself, 'Surely he's gonna be back in the band at some point.'