Sons of Apollo (feat. Portnoy & Sherinian)

[Adami]

I get most of my news from Blabbermouth cause I'm lazy, but didn't see anything on this.

What's going on?

[gzarruk]

I bet “unforseen circumstances beyond our control” means “Mike has other 87 bands to worry about”.

[goo-goo]

Well, there were a couple of unfortunate events during the SoA tour...One, Jeff lost his brother during the tour. And two, he also got sick pretty badly with a throat infection. Maybe he just needed a big emotional rest. But that's just my opinion. I don't know exactly what circumstances caused the cancellation of the remaining tour dates.

[Architeuthis]

Sad to hear that bad circumstances came up.  I read a couple months ago that they were gonna film a show in Europe for a live dvd. Does anybody know if that happened before all this went down?

[cramx3]

Sad to hear that bad circumstances came up.  I read a couple months ago that they were gonna film a show in Europe for a live dvd. Does anybody know if that happened before all this went down?

The show in Plovdiv is still listed on their tour schedule for this fall

[Skeever]

"Low ticket sales" qualify as "unforeseen circumstances beyond our control", don't they? 

This was my first thought. If they were more of a true "start-up" band, they'd be doing fine. But look at those rigs they take with them, the gear, the caliber of the players in the band... everything about the band is supposed to be BIG. That's a whole lot of chandeliers for such a tiny house.

[Ben_Jamin]

"Low ticket sales" qualify as "unforeseen circumstances beyond our control", don't they? 

This was my first thought. If they were more of a true "start-up" band, they'd be doing fine. But look at those rigs they take with them, the gear, the caliber of the players in the band... everything about the band is supposed to be BIG. That's a whole lot of chandeliers for such a tiny house.

I feel the venues overbooked the bands capabilities.

[Schurftkut]

they only cancelled festival dates, so no ticketsale problems.

[MinistroRaven]

MP just posted this:

All rest and no work makes MP a dull boy!! Off to Nashville today to resume work with the NMB on our follow up to The Similitude Of A Dream...that’s a tall order, but I know with the talent in this band we’re gonna come up with something magical again... 😉 #nealmorseband

[Madman Shepherd]

Unforeseen circumstances meaning they didn't know Neal was going to want to start writing/recording or unforeseen circumstances meaning Mike didn't know he wouldn't want to miss a single day writing/recording?

[MirrorMask]

Well, they RESUME work, so it might be something like "Uh well, gigs got cancelled, we might as well work on the album instead"

[TAC]

Unforeseen circumstances meaning they didn't know Neal was going to want to start writing/recording or unforeseen circumstances meaning Mike didn't know he wouldn't want to miss a single day writing/recording?

That can't be it, can it?

[cramx3]

Well, they RESUME work, so it might be something like "Uh well, gigs got cancelled, we might as well work on the album instead"

I take it more that the RESUME means they didn't foresee needing more studio time and therefore cancelled the gigs so they could make more time in the studio.  I'm guessing there are deadlines and they couldn't make both work. 

[KevShmev]

Well, they RESUME work, so it might be something like "Uh well, gigs got cancelled, we might as well work on the album instead"

That would be my guess.  And the rest of the Neal Morse Band sans Portnoy probably already had a lot of August penciled in anyway to get ready for Morsefest, so getting the band together this month was probably easy, once Portnoy suddenly had free time on his hands due to these cancelled gigs for whatever reason.

[Stadler]

I'm skeptical.  Billy, Derek, Jeff and Ron are not industry novices, and are not in 100 other bands too.  Those cancelled shows are taking money out of their pocket.  While I am loathe to speculate or assume that they feel a certain way about band events, I'm skeptical.

[KevShmev]

Well, considering that Portnoy prides himself on "telling it like it is" and keeping his fans up to date as to what is going on, I would expect him to not take long to tell fans what these unforeseen circumstances are. 

[The Walrus]

called it last week

[Madman Shepherd]

Well, considering that Portnoy prides himself on "telling it like it is" and keeping his fans up to date as to what is going on, I would expect him to not take long to tell fans what these unforeseen circumstances are.

 

Yup. Any minute/day/never now.

[ReaperKK]

the unforeseen circumstances are that might remembered he is also in 86 other bands aside from SoA

[TAC]

I'm skeptical.  Billy, Derek, Jeff and Ron are not industry novices, and are not in 100 other bands too.  Those cancelled shows are taking money out of their pocket. While I am loathe to speculate or assume that they feel a certain way about band events, I'm skeptical.

I agree. I actually was thinking the same thing. That's why I'd be shocked if this was due to MP doing the Morse thing.

[cramx3]

I'm skeptical.  Billy, Derek, Jeff and Ron are not industry novices, and are not in 100 other bands too.  Those cancelled shows are taking money out of their pocket. While I am loathe to speculate or assume that they feel a certain way about band events, I'm skeptical.

I agree. I actually was thinking the same thing. That's why I'd be shocked if this was due to MP doing the Morse thing.

Yea, I feel that would be pretty bad to do so to your bandmates.... but at least not Billy.  Mr. Big is playing Wacken (same festival SOA cancelled) this weekend.  I was also wondering if that was a conflict, but I would of been sure Wacken wouldn't schedule both bands at the same time at such a festival.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Don't pull any muscles jumping to conclusions!

[Stadler]

Don't pull any muscles jumping to conclusions!

Can't speak for anyone else, but didn't conclude anything.  Just said "skeptical".   If you know something, do tell, but as a pretty avid Portnoy supporter, I don't think anyone went out of bounds on this. 

[Anxiety35]

I'm thinking SOA may be a one and done deal. It has some traction, but I don't believe it took off like they were thinking it would and it doesn't seem to be growing. I hope I'm wrong as I'd like to see a sophomore release.

However, I remember listening to interviews and reading interviews where it was said that 2018 would be dedicated to SOA. Now we have MP in the studio with another band in August. It's interesting. As a musician in today's business, you go where the work is. The more work, the more $$ you make and the less time you spend having to work a day job. I know MP is in a different category as he's not doing this just because he needs to avoid having a day job. He and Neal are close and like MP said in his Instagram post, it's the 19th or 20th record he's done with Neal. 

Not bashing MP. I'm sure the NMB studio time was scheduled long ago. Shoot, with those guys, they could probably record drum tracks in 1 week and MP be outta there. The timing for all of this is interesting, that's all.

[TAC]

Honestly it could be that one of the members has a personal issue that they don’t want out in the public. The reason given was so ambiguous. MP has never shied away from being up front.

[Grappler]

Honestly it could be that one of the members has a personal issue that they don’t want out in the public. The reason given was so ambiguous. MP has never shied away from being up front.

I think this is exactly it.  From what I saw, they cancelled two(?) festival gigs and re-booked some others for later on in the year.  It's not a big deal.

[Stadler]

I recognize that speculating about someone's finances is questionable, perhaps even rude.    But, I'll leave it at this:  I am FASCINATED by how musicians/athletes/any non-9/5er makes their living work, and Mike is no exception.   I don't believe it would surprise anyone if the last eight years have been as consistent as the 25 that came before.   

I'm not suggesting that any of this is related to the cancellations - TAC may well be right, given that at least two of the members have had personal health issues that they've dealt with in the past - but still.

[The Walrus]

Mike will be out of this group by no later than mid 2019, I'm calling it now.

[Dublagent66]

I gave it a 7.  Some pretty solid work here. 

[Madman Shepherd]

Honestly it could be that one of the members has a personal issue that they don’t want out in the public. The reason given was so ambiguous. MP has never shied away from being up front.

Correction: He's never shied away from claiming he's being up front. 

As it stands, I have a love/hate relationship with this band.  I want to like it so much.  I do like aspects of it a lot.  They haven't given me much reason to like more and I don't really think Mike's heart is into it.  It's sad because I really grew to love Soto (sans his stage moves) and Sherinian (minus the crap he spewed but has thankfully stopped) and they seem to have the most invested personally.  Thal seems to be into it though maybe not as much as the other two.

Sadly, I think it may be one and done.  Would love to be wrong though. 

[Stadler]

It's not really clicking with me.  I like the record - like, not love - and I liked the concert - liked, not loved - and while I really like Jeff, he can really sing, and I don't give a crap at all about the "stage moves", I just feel he's not right for the group.    Paul McCartney is the greatest living musician right now, but he wouldn't be right for, say, Slayer.  It's not a knock on Jeff at all to say that having four and a half instruments - guitar, keys, vocals, bass, and half drums - all occupying that middle register makes for a very homogenous experience FOR ME.   I like the contrast.  I like the soaring Freddie Mercury/James LaBrie vocal over the mid-range of the guitars and keys, while hearing the rumble of the bass at the bottom.  It's what I love about Yes. It's what I love about Genesis.  It's what I love about Rush.  It's what I love about Cheap Trick.  It's what's missing for me in SOA. 

[cramx3]

To me the band was all about Bumblefoot and JSS from seeing it live.  Those guys had some chemestry together and it seemed like everyone else were the role players.  Also seems like those are the two drinkers and the rest having different lifestyles could be a reason why they don't continue as well.  Would love to see JSS and BF continue doing something though because they were fantastic on stage together.

[Stadler]

To me the band was all about Bumblefoot and JSS from seeing it live.  Those guys had some chemestry together and it seemed like everyone else were the role players.  Also seems like those are the two drinkers and the rest having different lifestyles could be a reason why they don't continue as well.  Would love to see JSS and BF continue doing something though because they were fantastic on stage together.

That Queen medley, eh?   

[cramx3]

That was pretty cool, I honestly loved them on Just Let Me Breathe.  I don't know why, maybe because I've never seen DT play it, but they brought so much energy to that song and I rewatch the instrumental part often in my video.  Love how JSS is interacting with everyone while they solo and do their thing.

[rumborak]

I must say, I thought the cover selection was kinda weird. Two DT covers and two Queen covers. I don't know, to me it sorta "denigrated" the band a bit, because they were just so inviting the comparison with DT, and the Queen part felt like Soto almost putting more effort into the delivery of those songs than into their own. I can definitely say I felt a "are they a real band, or more a cover band with originals?" feeling during the concert.