Trivium Hire Protégé of Dream Theater’s Mike Mangini as New Drummer

Trivium and Avenged Sevenfold seem to be competing for The Spinal Tap Rotating Door of Drummers Award. In 2010, the band fired founding drummer, Travis Smith, and replaced him with their then-drum tech, Nick Augusto; then, this Spring, they sacked Augusto, and enlisted the aid of — you guessed it! — their then-current drum tech, Mat Madiro. Now Madiro’s tenure has come to a conclusion, and he’s been replaced by a dude named Paul Wandtke, who previously played with Kill Hannah and the Chicago production of the (abysmal) jukebox musical Rock of Ages. He also plays Kurt Cobain in a Nirvana tribute band.

So how did Wandtke get the gig? Says the band…

Wandtke himself added on his official website:

Hopefully, this is the last time Trivium have to switch drummers. Good luck, Paul!

Here’s video of Wandtke’s live debut with the band at Knotfest Mexico, which took place this past weekend: