Queensryche Ready For 'Q2K' With New Guitarist And Label

06/22/1999 4:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(6/22/99, 1 a.m. PDT) - In spite of rumors that they had disbanded, progressive metal pioneers Queensryche are back. The band finished recording a new album on Feb. 23 with its new member, guitarist and producer Kelly Gray, who replaces Chris DeGarmo. The group has also signed a multiple-album deal with Atlantic Records, which will release the band's latest effort, Q2K, on Sept. 14.

"This one's going back to our roots a little bit more," explains drummer Scott Rockenfield. "It's a hard record. It's more like Empire. It's not a conceptual record, it's not even a thematic record like Promised Land was, it's just a collection of 11 really cool songs. The last album had a certain vibe because Chris was doing a lot of what he wanted to do, and we let that happen...It was just time for him to go do his own thing really." Rockenfield adds that the band's parting with guitarist/ co-songwriter DeGarmo was amicable.

Queensryche is tentatively planning to begin its next tour of the States in early October. The quintet plan to play 3,000- to 6,000-seat venues. In other recent changes, the band has a new manager, Ray Danniels, who also handles Rush and Van Halen. Danniels directed the band towards Atlantic when it was shopping around Q2K.

As far as its new musical member, Gray is known for his producing and engineering skills, and he was also one of Rockenfield's high school buddies. "He used to be in a band with [singer] Geoff [Tate] and a couple of the other guys in the band prior to Queensryche forming," the drummer says. The band, called Myth, was active circa 1980 and 1981. "We actually took Geoff out of Myth to join us," Rockenfield recalls."[Now] 20 years later, Kelly's back in the band. It's funny how the world revolves. The relationship has been really exciting. He fits right into place with what we've been as a band but also has a lot to offer us [in terms of] a new perspective."

In other Queensryche-related news, the second release by Rockenfield's side-project with Paul Speer, titled Hell's Canyon, should be released soon. Rockenfield describes the project as "progressive metal ambient rock."

Rockenfield and Speer's first collaboration, Televoid (both a CD and full-length computer-animated video released through Miramar last year), was nominated for a Grammy Award for best long-form music video.

-- Bryan Reesman, New York

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