Watch the vibrant video to Derek Sherinan's new single, Aurora Australis

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Derek Sherinian teams up with Sons Of Apollo bandmate Bumblefoot on the closing track to his new album Vortex – out now

Derek Sherinian studio shot with Gold discs
(Image credit: Greg Vorobiov)

Derek Sherinian has captured the natural beauty of the auroras in the clip to his latest track Aurora Australis. It's taken from his new solo album, Vortex – out now via InsideOut – and features the talents of his Sons Of Apollo bandmate Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal as well as drummer Simon Phillips. 

Of the 11-minute album closer, Sherinian says, “Simon and I cover a lot of musical ground on this track. Bumblefoot sounds amazing on guitar, as usual.” 

Vortex is the keyboard player's ninth solo album and it finds him working not just with Phillips and Thal, but also with Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens, Extreme's Nuno Bettencourt, Michael Schenker, Toto's Steve Lukather, Zakk Wylde and Joe Bonamassa.

“Michael Schenker has been one of my heroes for many years," he explains. "He asked me to play on his Immortal album, and in return, he agreed to play on Die Kobra. I wanted to write a great song inspired by my favourite Schenker tracks. Zakk Wylde added some great additional parts to the song, and Tony Franklin and Simon Phillips sound great.” 

The eight-track release is out now on limited edition white vinyl/CD, CD Digipak and digital download. 

Watch the video for Aurora Australis below.

Buy the latest issue of Prog Magazine

Tracklisting

1 The Vortex (feat Steve Stevens)
2 Fire Horse (feat Nuno Bettencourt)
3 Scorpion
4 Seven Seas (feat Steve Stevens)
5 Key Lime Blues (feat Joe Bonamassa, Steve Lukather)
6 Die Kobra (feat Michael Schenker, Zakk Wylde)
7 Nomad's Land (feat Mike Stern)
8 Aurora Australis (feat Bumblefoot)

Natasha Scharf
Natasha Scharf
Deputy Editor, Prog

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.