Sons of Apollo (feat. Portnoy & Sherinian)

[cramx3]

Hadn't logged in here for a while... Did I miss something about Derek being pissed at Mike? LOL

Derek is pissed at everyone who isn't actively playing in his current project.

  but he also looks pissed in the opening sequence for his new band's music video

[ReaperKK]

Hadn't logged in here for a while... Did I miss something about Derek being pissed at Mike? LOL

Derek is pissed at everyone who isn't actively playing in his current project.

  but he also looks pissed in the opening sequence for his new band's music video

I think that's just his resting Derek face

[cramx3]

Hadn't logged in here for a while... Did I miss something about Derek being pissed at Mike? LOL

Derek is pissed at everyone who isn't actively playing in his current project.

  but he also looks pissed in the opening sequence for his new band's music video

I think that's just his resting Derek face

Yeah, I've come to believe that must be the face, but still 

[ZirconBlue]

I think he's going for insouciant, but ends up just looking annoyed.

[hefdaddy42]

Hadn't logged in here for a while... Did I miss something about Derek being pissed at Mike? LOL

Derek is pissed at everyone who isn't actively playing in his current project.

  but he also looks pissed in the opening sequence for his new band's music video

I wouldn't know, I'm not watching that shit.
.

[Orbert]

I think he's going for insouciant, but ends up just looking annoyed.

Yay, a new word!  Good one, too.

Derek's always been like that.  Always trying to present himself as cool and/or badass, but just kinda looks annoyed or pissed off all the time instead.

[Mebert78]

Portnoy's response on LounderSound.com's Facebook thread regarding Bumblefoot's thoughts on the demise of Sons of Apollo:

MP: Obviously Ron is (discreetly) pointing the finger at me (and possibly Billy as well?), but I must publicly squash this rhetoric that is implying Sons Of Apollo’s demise had anything to do with me rejoining Dream Theater. That didn’t happen until Oct 2023…the reality is when the SOA tour got cancelled because of Covid in 2020, by the time there was any talk of writing new stuff and a possible 3rd album, I already had commitments with Transatlantic, NMB and The Winery Dogs (w Billy as well).
I can understand Ron, Derek & Jeff’s frustration with this, but the reality is the ONLY way I was ever able to juggle and balance all my bands all these years was to block certain windows in my schedule for each band or project to have time for an album/tour cycle.
Sadly, SOA’s album/tour cycle window got killed by Covid and by the time the world reopened again, I already was booked with my other bands and projects.
Anyways, I’m happy for those guys that they were able to continue working together in other musical capacity’s…but make no mistake, at the time, it had nothing to with me rejoining DT!

[cramx3]

Yeah, I don't think DT ever had anything to do with it. 

[Stadler]

That's kind of weird, though, because Ron's statements didn't seem to have anything to do with Dream Theater.  If anything, he was rather benign about the the details, until the last part where he talked about narcissists and drug addicts, haha. 

[Ben_Jamin]

I don't think DT had anything to do with it either.

What I am getting is MP bit more than he could chew. I don't blame the other guys, but it would be frustrating when you are not committed to any other projects and enjoy what you got going on and you want to keep the juices and wheel turning.

Could be that Sherinian and Bumblefoot enjoyed it a lot,  and in the end disbanded said "project" to continue on playing together with other musicians that do not have as tight of a schedule. That may be a reason why we got the musicians we did with WGD.

And honestly (this isn't a jab at MP, BS, and JSS either) I am enjoying WGD more than SoA.

[gzarruk]

What I am getting is MP bit more than he could chew. I don't blame the other guys, but it would be frustrating when you are not committed to any other projects and enjoy what you got going on and you want to keep the juices and wheel turning.

This is exactly what it sounds like to me. I think it's another recent interview with Ron I was just watching where he was asked about the difference between a "band" and just a "project". He basically said that a band supposedly means committing for the long term, like a marriage. He said you don't get married with the intention of getting divorced, you need to give it your best from the start.

I don't think Mike should've jumped at this either. No one is (actively) blaming him, but like what I just quoted from Ron, being in a "band" means commitment and availability. Mike has always liked to brag about how he's able to juggle half a dozen different bands at the same time, but the reality is you can't always make it work well for everybody else. At some point, somebody is going to get screwed because you couldn't commit to the long run, and that's what happened to DT in 2010, AMOB and SOA, all because of Mike's wonderful band juggling abilities.

And speaking of WGD, it's shameless plug time, my review of their album just dropped
https://lotsofmuzik.com/whom-gods-destroy-insanium-album-review-by-gabriel-zarruck/
This is what I wanted SOA to sound like.

[HOF]

Where is the bumblefoot quote MP responded to?

[Setlist Scotty]

Where is the bumblefoot quote MP responded to?

Here's the article, although I didn't see the link to MP's response:
https://www.loudersound.com/news/not-everybody-was-on-board-ron-bumblefoot-thal-lifts-the-lid-on-sons-of-apollo-demise

[DTwwbwMP]

What I am getting is MP bit more than he could chew. I don't blame the other guys, but it would be frustrating when you are not committed to any other projects and enjoy what you got going on and you want to keep the juices and wheel turning.

Could be that Sherinian and Bumblefoot enjoyed it a lot,  and in the end disbanded said "project" to continue on playing together with other musicians that do not have as tight of a schedule. That may be a reason why we got the musicians we did with WGD.

COMPLETELY AGREE

And honestly (this isn't a jab at MP, BS, and JSS either) I am enjoying WGD more than SoA.

COMPLETELY DISAGREE

[DTwwbwMP]

Here's the article, although I didn't see the link to MP's response:
https://www.loudersound.com/news/not-everybody-was-on-board-ron-bumblefoot-thal-lifts-the-lid-on-sons-of-apollo-demise

Damn, that seems a bit bitter and harsh. OUCH!

[DTwwbwMP]

And speaking of WGD, it's shameless plug time, my review of their album just dropped
https://lotsofmuzik.com/whom-gods-destroy-insanium-album-review-by-gabriel-zarruck/

Nice job Looking forward to the album even though I wasn't crazy about the first two songs released.

[MinistroRaven]

Where is the bumblefoot quote MP responded to?

Here's the article, although I didn't see the link to MP's response:
https://www.loudersound.com/news/not-everybody-was-on-board-ron-bumblefoot-thal-lifts-the-lid-on-sons-of-apollo-demise

At the end there’s a screenshot of MP replied https://blabbermouth.net/news/mike-portnoy-denies-his-return-to-dream-theater-had-anything-to-do-with-sons-of-apollos-demise

 

[HOF]

It’s weird how much (imaginary internet) controversy the dissolution of such an uninspiring and fairly unsuccessful band has generated.

[Fritzinger]

It’s weird how much (imaginary internet) controversy the dissolution of such an uninspiring and fairly unsuccessful band has generated.

Actually, internet controversy has always been the one thing that made this band stand out from all the other prog metal bands.

[cramx3]

It’s weird how much (imaginary internet) controversy the dissolution of such an uninspiring and fairly unsuccessful band has generated.

Actually, internet controversy has always been the one thing that made this band stand out from all the other prog metal bands.

That's actually a good point.  But they did have some fans and did tour the world a couple times.  I think most of the news is more so due to the people involved than the band as a whole though.  People like MP or Bumblefoot seem to always been in blabbermouth news.

[gzarruk]

I actually developed a liking for SOA after a few years... and then they disbanded But, to me, WGD is what SOA should've been but wasn't.

[Mebert78]

Funny that Sons of Apollo wanted to keep working but MP wanted to focus on other projects, kinda like when Dream Theater wanted to keep working but MP wanted to focus on other projects 13 years ago.  Sons of Apollo got a dose of what DT experienced.   

[ZirconBlue]

Funny that Sons of Apollo wanted to keep working but MP wanted to focus on other projects, kinda like when Dream Theater wanted to keep working but MP wanted to focus on other projects 13 years ago.  Sons of Apollo got a dose of what DT experienced.   

He doesn't say he wanted to focus on other projects, just that his time was already booked elsewhere. 

[Grappler]

Funny that Sons of Apollo wanted to keep working but MP wanted to focus on other projects, kinda like when Dream Theater wanted to keep working but MP wanted to focus on other projects 13 years ago.  Sons of Apollo got a dose of what DT experienced.   

He doesn't say he wanted to focus on other projects, just that his time was already booked elsewhere.

I agree with this - nobody is giving JSS shit for blocking out 3-4 months of his year to sing with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but all of a sudden people want to hold Portnoy's feet to the fire for blocking out his schedule in advance?

[HOF]

Yeah, it's kind of wild to me that there's any consternation here. Bands break up or go on hiatus or replace members all the time because one member wants to do other things or has other commitments or whatever. It's not usually something that gets written about breathlessly. Not sure why SOA couldn't have just gotten another drummer if everyone else wanted to continue.

[Orbert]

[redacted]

[cramx3]

Yeah, it's kind of wild to me that there's any consternation here. Bands break up or go on hiatus or replace members all the time because one member wants to do other things or has other commitments or whatever. It's not usually something that gets written about breathlessly. Not sure why SOA couldn't have just gotten another drummer if everyone else wanted to continue.

Maybe it was the drummer and bassist doing TWD that made the timing difficult.  But yeah, wasn't Ritchie holidng back TWD for the longest time (as an example)?  So when you have a group of people all with other bands/projects outside of SOA, if they aren't all 100% committed to prioritizing SOA, which it appears that at least 3 of them werent to my guess (JSS, BS, MP) then you get a situation where the schedules are difficult to align.

I don't doubt the intentions were for this to be a band, not a project, but I think the band maybe not meeting expectations and the members having opportunities elsewhere have lead to this. And now you have Derek's new band with Bumblefoot that spawned out of this.

[Madman Shepherd]

Funny that Sons of Apollo wanted to keep working but MP wanted to focus on other projects, kinda like when Dream Theater wanted to keep working but MP wanted to focus on other projects 13 years ago.  Sons of Apollo got a dose of what DT experienced.   

He doesn't say he wanted to focus on other projects, just that his time was already booked elsewhere.

Bumblefoot mentioned they wanted to continue working while in quarantine, and while Mike did have other stuff booked during covid, I think it's implied he wasn't interested rather than he was too busy. After all, mike posted a lot about how he's never been at home that long etc. I'm sure he could have worked in some virtual writing sessions in or let them work when he wasnt available. Or maybe he put the kibash on them working at all without him seeing as how he named himself "band leader."

I agree with this - nobody is giving JSS shit for blocking out 3-4 months of his year to sing with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but all of a sudden people want to hold Portnoy's feet to the fire for blocking out his schedule in advance?

Big difference between "I can't work from late August through early january" and "I can't work for 4 weeks January to February and 6 weeks  from March to mid April, then the middle two weeks of June, all of July" etc etc

[gzarruk]

I think Mike's distinction between a "band" and a "project" makes sense, now that it's explained.  But I think it can cause issues because not everyone thinks the same way, and (just guessing here) the other members of Sons of Apollo thought they were in a band, a band with specific members, not "just a project".  To them, they'd assumed a certain level of commitment, the kind you give to a band.  To Mike, it was just a side project, something fun to do, get together and make music with some guys he doesn't always work with, and if the timing doesn't work out, that's a bummer but life goes on.  I can see both sides.

Not sure if you're refering to my post, but if so, it was Ron, not Mike who explained that. Here's the interview I was quoting, which is different from the one that spawned this article and MP's response. https://biffbampop.com/2024/02/25/exclusive-interview-ron-bumblefoot-thal-on-whom-gods-destroy-and-their-debut-album-insanium/

[Orbert]

Oops.  For some reason I was thinking it was Mike who said that.

Forget I said anything.

[abydos]

Sounds like no one was talking to each other and MP just started planning his other projects without telling them about it beforehand. Which is still kind of a dick move, imo, especially if you consider the band your "main" band at the time. But it's not all on him, if they wanted to they can pick another drummer and continue instead of falling apart.

[Madman Shepherd]

Sounds like no one was talking to each other and MP just started planning his other projects without telling them about it beforehand. Which is still kind of a dick move, imo, especially if you consider the band your "main" band at the time. But it's not all on him, if they wanted to they can pick another drummer and continue instead of falling apart.

Could they though? I wonder if MP would have prevented it. He formed the band so I wonder if he had ownership.

[abydos]

I don't see a reason he'd cockblock them unless there was some bad blood between them. And I remember watching a Porntoy interview a while back where he said that he didn't want to be the main guy for SoA and deal with everything like he did before, that if this was to work as a band and his other projects, he'd have to have less responsibilities outside of the music.

[efx]

I wonder if the social media posts from Derek regarding Scenes From A Memory played a part as well. I would assume it wasn't the whole reason for sure but it was strange putting that out there when he was with MP in what they both called a band at the time.

[abydos]

I wonder if the social media posts from Derek regarding Scenes From A Memory played a part as well. I would assume it wasn't the whole reason for sure but it was strange putting that out there when he was with MP in what they both called a band at the time.

What posts? I don't do much social media outside of the gaming space really. Can you share the context?