Mike Portnoy, Derek Sherinian interview (excerpts)

Eddie Trunk: What do you guys call yourselves again?

Mike Portnoy: The Del Fuvio brothers.

ET: Where did that come from?

Derek Sherinian: Kevin Shirley. Mike and I have a very sarcastic nature in the studio, and Kevin Shirley also.

MP: In the studio?

DS: Actually, everywhere. That’s true. But it seemed to really come to life during the making of that record for some reason, and Kevin Shirley just...

MP: He’s talking about Falling Into Infinity 20 years ago. Kevin Shirley coined us that like 20 years ago, and it stuck ever since.

ET: But what does Del Fuvio mean?

DS: We don’t know the origin. It’s just kind of a name [that] came up.

ET: Does it mean anything in any language or anything?

MP: I don’t think so. I don’t know where it actually came from.

ET: It could mean two a******s.

DS: That’s fine. I think it would be appropriate.

MP: That was the intention, I think. Kevin Shirley is an honorary Del Fuvio. He’s got that very sarcastic wit as well.

ET: Does he?

MP: Yeah.

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ET: So for the people listening on this show that didn’t hear you guys on with me earlier, who wants to take the Reader’s Digest version of how Sons Of Apollo came to exist?

DS: Mike and I reunited after many years in 2012 with the band PSMS with Billy Sheehan, Tony McAlpine. It was an instrumental kind of like metal fusion type thing. And we went and played some dates. Mike and I [have] always had a great chemistry, and we just had a blast playing.

ET: When you say you reunited with Mike, had you guys had a falling out of any kind, or you just reconnected?

DS: No. Well, I mean, he fired me from a band, so I healed after five presidential terms, and here we are back together.

ET: Wait, you fired him from Dream Theater?

MP: Well, not me personally, but yeah.

DS: He was the architect of the firing, though.

MP: No, I wasn’t. I want to go on record right here. I felt worse more than anybody about it, because obviously Derek and I were Del Fuvian brothers, and we were kind of like the rockin’ personality in the band.

DS: We were the only personality in the band. What are you talking about? There was only room for one personality.

MP: Anyways, I always felt very bad that we had to let Derek go.

ET: So it was a band decision at the time?

MP: Yeah.

ET: And you delivered the news?

DS: No, they did it via conference call. They didn’t want to do it in person.

MP: Well, one thing is Derek lived in California and the four of us were in New York. Well, three of us and then the Canadian. But yeah, I mean, it was done over the phone just because of the geographical limitations of where we were.

ET: $300 plane ticket, they couldn’t look you in the eye.

DS: Yeah, I know. Maybe I could understand their reluctance. [laughs]

ET: Did you see it coming?

DS: I did not see it coming. Now listen, straight up. If I was f***ing up and I was like missing my routines or I was drunk or whatever, I could be the first and own it like a man and say, “you know what? I wasn’t giving my best” or anything. But honestly, I was like winning readers polls. The record sounded great. My playing had improved probably like 500% from the time when I joined the band.

ET: You’re also a Berklee guy too, right?

DS: Yeah. Honestly, I did not see it coming. It was like someone came up from behind me and just socked me right in the f***ing stomach.

MP: Way to conjure up the dirt, Trunk. Thanks a lot.

ET: You guys brought it up.

MP: We haven’t talked about this in 20 years and now you bring it up.

ET: What better time to clear the air? You’re getting a new band together. You better get it out of the way! Better it come up here than in the middle of a show somewhere on a bus between stops!

DS: Honestly, it’s all good.

MP: Yeah, I mean, it was 20 years ago. In any case, we reunited in 2012 after I left Dream Theater. A couple years later, we did this PSMS tour.

ET: It’s a bad name, by the way.

MP: Well, it wasn’t a real band. It was just Portnoy, MacAlpine, Sherinian, Sheehan. I mean, it wasn’t even a band. So, in any case, long story short, we did this tour. It was great fun to be together again. The band had a great chemistry, and we knew eventually it could be cool to evolve it into a real band and get a singer. The timing wasn’t right at that time because I had just launched the Winery Dogs and I had Adrenaline Mob and Flying Colors, and I only had 18 bands back then. Right now I currently only have 13, so the time was right. We brought Bumblefoot [and] Jeff Scott Soto on board and here we are.

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ET: On my other show earlier today when you guys were on, I mentioned you played offstage keyboards with Kiss on the Revenge tour. How was that experience? Any good stories?

DS: Yeah, it was great. I mean, of course, it sucked being offstage or whatever, but it’s Kiss.

ET: Where physically were you? Like, under the stage?

DS: No, no. If you look at the stage...

ET: That was the one with the Statue of Liberty thing.

DS: Right, and then the torch comes down, and then the f*** you finger, how mature. What was great was the stage ends here, and my head was like at this level, like just sticking above the stage, and I’m under. It’s pretty funny, but no one could see me, but I’m behind the mains, like the front PA speaker. My main gig was to double Paul Stanley’s rhythm guitar parts. And I had a sound that was kind of like a brassy sound and I’d play root fifth just to double his parts, because he’s running around gallivanting and sauntering on the stage and playing like one out of every 30 chords or whatever he’s hitting. My job was to hold down the fort and keep it tight, and I sang some background vocals, and I was triggering samples, which you were not allowed to say the word samples. The code word was ‘shravis’, because it was like no one was supposed to know that there were samples out there.

ET: Were they vocal things?

DS: Yeah. Most of it was vocal and some of it was sound effects. When the Statue of Liberty crumbled, the torch turned into the f*** you finger. So I had to make all those sounds. But it started off where I’m triggering the samples, and at the beginning of the tour, they would sing the background vocals and the samples would be a supplement to their vocals. So it sounded stronger and more full. But as the tour went, they started pantomiming the background vocals – they weren’t singing it – and so I was like all on my own. So it’s like, OK, whatever. So I kept going. So one time on ‘Love Gun’, which is a really long samples [sings “Love gun” holding the note], they’re pantomiming, and I missed my cue, and so nothing was coming out on the vocal. And I’ll never forget Gene Simmons turning around and looking at me with a f***ing demon face going like this. And I’m just going, oh, my God.

ET: So you left them out hanging, so there’s nothing coming out.

DS: That was just the one time. They didn’t say anything afterwards. But that was interesting... Just watching them – run a band and just seeing all other shenanigans, it was f***ing great. You don’t get to get that kind of experience – you can’t read about that in books or go to school or whatever, you have to be in that s*** in order to really get that.

ET: How did you get that gig because Gary Corbett was doing it before you on earlier tours?

DS: Eric Singer is one of my best friends, and so he recommended me for that. And I went in. That was [Eric Singer’s] first tour. So I walk into the audition, and the first thing [Gene] said to me was, “You look like Paul Stanley and Cher’s love child”. And I go, “OK, thanks”. So then I got up to the keyboard, and he goes, play this: ‘Love Gun’. So I played it and then Gene goes, “You’re hired,” and that was it. And I was employed by Kiss at that point.

ET: Do they talk money at that point or anything like that? Do you know what you’re getting paid?

DS: No. Before I auditioned, I talked money with [Gene] and he goes, “So what kind of nickels and dimes are we talking about?” That was his opening line.

ET: Did you personally do the negotiation?

DS: Yeah, I did.

ET: You were OK with it? Like what they agreed to or you just wanted to do it for the kick?

DS: I wanted to do it for the kick. They low balled me or whatever, but it was fine. I mean, I was in it for more of the experience.