A New Chapter

10/04/1999 4:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Bryan Reesman

When asked if they feel they must still champion the progressive metal cause, Queensryche singer Geoff Tate, drummer Scott Rockenfield, and guitarist Michael Wilton practically roll their eyes. "No," Tate responds, "because that's somebody else's opinion, not ours." Wilton adds, "Just because we know how to play our instruments, we get put into that file. We just happen to be musicians who can play well." Tate is also quick to point out that "journalists give in to labeling and categorization. You don't have to do that. That's somebody else's rule, man, don't buy into it."

The three all laugh at Tate's jovially mocking delivery, but it's a point well taken. Ever since its eponymous 1983 four-song debut EP--first released on their own 206 Records to sales of over 60,000 units, then picked up by Capitol-EMI--the Seattle quintet has striven not only to expand the boundaries of heavy metal but to challenge the notion that The System knows what's good for you. On albums like Rage For Order, the famous concept disc Operation: Mindcrime, and the double-platinum crossover hit Empire, the group has done just that, catapulted by grandiose guitar harmonies, a propulsive rhythm section, and Tate's dynamic, irrepressible singing.

Currently, Queensryche are promoting their latest platter, Q2K. Besides being an obvious pun on that oh-so-trendy millennial acronym, the title may also refer to the fact that the band has recently begun a new chapter of its own. This is their first album for Atlantic Records and their first without guitarist and frequent songwriting contributor Chris DeGarmo, marking the end of a period of upheaval that began with the dissolution of the band's previous label, EMI America.

"It was a bizarre thing," recalls Rockenfield. "The whole tour for the last record [Hear In The Now Frontier] was [during the] summer of '97. EMI was, so we found out, in the midst of closing their doors even before our record came out. Unbeknownst to us, a week into the tour they closed their doors, so that tour had to float along on its own without any real support from anybody. And the record also. We got off the tour in the fall of '97, and we were getting ready to go in and make another record and got the phone call that Chris was leaving. [It was] kind of an overnight deal, none of us knew it was coming."

The split with DeGarmo was not a completely clean break. "We had to do a tour down in South America," explains Wilton, "which was grueling, because we had just announced [the split], but contractually we had to do this tour. So we had to go down there and play in front of these fans, and we're superficially playing…it was sad. It was the last time we were going to play as a band with Chris."

Following DeGarmo's departure, the band was in shock, but Rockenfield notes that "it was an amazing thing that happened for us, in retrospect." They soon found their ideal replacement, producer/ guitarist Kelly Gray, who had played in a band called Myth with Tate back before the singer defected to Queensryche. Gray certainly makes his presence known on Q2K. While the album still has some grungy guitar residue left over from the last Queensryche album--a description which makes the trio wince--it harks back to their classic sound while staying modern. Overall, it's a more groove-oriented affair, with Rockenfield pounding out some contagious rhythms on "Burning Man" and "Falling Down." It may not have the immediacy of an Empire, but over repeated listenings it provides many rewards.

"So much of what we've done in the past," Tate says, "has been individually done. We didn't actually play the song together as a band until we were rehearsing it for a tour. But this album was all played live. We jammed on the songs, worked them out, and recorded them at the same time. It was very spontaneous."

"It's fun for us, because we're not sick to death of it yet," notes Wilton. "We did it as we went, and that was it. We didn't want to over-rehearse or over-think it. Now we've got to go back and figure out what we did and relearn the parts." While they need to learn the new material, Gray will also have to absorb the old for their upcoming amphitheater tour, the details of which remain mysterious.

The lyrics of past Queensryche albums have frequently explored social and political themes, but Q2K's tend to be more personal. "Burning Man" was inspired by the annual desert festival held outside Reno, Nev., where people go to abandon society's rules and try to survive on their own for a long weekend. It's a concept that appeals to Tate. Other songs are "about being in the situation we were in over the last year," the singer reflects, "of betrayal, losing your friend, trying to put your life together."

As always, Queensryche continue to take the high road rather than extolling the clichés of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. "It's frustrating to me," Tate moans, "the lack of intelligence out there and the focus on vulgarity and base ideas--you know, toilet humor, that's so prevalent. Everything is attacked in this country. Anybody that creates something, no matter if I like it or not, hats off to them, because you know what? They did something. They're not just existing. They're making something and adding it to our society, and it will benefit somebody in some way. But man, everyone tears everybody a new a--hole about everything. It's just ridiculous. And if you have any success, and make some money at it, the jealousy factor goes through the roof and everybody's out to take you down."

Tate knows whereof he speaks. Although the name of his band still holds meaning for audiences, its popularity has waned in recent years, and like so many artists who were mainstream kings in the '80s, then abandoned in the '90s, the members of Queensryche have felt the cruel sting of media backlash. But they don't lose sleep over it. "It only gets frustrating if you care what other people think," Tate says. "As long as you keep that in mind, you get through the day."