Marco Minnemann (born December 24, 1970 in Hanover) is a German drummer.
Minnemann moved to Munich at the age of 19, where he became the drummer in the crossover band Freaky Fukin Weirdoz in 1992.
Along the way, he founded the progressive rock project Illegal Aliens with singer Artemis Gounaki.
In 1997, he joined the H-Blockx, with whom he remained until 1999.
In the following years, he worked with Paul Gilbert, Udo Lindenberg, Paddy Kelly, Terry Bozzio, Chad Wackerman, Wolfgang Schmid, Kreator, Mike Keneally and Nena, among others.
As one of seven drummers, he was invited by the band Dream Theater to audition in October 2010 to find a successor to Mike Portnoy, who had left the band in September 2010.
The bonus DVD of A Dramatic Turn of Events, released in 2011, includes the film of the rehearsals and auditions.
He has been active in the fusion trio Aristocrats since 2011.
He also played drums on Steven Wilson's 2012 world tour with his solo album Grace for Drowning.
In 2013, he played on the recordings of Steven Wilson's third solo album The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) and the subsequent tour.
He then played with Joe Satriani on his tour.
In 2013, Levin Minnemann Rudess appeared with Tony Levin and Jordan Rudess.
Since January 2016, he has also been the drummer of “The Mute Gods”, a project by Nick Beggs, who became known as the singer/bassist of the band Kajagoogoo and also plays in Steven Wilson's band.
Since 2017 he has been the drummer in the progressive rock supergroup The Sea Within with members Roine Stolt, Daniel Gildenlöw, Jonas Reingold and Tom Brislin (Camel).
Renowned rock-fusion trio The Aristocrats are excited to reveal their first studio album in five years: DUCK. The trademark Aristocratic musical mayhem is rowdier than ever, but the band’s fifth studio album is truly like nothing else in their catalogue. Of the inspiration for DUCK, The Aristocrats collectively explained, “It is the story of a web-footed Antarctic Island native fleeing a penguin policeman all the way to New York City… where considerable misadventure and danger await.” Of its genesis, they elaborated, “We’ve always been writing with a storytelling aspect in mind, and our live shows always include our stories behind the songs… But the stories had mainly been about us. Then Marco came into the studio with a song about a duck, and we all looked at each other and said, ‘What if all of stories for the songs on this album… happened to a duck? What’s that story about?’ And suddenly we had a concept album on our hands.”
Fresh off the wildly successful Culture Clash world tour, The Aristocrats proceeded to rewrite their own rules for their third studio album, Tres Caballeros, which was released in late June of 2015. After two fairly raw trio albums, the band set up camp in February of 2015 at legendary Sunset Sound studios in Hollywood, CA, where Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Van Halen all recorded landmark albums. The result: Nine new compositions of greater sonic depth and breadth than ever before, with unique textures and lush layering augmenting the band’s preternatural ability to improvise both individually and as a group at the highest levels possible. But not to worry – it was all still tempered with a steadfast refusal to take themselves too seriously, and The Aristocrats were still having more fun than a fusion band has any right to have.
Recorded at CLUB CITTA Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan - November 8, 2013. This was the ONLY time that every single composition ever recorded by UK on their two studio albums - including ones never before performed live - and the new tunes on the Night After Night live album for which there are no studio versions, were played in their entirety at one show!
The rock/fusion power trio The Aristocrats featuring Guthrie Govan on guitar, Bryan Beller on bass, and Marco Minnemann on drums will release the live CD/DVD Culture Clash Live, on January 20, 2015. Captured in six different locations in five countries on three different continents during the band s 100+ show Culture Clash World Tour, it showcases The Aristocrats in full flight: Virtuosic, melodic, spontaneous, outrageous, and still having more fun than any group of world touring muzos has any right to have.
A little more than a month after original drummer Mike Portnoy's sudden departure from Dream Theater, the band held three days of auditions in New York City. Over an amazing and productive three-day period, the band played, jammed and spoke candidly with seven of the world's greatest drummers, learning about them musically, personally and professionally, and assessing the fit of each drummer's incredible chops with the band's trademark prog-rock sound. Dream Theater would like to share with its fans some of the intense process, along with the musical joy, that went into choosing a new drummer. Who is the best fit behind the kit?