Trevor told me about Warren first. “He’s a big guy,” he said, “With big, blonde Sammy Hagar hair and glasses. Nice though. He was friends with my mom when I was growing up. I used to call him Wookiee!”
Warren was bringing in some promo CDs to sell, and Trevor was giving me a heads up and asked me to treat him right. Warren is a fan of a lot of the same musicians I am (guys like Ritchie Blackmore and Steve Morse) but his passion was bass. His favourite bassist was Chris Squire of Yes. So obviously Warren and I were going to get along. We did, and he frequently came to me as his first stop for selling music, buying music, and making conversation.
Warren was trying to do a few music magazines. He originally worked on a country music mag, but that wasn’t his thing and soon he started up Global Bass Online. Warren needed help with some of the interviews. He was really excited to be speaking to Victor Wooten, but he needed someone to interview Eddie Jackson, from Queensryche. Queensryche were promoting their new CD and DVD, Live Evolution. Warren gave me copies of each, and asked if I wanted to write the Jackson piece.
“Are you kidding?” I said, stunned. “You want me to talk to Edbass?”
A pause from Warren. “Who?”
“Edbass,” I replied. “That’s how Eddie Jackson credits himself on the album.”
“Oh!” said Warren. “Yes, Eddie Jackson. I know you can do it. Here’s a cassette deck you can plug into your phone. And here’s Eddie’s cell phone number. He’s expecting your call, he knows what’s going on.”
Wow. Eddie Jackson was expecting my call. Cool.
Warren and I collaborated on some initial bass-related questions, but he left the rest up to me. He gave me tips, but told me that I was a good conversationalist and that I would be fine.
I called up Eddie that night, keeping in mind that Seattle was 3 hours behind us. Eddie answered, we had a brief chat and set up an hour the following day to do the interview.
Warren ended up following his dream and moving to paradise (Switzerland). And we still keep in touch. And maybe I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now if it wasn’t for his confidence.
QUEENSRYCHE – “Redemption” (2013 single from the forthcoming new album Queensryche)
Ever since I first saw the video for “Queen of the Reich” back in, oh, ’84 or around there, I’ve been a fan of this band. I’ve followed them through ups (Operation: Mindcrime) but pretty much abandoned them on the downs (Tribe). As time went on it seemed that former singer Geoff Tate was in command, and his choices of direction or stage show hasn’t always been to my taste, nor that of many fans.
Hiring a new singer this late in the game is very rarely a good move. But it seems fairly obvious that Tate was poisoning his relationship with the band and fans, and it was with relief to me when they finally fired him and moved on. Todd La Torre is completely unknown to me, I had never heard his work with Crimson Glory. The new Queensryche single “Redemption” from their untitled album due in June is the first time I’ve heard any of his original material.
The verdict? It’s pretty much exactly what I expected. It sounds like Queensryche circa Warning through to Mindcrime, but with modern touches. There’s some solid riffing here, but not so much the audio collages of sound that Queensryche tend to do in the studio. La Torre nails the vintage Tate vibe without adding a whole lot to it, right down to the multitracked backing vocals. The track doesn’t expand the Queensryche sound, which is the opposite of what they used to do. In this case I understand the reasons. After a decade of more or less disappointing albums and wandering directions, now is not the time to experiment musically. Queensryche had to return to a vintage sound, as demanded by their fans, and do so authentically. I think they do this authentically by genuinely desiring to play that kind of music right now.
It’s hard to do a simple rating on a song I’ve been waiting for like this. Am I underwhelmed? Slightly. Is that because I got exactly what I expected? Probably. Is it good? Yes. Am I looking forward to the album? Big time.
Disclaimer: I am in a very small minority of fans who love the Q2k album. Most don’t. Many consider it a continuation of the “grungy” sounds of Hear In The Now Frontier, but weaker. That’s not my point of view, so be forewarned. Read on.
Chris DeGarmo’s departure after Hear In The Now Frontier shattered the group, but they decided to soldier on with old friend Kelly Gray (ex-Geoff Tate’s old band Myth, producer of Dokken, Candlebox, Bob Rivers etc.). Gray was a strong writer, but had a completely different style from the melodic DeGarmo. Gray’s sound is more based in heavy riffing, groove, and lots of wah-wah solos. It’s a different Queensryche and change was exactly what this band needed after the terrible Hear In The Now.
Sure, the album title sucks. I wonder if they regret it now? I’m sure they must. Thankfully, the music inside doesn’t suck. Heavy, grooving, riffy, powerful, well recorded…I love this album. The only flaw, and the only reason this doesn’t get five stars from me, is that there is a certain sameness to the songs. Almost all have a similar groove. Yet all are catchy and enjoyable. Truly this is Queenryche at their most “rock” and rock it does!
This remastered edition, like all previous Queensryche remasters, contains liner notes by Geoff Tate and bonus tracks. The liner notes reveal the strife that the band had experienced at the time, largely due to the change in guitar players. Clearly this was not a happy time for the band but the music is only stronger for it. The bonus tracks are cool, my favourite of them being the ballad “Until There Was You”. I was always quite pleased to finally get the live version of “Sacred Ground”, originally only on the Japanese version.
Fave songs:
“Falling Down” – tribal thumping opens this groovy riff rocker
“Sacred Ground” – a droney riff that somehow works within the Queensryche context
“Liquid Sky” – a little more old-school on the riff, but with that same groove
“Breakdown” – sounds a bit too much like “Falling Down”, but is no less powerful
“Burning Man” – the faster side of Queensryche, furious drumming from Rockenfield, simply awesome
“Wot Kinda Man” – the first of the dumb Tate titles conceals a wah-wah infested rocker
“The Right Side Of My Mind” – the most proggy and the most old-school ‘Ryche
Bad lyrical moment: “Like electrical shock-waves in the sky.” Yikes!
Dull song: “When The Rain Comes”. It’s not a terrible song, just a bit too slow without building into anything memorable.
I mentioned the bonus tracks. “Howl” is the first song, very similar to the heavier rocking songs on Q2k. You can see why it was left off initially, as the album is already loaded with songs like this. “Howl” is just slightly inferior in terms of melody and heaviness. “Until There Was You” is a much better song, and I think it should have been on the album. Indeed, the band chose this song for their anthology, Sign of the Times. It’s a ballad with a great chorus, memorable and strong.
“Sacred Ground”, as mentioned, was the live Japanese bonus track. This is not the same version as the one on Live Evolution, this is an earlier recording. Collectors will be happy that they don’t have to hunt down a Japanese copy. Lastly there’s a single edit of “Breakdown”, chopping a minute out of the song. I wasn’t too fussed to have this one, because I already own all three promo singles from this album, from my record store days. I was given free copies of “Breakdown”, “Falling Down”, and “The Right Side of My Mind”. (There was no edit version of “Falling Down”, but the edit version of “Right Side” is missing from this expanded edition. I was actually given two sets of these, but I sold the other set.)
I’m quite fond of Q2k, and I can honestly say that I haven’t liked any of the albums since then quite as much, not even Mindcrime II which should have been a slam-dunk winner. I do hope that the new Queensryche (with La Torre) will return them to the rocking glory years.
20 years? Wow, they sure flew by for me! When Empire first came out I bought it on cassette, and even back then I thought it was a bit too commercial. That’s not to say Empire is a bad album, but coming off Mindcrime and the killer first single “Empire”, I expected something heavier.
Now with the benefit of hindsight, you can really hear a band coming into their own identity. Empire is kind of the end of the old “heavy metal” Queensryche and the beginning of the newer more diverse Queensryche. The next album, Promised Land was a another stride further away from sheer metal, but more successfully achieved.
This box set, very nice looking and all, would have been better released as an individual live album, because disc one is identical to the previous Queensryche remaster version. The bonus tracks are the same. (“Last Time In Paris” from the Ford Fairlaine soundtrack, “Scarborough Fair” from the “Anybody Listening” single, and “Dirty L’il Secret” from the much later “I Am I” single. Yes, “Scarborough Fair” is a Simon and Garfunkel cover. Much more gothic though!)
The live album is from the same tour (but not the same show) as the Operation: Livecrime album. Think of this as representative of Queensryche’s non-Mindcrime live set, so if you have both albums you kind of have one complete show. It’s a good live album, although without the Mindcrime material to balance it, it is way too Empire-heavy. 7 of the 10 tracks are from Empire. That’s not me complaining really, just an observation of the feel of the set, as an album. For non-Empire material, you get the awesome “Walk In The Shadows,” “Roads to Madness”, and “Take Hold Of The Flame”, representing the first couple Queensryche full-lengths.
(As an added note, the Operation: Livecrime reissue also had one additional song not on this, which was “The Lady Wore Black” originally from the first EP.)
The live stuff sounds great, very clear with a good performance by the band. Tate is in peak voice at this point — he nails all the notes in “Take Hold”! The whole band sounds really good, especially in the backing vocals department. It also sounds pretty live and not messed with, which is my preference. I’m sure there are backing tapes, Queensryche do use them, but the overall feel was one of spontaneity. The liner notes claim there are no overdubs whatsoever.
If you’re not familiar with the Empire album and you’re buying it for the first time, you are definitely going to be familiar with most of the album’s six singles:
“Empire”, the dark forboding tale of drug trafficking, with killer spoken word-style vocals from Geoff Tate.
“Best I Can”, the power pop rock song, with uplifting (but cheesey) lyrics.
“Silent Lucidity” one of the three songs that defined the term “power ballad” in the summer of 1991. (The other two were “More Than Words” by Extreme and “To Be With You” by Mr. Big.) A great song with brilliantly sparse-yet-lush arrangement. Still stands up today!
“Jet City Woman”, my personal favourite simply for that unstoppable bass groove.
“Anybody Listening?”, the epic album closer, and one of the all time best songs Queensryche have ever written.
“Another Rainy Night”, not one of the better songs, in my opinion. Kind of repeats the pop rock stylings of “Best I Can” but with lyrics about missing some girl.
There are also buried treasures within the album tracks. “Resistance” feels like a polished-up Mindcrime outtake for sheer tempo and mood. “Della Brown” is unlike anything the band ever attempted before, an atmospheric tale of a homeless woman that foreshadows the direction of Promised Land.
The band were really gelling at this point, and an album like this makes me really wish Chris DeGarmo was still in the band. He wrote or co-wrote almost every song, and his backing vocals really enrich the record. Everybody was playing great, though, and big props to Eddie Jackson for his killer bass sound.
The package includes an Empire poster, booklet, and five postcards featuring stills from the “Empire” music video.
To sum up, there is absolutely nothing wrong musically with this album, or the bonus live album. This is a 5 star album for music, for packaging, for sound, and all that stuff. I have to deduct one star simply because the first disc is just the same Empire I already owned and I think the live disc on its own could have been released alone for the 20th anniversary of Empire.
4/5 stars (5 for music -1 for rebuying the album, again!)
The first song snippet didn’t sound like Queensryche to me (more like Racer X!). The second and beyond did…keep in mind these must be demos because they’re not hitting the studio until next month.
I’m sure the Tate camp will be pissed off at them saying they are the “masterminds” behind Mindcrime and Empire…that was probably taking it too far. This is turning into a PR war.
I’m encouraged. Produced with Jimo Barton again! You’re not gonna get that much from a few seconds’ worth, but a couple of these songs sound like possible winners, and have the “Queensryche sound”. (Nobody sounds like Rockenfield!) It does sound a lot better than pretty much anything from Hear In The Now to present. But will it be memorable and live up to The Warning or Rage For Order?
Now Eddie Jackson (of the “original” Queensryche) says that Tate (now forming a “second” Queensryche with ex and present members of Ratt, Quiet Riot, and Megadeth) should stop using the Queensryche name. I think he has a valid point, but the proof will be in the new music. I wonder which Queensryche will be the first out of the gates with new tunes?
The “real”Queenryche: Eddie Jackson (bass), Scott Rockenfield (drums), Michael Wilton and Parker Lundgren (guitars), Todd La Torre (new singer)
Geoff Tate’s new “second” Queensryche: Rudy Sarzo (bass, ex-Dio, ex-Quiet Riot, ex-Ozzy, ex-Whitesnake), Bobby Blotzer (drums, Ratt), Glen Drover (guitars, ex-Megadeth), Kelly Gray (guitars, ex-Queensryche) and Randy Gane (keyboards, ex-Myth).
Getting (Canadian!) Glen Drover is a huge coup. Sarzo’s history speaks for itself. Gray is no surprise, at least to me. But “Da Blotz” Bobby Blotzer on drums? Seriously, Geoff? That’s…uhhh…an interesting choice for a new Queensryche. What, was Frankie Banali unavailable so next on the list was Da Blotz?
My initial impressions are as follows: Drover’s brilliant but this new patchwork Queensryche smells like the new Guns N’ Roses. Blotzer is a choice that just boggles my mind. I guess we’ll see how it goes, but my money’s on the old Queensryche. Still can’t believe the fans have to deal with two Queensryches, now. Hopefully the courts will put this to an end in 2013 and rule that the guys who booted Geoff out by majority vote have the rights to the name….
This is just getting stupid. Geoff, stop being a douche!
QUEENSRYCHE’S Promised Land(CD-ROM for Windows, Windows 95, or Mac) (1996)
Promised Land is my favourite ‘Ryche album, so when this came out I had to have it. Somewhat a companion piece to the album, it is also a game on its own. There are two discs: One, a virtual tour of the cottage where the band recorded the album, and Two, the Promised Land video game.
The object of the game: Explore five different fantasy lands (one “world” for each member) that “reflect the thoughts, dreams, nightmares, humor and values of the members of Queensryche.” There are puzzles in these areas and a lot of places where you just get lost, but there’s also cameos by the band members and snippets of original music. The goal of the game is to find all five pieces of the Queensryche totem. They’re hidden, one per world, and if you get them all you unlock a Queensryche song called “Two Mile High”. This song, a brief acoustic number with an electric DeGarmo solo, was recorded specifically and exclusively for this game. Unfortunately you won’t unlock it in any worthwhile format, you’ll sit and watch a Quicktime video instead.
The other part of the Promised Land package is a lot cooler. On the disc labelled Big Log, you can explore the cabin studio where Queensryche recorded the album. You can move from room to room and click objects to unlock videos.
Unfortunately, with Geoff Tate out of the picture, it seems unlikely that a DVD release of these video segments would be high on the priority list for the band.
Anyway, it seems kind of pointless to give a rating to a game like this since it’s unlikely you’re currently rushing out to buy a 1996 PC video game. If I had to put myself back in the day and how I felt when I got it, I’d rate it like this:
Time to wrap up my four-part Eddie Jackson interview from 2001!
This has been the complete, unedited text of our 1-hour conversation. This has never been seen by anybody before. In case you missed the three previous parts:
EDDIE JACKSON INTERVIEW, OCT 30 2001 (Unedited – Part 4)
Q – [NOTE: We had just finished talking about the recording of the Promised Land album.] Now the next album, Here In The Now Frontier, was different. In the liner notes to the new live album, it’s pretty much just skipped over completely. And only one track appears. Were you disappointed in that album at all?
E – No. That’s interesting that you bring that up, because we were working on a couple of the other songs, but I don’t know why there was only one song recorded for the Live Evolution. That’s just interesting you bring that up because I kind of noticed that. I go, “God, there’s only one song from that album, I wonder how that happened?”
Q – I guess it’s the same problem you talked about before, where you can’t fit in everything you ever played.
E – Again, I think we were really focusing on a lot of the older stuff. Throughout our touring, these last few years and whatnot, we kept hearing a lot of “Hey, are you guys playing anything off The Warning or anything off Rage For Order, or anything off the EP?” So right then, that kinda sparked the idea of, “Hey, let’s go back. Let’s really give ‘em something that they’re gonna really enjoy. Who knows if we’ll ever get this opportunity again? Why not just give ‘em a variety, a potpouri of Queensryche material from the beginning to the present, you know.
Q – Listening to the live album, and trying to pick out influences, I think I hear a bit of Steve Harris and Geezer Butler. Were those guys influences on you or am I just hearing things?
E – Since the beginning?
Q – Just bits here and there.
E – I’m sure, especially from the earlier days, there were some major influences from Geezer Butler, Steve Harris, a little bit of Geddy Lee. If there’s times that it sounds like that then you’re probably right. At that given moment, I’m sure I was influenced. We were all influenced by what was out at that time. Especially with the EP, and The Warning. When you’re listening, like I was saying before, you’re relearning the songs. And then when you start hearing the instruments, you go, “Wow, doesn’t that sound like that one band back then?” I don’t you’re really aware of it up until a few years later when you listen back you know!
Q – Is there anybody out there right now who just frightens you on the bass?
E – Oh heck, there’s tons of them! I take more of a simplistic approach, but that’s just my style. I love funk, I really like a really hard driving sound. I tend to focus more on the sonic end of it than the performance end. I’m really into experimenting with sound. As you can tell, actually on the Mindcrime album, I’ve had guys come up to me, and they go, “Hey, how did you get your bass to sound like a truck?” I go, “What? Where’d that come from?” you know? So obviously there’s a little bit of fretless in Promised Land, and Real World, there’s some fretless on there. So heck, you know, some 5 string here, some whatever, here or there. I’ll experiment with anything. I think I really love approaching the sonic end of it, trying to come with a really cool sound, something that’s very distinctive.
There’s a lot of bands out there with a lot of talented bass players that I’m just listening to this thing and go, “How the hell did he get that sound? That is so cool! What is he running? Some sort of an effect? I wonder what he’s using!” You’re just reaching and guessing, it’s a lot of fun though, hearing a lot of these bass players. I tell you, you learn a lot just from listening and I was really a big, big Grand Funk and especially Alice Cooper fan. I mean, [Dennis] Dunaway [Alice Cooper] back then, that guy was an amazing bass player. And then, what’s his name? Sure? Sher? From Grand Funk? Heck, I forgot his name…Mel Schacher. Yeah, he was an amazing bass player. I kind of enjoyed a lot of their bass work back then. You don’t really hear it in my style, I just liked hearing it. The performance, you know.
Q – I know when you put on the Promised Land video game, there’s some definite funk influences there. Funky backgrounds and colours too! Do see yourself for that aforementioned solo project doing some funk, big horn sections and stuff?
E – Oh yeah yeah! That was just a little piece I wrote for that Promised Land CD-ROM game. Yeah, that was kinda fun. And if you noticed, I’m using a different coloured tie on each musician. Each instrument that I’m playing. I dunno, that’s not a big deal but it was to me. You know I go hey, I wanna put a different tie, I wonder if anybody will catch it. But yeah, that was a lot of fun. I tell ya, you’re almost kinda acting your parts out, especially when I was the secretary at the front desk there. It was kinda weird, putting all that makeup, and dressed in drag.
Q – I guess it’s a chance to lighten up because Queensryche are not the kind of band that is really known for joking around.
E – Yeah, I mean, some levity here and there, it doesn’t hurt.
Q – Running out of time here, I’d better start wrapping up! I wanted to ask you if there’s any questions out there that you’ve been waiting to get, but nobody’s asked it yet.
E – Oh geez! That is a great question! Oh geez! You got me on the spot here! This is cool!
Ummm…oh geez. That’s good. I don’t know, you got me here! I just don’t know what to think here! I mean, what question? Oh geez…how about uh…this might be little cliché, or a little simplistic, but how about “How is my son doing?”
Q – And how is he doing?
E – He’s doing wonderful.
Q – How old is he?
E – He’s eight months. Other than that, I can’t think of anything else. Do you have anything you want to ask?
Q – I don’t know…now I’m on the spot here! How about…what can I say…do you remember playing Toronto in ‘95 at Molson Amphitheater?
E – Yeah.
Q – I was there at that show, I thought it was a great show.
E – That was with AC/DC.
Q – Type O Negative.
E – Type O Negative, you’re right! The Molson Amphitheater or Labbatt’s? Yeah, that was back in, yeah with Type O Negative.
Q – Was that the last night of the tour?
E – Yep.
Q – I seem to remember you guys messing around, like a big roadie with a wig playing the part of the nurse during that one song…can’t remember the song.
E – Yeah yeah, well that was our crew, kind of putting in the finishing touches of the last show of the tour. And with the brawl, the bar brawl, yeah, normally that really didn’t happen except for that night. It was the last show of the tour and they wanted to screw with ya.
Q – One of those examples of Queensryche’s sense of humour.
E – Yeah, you know, and I’m sure it throws the audience for a loop, because they just like, “Is this part of their show?” You can just look at their incredulous looks you know. I can just imagine what’s crossing their minds, like, “Wait a sec, what’s that guy with that wig doing onstage?” Oh, get this! We had that same production through that whole tour, with the bar scene, and the lounge band. We were in Dallas, and every night there’s guests that can win seats to sit in, on stage, during the Promised Land song, and that’s when the bar comes out, and we’re the lounge band. The winners would go up onstage with us and stuff. And there were these two girls, and they had to have been peelers! During that song, they started to like, make out! It almost took away my whole emphasis of performing. I’m just looking at this, and looking at Michael, and next thing you know they’re on the floor just like, rubbing each other body to body and I go “Oh my God! Here I am and I’ve got some cousins and aunts and nieces here!” And I go “Oh my God, what the hell are they going to say after the show!” It was just nuts! That was very entertaining that night! They were just…yeah, they were going for it! I’m surprised we didn’t get arrested.
When I talked to Eddie Jackson back in 2001, for the release of Live Evolution, he gave me so much material that 80% of this has never been seen before!
I had so much material that I had to break it up into four parts! In case you missed them:
Part III is below. Stay tuned for the fourth and final part!
EDDIE JACKSON INTERVIEW, OCT 30 2001 (Unedited – Part 3)
Picking up where we left off: Discussing unused song ideas.
Q – Who remembers these ideas when it comes down to jamming for a new album? Is it something that you’d dig up on old tapes, or you just say, “Remember this old bit?” and you play it?
E – Stuff like that just happens. What we normally try to do is just create something fresh. But it’s always fun to go back and take a listen to something that you’ve worked with in the past, on the last release or the release before. Because there’s always some ideas there that you can possibly use.
Q – There’s certainly enough stuff out there to collect with the Japanese bonus tracks and stuff.
E – Yeah, I mean, Promised Land had “Chasing Blue Skies”. That was on the Promised Land CD that was released in Japan. [note: it was actually Hear In The Now Frontier that had that song] And it also had “Someone Else?” but with the full band version.
Q – And some of those made it on to the Greatest Hits.
E – I think so.
Q – What about solo projects? Have you ever pondered that?
E – Oh yeah, oh yeah. I mean, Geoff ‘s [Tate, vocals] working on a little solo project for himself. Scotty [Rockenfield, drums] and Kelly put together something. Michael’s kinda working on that. I’ve always wanted to do something like that, kind of like step away from Queensryche for the day and then do something on my own. I’m always coming up with ideas and I eventually would like to put something together like that.
Q – Do you have any ideas for a direction? Obviously it would have to be different from Queensryche.
E – Yeah, you know, my listening taste of music is so eclectic. It’s like from Abba to Zappa. I love pop rock, I love hard rock, I love jazz. I think one of the last albums that I actually bought was the Rob Zombie Hellbilly Deluxe. That was one of the last albums, I mean it grew on me like fungus! It’s just got some angst and attitude. Stylistically that would be a fun little approach. You never know, it’s always up in the air when that time comes. You could always think about, “Alright, this is a direction I’d like to approach,” but when that day comes, you could always have a different idea.
Q – One thing you notice when you listen to the new live album, is from about Empire onwards, there are a lot of strong grooves happening, especially on Q2K. A lot of the older stuff is faster, more riff-oriented. Which of the two do you prefer to play live?
E – When it comes to the era?
Q – Just which style of songs do you prefer, the faster or the groovier?
E – Oh jeez I’ll play anything! I’m serious! I mean I love a lot of the groove. Yeah, I mean, heck, I’ll play just about anything, just about any type of a groove, you know. I mean that’s what makes it interesting. You got a band like AC/DC. They are one of the few bands that can get away with writing 3 chord progression songs with the same 4/4 beat and still create something that’s very good! But they’re one of the few bands that can get away with that. I dunno what it is about them. Sure, there’s other bands that might have released one album, and then a next one and it’s kind of similar, might have a lot of the same grooves and stuff…sometimes it doesn’t work for them. I’m always into the idea of creating something different. But you can only go so far because everything’s pretty much been done, I feel. I think you have to continue to be creative with what you have to work with. You know, you’re obviously gonna hear a song that’s gonna sound like somebody else. There’s something about that song, you know, “God, that chorus sounds just like band that was out in the 80’s,” or “that intro sounds just like this band that just came out last year,” you know. What can you do? You try to be creative. It’s really difficult to be original anymore. Especially now. I dunno, there’s a lot of musicians out there that are very talented, and there’s a lot of bands that have been very successful doing what they’re doing. You just have to credit them with their talents and whatnot. It’s tough to be extremely original nowadays.
Q – You notice a lot of bands today resorting to electronic sounds to make something new. Moby, or whoever. Do you ever see Queensryche experimenting with something like that?
E – Like more instrumental?
Q – Yeah, I guess on Rage For Order you guys experimented a lot with electronic sounds.
E – Oh yeah, I mean we actually created some of those sounds ourselves! Yeah, you know at the very end of “Walk In The Shadows”? That big ambient reverberated sound? At the very end, “Walk in the shadows…walk with me! POW!” That’s a door slamming in a parking garage!
Q – It’s always something you don’t expect!
E – Exactly! Nobody else knows that unless you’ve been told about it. That’s why that album to me is the most memorable one. We ended up putting something together, like I was explaining to you in regards to coming up with our own sound. Our own little ideas. I don’t know what triggered us into doing that, but I think we were just trying to pull out all the stops when it came to producing the album. For the production side.
Q – I find that album, even though sonically they’re nothing alike, to be akin to Promised Land just for sonic experimentation.
E – Oh yeah! From banging on top of these big garbage cans… What else did we do?
Q – There’s some really neat electronic vocal effects on Geoff’s voice on “Damaged”. “The broken parts, of my machinery…” And then it sounds like an electronic overload or something.
E – And believe it or not, those were effects that I don’t think we could ever do again. Seriously, because…”Well, that was cool, did you record it?” He goes, “Yeah.” “Well let’s try it again!” And we could not recreate that! It was weird! So again it was like one of those one-offs. That’s why the tape is always rolling because you never know what you can come up with, and you can use.
Q – The band was experimenting a bit with different instruments…sax, cello, and piano, on that album. Do you play any different instruments?
E – I’ll tinker around with a little bit of keyboard, a little guitar here. I’ll tell you what I really love the most, it’s really kinda rivaling playing bass. It’s singing.
Q – Oh really? Well you’ve always sung backups live.
E – Yeah, I love singing! And I’ve noticed since Chris has left, I’ve had to cover a lot of his parts, and I’m telling you they’re up there sometimes. But still, it’s something that you don’t really think about. Through all these tours that we’ve been performing on, I’ve never realized how much he actually sang. Because you’re so busy playing your bass and singing your parts. But you’re aware that he’s singing his parts too, but since I’ve covered his vocal parts…gee whiz! I’m like, holy cow, I’ve gotta sit down and remember all this! But yeah, it’s pretty interesting you know, but I just can’t believe how much he actually sang.
Q – I notice the Q2K material…it’s funny that you say you’re singing more, but I think the live versions have stronger harmonies. Do you hear that as well?
E – I think maybe a lot of that could be for the fact that the harmonies are riding a bit hotter than on the album. The harmonies are probably still there on the album, but they might have been recorded a little hotter on the live mix.
Q – I just thought they stuck out a bit and I thought, “Hmm, well somebody’s singing more!”
E – Yeah, well, that’s Kelly and I. And for the fact that I love singing, I have no complaints with what was thrown at me with regard to all the backing vocals and whatnot. I mean heck, I’ll sing anything.
Q – Do you see yourself singing lead on a Queensryche song? I think Chris sang a lead on Hear In The Now.
E – You know, I don’t know. That’s never crossed my mind, but again you just never know! With Queensryche, heck, you just never know, we’re always branching off into some sort of new territory whether it’s sonically speaking, producing, writing or whatever. I guess at times you could say it’s a conscious effort, but there’s times where you know, you’re aware, and you just try to create something for that moment. At least for myself, I don’t normally like to look back and listen to what we’ve done in the past. Because then you start getting influenced by it, you know? And there’s gonna be ideas that might sound like something in the past. There’s nothing wrong with that, but…
Q – But when an interviewer asks you, “Hey do you remember that electronic part in Damaged” and you haven’t heard the album in 5 or 6 years…!
E – Believe it or not, you’ll be surprised, especially when you hear a lot of these songs that we had recording for this Live Evolution, it’s amazing how much more you remember. When you play “London”, or “Screaming In Digital”, or “Suite: Sister Mary”. All of a sudden you just start reminiscing, and you just start thinking back at the time when it was recorded. I mean we were in Philadelphia, Rage For Order we were up in Canada…
Q – Where were you in Canada?
E – Up in Mushroom Studios, was it? Up in Vancouver? We’ve recorded in many studios. We recorded in that one, was it in Montreal?
Q – Yeah I read about that, in the dead of winter.
E – Yeah, O:MC. Operation:Mindcrime.
Q – I think the most interesting location you’ve recorded in was the cottage for Promised Land.
E – Oh geez, talk about tranquility and isolated! It was this small little island up north up by the San Juan Islands. Yeah, you’re right. We got away from everybody. Fortunately it was only like a 3, 4 hour drive, but still, just within those 3 or 4 hours you go from a live environment to a very tranquil and quiet environment. There were times at night when we would take a break, we were recording until 12, or 3 in the morning, however long it took us to record whichever song. But we’d be taking a break outside and you can hear the whales! It was pretty wild. There was a couple of little wildcats out there. We definitely didn’t leave any food outside!
Q – I think it’s safe to say that the environment must have impacted on the sound of that album. It sounds like it was recorded in a cottage, in the woods.
E – Do you think the influence was there? Do you think there was a lot of influence?
Q – I think so.
E – Well, there was this doctor, and I can’t remember his name, but he owned this cabin. It was actually sort of a…not a bed and breakfast, but like a summer retreat sort of thing. He would hire the cabin out for people that would wanna head out to San Juans and stay there for the weekend, or for the week, or for the two weeks, or month, whatever. So what we did is we just basically told him, “Listen, we’re a band…” And that right there obviously…”Wait a sec! Before you even continue!” That kinda scared him a bit. But no no, we’re not type kind of a band. We respect our environment we don’t start thrashing things for no apparent reason. But if the shitter stopped working in the middle of the night, then you’re going to hear from us! We kind of worked out a deal, and we were there for a few months, and we ended up just hiring out…we moved in to both units. So it was a massive cabin, it was pretty cool. We were just living and breathing that album there.
The full, transcribed text of the Eddie Jackson interview can be found by clicking here.
mikeladano.com 