Sons of Apollo’s Derek Sherinian says MMXX’s ‘King Of Delusion’ intro inspired by Béla Bartók
Renowned musical warrior Derek Sherinian has had his fair share of working with some of the world's top musicians. MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) recently spoke with the American musician and he shared some of his favorite musicians and biggest influences.
Having worked with musical giants like Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Yngwie Malmsteen and more, Derek Sherinian shared his musical influences, "There were a few people that really stood out. Eddie Van Halen for sure, Elton John, Aerosmith... A lot of classical music: I studied Bach, Beethoven, Mozart. It's a mix of a lot of different things, and my musicality is pretty much comprised of different styles that I've listened to growing up that have moved me and inspired me. And I've taken my favorite things of those styles and musicians and put it into my own thing".
Sherinian is well-known for channeling insane, rocking keyboard solos, in flawless similarity to electric guitar solos. Referring to his "big five" sources, Edward Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen, Allan Holdsworth, and Jeff Beck, Sherinian imparts knowledge for keyboard enthusiasts, saying, "Those guys have resonated with me the most, and if you listen to my solos, little pieces of all those guys pop up. But I put it in the blender and that's turned into my style. Find the inspiration and make your own scoop".
Sherinian moves on to his keyboardist influences, saying, "I love Chick Corea, I love Elton John... a lot of keyboard players. Organ players; I love Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, Jimmy Smith on the more jazzy side. Of all the great keyboard players, I try to be a more modern and best-of version of all of them. Like, I've taken the Jon Lord organ sound, the overdriven, and then I'm doing a lot of my guitar style on the solos. On this album, there is more acoustic piano than anything I've ever recorded in the past, which I'm very excited about. And so I treat my keyboard style like an MMA fighter. I have my organ, piano, and the synths. It's like a three-prong attack. And most of the time, keyboard players, they're good at one of them, maybe two, but it's very rare you find someone that kicks a** on all three, and that's what I'm all about".
Sherinian shares his favorite classical music composer, saying, "I've been listening to a lot of Béla Bartók. He wrote some very dissonant, cool music and you can hear that influence on the song 'King Of Delusion' (from 'MMXX'). There's this piano intro on the front of it, it's very Bartók-inspired".
Sherinian explains what keeps him going. "I'm just constantly driven. I'm obsessed with making a better record or playing better on the next record and always outdoing myself. It's like an eternal fire and I keep it going and I'm constantly inspired", he said.
Sherinian has amassed a huge following and has been hailed as one of the greatest keyboardists of our time. There may be few worlds left for the artist and Sons of Apollo to conquer, but Sherinian says, "Starting a new band, no matter who's in it, even with name players, it's always a struggle and its always going to be a period that you have to build this thing. And so my dream is to see Sons of Apollo get over that hump and really become a huge international success".
Here's to hoping with Derek Sherinian on huge international success; for a band that pushes out no-holds-barred, gutsy and unrelentingly powerful music since their beginning.