SONS OF APOLLO Feat. PORTNOY, SHEEHAN, BUMBLEFOOT, SOTO, SHERINIAN: U.S. Tour Dates Announced

SONS OF APOLLO will embark on its first-ever world tour in 2018. The trek kicks off in Tampa, Florida on February 3 as part of the Cruise To The Edge, which will be sailing to Belize and Costa Maya. Once the cruise concludes, SONS OF APOLLO will perform in Miami, Florida on February 9 as part of the Monsters Of Rock cruise pre-show party.

SONS OF APOLLO is the “supergroup” featuring former DREAM THEATER members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian alongside Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (ex-GUNS N’ ROSES), Billy Sheehan (THE WINERY DOGS, MR. BIG, DAVID LEE ROTH) and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-JOURNEY, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN’S RISING FORCE).

SONS OF APOLLO‘s debut album, “Psychotic Symphony”, will be released on October 20 via InsideOut Music. The disc was produced by the dynamic production duo of Portnoy and Sherinian, also affectionately known as “The Del Fuvio Brothers,” which is the nickname given to them over twenty years ago during their time together in DREAM THEATER.

Portnoy states: “Ever since this lineup assembled to make ‘Psychotic Symphony’, the thing I’ve been most excited about is anticipating how insane I know this band is going to be on stage. Well, the wait is almost over! Here are the first U.S. dates that will get to witness this ‘five-headed musical spectacle’ live on stage in February. We plan on being on tour all year long, all over the globe, with plenty of dates now being announced for summer festivals throughout Europe, but these are the very first shows that will get to witness this amazing lineup in person for the first time. We can’t wait!”

SONS OF APOLLO tour dates:

Feb. 3-8 – Tampa, FL – Cruise To The Edge
Feb. 09 – Miami, FL – Magic City Casino/Monsters Of Rock Cruise Pre-show
Feb. 11 – Orlando, FL – Plaza LIVE Orlando
Feb. 12 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
Feb. 13 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
Feb. 15 – Asbury Park, NJ House of Independents
Feb. 16 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom
Feb. 17 – Battle Creek, MI – The Music Factory
Feb. 18 – Joliet, IL – The Forge

SONS OF APOLLO got together very organically, as Portnoy explains: “Derek and I reunited shortly after I left DREAM THEATER in 2010 and we put together an all-instrumental touring band with he and I, Billy Sheehan, and Tony MacAlpine. That was my first time working with Derek since the ’90s when he was in DREAM THEATER and it was just great to be working with him again. Ever since that tour, which was really just a one-off live thing, he has been nudging me to start a real, original, full-time band. The timing just had never been right, because I had too many other things on my plate. Long story short, the time was finally right to take the bait and put together a band.”

“Mike and I work at a relentless pace in the studio,” continues Sherinian. “The music is modern, but we have an old-school soul. What is unique about SONS OF APOLLO is that we have true rock ‘n’ roll swagger along with the virtuosity — a lethal combination!”

But what to call the next great supergroup? “Derek was mainly the one behind the name,” says Portnoy. “I have a list that I keep on my phone of about a hundred different band names, which I constantly have to refer to every time I have a new band every year. [Laughs] So, I pulled up the list and APOLLO was one of the names on the list. It was a word that both of us really liked. We started fiddling with different variations of the word. One of the original band names we were working with was APOLLO CREED, the character from the ‘Rocky’ movies, but after lots of different discussions on different variations, Derek suggested SONS OF APOLLO and it seemed to stick. Apollo is the God of music so with that in mind it seemed like a fitting name.”

Mike Portnoy, Derek Sherinian and Billy Sheehan previously toured together in 2012 and 2013 as PSMS (along with guitarist Tony MacAlpine), playing all instrumental versions from each of their previously recorded music. SONS OF APOLLO is the next logical progression by adding a vocalist and creating all-original material. The band incorporates the progressive style and individual technical prowess that Portnoy and Sherinian shared together in DREAM THEATER combined with the swagger and groove of VAN HALEN, DEEP PURPLE and LED ZEPPELIN.

“I have known Mike and Derek for a long time, so when they came to me with SONS OF APOLLO, I jumped on this straight away,” says Thomas Waber, label manager/A&R international of InsideOut Music. “However, the album they ended up recording exceeded my already high expectations by a long mile! We couldn’t be happier about it!”