It has been about 20 years since prog metal fans could experience the world class collaboration between musicians Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian, but that wait is finally over as they are set to release a new album under the band name Sons of Apollo, titled Psychotic Symphony. Along with Derek and Mike, this band also features vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (Yngwie, Trans-Siberian Orchestra), bassist Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, Winery Dogs), and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (Guns N Roses). As the title of the album suggests, this album contains all the mind blowing technical virtuosity prog metal fans know and love, reminiscent of Derek’s days with Dream Theater, while also keeping the focus on crafting the perfect song with strong melody lines and catchy powerful choruses. Metal Exiles had the opportunity to talk with keyboardist/producer/songwriter Derek Sherinian about this exciting and promising new band, as their new album is sure to take both the rock and metal worlds by storm in the weeks and months ahead.
An interview with Derek Sherinian of Sons Of Apollo.
By Michael Knowles
Metal Exiles: For starters, it’s great to get a chance to talk to you as I’ve been a fan for a long time and I have to say I had high expectations for this new release. I feel as though it even surpassed those expectations.
Derek Sherinian: I think so too, I’ll tell you when Mike and I first decided to do this, on paper we thought it was going to be more straight prog metal like stuff we had done before but when we started writing, all of these classic rock and straight hard rock influences that we naturally have started really coming up and we embraced it. So, we feel that as the producers we made the perfect blend of great songwriting, and feel, and virtuosity and that we mastered the art of strategic wankery. There’s all this crazy musicianship that everyone wants to hear from us that we put all in the right spots not to take away from the quality of the songwriting. All of our songs have memorable sections, choruses, verses, Jeff Scott Soto did an amazing job and is the anchor throughout the record.
Metal Exiles: Can you talk about what it was like working with Mike again as well as your collaboration on this record?
Derek: Well Mike and I have always had a strong personal and musical chemistry dating back 20-25 years when we were in Dream Theater together. So, we reunited in 2012 when we did the instrumental thing with Billy Sheehan and Tony Macalpine and we realized back then that we just enjoyed playing together and before it was all over we were going to make it happen. S0 here we are in 2017 with Sons of Apollo and I tell you I think that this lineup, it’s like the Marvel superheroes, everyone has superpowers, a signature sound on their instrument and when we play together the sound is just so explosive as you will hear on Psychotic Symphony.
Metal Exiles: Part of what I love about this album is the mix is so good, that everyone stands out, so every members unique sound is very noticeable and prominent.
Derek: That’s the thing and that’s basically the symphony aspect of it, everyone is orchestrated and as busy as everyone has the capability to play, we never play on top of each other or over each other. Everything is orchestrated, everybody gets their spots to shine compositionally and also as players.
Metal Exiles: Can you discuss the songwriting process, were songs mostly written out of jam sessions, or was there also quite a bit of material brought in from the outset?
Derek: It started with me demoing a bunch of ideas and sending them to Mike up until we went into the studio. One of the first things I sent him was the god of the sun trilogy, it was like an 11-minute thing and Mike heard it and said this is brilliant let’s leave this as it is, and I want it to open up the record. So, I was really excited about that, but once we got into the studio with Bumblefoot who I met for the first time on day 1 in the studio while we were writing and recording, and it was like meeting a long-lost brother that I haven’t seen in 50 years. So, we only had 10 days to make up for lost times, so we really had to move quickly, and it was an amazing experience writing with Mike and Bumblefoot, and then Billy came in a few days later and we just wrote all of that music in 10 days and yea it was just an intense gratifying process. And the next phase was Mike and I were working with Jeff Scott Soto on the lyrics and melody lines, and Jeff brought in the majority of the lyrics, so we tweaked everything out and really just put a lot of attention to the vocal performance because that’s the key man. You can have a great band but if your singer sucks it’s just going to bring down the quality of the band. We stayed away from all the cheesy elements in a lot of prog metal bands, anything cheesy or that fake I’m mad but not really mad, I mean people can hear that shit from a mile away and it turns off a lot of fans, they won’t even give the music a chance when they hear that kind of stuff. So, we wanted to really make sure we had cool rock vocals that were listenable and wouldn’t detract from you know the great music that we wrote.
Metal Exiles: Speaking of Jeff Scott Soto, I thought he really shined on this album and really showcased the full spectrum of his vocal ability, can you talk about his overall performance and contributions to this record?
Derek: He did a lot with writing, on the song “Signs of the Time,” he was a huge part of the writing, “Alive,” he pretty much wrote on his own, and then on the other songs we collaborated a lot on the lyrics and melody lines, and he just brings with him in his performance, he just has a great tone. He’s not singing anything that’s too high that he’s not going to be able to sing live. There’s nothing worse than going to see the band you are into and the singer can’t hit the notes that he sang on the record, it’s painful it’s really painful. So, we were very conscious of making sure that everything was powerful and sing-able.
Metal Exiles: You mentioned the song “God of the Sun,” so was that primarily written by you and can you maybe talk about the lyrical theme on that song?
Derek: I wrote all of the music and I wrote half of the lyrics and most of the melody lines. I came up with the title and Jeff just sort of took it from there, and then we tweaked the story line. The song is basically about the sun god, and Apollo actually was the god of the sun but there’s different sun god’s in different cultures. So, we just wanted it to be roughly about this figure and how, and actually you would have to ask Jeff, he’s more of the story guy I just gave him the title and I tweaked with words and mainly the melody lines.
Metal Exiles: Did this project allow you to employ any new styles as a keyboardist, or maybe incorporate styles you haven’t used in quite a while?
Derek: I do want to say and correct you really quickly that this isn’t a project, it’s a full on band. A lot of people can easily get confused because we all have a bunch of projects that we play in, but I will say this that all of us in Sons of Apollo know that this record that we made has the biggest chance of generating the most heat, and I know that people have a tendency to gravitate to where the fire is the warmest and Sons of Apollo has the chance to really explode. So, this is really going to be a full-time band, we’re fully committed on touring throughout 2018 and 19, and what was your question? Oh, playing style, this was the perfect vehicle, I’m the producer and the main writer so basically, I can do whatever the fuck I want, I own one of every keyboard on my wall, so I’m only limited by my imagination. That being said I have very strong ideas on how keyboards should sound in a rock band situation. I use primarily Hammond B-3, Marshall’s and Leslie’s, I use Mellotron, I use Moog Analog Synthesizers and I don’t use any apps or any iPad’s or any big stuff at all, no sequencing, no keytars, no gadgets. Everything is very live and timeless, if you listen to Jon Lord he sounds great now, rest in peace, his records from 72, 73, 74 sound just as timeless and killer now. So, I’m kind of taking the torch from Jon Lord and carrying it today in 2017, there’s no one else out there playing with that kind of balls and aggressive rock keyboard style, so I’m taking the throne.
Metal Exiles: You kind of talked about this, but what was the chemistry like in this band during the writing and recording process, of course you guys come from different musical backgrounds with the exception of Mike and yourself?
Derek: It just all flowed, I mean once Mike, Bumblefoot and I started you know everything just sort of fell into place, it just jelled as a unit very quickly. It’s going to be very awesome to work out this music for the live show, and it’s going to be the full 5 ring spectacle. Each player is a dynamic performer, visually and sonically and I think it’s just going to be an amazing show for people.
Metal Exiles: As far as when you were putting this band together, were you and Mike looking for a specific sound, or were there just guys you really wanted to work with?
Derek: No, I mean all of the above, we needed a powerhouse guitar player, someone who had that total rock n’ roll cool swagger, and at the same time had the virtuosity to play all the lines that we needed to play and Bumblefoot was the perfect choice, you know the perfect mix of virtuosity and feel. That’s why we chose each other, we’re all unique in that way, the perfect hybrids of technique and feel, so we blend well together.
Metal Exiles: Another one of my favorite tracks on this record is the other prog metal extravaganza Labyrinth, how did that song come together?
Derek: I wrote the first few sections before going into the middle section, and Mike loved it right away and, so we used my first few sections as a starting point and then we wrote that whole middle bit as a band. So, it went off on its own thing, its own little journey there, but I think it’s classic, I loved the way it starts with the strings and Jeff’s voice is perfect on it.
Metal Exiles: You kind of mentioned this, but when can fans look forward to seeing this great new band live, and do you have a specific starting point?
Derek: Yes, we will start on Cruise to the Edge, we’ll start out in Miami at the Yes cruise, so that’s the beginning of February, then we’ll go into a full U.S. tour and then to Europe, but we have our tour being booked as we speak so you can follow all of our tour movements and Sonsofapollo.com. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for constant updates of info, of touring and the record will be released on October 20th on InsideOut/Sony records world-wide and we’re just very excited about having the people hear this record, we’re very proud of it.
Official Sons Of Apollo Site
BUY Psychotic Symphony
BUY Psychotic Symphony On Vinyl
An interview with Derek Sherinian of Sons Of Apollo.
By Michael Knowles
Metal Exiles: For starters, it’s great to get a chance to talk to you as I’ve been a fan for a long time and I have to say I had high expectations for this new release. I feel as though it even surpassed those expectations.
Derek Sherinian: I think so too, I’ll tell you when Mike and I first decided to do this, on paper we thought it was going to be more straight prog metal like stuff we had done before but when we started writing, all of these classic rock and straight hard rock influences that we naturally have started really coming up and we embraced it. So, we feel that as the producers we made the perfect blend of great songwriting, and feel, and virtuosity and that we mastered the art of strategic wankery. There’s all this crazy musicianship that everyone wants to hear from us that we put all in the right spots not to take away from the quality of the songwriting. All of our songs have memorable sections, choruses, verses, Jeff Scott Soto did an amazing job and is the anchor throughout the record.
Metal Exiles: Can you talk about what it was like working with Mike again as well as your collaboration on this record?
Derek: Well Mike and I have always had a strong personal and musical chemistry dating back 20-25 years when we were in Dream Theater together. So, we reunited in 2012 when we did the instrumental thing with Billy Sheehan and Tony Macalpine and we realized back then that we just enjoyed playing together and before it was all over we were going to make it happen. S0 here we are in 2017 with Sons of Apollo and I tell you I think that this lineup, it’s like the Marvel superheroes, everyone has superpowers, a signature sound on their instrument and when we play together the sound is just so explosive as you will hear on Psychotic Symphony.
Metal Exiles: Part of what I love about this album is the mix is so good, that everyone stands out, so every members unique sound is very noticeable and prominent.
Derek: That’s the thing and that’s basically the symphony aspect of it, everyone is orchestrated and as busy as everyone has the capability to play, we never play on top of each other or over each other. Everything is orchestrated, everybody gets their spots to shine compositionally and also as players.
Metal Exiles: Can you discuss the songwriting process, were songs mostly written out of jam sessions, or was there also quite a bit of material brought in from the outset?
Derek: It started with me demoing a bunch of ideas and sending them to Mike up until we went into the studio. One of the first things I sent him was the god of the sun trilogy, it was like an 11-minute thing and Mike heard it and said this is brilliant let’s leave this as it is, and I want it to open up the record. So, I was really excited about that, but once we got into the studio with Bumblefoot who I met for the first time on day 1 in the studio while we were writing and recording, and it was like meeting a long-lost brother that I haven’t seen in 50 years. So, we only had 10 days to make up for lost times, so we really had to move quickly, and it was an amazing experience writing with Mike and Bumblefoot, and then Billy came in a few days later and we just wrote all of that music in 10 days and yea it was just an intense gratifying process. And the next phase was Mike and I were working with Jeff Scott Soto on the lyrics and melody lines, and Jeff brought in the majority of the lyrics, so we tweaked everything out and really just put a lot of attention to the vocal performance because that’s the key man. You can have a great band but if your singer sucks it’s just going to bring down the quality of the band. We stayed away from all the cheesy elements in a lot of prog metal bands, anything cheesy or that fake I’m mad but not really mad, I mean people can hear that shit from a mile away and it turns off a lot of fans, they won’t even give the music a chance when they hear that kind of stuff. So, we wanted to really make sure we had cool rock vocals that were listenable and wouldn’t detract from you know the great music that we wrote.
Metal Exiles: Speaking of Jeff Scott Soto, I thought he really shined on this album and really showcased the full spectrum of his vocal ability, can you talk about his overall performance and contributions to this record?
Derek: He did a lot with writing, on the song “Signs of the Time,” he was a huge part of the writing, “Alive,” he pretty much wrote on his own, and then on the other songs we collaborated a lot on the lyrics and melody lines, and he just brings with him in his performance, he just has a great tone. He’s not singing anything that’s too high that he’s not going to be able to sing live. There’s nothing worse than going to see the band you are into and the singer can’t hit the notes that he sang on the record, it’s painful it’s really painful. So, we were very conscious of making sure that everything was powerful and sing-able.
Metal Exiles: You mentioned the song “God of the Sun,” so was that primarily written by you and can you maybe talk about the lyrical theme on that song?
Derek: I wrote all of the music and I wrote half of the lyrics and most of the melody lines. I came up with the title and Jeff just sort of took it from there, and then we tweaked the story line. The song is basically about the sun god, and Apollo actually was the god of the sun but there’s different sun god’s in different cultures. So, we just wanted it to be roughly about this figure and how, and actually you would have to ask Jeff, he’s more of the story guy I just gave him the title and I tweaked with words and mainly the melody lines.
Metal Exiles: Did this project allow you to employ any new styles as a keyboardist, or maybe incorporate styles you haven’t used in quite a while?
Derek: I do want to say and correct you really quickly that this isn’t a project, it’s a full on band. A lot of people can easily get confused because we all have a bunch of projects that we play in, but I will say this that all of us in Sons of Apollo know that this record that we made has the biggest chance of generating the most heat, and I know that people have a tendency to gravitate to where the fire is the warmest and Sons of Apollo has the chance to really explode. So, this is really going to be a full-time band, we’re fully committed on touring throughout 2018 and 19, and what was your question? Oh, playing style, this was the perfect vehicle, I’m the producer and the main writer so basically, I can do whatever the fuck I want, I own one of every keyboard on my wall, so I’m only limited by my imagination. That being said I have very strong ideas on how keyboards should sound in a rock band situation. I use primarily Hammond B-3, Marshall’s and Leslie’s, I use Mellotron, I use Moog Analog Synthesizers and I don’t use any apps or any iPad’s or any big stuff at all, no sequencing, no keytars, no gadgets. Everything is very live and timeless, if you listen to Jon Lord he sounds great now, rest in peace, his records from 72, 73, 74 sound just as timeless and killer now. So, I’m kind of taking the torch from Jon Lord and carrying it today in 2017, there’s no one else out there playing with that kind of balls and aggressive rock keyboard style, so I’m taking the throne.
Metal Exiles: You kind of talked about this, but what was the chemistry like in this band during the writing and recording process, of course you guys come from different musical backgrounds with the exception of Mike and yourself?
Derek: It just all flowed, I mean once Mike, Bumblefoot and I started you know everything just sort of fell into place, it just jelled as a unit very quickly. It’s going to be very awesome to work out this music for the live show, and it’s going to be the full 5 ring spectacle. Each player is a dynamic performer, visually and sonically and I think it’s just going to be an amazing show for people.
Metal Exiles: As far as when you were putting this band together, were you and Mike looking for a specific sound, or were there just guys you really wanted to work with?
Derek: No, I mean all of the above, we needed a powerhouse guitar player, someone who had that total rock n’ roll cool swagger, and at the same time had the virtuosity to play all the lines that we needed to play and Bumblefoot was the perfect choice, you know the perfect mix of virtuosity and feel. That’s why we chose each other, we’re all unique in that way, the perfect hybrids of technique and feel, so we blend well together.
Metal Exiles: Another one of my favorite tracks on this record is the other prog metal extravaganza Labyrinth, how did that song come together?
Derek: I wrote the first few sections before going into the middle section, and Mike loved it right away and, so we used my first few sections as a starting point and then we wrote that whole middle bit as a band. So, it went off on its own thing, its own little journey there, but I think it’s classic, I loved the way it starts with the strings and Jeff’s voice is perfect on it.
Metal Exiles: You kind of mentioned this, but when can fans look forward to seeing this great new band live, and do you have a specific starting point?
Derek: Yes, we will start on Cruise to the Edge, we’ll start out in Miami at the Yes cruise, so that’s the beginning of February, then we’ll go into a full U.S. tour and then to Europe, but we have our tour being booked as we speak so you can follow all of our tour movements and Sonsofapollo.com. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for constant updates of info, of touring and the record will be released on October 20th on InsideOut/Sony records world-wide and we’re just very excited about having the people hear this record, we’re very proud of it.
Official Sons Of Apollo Site
BUY Psychotic Symphony
BUY Psychotic Symphony On Vinyl