Sons of Apollo—former Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses), Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, David Lee Roth) and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force)—are ringing in the new decade with a sonic boom with their second studio album, appropriately titled “MMXX” (pronounced: 20/20). And now they’ve launched the Christian Rios-directed video for the album’s third single, “Desolate July,” a tribute to musician David Z, who passed away in 2017.
“From the few seconds of hearing this song, it guided me to write the lyrics about our dear friend and colleague, David Z,” Soto said. “David was one of the greatest, funniest and kindest humans I have ever known, he had friendships with most all of us in SOA, but Mike and I were certainly the closest. I thought it fitting to include this tribute to him from us in this haunting, incredible body of music.”
Portnoy said: “This video is a great tribute to our dear friend David Z. Jeff and I were particularly close with him, and I was honored that Jeff invited me to sing the harmonies with him on the choruses for us to both share our love for our friend that was tragically taken from us way too soon.”
Produced by the Del Fuvio Brothers (Portnoy and Sherinian), “MMXX” will be released January 17 via InsideOutMusic/Sony as a standard CD package, Limited Edition 2 CD package (which includes instrumental mixes and a cappella excerpts), 2 LP + CD package, and on all digital formats. Pre-order the album here: https://soa.lnk.to/MMXX.
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