New Sons of Apollo Album Out Today

Sons of Apollo takes its name from the Greek God of music and the muses, and it’s an apt moniker. The heavy/progressive-rock outfit featuring top musicians the world-over lays down incredibly complex yet hook-laden songs worthy of Apollo’s praise on its excellent second album, “MMXX” (2020). The disc is released today, Friday, Jan. 17.

Sons of Apollo perform on Saturday, Feb. 8, at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood. The band’s uber-talented lineup consists of drummer Mike Portnoy (The Winery Dogs, ex-Dream Theater), keyboardist Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater), bassist Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, ex-David Lee Roth), guitarist and New Jersey resident Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (solo, ex-Guns N’ Roses) and singer Jeff Scott Soto (solo, ex-Journey and Yngwie Malmsteen).

Make no mistake, though, Sons of Apollo is not just another thrown together all-star band/project. They are a cohesive unit with a unique, organic sound. Sons of Apollo’s intricate compositions mean the listener will find new nuances on every listen, making “MMXX” a lasting experience. Yet the songs also stand on their own, with plenty of melody and memorable choruses. The duality is an achievement that speaks to this band’s exceptional musical abilities.

The band shines throughout “MMXX.” Soto is a powerful, commanding vocalist, Portnoy and Sheehan are insanely brilliant, Thal is a revelation, and Sherinian is pure genius.

Highlights include album opener/statement of intent “Goodbye Divinity,” “King of Delusion,” which features Sherinian’s piano prowess, and epic closer “New World Today."

We recently spoke with Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal.

The new album, “MMXX,” is full of astounding progressive moments but it also seems a bit more straightforward than the band’s debut, “Psychotic Symphony.”

You're right. The first album was a little more just doing whatever we wanted and we were all over the place and that's good, being experimental and free and not falling into any comfort zone. But we didn't know completely who we were songwriting wise. With this one it’s a lot more of heavy songs with progressive moments as opposed to blurring the lines between the two. There’s a little more structure. I think the band is classic rock-inspired with progressive moments. Kind of like if 70s, late 70s Rainbow continued on and got adventurous with progressive stuff. I think fans of the first album are going to like it. It stays true to who we are. I think the live shows will be great too. With what we’re doing sometimes hearing it on record alone isn’t enough.

Can you talk a little about your bandmates?

You hear these things about lead singers and how they are a nightmare, and I’ve experienced plenty of that in the past, though not who you might think. But Jeff is someone you never have to worry about in any way. You can count on him more than anyone in this world and he's the sweetest guy in the world and the most unselfish and cares about what's good for everybody. He's an amazing musician.

With Billy I've never seen someone who can truly play anything, who can put his hands on an instrument and do the craziest stuff. He’s also a fun guy. Last year we did a bunch of Talas shows together. It was such a good time. Before the show he will be playing for six hours straight to be sure he’s on top of his game. One of my best memories is on the bus after a gig one night there’s this mini ukulele guitar and he takes it and starts singing all these Judas Priest songs. He’s always playing.

Mike is a super fun guy. We have a lot in common with our movie collections and our love of “The Twilight Zone” and the Beatles. This guy knows more about the Beatles than anyone. He can literally hear 200 milliseconds of any Beatles song and tell you what song it is.

Derek is the most guitarist-oriented keyboardist I’ve ever met, from wanting to having a wall of guitar amps behind him to run his keyboards through to playing Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads solos on his keyboards to always being interested in guitar players.

Sons of Apollo is really a return to your roots. Many people only know you as the former guitarist for Guns N’ Roses but you have a deep progressive background.

My very first album on Shrapnel Records in 1995, “The Adventures of Bumblefoot,” was very progressive. My next album, “Hermit,” on the same label, also has very progressive moments. I started off being like Zappa meets Primus and I’ve always been a singer as well. For people who know me only for being in Guns N’ Roses, I’m really a singer-songwriter-guitarist who does this wacky music for video games and TV shows and an adjunct professor teaching music production at SUNY-Purchase College.

What else are you up to outside of Sons of Apollo?

There's a band that I’m producing from the southern desert of Israel called the Dodies. They’re a garage rock duo that sounds along the lines of Nirvana, Weezer, the White Stripes, Radiohead. The singer is very Kurt Cobain-ish, very deep and dark thing going on in his soul. The drummer plays the entire kit with his right arm and plays the bass on a synth with his left hand, and he sings backing vocals on top of that. They’re just amazing performers. They’ll have a single out in February and the album will be out in April.

At bergenPAC I’m going to have my hot sauces available. It started off as a partnership and then I got my own food company and starting rolling out the line at the end of last year.

For more information:

https://sonsofapollo.com

bumblefoot.com

bumblefoothotsauce.com

www.bergenpac.org