Mike Portnoy’s 2018 Includes Time With Sons of Apollo, Metal Allegiance, Neal Morse Band + Flying Colors
Since his exit from Dream Theater in 2010, drummer Mike Portnoy has stretched his powerful limbs in a variety of directions. And while we recently spoke to him about his involvement in Sons of Apollo, the drummer revealed that the collective is just part of a very busy 2018 for him.
"My focus for 2018 is definitely Sons of Apollo. That's pretty much what we're gonna be prioritizing. We'll be touring all year," started Portnoy, but he added, "Inevitably I have my hands in a million other things keeping busy and some of the other things in progress is another Metal Allegiance album. We're almost completely done with that at the moment. It's written and recorded and at this point we are just finishing up with the guest vocalists. So that'll be coming out next year."
He continued, "Also, [there's] another Neal Morse Band album. We're gonna work on that at some point in the breaks between my Sons of Apollo commitments. There's also another Flying Colors album that we started work on and we're looking to continue working on as well. Even though Sons of Apollo will be my focus, there's inevitably a lot of other things in the works as well."
Sons of Apollo are off to a great start, as their Psychotic Symphony album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. The band features the talents of Portnoy alongside his onetime Dream Theater cohort Derek Sherinian on keys, his Winery Dogs partner Billy Sheehan on bass, the talented Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal on guitar and the powerful pipes of Jeff Scott Soto belting the vocals.
At present, the band is gearing up to hit the road in 2018. Though dates have yet to be revealed, it is known that they'll be playing the Cruise to the Edge, which sets sail from Tampa on Feb. 3, heading to Belize and Costa Maya before returning to dock on Feb. 8. For more info on the 2018 Cruise to the Edge, click here.