SONS OF APOLLO - Psychotic Symphony (2016-2017) PORTNOY+PROGMETAL

8/11/17 11:43AM

"Signs of the Time" ..of course WLL (will listen later)



Preorder Links 
European? PREORDER 
 

01. God of The Sun (11:11)
02. Coming Home (04:23)
03. Signs of The Time (06:40)
04. Labyrinth (09:11)
05. Alive (05:10)
06. Lost In Oblivion (04:38)
07. Figaro's Whore (01:00)
08. Divine Addiction (04:48)
09. Opus Maximus (10:37)


8/1/17 11:58AM
So this is the new Prog Metal "Supergroup" of Mike Portnoy's and Derek Sherinian's.

I haven't listened to the teaser below for this debut album Psychotic Symphony, of theirs being released on October 20th. Should do when I get home.

I guess I'm at a wait-and-see.

The singer is Jeff Scott Soto who I know has a cult following from his solo stuff and his work with Journey and Yngwie. I thought he showed up at ProgPower USA last year if I'm not mistaken.

Bumblefoot (Ron Thal) also has a cult following and with both his solo stuff and a stint with Guns N Roses.

Derek Sherinian of course has done a lot of cool stuff since leaving Dream Theater, namely Planet X.

And Billy Sheehan, well he seems to show in most of Mike Portnoy's bands now anyway. In fact to sidetrack a bit, if Portnoy formed a band of "regulars" he plays and records with, the band wouldn't be bad itself.

Mike Portnoy - drums, vocals
Billy Sheehan - bass, vocals
Neal Morse - keys, vocals
Paul Gilbert - guitar, vocals

I guess the makeup of this band doesn't sound highly like a group of musicians who would be playing traditional progressive metal really. Really, it seems like they would be suited to be doing more GNR or G3 kind of guitar rock. Still having musicianship, but not exactly like Dream Theater or Between the Buried and Me.

Which I guess I'm only cautiously optimistic about this.

And a lot of it may come down to the vocals, not only being well-written and sang, but just enjoying his voice with this music.

Wait and see as October isn't too far away. I guess the fanboy in-me was longing for either John Arch or Daniel Gildenlow (or even Jim Matheos) to be involved. But perhaps that's for another band(s) down the road for Mike Portnoy. That and him doing something highly in the Pop/Power Pop vein with Roger Manning from Jellyfish and/or Ty Tabor. But Portnoy has like 8 bands he's already in (The Winery Dogs, Flying Colors, Transatlantic, The Neal Morse Band, PSMS, Metal Allegiance, Mike Portnoy's Shattered Fortress, and now Sons of Apollo), so either another band with Arch or Gildenlow or a Power-Pop thing could not happen until maybe next decade, but who knows.

I'll of course bump+edit this entry when more of the details come out (videos I imagine, and maybe tour dates for 2018. Although Portnoy's bands have only scarcely come to Minnesota since he left Dream Theater. The Neal Morse band show in St.Paul in a few weeks being the 1st in the Twin Cities that I recall. Twisted Sister was in Hinckley which is not quite my hometown, just State).


http://www.mikeportnoy.com/forum/m3000405.aspx





INTRODUCING...
  SONS OF APOLLO
FEATURING EX-MEMBERS OF DREAM THEATER, GUNS N’ ROSES AND JOURNEY DEBUT ALBUM, ‘PSYCHOTIC SYMPHONY,’ DUE OUT OCTOBER 20 ON INSIDEOUTMUSIC/SONY MUSIC
 
APOLLO: The ancient Greek and Roman God of music and poetry.
SONS OF APOLLO: The new supergroup featuring members of Dream Theater, Mr. Big, Guns ‘N Roses, and Journey.
For the past few months, rumors have been circulating about a new secret project including former Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian. Now, the time has come to make the grand and highly anticipated introduction to their new band, SONS OF APOLLO.
Reuniting to form SONS OF APOLLO, Portnoy and Sherinian have joined forces with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses), Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, David Lee Roth) and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force). Their debut album, PSYCHOTIC SYMPHONY, will be released October 20 on InsideOutMusic/Sony Music. An album teaser can be seen on InsideOutMusic’s official YouTube page here: https://youtu.be/kPN2DttzlZQ 
 
PSYCHOTIC SYMPHONY was produced by the dynamic production duo of Portnoy and Sherinian, also affectionately known as “The Del Fuvio Brothers,” which is the nickname given to them over 20 years ago during their time together in Dream Theater. 
SONS OF APOLLO got together very organically, as Portnoy explains: “Derek and I reunited shortly after I left Dream Theater in 2010 and we put together an all-instrumental touring band with he and I, Billy Sheehan, and Tony MacAlpine. That was my first time working with Derek since the ‘90s when he was in Dream Theater and it was just great to be working with him again. Ever since that tour, which was really just a one-off live thing, he has been nudging me to start a real, original, full-time band. The timing just had never been right, because I had too many other things on my plate. Long story short, the time was finally right to take the bait and put together a band.”
“Mike and I work at a relentless pace in the studio,” continues Sherinian. “The music is modern, but we have an old school soul. What is unique about SONS OF APOLLO is that we have true rock n’ roll swagger along with the virtuosity-- a lethal combination!”
But what to call the next great supergroup? “Derek was mainly the one behind the name,” says Portnoy. “I have a list that I keep on my phone of about a hundred different band names, which I constantly have to refer to every time I have a new band every year (laughs). So, I pulled up the list and Apollo was one of the names on the list. It was a word that both of us really liked. We started fiddling with different variations of the word. One of the original band names we were working with was Apollo Creed, the character from the ‘Rocky’ movies, but after lots of different discussions on different variations, Derek suggested SONS OF APOLLO and it seemed to stick. Apollo is the God of Music so with that in mind it seemed like a fitting name.”
Mike Portnoy, Derek Sherinian and Billy Sheehan previously toured together in 2012 and 2013 as PSMS (along with guitarist Tony MacAlpine), playing all instrumental versions from each of their previously recorded music. SONS OF APOLLO is the next logical progression by adding a vocalist and creating all-original material. The band incorporates the progressive style and individual technical prowess that Portnoy & Sherinian shared together in Dream Theater combined with the swagger and groove of Van Halen, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.
“I have known Mike and Derek for a long time, so when they came to me with Sons of Apollo, I jumped on this straight away,” says Thomas Waber, Label Manager/A&R International of InsideOutMusic. “However, the album they ended up recording exceeded my already high expectations by a long mile! We couldn’t be happier about it!”
SONS OF APOLLO will hit the road in 2018 for their first worldwide tour. 
“This is a real band,” Portnoy declares. “This is going to pick up for me and Billy where The Winery Dogs left off, in terms of this being the next logical full-time thing for us. I’m not saying The Winery Dogs have broken up, because we haven’t, we’re just on a break. SONS OF APOLLO is absolutely going to be a full-time band and we plan on touring all over the world all throughout 2018 and, honestly, it is the priority for all five of us.”
Sherinian agrees, “We will go on a worldwide crusade in 2018 to bring SONS OF APOLLO to as many people as possible. Apollo was the God of Music, and we are his mighty offspring!” 
www.facebook.com/SonsOfApollo1 www.Twitter.com/SonsOfApollo1

The Winery Dogs (Portnoy, Sheehan, Kotzen) - The Winery Dogs (2013)

6/1/13 10:44PM

Here's another new track. Damn, I'm loving the guitar solo. Verrrry bluesy.


5/30/13 11:30PM

while the Japanese edition was released a couple of weeks ago, the North American edition has been confirmed to be coming out on July 23rd.

http://knac.com/article.asp?ArticleID=9511

5/15/13 9:23PM
Stream another new song "We Are One"

And/or go to their homepage and sign up for their email list and get a free download of it.
http://www.thewinerydogs.com/

Nice guitar solo. This new song might be the best of the 3, thus far.

Tracklist




01. Elevate
02. Desire
03. We Are One
04. I’m No Angel
05. The Other Side
06. You Saved Me
07. Not Hopeless
08. One More Time
09. Damaged
10. Six Feet Deeper
11. Criminal
12. The Dying
13. Regret


5/13/13 5:36AM

new track "Desire"..not bad, groovey.

4/22/13 11:45AM

New song/video "Elevate"..haven't heard it yet (and I have no idea it was put up online yesterday).

3/23/13 6:47 PM

More here:

http://www.bravewords.com/news/201030



http://www.twitter.com/thewinerydogs

3/11/13 9:33AM

Link

Facebook


This is the much talked about project from Mike Portnoy, Billy Sheehan and Ritchie Kotzen (originally with John Sykes), that is supposedly very Led Zeppelin, Cream, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Heart? Classic Hard/Blues Rock based.

And according to that link, the debut album is due out in May.

As far as the name, it's fitting I guess. Not something too repulsive and sounds sort of Power-Trio and even a little 70's Classic Rock-ish. Although I'm sure with the word "Winery" it may be subject to some jokes, but I've seen much worse. And if the music is good, the name doesn't mean so much to me.

Some other good news is that the new cd with Billy Sheehan, Mike Portnoy and I is officially finished!
We are now in the mix stage of the process and Jay Ruston is doing an amazing job with that!
I can’t wait to share the new music with you! We are hoping for an early May release date for the CD!

I wonder though, seeing it there, if Mike Portnoy would have wanted to break the news of the name and other info himself. But he probably will soon, with the album stuff, etc. I should bump this when he or that stuff comes out soon.

Some previous entries:

Mike Portnoy + Billy Sheehan + Ritchie Kotzen - TBA (2013?)
Mike Portnoy + Billy Sheehan + Richie Kotzen (2012?)

Mike Portnoy + Billy Sheehan + Ritchie Kotzen - TBA (2013?)

This now is finally happening, with instead of John Sykes, Ritchie Kotzen. I forget if/when that was confirmed, although I thought at least 1 rumor was Guthrie Govan to replace Sykes. But so be it. I'm pretty curious about this, Portnoy-doing heavy retro Classic Rock kind of stuff. I suppose it'll come down to the writing and maybe the vocals. I honestly don't know Ritchie Kotzen well, certainly not his vocal work with Poison, and Mr.Big maybe 1 or 2 of the radio hits at best.

But if the writing of the vocal lines don't suck, the odds are, the actual songwriting will factor more for me.

Odds are, I'll enjoy this project more than Adrenaline Mob, and Ritchie's voice more than Russell Allen. So, immediately, it's got more intrigue for me. But at this point, that doesn't mean a ton.

Based on the fact they are just now hitting the studio, 2013 seems like a more realistic release year, but any news that is given still should be worth passing along. And if in fact it's out next year, 2013 keeps looking to have a ton of potential (but that's nothing unusual, for each given year).


mp.com link

Late last year, Mike Portnoy (DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ADRENALINE MOB, FLYING COLORS) and Billy Sheehan (MR. BIG, DAVID LEE ROTH, TALAS) tapped Richie Kotzen (MR. BIG, POISON) to be the guitarist/vocalist of their new project following a split with John Sykes (WHITESNAKE, BLUE MURDER, THIN LIZZY).

Although Portnoy and Sykes demoed a dozen or so songs at a Los Angeles studio last year, their vastly different work ethics and conflicting schedules were solely to blame for the dissolution of their collaboration.

During an interview that aired on this past Friday night's (July 13) edition of Eddie Trunk's "Friday Night Rocks" radio show on New York'sQ104.3 FM, Portnoy said, "I love John personally, and we get along great — he's a sweetheart of a guy — but I need to keep moving. I can't sit still and kind of wait to make an album over the next three years, I need to put things on the calendar and move forward and get them done, and John's kind of just a 'wait, wait, wait' guy. Sadly, it kind of just stopped in its tracks, and Billy and I said, 'Look, let's do something.' And you [Eddie] were the one, actually, that suggested Richie Kotzen and I thought it was a brilliant suggestion, because he's an unbelievably underrated talent, not only [as] a guitar player but a phemonal singer, and just an amazing songwriter and artist. I think people just kind of lump him, or write him off as the guy that was with POISON and MR. BIG. I think they have no idea what he's really capable of."

He continued, "Me and Billy have already done two writing sessions with Richie, with the three of us, and we have about eight songs done and written and we've got another handful that are ready to go, so we're gonna start the album next month."

When asked to describe the musical direction of the project, Portnoy said, "It's a classic-rock kind of power-trio sound. If you picture the classic-rock bands of… the classic ones — [LED] ZEPPELIN, CREAM, [JIMI] HENDRIX, GRAND FUNK [RAILROAD] — if you take that classic-rock power-trio sound of the early '70s, and then you sprinkle it on top with some of the modern kind of sounds of SOUNDGARDEN and ALICE IN CHAINS or BLACK CROWES or LENNY KRAVITZ… It's in that vein; it's kind of a [mixture] of all of those bands. But on top of it all you've got the phenomenal playing that Richie and Billy do, and I could play a couple of things on the drums as well [chuckles], so... And all three of us are singing — Richie is the lead vocalist, obviously, but me and Billy are also singing."

As previously reported, Portnoy and Sheehan, guitarist Tony Macalpineand keyboardist Derek Sherinian (DREAM THEATER, PLANET X, BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION) will join forces this fall, embarking on an extended tour of Europe and Asia. The virtuoso band will play an all-instrumental set consisting of material from each of their solo records and their previous collaborations as well as classic instrumental covers and extended solo spots.

Mike Portnoy + Billy Sheehan + Richie Kotzen (2012?)

1/25/12 10:41AM

Apparently the guitarist is Richie Kotzen

from Melodicrock.com's twitter:

"One more exclusive for you. Replacing John Sykes in the Portnoy project will be Richie Kotzen."






1/24/12 2:49PM





This is the long mentioned project Mike and Eddie Trunk among many others talked about going back to early in 2011. Yesterday it was posted by melodicrock.com's twitter that John Sykes was out of the longtime referred to "Portnoy/Sykes" project, which I guess was going to be rather influenced by Classic Hard Rock ala Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Rainbow, etc.

But as that post Eddie made a little while ago explains, it didn't work out. And then Mike just earlier today posted on twitter

“@JeremyBednarski: @EddieTrunk Can you say who the bassist was?” Billy Sheehan...we're moving on & now working w another guitarist/singer...

Eddie Trunk's linked post

24-Jan-12 Sykes/Portnoy band ends, the story
1/24/12: Recent reports have made the rounds on my social media and online about the status of the John Sykes/Mike Portnoy band that was first announced when the guys appeared together on That Metal Show last season. There has been much speculation on the status of the band and this project since we first revealed it, and as a friend and fan of both musicians I was very much at the center of it helping where I could and serving as a sounding board with all involved. Sadly I can confirm that as of now this project is no longer moving forward.

When I first talked about Portnoy and Sykes working together I joked with them that I had never met two guys with such different work ethics. Mike wants to do everything yesterday and John really takes his time and is much more conservative. That truly is the only reason why what could have been a killer band has dissolved.

Obviously bands are like any relationship, some click, some do not. This was simply a case of two different people not only getting to know each other musically but also personally, and the schedule and timing for making this work just fell apart. Mike and the bands bass player were ready to go, and John simply was not on the same timetable. There is truly no bigger story or any drama to report. It just didn't work and everyone is moving on.

Mike has several amazing projects in the works including the killer Adrenaline Mob album coming in March, and John may very well do a solo album or something else. He has some great material written and was singing and playing in top form when this dissolved. They both remain friends and I wish them both nothing but the best going forward and who knows what the future holds?
Eddie Trunk

I'm a little bummed by this, but the fact he's still working with Billy Sheehan, I'm still curious. The new guitarist? a lot of names being thrown out on Portnoy's forum. Tony McCalpine might make sense since Portnoy just played some shows with him; although stylistically, I'm not sure I picture Tony playing the same kind of music the Portnoy/Sykes project Mike described it as.

But I'm sure more information will come soon about this.