NEWS: Supergroup Sons of Apollo to make Irish début

METAL supergrouop, Sons of Apollo are to play their début Irish show at Limelight 1, Belfast on Tuesday, July 3rd.
The stellar line-up features members of Dream Theater, Mr. Big, Guns ‘N Roses and Journey.

Reuniting Mick Portnoy and Derek Sherinian of Dream Theater the band recruited guitatist Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thai of Guns ‘n’ Roses, bass sensation Billy Sheehan (Mr Big, Dave Lee Roth), and singing superstar Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey).

Their debut album, Psychotic Symphony, is out now on InsideOutMusic/Sony Music.
Psychotic Symphony was produced by the dynamic production duo of Portnoy and Sherinian, also affectionately known as “The Del Fuvio Brothers,” the nickname given to them over 20 years ago during their time together in Dream Theater.

Sons of Apollo formed very organically, its seeds planted with a predecessor group, as Portnoy explained: “Derek and I reunited shortly after I left Dream Theater in 2010 and we put together an all-instrumental touring band with 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.”

With Portnoy, Sherinian and Sheehan having previously toured together in the aforementioned line-up that came to be known as PSMS, playing instrumental versions of various songs drawn from each member’s history, Sons of Apollo was the next logical step. They kept that fire burning and stoked it higher by bringing in a different guitarist, adding a vocalist, and creating all original material. The nine songs comprising Psychotic Symphony incorporate the progressive style and individual technical prowess Portnoy and 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!”

“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 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!”

SONS OF APOLLO play Limelight 1, Belfast as part of their world tour and will be their first ever show in Ireland. Ticket’s priced £20+B/F go on sale this Thursday at 9am from www.Ticketmaster.ie and all usual outlets including DV8, Beflast and Katy’s Bar.

ALBUM REVIEW: Monte Pittman powers through with prowess on Inverted Grap of Balance

HE is Madonna's touring guitarist. He played in Prong. He teaches guitar. But above all Monte Pittman is one helluva metalhead, azeman extraordinaire.

If you tentatively sampled his first release 'Power of Three' on Metal Blade and gave it a nod then strap yer metal braces in tight because 'Inverted Grasp of Balance' raises the bar that even the best Fosbury Flopping Olympian couldn't match this step up.

Here we find the alchemist's elixir. Well arranged tunes, riffs that rock more than an earthquake's max Richter scale, solos that seer your hearing and just more metal sensibilities than you can cope with.

Whether it is the opening pacey duo of 'Panic Attack' and 'Arisen in Broad Daylight' or the hyper catchy 'Skeleton Key' this is as close to the complete metal assortment as you can come.

Indeed there are at times when you think this is the type of record Dio could be recording now had his life not been cut short.

It is varied, it has tonality differences, the singing is clean but perfectly suited to the songs, and all have a balance in their structure and place on the album.

Whether it is the power of 'California' or the alt-version of a power ballad closer 'New Blood Keeps Us Alive' these are songs that engage and empower.

While the playing is exemplary - as well Pitttman Billy Sheehan and Richard Christie make up the rest of the threesome - it also has a nicely ambiguous lyrical slant.

"I like to write in a way where the listener can decide what the song is about", said Monte. "Like when looking at abstract art and each person sees something else.

"So a song like 'Guilty Pleasure' could be viewed from the point of view of either an antagonist or a victim.

"There are also some "ghostly, supernatural"connotations, such as 'Be Very Afrai'", which is about living in a haunted house, but can also be perceived as a take on the housing market crashing."

What is most impressive about this release is that whether you are someone steeped in the NWOBHM, a thrasher, or a hard rock fan or just a casual metalhead all the songs will engage you.

And, if you are a fan of the best of guitar playing then this should be in your collection.

As he said himself: "I incorporated some different, odd scales and chords into a lot of it. If I found myself repeating ideas, I knew to go somewhere else with it.

"As someone who teaches guitar, I also wanted to be able to use the leads as examples for teaching guitar lessons. In 'Obliterated', there are several little elements that could be guitar lessons on their own."

This is an album that sweats a love of the guitar, a love of rock and bursts with so many metal sensibilities that the so-called extreme metal acts need to listen to this and re-assess their sensibilities and aspiring guitar gods needs to listen to and weep a little...

Review by Jonny