Sons of Apollo (feat. Portnoy & Sherinian)

[the keyboard wizard]

Of course, the unofficial fan club is still young so there are just 19 members. Would it have been better if the group was called "French fans of SOA?". The point here is to create a community. If I compare with Your Majesty (DT fan club I'm running too), at the beginning of 2017 we only had 200 members and the page had been running for 1 year. That's nothing compared to the 5000 persons who attend the shows in France but we managed to do some cool things and we are still growing.
I think it's better to have "regional chapters", exactly like what Noxon do with DT World. It's easier for the regional chapters to set up meetings and organize things in different countries.
Before starting that new page, I asked myself if it was really relevant as the band is still young and we would have a lot of members. And then I realized that I couldn't organize a meetup before the SOA gigs under the name of Your Majesty aka the French fan club of a band that is laughed at by one of the members of SOA. So I thought it was better to separate what I was doing with Your Majesty for Dream Theater and what I wanted to do for SOA.
I think you need to consider those pages as "let's gather between fans who speak the same language and share our passion for the band, exactly like what we could do on a forum or when we wait before a concert".
I get the fact that SOA has 34k followers but for the French speaking fans, it's not easy to communicate with the rest of the fans if you do not speak proper English.

But we could go further by questionning the existence of fan clubs, now that social medias provide all the information we need and that you need to pay to meet your favourite band.

[JayOctavarium]

needs a sonsofapolloforums.org

[bill1971]

needs a sonsofapolloforums.org

Is that still a thing?

[Adami]

needs a sonsdaughtersandnonbinarygenderedchildrenofapolloforums.org

Fixed.

[JayOctavarium]

 

Ooops

[Adami]

Ooops

GET WOKE SON!

[JayOctavarium]

I'M AN ASSHOLE

I'M SORRY.

[RoeDent]

needs a sonsofapolloforums.org

There was one, but MP closed it.

Also, what's a Son Sofa Poll O'Forums? A poll for which forum your male child should read when sitting on a couch?

[the keyboard wizard]

Sono fap pollo forum? For the fans of speakers, porn and chicken(foot?).

[Sycsa]

Sono fap pollo forum? For the fans of speakers, porn and chicken(foot?).

Ciao, sono fap pollo!

[PetFish]

I'M AN ASSHOLE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrgpZ0fUixs

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Portnoy's performance on OM blows my mind. It's amazing, after everything Mike has been on and done, he still finds new and interesting beats and fills. The man is the best I've ever heard.

[pcs90]

Portnoy's performance on OM blows my mind. It's amazing, after everything Mike has been on and done, he still finds new and interesting beats and fills. The man is the best I've ever heard.

Must be a different Portnoy...

[ytserush]

Man, oh man, I can't believe the amount of air time some of you guys are giving to something you profess to not like.   Why spend so much time on something that irks you so much?

Never understood the A-Mob discussion prior to the accident either, but that's just me.

[ytserush]

Man, oh man, I can't believe the amount of air time some of you guys are giving to something you profess to not like.   Why spend so much time on something that irks you so much?

Because it's human nature and we're no different from people gossiping about TV celebrities or pop stars.

Imagine a scenario where Lady Gaga continues to tweet stuff like #no-whatever-Madonna-is-doing, don't you think fans of Madonna would debate at length how Lady Gaga has no class and blablabla?  well, same with metalheads and the likes. We've all drank deep at the fountain of feuds between Bruce Dickinson and Maiden when they were apart, Ozzy and Sabbath etc...

Clearly, I must live in a different world.

[ytserush]

Looking at Ron almost makes me want to forget Derek’s sins and buy the album. Almost.

He's got solo albums....

[ytserush]

I still think it's good but I don't know if it will have staying power. And I still think this is a lot of wasted opportunities, some more time spent composing, some more variety and you could have had a great disc.

I'd have to think the second album will be better, especially after the band is road tested.

Agreed. As they gel together and maybe come up with riffs on the road, that could give them some more time to write songs than just pumping them out as fast as they can.

Soundcheck jams.....

[Stadler]

Man, oh man, I can't believe the amount of air time some of you guys are giving to something you profess to not like.   Why spend so much time on something that irks you so much?

Because it's human nature and we're no different from people gossiping about TV celebrities or pop stars.

Imagine a scenario where Lady Gaga continues to tweet stuff like #no-whatever-Madonna-is-doing, don't you think fans of Madonna would debate at length how Lady Gaga has no class and blablabla?  well, same with metalheads and the likes. We've all drank deep at the fountain of feuds between Bruce Dickinson and Maiden when they were apart, Ozzy and Sabbath etc...

Clearly, I must live in a different world.

You and me both.

[bill1971]

I still think it's good but I don't know if it will have staying power. And I still think this is a lot of wasted opportunities, some more time spent composing, some more variety and you could have had a great disc.

I'd have to think the second album will be better, especially after the band is road tested.

They will probably complete their second album in a week of soundcheck jams.

Agreed. As they gel together and maybe come up with riffs on the road, that could give them some more time to write songs than just pumping them out as fast as they can.

Soundcheck jams.....

[rumborak]

Am I the only one here who is bothered by this Slam Bam Thank You Mam approach to music? People always rag on music quality, vinyl vs CD, but I cringe when I see bands apparently just not caring enough about their output to spend more than a week on it. Feels like they're working a union job, not clocking a second longer than their contract says.

[The Walrus]

Am I the only one here who is bothered by this Slam Bam Thank You Mam approach to music? People always rag on music quality, vinyl vs CD, but I cringe when I see bands apparently just not caring enough about their output to spend more than a week on it. Feels like they're working a union job, not clocking a second longer than their contract says.

*waves hands in front of flashing neon signs* Join the club

[KevShmev]

Am I the only one here who is bothered by this Slam Bam Thank You Mam approach to music? People always rag on music quality, vinyl vs CD, but I cringe when I see bands apparently just not caring enough about their output to spend more than a week on it. Feels like they're working a union job, not clocking a second longer than their contract says.

I think it's clear that Mike Portnoy is the anti-Neil Peart.  While Peart loved the creative process in the studio and did touring because he had to, Portnoy loves playing live and appears to not be a big fan of the creative process.  He often talks about how quickly whatever band he is in that week finished an album; he likes to play his drum parts once and be done with them.  I remember the making of Snakes & Arrows where the producer of that album talked about Neil's drum part in The Way the Wind Blows didn't really work as well it could have, to which Neil took the constructive criticism well and took the time to redo the entire song.  Then we have Portnoy on the making of Similitude... basically cringing at the idea of having to redo some drum parts because Neal Morse thought they could have been better.

[King Postwhore]

Well at first Neil was pissed.   Nick the producer kept pushing him to be more aggressive in that part of the song and after hearing his recorded part he agreed that the push was beneficial.

[Madman Shepherd]

Am I the only one here who is bothered by this Slam Bam Thank You Mam approach to music? People always rag on music quality, vinyl vs CD, but I cringe when I see bands apparently just not caring enough about their output to spend more than a week on it. Feels like they're working a union job, not clocking a second longer than their contract says.

I think it's clear that Mike Portnoy is the anti-Neil Peart.  While Peart loved the creative process in the studio and did touring because he had to, Portnoy loves playing live and appears to not be a big fan of the creative process.  He often talks about how quickly whatever band he is in that week finished an album; he likes to play his drum parts once and be done with them. 

I remember in the Dream Theater drummer auditions documentary where at the end, John Petrucci says something along the lines of, "We've been in the studio for a while now and we love it here.  We're all creative people so we're right at home" or something like that.

I seem to remember Portnoy saying the opposite and that he hated the studio. 

My friend got the SoA CD with the studio diary and I was surprised when I read it that they wrote the music even faster than I thought.  I mean, they were there for ten days so I guess I should have assumed they wrote one song a day but in detail Mike writes about the process.  I was also surprised that he was even less involved than I thought in the writing.  To his credit though, he really does give a lot of credit to Bumblefoot and Derek for writing most of the stuff and doesn't overexaggerate his hand in the arrangements. 

[Stadler]

Am I the only one here who is bothered by this Slam Bam Thank You Mam approach to music? People always rag on music quality, vinyl vs CD, but I cringe when I see bands apparently just not caring enough about their output to spend more than a week on it. Feels like they're working a union job, not clocking a second longer than their contract says.

*waves hands in front of flashing neon signs* Join the club

First round is on me.  I'm in too.

[Stadler]

Well at first Neil was pissed.   Nick the producer kept pushing him to be more aggressive in that part of the song and after hearing his recorded part he agreed that the push was beneficial.

If that's the part I'm thinking of (and have cited here a couple times) that passage is REQUIRED for every Rush fan.  The dynamic there is amazing.  The band sort of egged Nick on to talk to Neil - who had worked all day (figuratively) to get it where it was, and he was NOT happy, not at all, to have to do it again.   But when he did it again, he absolutely NAILED it, and walked out and (if I remember correctly) sort of tossed his sticks down and said "Fuck you guys" or something like that.    It was good natured, and was an admission that he was wrong, but it wasn't ALL joking, and it was a powerful moment, and the look on Geddy and Alex's faces - watching their friend in an uncomfortable spot that they partly put him in, but watching him rise not only to the occasion but beyond - is fascinating and emotional to watch.   

I think that is important.  It's not always flowers and rainbows in situations like that.  I don't want to open a can of worms, but I remember James bitching about Mike (and to an extent, John) watching him and telling him what to sing and pushing him.   I don't at all think that is a bad thing.   If it makes the end product better, so be it.  There are plenty of stories of guys going in and getting pissed off and delivering the goods.  Maiden has stories like that.  I think there's a story or two about Alex that way.  Oasis.  Aerosmith.   Whatever it takes.   

[Lethean]

Where was that, Stadler? With Neil and Nick, etc? A bonus on Snakes and Arrows? I think I have something but never watched it, or watched part of it. Will need to pull that out.

As for JLB and his vocals, I say leave him be. I think he nailed it and then some on The Astonishing (and DT12 and ADTOE), most being left to his own devices with JP coming in just a little. If that's how he likes to work, and those are the results it brings, carry on.

Re: the time it takes to write an album. I don't like SoA, so I guess I think this album was rushed. But I don't know - maybe none of them are great song writers anyway. I just don't know. It could have been better with more time and thought, but maybe not.

[Podaar]

Well at first Neil was pissed.   Nick the producer kept pushing him to be more aggressive in that part of the song and after hearing his recorded part he agreed that the push was beneficial.

If that's the part I'm thinking of (and have cited here a couple times) that passage is REQUIRED for every Rush fan.  The dynamic there is amazing.  The band sort of egged Nick on to talk to Neil - who had worked all day (figuratively) to get it where it was, and he was NOT happy, not at all, to have to do it again.   But when he did it again, he absolutely NAILED it, and walked out and (if I remember correctly) sort of tossed his sticks down and said "Fuck you guys" or something like that.    It was good natured, and was an admission that he was wrong, but it wasn't ALL joking, and it was a powerful moment, and the look on Geddy and Alex's faces - watching their friend in an uncomfortable spot that they partly put him in, but watching him rise not only to the occasion but beyond - is fascinating and emotional to watch.   

I think that is important.  It's not always flowers and rainbows in situations like that.  I don't want to open a can of worms, but I remember James bitching about Mike (and to an extent, John) watching him and telling him what to sing and pushing him.   I don't at all think that is a bad thing.   If it makes the end product better, so be it.  There are plenty of stories of guys going in and getting pissed off and delivering the goods.  Maiden has stories like that.  I think there's a story or two about Alex that way.  Oasis.  Aerosmith.   Whatever it takes.

Um, no offense, but neither Mike (or JP for that matter) are Nick Raskulinecz. I think I'd be pissed too if I was an accomplished singer and some wannabe producers were telling me, "I'd like a death metal growl or two for this part." Both SoA and DT should be so lucky as to have "Booujzhe" produce any of their projects and I'm almost certain that JLB would be receptive to his direction because he actually knows what he's doing.

[Madman Shepherd]

As for JLB and his vocals, I say leave him be. I think he nailed it and then some on The Astonishing (and DT12 and ADTOE), most being left to his own devices with JP coming in just a little. If that's how he likes to work, and those are the results it brings, carry on.

...and Images and Words and Awake were recorded with James pretty much left to himself.

[Orbert]

It's a tough call.  The person who wrote the song has a vision for how they want it to sound, how they want the melodies and instrumentals to work, everything.  Or at least it's not uncommon.  To that end, they'll work with the others and try to get the song to sound like how they want it.  You can tell the bassist that you had a specific thing in mind, or the drummer, or the keyboard player, but not the vocalist?  Is the vocalist somehow off limits and gets to do things however he wants?

That said, I can see how having both JP and MP there telling JLB what to do would get pretty oppressive.

[Architeuthis]

James should be pretty much the captian of the ship for calling the shots on the vocals. He did an outstanding job on TA!
It doesn't mean that the songwriters and band members can't offer suggestions..

[KevShmev]

I had yet to hear Opus Maximus until this morning (YT is the only place I have checked out their songs and that song wasn't uploaded there until earlier this week), but now having heard it, what the hell?  What a complete and utter mess that song is. Songs like that are what give prog a bad name.  It is a total wankfest, bouncing from idea to idea with no cohesion or flow whatsoever.  If they wrote the whole album in 10 days, it sounds like they threw that one together in less than an hour.  Holy smokes, can I please have those 9 minutes back?

[Adami]

I had yet to hear Opus Maximus until this morning (YT is the only place I have checked out their songs and that song wasn't uploaded there until earlier this week), but now having heard it, what the hell?  What a complete and utter mess that song is. Songs like that are what give prog a bad name.  It is a total wankfest, bouncing from idea to idea with no cohesion or flow whatsoever.  If they wrote the whole album in 10 days, it sounds like they threw that one together in less than an hour.  Holy smokes, can I please have those 9 minutes back?

I've heard that song like 4-5 times at least and I honestly cannot remember a single moment outside of the fact that there was a cool drum/bass thing at one point, but i have no idea what it sounds like, just that I enjoyed it when I heard it.

[The Silent Cody]

I had yet to hear Opus Maximus until this morning (YT is the only place I have checked out their songs and that song wasn't uploaded there until earlier this week), but now having heard it, what the hell?  What a complete and utter mess that song is. Songs like that are what give prog a bad name.  It is a total wankfest, bouncing from idea to idea with no cohesion or flow whatsoever.  If they wrote the whole album in 10 days, it sounds like they threw that one together in less than an hour.  Holy smokes, can I please have those 9 minutes back?

I've heard that song like 4-5 times at least and I honestly cannot remember a single moment outside of the fact that there was a cool drum/bass thing at one point, but i have no idea what it sounds like, just that I enjoyed it when I heard it.

Yeah, I have the same feeling about that one. Totally forgottable stuff, it was quite dissappointment for me, I expected Opus Maximus to be opus maximus but it turns out to be mini minimus... another worst song from Psychotic Symphony for me is Lost In Oblivion, I remember only the chorus, anything else...  Other songs are quite good, even after two months with this record I think that I wouldn't change my opinion about it and still give it a 7/10

[Orbert]

James should be pretty much the captian of the ship for calling the shots on the vocals. He did an outstanding job on TA!
It doesn't mean that the songwriters and band members can't offer suggestions..

Suggestions, yes.  But if you're the singer, and the guitarist and drummer for some reason are there in the booth with you telling you how to sing certain parts, that's gotta suck.