Sons of Apollo (Bumblefoots Band)

[nikosgnr]

Goodbye Divinity is killer! Such an amazing intro here.

PS: Love Bumble's new look with the hat. (Thnx uncle Ax)

[Ninjapie24]

Well, my mom just told me today that she got me and my dad tickets to see them and Ozzy/Megadeth so I can’t wait for that.

[ToonGuns]

Slightly off topic... But got tickets to see Flying Colors next month. Morse + Morse + Portnoy. Can't wait!

[Ninjapie24]

1 hour ago, ToonGuns said:

Slightly off topic... But got tickets to see Flying Colors next month. Morse + Morse + Portnoy. Can't wait!

I wasn’t a huge fan of their first couple albums, but I really enjoyed the new one 

[Mendez]

In honor of my general dislike for rock synth keyboardists prominence in a mix, i present this. Personally I think it sounds much better (even with the horrid codec compression)

 

Edited December 4, 2019 by Mendez

[RussTCB]

1 hour ago, Mendez said:

In honor of my general dislike for rock synth keyboardists prominence in a mix, i present this. Personally I think it sounds much better (even with the horrid codec compression)

 

I agree, SoA could use far less Derick. 

[Ninjapie24]

I think this is cool as hell, watching how they make the album. It’s also cool to look around the room and see all their influences ex. Metallica, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, Yes, Rush and god knows how many others

[Mendez]

 

 

That riff is cool as shit. Hopefully the song just like thatL little drum intro then straight into the meat and potatoes

Edited December 12, 2019 by Mendez

[Ninjapie24]

New song starts out with a drum intro I was hoping for from Portnoy. Pretty heavy and I really like it

[Mendez]

 

[RussTCB]

Fall To Ascend is a fucking jam. 

[Ninjapie24]

Portnoy’s drum intro is fantastic, and his drumming throughout the track elevated it to another level. The riffs are amazing, and I love the dynamics between JSS’s voice. The solo section is incredible and shows how good Bumblefoot and Derek are. All of this is not even including the work of one of the world’s best bass players. I am now even more hyped to see them in February 

[RussTCB]

23 hours ago, Ninjapie24 said:

Portnoy’s drum intro is fantastic, and his drumming throughout the track elevated it to another level. The riffs are amazing, and I love the dynamics between JSS’s voice. The solo section is incredible and shows how good Bumblefoot and Derek are. All of this is not even including the work of one of the world’s best bass players. I am now even more hyped to see them in February 

The overall sound of the album is really good. I think the tour is going to be even better than the first one. I'm pretty sure they'll do a lot of the record on the tour and definitely the two singles. The only song I could see them not doing regularly might be the last one because it's like 15 minutes long, if I remember right. I'm guessing they won't bust that one out, but I could be wrong. 

[Ninjapie24]

21 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

The overall sound of the album is really good. I think the tour is going to be even better than the first one. I'm pretty sure they'll do a lot of the record on the tour and definitely the two singles. The only song I could see them not doing regularly might be the last one because it's like 15 minutes long, if I remember right. I'm guessing they won't bust that one out, but I could be wrong. 

They seem like a band that could both records in their entirety the whole tour. I really hope they do that. But, Portnoy has plenty of experience playing long songs live, just look at Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence from the Score dvd. I think a 15 minute song would be no problem for them to bust out live 

[Mendez]

Honestly Fall to Ascend might almost be my favorite, with Labyrinth leading right in front of it

[Ninjapie24]

 

[Ninjapie24]

 

[Ninjapie24]

 

[Towelie]

I finally got round to watching the SOA live DVD. They are really a great live band. Made me quite excited for the next album. The only criticism I have is that Jeff Scott Sotto has no business singing some of those covers. He sounds great on the Sons material, but the Queen and Ozzy covers in particular are quite painful.

[RussTCB]

1 hour ago, Towelie said:

I finally got round to watching the SOA live DVD. They are really a great live band. Made me quite excited for the next album. The only criticism I have is that Jeff Scott Sotto has no business singing some of those covers. He sounds great on the Sons material, but the Queen and Ozzy covers in particular are quite painful.

I haven't actually watched the whole thing yet but that cover of Comfortably Numb was on point. 

[soon]

Just checked out the Comfortably Numb performance. Its pretty good! I felt that I could sense them all trying to curb their shredder instincts and stay in the pocket, playing few notes.... Which made it feel so good when Bublefoot finally let loose for the last bit of soloing 

Also I noticed how much Nick Masons technique for hitting the cymbals matters to the over all sound. Because while Portnoy stayed true to the groove, he still used metal technique in the way he struck the cymbals. Huge difference in feel, to my ears.

Bumbles harmony vocals where impeccable.

[RussTCB]

16 hours ago, soon said:

Just checked out the Comfortably Numb performance. Its pretty good! I felt that I could sense them all trying to curb their shredder instincts and stay in the pocket, playing few notes.... Which made it feel so good when Bublefoot finally let loose for the last bit of soloing 

Also I noticed how much Nick Masons technique for hitting the cymbals matters to the over all sound. Because while Portnoy stayed true to the groove, he still used metal technique in the way he struck the cymbals. Huge difference in feel, to my ears.

Bumbles harmony vocals where impeccable.

I love how Ron pretty much plays it note for note to the album until it usually fades out. Then when it hits that part, he puts his own spin on the rest of it. 

Really good version IMO. 

[Tom2112]

On 18/11/2019 at 5:28 PM, Rovim said:

Just my opinion: Portnoy is probably the worst drummer I've ever heard. Zero regard to everything else that's going on in the song. This happens on every song he plays and that is what Matt talked about in an interview once: how he hates it when a drummer can't stop doing fills and ruins a vocal line or the entire song.

But the vocalist of this band is really bad imo anyway and Bumble said it best in a very recent interview about this new album: great playing, bad songs and I 100% agree with him. (only heard the single but I won't be listening to it again)

Don't mean to shit on this band but I really miss Bumble's solo output. He's way more interesting to me when he focuses on the tunes instead of this wankfest but this is what he wants to do so whatever. But even for a prog rock group it's not very good to my ears.

Technically they're all obviously great players, super talented and they seem to enjoy what they're doing so more power to them.

I'd suggest you listen to both The Winery dogs and Flying Colors, both bands he plays all sorts of drum styles, from completely stripped back to full on hard rock or progressive rock. I think if you base your opinion on his drumming on the few singles you hear, you're missing the reason why this guy is and has been so well recieved in the drumming world as well as why he is always been asked to be in 1000 bands.

The singles (at least the opening single off a new album), will almost always be the most over the top 'look at me song', it chose by the record label because they know that a lot of the SOA fanbase are drum/bass/guitar nerds and love to hear over the top playing... these guys are also recording music that A. they like and B. they think their existing fans from previous bands will like.

There's no way Bumblefoot said that about the new album he is out promoting by the way, you have definitely misread that  

Personally, It's not my favourite thing that any one of the guys has done. I prefer Bumble on his own (except if you go see him, he plays he barely plays any of his own music...), I prefer Portnoy in The winery dogs, I prefer Billy in Winery dogs or Mr Big. As for Derek, I think he's incredible. Jeff Scott Soto is a difficult one though, he's a just a bit something! amazing voice, but I think what he lacks is in the lyric department. 

I'm shitting on them a bit, but I'll say that I think they do actually have some cool songs (Signs of the time)... I much, much, MUCH prefer this to Bumbles last band Art of Anarchy. And they are tight as it gets live.

Finally, as for Matt Sorums dig at Portnoy... ha! Portnoy pointed out something really unusual about NV. It has one fill that is reused for almost the entire song. Matt got up in a heap about that "Axl told me that he wanted a theme.... yada, yada" ok Matt! leave it there, instead he goes off slagging Portnoy because he has a different style to him. Portnoy was not saying Matt isn't a good drummer, he was asking why someone would decide to use only one very rudimentary fill through an entire song. I'd chalk this up as a major over reaction from Matt... it also made Matt look like a real insecure doofus. 

[Rovim]

4 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

 

well, it's not the first time I've heard him play cause I did take the time to listen to some Dream Theater records. Not my thing. It was silly to call him a terrible drummer. It's just not what I look for as a listener. I just think he overplays to the point where I lose interest and it's like the drums are the focus instead of the tune.

Seems like a nice enough guy and his technical talent is undeniable. I think it sounds exactly like he wants it to sound so that's cool. I'm just more of a Bumble fan.

 

[Tom2112]

9 hours ago, Rovim said:

well, it's not the first time I've heard him play cause I did take the time to listen to some Dream Theater records. Not my thing. It was silly to call him a terrible drummer. It's just not what I look for as a listener. I just think he overplays to the point where I lose interest and it's like the drums are the focus instead of the tune.

Seems like a nice enough guy and his technical talent is undeniable. I think it sounds exactly like he wants it to sound so that's cool. I'm just more of a Bumble fan.

 

Yeah, I never got into DT either, didn't like the vocals, but again they have some great songs (Constant motion, if you haven't heard it... excellent solo and they are more restrained than normal).

I would say that you aren't totally off base with that, the drums and other instrumentalists technical prowess can be the focus, and in general that turns me off too. End of the day, you have to have a great song underneath all the chops, and sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. He's a big fan of keith Moon, and that guy to me is the worst drummer for all the reasons you listed about MP. 

I hope Bumble does a record soon though and actually tours it, none of this bullshit clinic / evening with... which are cool, but it's the same thing each time in my experience and I've seen him solo 4 times now.