"It had nothing to with me rejoining Dream Theater!" Mike Portnoy responds to Sons Of Apollo claims

Mike Portnoy has responded to comments made by Sons Of Apollo guitarist Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal regarding the band's demise after two studio albums.

Yesterday Prog reported on comments Thal had made to Canada's The Metal Voice Podcast in which stated that "not everybody was on board" about continuing the band, going on to state that he, keyboard player Derek Sherinian and vocalist Jeff Scott Soto were all keen to work on a new record after the 2020 European tour was curtailed by the Covid pandemic

Responding to the story on Prog's Facebook page, Portnoy wrote: "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 third album, I already had commitments with Transatlantic, NMB and The Winery Dogs (w Billy as well).

"I can understand Ron, Derek and 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!"

Portnoy's return to the Dream Theater fold, thirteen years after he split with the band, was announced last October and the band are hard at work on a new studio album.

Thal and Sherinian have since formed new prog metal outfit Whom Gods Destroy, who release their debut album, Insanium, through InsideOut Music on March 15.

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Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.