Jimmy Kay from Canada's The Metal Voice recently spoke to (Ex-Guns n' Roses, Sons of Apollo) guitarist Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal about new band 'Whom Gods Destroy' and their upcoming debut album 'Insanium' which will be released March 15, 2024, via InsightOutMusic
In the chat Bumblefoot discuss how Sons of Apollo ended and how Whom Gods Destroy began
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Photo by Jimmy Kay
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When asked how Sons of Apollo dissolved with so much momentum going for them
"We were on tour, we had doubled our attendances, just everything was going this way (pointing up). It was going great and we got four shows into a 20 show tour in Europe and we had to pull the plug (Because of Covid) and we all and went back home and then Derek and Jeff (Scott Soto) the singer we wanted to start working on album number three (Sons of Apollo) It's like we have all this time now to nurture it (The music) but not everybody was on board to do that, some people had their own plans and things they wanted to do which they did and so killed the band. So it split into two bands, Jeff (Scott Soto) offered to be the singer for this band that I had with old friends of mine called 'Art of Anarchy' that we were doing during the pandemic. So now I have Art of Anarchy with Jeff and Derek (Sherinian) and I just continued writing as we did with Sons of Apollo where we just write, we write the music and we kept doing that. And we realized that with certain members not interested we couldn't really continue with Sons of Apollo. Jeff (Scott Soto) was interested, he would loved to do a third one (album) but we found new band members. So started with Dino Jelusick on vocals. Then we got Yas Nomura on bass which is kind of funny cuz he's this incredible guitar player but then again Dino is also an incredible keyboard player and songwriter and everything. All the guys in the band are multi-talented . Then we got Bruno Valverde on drums. So it really started from the ashes of Sons of Apollo we crawled out and and just we continued writing what could have become a third Sons of Apollo album but it wasn't going to happen. "
When asked if it is too difficult to keep a supergroup together
"Nothing is easy. It can be easy if everyone just shuts the F- up and does their job. If people think about the hive and not just their bee-self. If you have the mentality of being a team player and not just a selfish F@@@ then a band can easily work and last for decades. Also I'm not calling anyone in particular a selfish F@@@ I'm just saying that in bands, in every band you're going to have the narcissist, you're going to have usually a drug addict narcissist. You're going to have the conspiring greedy F***. You're going to have the one that is just riddled with depression and thinks that every note is the most important thing that happened. And also you have people that forget that if you have four or five people in the band you should only be getting 25 or 20% of your ideas going through and if you're hogging it up you're taking away from everyone else and it's you know not a fair scenario and someone is going to feel like they're left out and not being heard."
When asked about the musical direction of the new Whom Gods Destroy Insanium album
"If you know Sons of Apollo, it's like Sons of Apollo with the intensity knobs turned up. Turning the 10 up to 11s and the proggy stuff is pretty proggy. The solos are crazy The Melodies are melodic. The heaviness is heavier. To me, it's just more intense. I remember when we were first showing it to the label they were a little concerned because they were expecting Sons of Apollo 3 and this was described more as it's like a constant pummeling. Yeah as it should just come in swinging. Each person is a key ingredient to the mix that creates the flavour of what it is."
Photo by Greg Vorobiov
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Whom Gods Destroy, the formidable new progressive metal group formed by keyboardist Derek Sherinian, guitarist Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal, and vocalist Dino Jelusick, along with the potent rhythm section of bassist Yas Nomura and drummer Bruno Valverde, are pleased to announce their debut album “Insanium”, to be released on March 15th, 2024 worldwide via InsideOutMusic.
Whom Gods Destroy - “Insanium” (52:56)
1. In the Name Of War (06:38)
2. Over Again (05:01)
3. The Decision (07:08)
4. Crawl (06:36)
5. Find My Way Back (05:46)
6. Crucifier (04:43)
7. Keeper of the Gate (04:54)
8. Hypernova 158 (03:24)
9. Insanium (08:37)
Whom Gods Destroy line-up:
Bruno Valverde – Drums
Yas Nomura – Bass
Dino Jelusick – Vocals Derek Sherinian – Keyboards
Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal – Guitars
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