An unusually playful and jovial Queensryche joke around with Dan Gallagher while waiting for chicken wings at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo! The band show a rare comradery here and are absolutely having a blast laughing it up with Dan. It’s quite refreshing. Unfortunately, the whole interview is tinted in blue, because the 90s.
Topics discussed:
The Empire tour’s stage show.
Suicidal Tendencies opening.
The upcoming “Seattle Sound” and why Queensryche don’t sound like that.
The (former?) Queensryche drummer who seems dedicated to chaos just opened his own RycheShop.com selling crap artwork. This is not to be confused with the official Queensryche store.
Bonus: If you spend $250 or more, Scott will give you a personal phone call.
What would you ask Scott? I have a few ideas. Maybe ask about that sweet new neck tat.
(Former?) Queensryche drummer Scott Rockenfield has, shall we say, been a bit of a drama queen these last couple years. In 2021 he announced his own version of Queensryche seemingly separate from the current version. His supposedly included Michael Wilton and Eddie Jackson, but not singer Todd LaTorre. Scott released a 2014 demo called “Days O’ Deth” as his only musical output so far, which ironically included LaTorre on vocals. Scott’s dislike for LaTorre has been quite public in his social media. The legit Queensryche have largely ignored Scott’s statements.
Today Rockenfield is announcing something in 2023 called “SuperHuman” with someone called Damien Krane. The artwork recycles the album cover for the 2013 self-titled Queensryche CD.
Who knows what the hell is actually going on, but the possibility of two Queensryches has once again reared its ugly head. Stay tuned in 2023 for more drama.
In late 1987 and early 1988, Queensrÿche were at frigid Morin Heights in Quebec, recording what would become their most important album. Their first true concept album (although you could make good arguments for Rage for Order) was in fact partially inspired by the perennial Quebec separatist movement. Singer Geoff Tate envisioned the story and characters, with guitarist Chris DeGarmo joining him on the lion’s share of the writing. Still, it was Tate and guitarist Michael Wilton who came up with “Revolution Calling”, the third track but in all fairness, the first song on Operation: Mindcrime. Wilton co-write a huge chunk of side one.
The eerie thing about “Revolution Calling” is how it still applies today. Direct references to characters like the evil Dr. X aside, so much of this song is relevant to current events.
“I used to trust the media to tell me the truth, tell us the truth.”
“Well, I’m tired of all this bullshit they keep selling me on T.V., about the communist plan.”
“I used to think that only America’s way, way was right. But now the holy dollar rules everybody’s lives, gotta make a million, doesn’t matter who dies.
I have criticised the Operation: Mindcrime for being too “comic-book-y”, a critique also levelled at the album by revisionist reviewers in the 1990s. Now, I’m not so sure. As the world teeters on the brink, a song like “Revolution Calling” impacts harder than it did in 1988. How many Nikkis are out there ready to start their own revolutions?
As we look forward to the new Queensryche album Digital Noise Alliance, let’s also look back at one of their strongest songs from Mindcrime, “Revolution Calling”, on the Sunday Song Spotlight.
REVOLUTION CALLING (Tate/Wilton)
For a price I’d do about anything Except pull the trigger For that I’d need a pretty good cause
Then I heard of Dr. X The man with the cure Just watch the television Yeah, you’ll see there’s something going on
Got no love for politicians Or that crazy scene in D.C. It’s just a power mad town
But the time is ripe for changes There’s a growing feeling That taking a chance on a new kind of vision is due
I used to trust the media To tell me the truth, tell us the truth But now I’ve seen the payoffs Everywhere I look Who do you trust when everyone’s a crook?
Revolution calling Revolution calling Revolution calling you There’s a revolution calling Revolution calling Gotta make a change Gotta push, gotta push it on through
Well, I’m tired of all this bullshit They keep selling me on T.V. About the communist plan
And all the shady preachers Begging for my cash Swiss bank accounts while giving their secretaries the slam
They’re all in Penthouse now Or Playboy magazine, million dollar stories to tell I guess Warhol wasn’t wrong Fame fifteen minutes long Everyone’s using everybody, making the sale
I used to think That only America’s way, way was right But now the holy dollar rules everybody’s lives Gotta make a million, doesn’t matter who dies
Revolution calling Revolution calling Revolution calling you There’s a revolution calling Revolution calling Gotta make a change Gotta push, gotta push it on through
I used to trust the media To tell me the truth, tell us the truth But now I’ve seen the payoffs Everywhere I look Who do you trust when everyone’s a crook?
Revolution calling Revolution calling Revolution calling you There’s a revolution calling Revolution calling Gotta make a change Gotta push, gotta push it on through
Revolution calling Revolution calling Revolution calling you There’s a revolution calling Revolution calling Gotta make a change Gotta push, gotta push it on through
There’s something going on There’s a revolution, there’s a revolution, there’s a revolution
Ever wanted to know what the legendary Little Mountain Sound studios in Vancouver looked like? Well, you get a white wall with “Sue was here” graffiti on it. But, you also get the legendary Terry David Mulligan interviewing the even more legendary Geoff Tate of Queensryche in October 1991! Peak ‘Ryche.
The band were in town for a session and Mulligan caught Tate when the band were busy sound-checking. Lots of interesting talk here. Queensryche has done a lot of studio work in Vancouver. Why? According to Tate, because Seattle didn’t have the recording technology they needed to make their kind of music! You can hear Vancouver on the Empire album, as Geoff explains.
They also talk about “Silent Lucidity” which of course was the big song for them. It’s not exactly clear what Queensryche were doing at Little Mountain in Vancouver at that time. Should I ask Mike Fraser?
QUEENSRŸCHE – “Days O Deth” (2014 demo, released 2021 online by Scott Rockenfield)
If any rock band has had the #1 weirdest drama going on in their history, Queensryche must be considered a front runner. First there was the “spitting incident” and 2012 split with Geoff Tate. This drama was swiftly followed by the existence of two completely different bands touring and releasing albums as “Queensryche”. The Queensryche brand issue was settled in a 2014 lawsuit, with original members Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson and Scott Rockenfield winning the rights to the name for their version of the group. A year after, Scott Rockenfield took a six-month touring leave from the band, and never returned. It appears Scott was finally fired from Queensryche in 2018 due to non-participation. He has not been active with the group since their excellent 2015 Condition Hüman album, the last to feature the drummer in any regard. Queensryche carried on with vocalist Todd La Torre playing drums in the studio, and Kamelot’s Casey Grillo drumming live.
Then suddenly in 2021, Scott Rockenfield came out breaking the silence! Presenting a new (now defunct) “Queensryche2021” website, Rockenfield essentially declared his own version of Queensryche. Pictures on his site were Wilton and Jackson, but not La Torre, for whom he spared no ire. Calling La Torre a “subcontracted employee”, he unilaterally declared the current active Queensryche illegitimate.
Proclaiming “Welcome to the New World” on his site, he posted “R ya READY TO F***in’ ROCK !!!?? ….I AM !!!!!!!” [sic]
You can always tell how serious a press release is by the number of exclamation points, question marks, and ellipsis are used.
Aside from a lot of sniping, Rockenfield promised new music in 2021, but only offered one old demo. Ironically this demo from 2014 features his nemesis Todd La Torre on lead vocals! For 99 cents, you could download “Days O Deth” from his now-defunct website. With the website gone, so now too is the track.
“Days O Deth” is a shorter demo version of what became “Toxic Remedy” on 2015’s Condition Hüman. Missing is the opening guitar harmony, as it goes into a riff that was refined for the final version. Instead of the very ‘Ryche-ian guitar harmonies that “Toxic Remedy” opens with, this one focuses on the pounding of the riff. It’s quite cool that way. The verses are pretty much intact as is the chorus. While the final “Toxic Remedy” sounds more Queensryche, this demo is rougher, heavier and perhaps a touch more unique as to how it treats the riff section.
One can be certain that the legitimate members of Queensryche never saw a penny of the 99 cents paid for this download. Therefore it is understandable if a fan chose not to pay for a demo track that Queensryche certainly deserved compensation for. Until events unfold further, perhaps in courts, we can have no real idea what is going on with Scott Rockenfield’s role in Queensryche. Which is unfortunate, as diehard fans no doubt would very much want and enjoy this demo. Will it ever see an official release? See above. Events will unfold as they will.
Great show tonight with your co-hosts Harrison the Mad Metal Man, Aaron from KeepsMeAlive, and Superdekes! We talked the Nigel Tufnel Top Ten Iron Maiden Covers/Artwork (that’s a mouthful) and it was awesome. We took a close look at: albums, singles, T-shirts, Reaction figures, MacFarlane figures, and the Neca Powerslave Eddie. If you like Iron Maiden, you automatically love their artwork. Ergo, you need to watch this show!
First we unboxed some brand new Reaction Eddie figures. Go to 0:16:50 of the stream.
Then we wished Steve Harris a Happy Birthday, and commenced with the lists! Go to 0:24:00 of the stream.
After the conclusion of the Maiden lists, we had a freeform chat covering Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime, and a newly unearthed Black Sabbath track called “Slapback”. Go to 2:22:45 of the stream to check that out.
Thanks for watching, and if you just want to know what Maiden art we picked, check out Aaron’s hand-written list below! See ya next week!
First breakups are so confusing. You’ve heard all the songs, seen all the movies. All that remained was to experience it yourself. Of course it’s nothing like a song! It can hurt though, lord don’t I know it?
I treated my first breakup like I was a DJ at an event. I planned songs. How did that work out? Terrible, but I did it.
When I got home and listened to some tunes, I put on “Love Song” by Tesla. I thought, “This will be the thing to listen to. That chorus will make me feel better.”
If only! “Love will find a way! Love is gonna find a way!” Encouraging, yes…but not what I needed to make myself feel better. Although I had not given up, I knew it was over. I knew that love wasn’t going to find a way. I had to think outside the box.
As it turns out, the ballads didn’t impact me as much as the heavy stuff. Angry stuff.
“Christian Woman” by Type O Negative. Metallica’s version of “Blitzkrieg”. Soundgarden’s “Jesus Christ Pose”. “Cyclops” by Bruce Dickinson. Queensryche’s “I Am I”. This was really hitting me! Some of the ballads did too, such as “Someone Else?” by Queensryche, or Bruce Dickinson’s “Change of Heart”. But those were not typical, traditional ballads like Tesla were putting out. Each was powerful in a unique way.
That’s it: power. I was looking for songs with power in them. Real power. The breakup had sucked dry all my energy, and I needed power. Those bands recharged me up like a battery. Thrashing around my bedroom, I worked out all that anger. I felt stronger after rocking out to a song like “I Am I”. And rock out I did, in my “air band” best! I gave myself a serious sweat when I rocked out to those songs.
Breakups might suck but they are a fertile ground for discovering (and rediscovering) music. What we were you listening to after your first breakup?
There’s a sports phrase in the parlance of the profession: a “ringer”. It means boosting your team with a player who who’s above your league, usually with accusations of dishonesty or bad sportsmanship. If you had a beer league hockey team, and your friend’s son happens to be Connor McDavid, and he substitutes for your usual center Big Jim McBob, then you have a ringer.
I was watching some live music on YouTube and wondered if there is a rock band equivalent.
Though it’s not considered cheating, did Queensryche pull a ringer when they got Todd La Torre to sing? Todd is a fine vocalist who enables Queensryche to perform the old material properly; stuff with notes so high that only a young singer can really pull it off. Journey did something similar with Arnel Pineda. They wanted to play the original songs in the original keys, not tune them down for an older singer.
Original Queensryche singer Geoff Tate’s voice has changed over the decades. That’s nature. He can be hit or miss when singing the high stuff, so he tends not to anymore. He’s able to steer around difficult notes and still play the song. La Lorre has no issues with them however, adding some of his own grit to the screams. Todd La Torre is 45 years old. Geoff Tate is closer to his old bandmates at age 61. If Queensryche were to look for another singer in his 60s, they wouldn’t be able to find one able to scream the opening to “Queen of the Reich”.
Go back in time further, to the early 1990s. One band that absolutely hired a ringer was Poison when they acquired Richie Kotzen to replace C.C. Deville.
Without being too unkind, C.C. and Richie are not playing the same sport when it comes to guitar. C.C. is a WWF wrestler, hammering you over the head with loud sloppy moves and tricks. Richie is like a light boxer with heart, a fast contender with a feel for it.
When Poison picked up Kotzen, they plucked someone from the upper echelons to replace somebody who was basically still in the garage. While it failed to win fans in the “get serious 90s”, it did give them an album that they never would have been able to create otherwise. Eventually they were forced to bring C.C. back, but they can never perform material from the Kotzen album. They’d sound ridiculous.
It could be argued that Kiss hired ringers with almost every replacement member in their band, from Eric Carr to Vinnie Vincent to Eric Singer and Bruce Kulick. All of these guys are, on a technical level at least, lightyears better players than the original members. But on the other hand, none of those replacements could capture the sheer vibe of the original band either.
Think about it. When a veteran band loses an original member, do they ever replace them with a peer? Very rarely. Deep Purple replaced Jon Lord (age 61 at retirement) with Don Airey (54 at hiring). But Black Sabbath replaced Bill Ward (age 71 today) with Tommy Clufetos (40 today). No matter what Bill claims, Clufetos is simply in better physical condition. He’s a ringer.
What is your take on this subject? Are these guys ringers, or just regular hired guns? Is there really a difference?
Whether you know it or not, the only list you should care about every year is Iron Tom Sharpe‘s. If you only listen to 20 albums this year…make them these 20.
mikeladano.com 