Geoff Tate to Rocklahoma, "You Guys Suck"

I think Geoff Tate is like a lot of metal artist, you get to certain age and you want to broaden your music beyond the boundaries of a certain genre, and Tate is right, when Queensryche were at the height of their success they had little to nothing incommon with their metal peers, except maybe Fates Warning, and Fates Warning were a band with a cult following not a hugely commercial like Queensryche became.

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What I'm stating is, after DeGarmo left the band, I'm guessing that it was Tate's way or the highway.

Very likely...or at the very least, he led and the others followed in step like always since none of the other members drove whole albums in the past.

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I think the reason why it's easy to throw Geoff under the bus though, is due to his whole never liking the metal genre to begin with. So, as a fan of the earlier elements of this band (up to Promised Land), it's shocking to hear that Geoff wanted to return to a heavier sound. That sounds absolutely inconsistent regarding his musical tastes. Do I believe he wanted to return to a heavier sound? Absolutely not!

I don't think I agree. Just because he wasn't too into Metal as a whole genre, doesn't mean he didn't like an album or two here and there and it also doesn't mean he isn't proud of Queensryche's early material.

The Warning, Rage For Order, even Mindcrime aren't really necessarily "heavy" as much as they are "intense". The guitar tones, etc, are not overtly heavy in terms of Metal. But the moods, melodies, production, and performances created a very intense atmosphere. That, IMO, is what Queensryche has been missing these last 15+ years...not the heaviness, but the intensity.

Also, I can see Tate wanting to get a little heavy (Q2K was Tate-driven and it's got heavy moments) as long as it's not a repeat of something he's already done.

I'm not sure I'm buying a lot of what she wrote. For all we know Geoff could have just wrote that himself haha. It is very hard to believe that this band has come to this. They have been the same band since day 1 until Chris left. It always seemed like a family to me. I always remember Geoff and or Chris doing the interviews on MTV etc, not too much with the rest of the band so thats not really anything new.

I remember in interviews for DTC everyone saying how it was a band effort, which I believe. I'm sure theres no one there pointing a gun at anyone and forcing them to play these songs, they all were into. Geoff has been acting really strange even more so since they did that Caberet thing. So who knows, they've been together for so long and I think they all realized from the sales of the last couple tours and albums that instead of trying to reinvent themselves they just need to do what people are wanting to hear from them. I honestly dont think Geoff wanted to go in a heavier direction and even if he did his term of heavier direction could be something totally opposite of what "heavy" means to everyone else. The band has seemed really boring for a while and this needs to happen for both parties. One can go relive the past and hopefully make some cool music and the other can go experiment. Who knows they might both suck by the end of all this.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Quote :

I think the reason why it's easy to throw Geoff under the bus though, is due to his whole never liking the metal genre to begin with. So, as a fan of the earlier elements of this band (up to Promised Land), it's shocking to hear that Geoff wanted to return to a heavier sound. That sounds absolutely inconsistent regarding his musical tastes. Do I believe he wanted to return to a heavier sound? Absolutely not!

I don't think I agree. Just because he wasn't too into Metal as a whole genre, doesn't mean he didn't like an album or two here and there and it also doesn't mean he isn't proud of Queensryche's early material.

The Warning, Rage For Order, even Mindcrime aren't really necessarily "heavy" as much as they are "intense". The guitar tones, etc, are not overtly heavy in terms of Metal. But the moods, melodies, production, and performances created a very intense atmosphere. That, IMO, is what Queensryche has been missing these last 15+ years...not the heaviness, but the intensity.

Also, I can see Tate wanting to get a little heavy (Q2K was Tate-driven and it's got heavy moments) as long as it's not a repeat of something he's already done.

Exactly. He's not going to make or write a heavy album reflecting the past.

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

instead of trying to reinvent themselves they just need to do what people are wanting to hear from them.

That's not a good idea either, then you just end up with carbon copy crap made for the sole purpose of pleasing an aging fanbase who are stuck in the late 80s.

Remember how people were complaining about Metallica "suddenly" trying to recapture their older sound on Death Magnetic but it didn't work because it was just too calculated? (or use Megadeth's Endgame for a similar example). Same thing here. Force a band into trying to write "just like you used to" and 99% of the time it's going to sound inauthentic and uninspired.

http://legacy.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=175269




QUEENSRŸCHE Members Unable To Make Tonight's Show; GEOFF TATE Vows To 'Rock' Salt Lake City - June 11, 2012
QUEENSRŸCHE is scheduled to perform tonight (Monday, June 11) at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah as the support act for SCORPIONS. According to QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, "some of the members" of the band could not make tonight's show "for personal reasons." He adds, "Although I would have really loved for all of us to play together, it wasn't possible for them. I couldn't miss playing for one of the best rock audiences in the world and opening for one of my all-time favorite bands for anything. Thanks to my fans, and the SCORPIONS or your continued support and I plan to rock Salt Lake City today at the show."

thejokeriv wrote:

http://legacy.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=175269




QUEENSRŸCHE Members Unable To Make Tonight's Show; GEOFF TATE Vows To 'Rock' Salt Lake City - June 11, 2012
QUEENSRŸCHE is scheduled to perform tonight (Monday, June 11) at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah as the support act for SCORPIONS. According to QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, "some of the members" of the band could not make tonight's show "for personal reasons." He adds, "Although I would have really loved for all of us to play together, it wasn't possible for them. I couldn't miss playing for one of the best rock audiences in the world and opening for one of my all-time favorite bands for anything. Thanks to my fans, and the SCORPIONS or your continued support and I plan to rock Salt Lake City today at the show."

So now solo Tate is going to start "acquiring" Queensryche bookings...interesting.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

http://legacy.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=175269




QUEENSRŸCHE Members Unable To Make Tonight's Show; GEOFF TATE Vows To 'Rock' Salt Lake City - June 11, 2012
QUEENSRŸCHE is scheduled to perform tonight (Monday, June 11) at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah as the support act for SCORPIONS. According to QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, "some of the members" of the band could not make tonight's show "for personal reasons." He adds, "Although I would have really loved for all of us to play together, it wasn't possible for them. I couldn't miss playing for one of the best rock audiences in the world and opening for one of my all-time favorite bands for anything. Thanks to my fans, and the SCORPIONS or your continued support and I plan to rock Salt Lake City today at the show."

So now solo Tate is going to start "acquiring" Queensryche bookings...interesting.

Interesting and telling, it seems to be a powerplay if that is the case than Tate will win, his wife has been managing the band and booking them some good gigs even if their sales were not always there, Rising West makes a nice tribute act but they need to move beyond that and create their own identity or just call themselves Queensryche with a new vocalist

S.D. wrote:

Phoenix Reign Drummer wrote:

instead of trying to reinvent themselves they just need to do what people are wanting to hear from them.

That's not a good idea either, then you just end up with carbon copy crap made for the sole purpose of pleasing an aging fanbase who are stuck in the late 80s.

Remember how people were complaining about Metallica "suddenly" trying to recapture their older sound on Death Magnetic but it didn't work because it was just too calculated? (or use Megadeth's Endgame for a similar example). Same thing here. Force a band into trying to write "just like you used to" and 99% of the time it's going to sound inauthentic and uninspired.

I agree with your assessment, except to say I was happy with both Metallica and Megadeth's albums you mentioned, but if Tate or anyone's heart is not into trying to recreate the past, then S.D. is right, it is going to sound phoned in and the fans still are not going to be into it. Love or hate 'em, Queensryche has always followed their own muse and when they did try to return to their past glories 'Opertion: Mindcrime II' , it was not bad album but somewhat uneven.

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"some of the members" of the band could not make tonight's show "for personal reasons"

Oh for cryin' out loud. How long do they plan to drag this out? Cut the crap and announce that QR is disbanding already.

Fat Freddy wrote:

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"some of the members" of the band could not make tonight's show "for personal reasons"

Oh for cryin' out loud. How long do they plan to drag this out? Cut the crap and announce that QR is disbanding already.

They have to be careful so as not to get sued by any promoter who already has a Queensryche date on the books...or scare off any promoters in case of a reconciliation.

manny wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

http://legacy.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=175269




QUEENSRŸCHE Members Unable To Make Tonight's Show; GEOFF TATE Vows To 'Rock' Salt Lake City - June 11, 2012
QUEENSRŸCHE is scheduled to perform tonight (Monday, June 11) at USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, Utah as the support act for SCORPIONS. According to QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, "some of the members" of the band could not make tonight's show "for personal reasons." He adds, "Although I would have really loved for all of us to play together, it wasn't possible for them. I couldn't miss playing for one of the best rock audiences in the world and opening for one of my all-time favorite bands for anything. Thanks to my fans, and the SCORPIONS or your continued support and I plan to rock Salt Lake City today at the show."

So now solo Tate is going to start "acquiring" Queensryche bookings...interesting.

Interesting and telling, it seems to be a powerplay if that is the case than Tate will win, his wife has been managing the band and booking them some good gigs even if their sales were not always there, Rising West makes a nice tribute act but they need to move beyond that and create their own identity or just call themselves Queensryche with a new vocalist

It depends on who owns the band name and if they want to fight in court about it. I would imagine that Scott, Ed, Mike and Geoff own the name since they are original members and Parker is the hired gun. I think they are testing the waters to see if the fan support is there for Queenryche with a different singer..... if they find it's there then we'll have Queenryche and Geoff Tate of Queensryche

At least Rising West said in the first press release they plan to write/record new music and bring the metal back \m/


I just realized that at the M3 Festival, I could possible have been at the second to the last Queensryche show ever.......

If Parker Lundgren is siding with the rest of the band members, you gotta wonder how that's affecting his relationship not only with Tate, but with Tate's daughter (his wife!)....

This is why you should NEVER work with family.

Clearly some of that Facebook post is true, while some of it isn't. I think it's pretty obvious that Tate has been the driving force behind the band since DeGarmo left, so I guess the question would be why. Was he tyrannical about it? Did the other band members not care? If you look at the early albums, Wilton had a lot of writing credits. Rockenfeld and Jackson rarely had many, but they had some. So why did they stop contributing?

We'll never know, of course. We'll hear two sides to this story, or maybe more if these guys' kids keep getting involved.

Fat Freddy wrote:

If Parker Lundgren is siding with the rest of the band members, you gotta wonder how that's affecting his relationship not only with Tate, but with Tate's daughter (his wife!)....

This is why you should NEVER work with family.

On one of the QR fan forums, I read that they are now divorced, which could explain his siding with the band........ And his ex would be the one that posted the FB response....

Agree about not working with family! In this case, they let one family take over control of the entire band!

Old Queensrÿche is a mega favorite band for me not merely because they do "the USPM thing" or whatever, but because what they do there and how they do it is infused with such class and intelligence and passion that it puts the whole package over the top. I can appreciate those elements in any music which is played well and appreciate any music that fits that whole description; metal happens to be my favorite host for those because I feel it is what metal should ultimately be. Rising West won't mean much to me if it's just supposed to be a retro act; I can still listen to tons of bands influenced by QR who are quite good and still full of inspiration. QR, obviously, won't be doing anything that means anything to me without those elements I mentioned which they carried in spades up through 'Promised Land'. I just can't see much coming out of this in general, but I hope I'm wrong.

I'm just happy I got to see them back in winter 2011, while it lasted..

Ultimately, I don't care what happens to Queensryche or Rising West at this point. I haven't cared about new Queensryche in a long time, despite the occasional cool song. I'll probably never see them live again (saw Empire, Promised Land and Q2K tours), and I have all the albums up through Promised Land to keep me happy. They can do whatever they want.

thejokeriv wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

If Parker Lundgren is siding with the rest of the band members, you gotta wonder how that's affecting his relationship not only with Tate, but with Tate's daughter (his wife!)....

This is why you should NEVER work with family.

On one of the QR fan forums, I read that they are now divorced

Then I guess he's not using these guitar picks anymore huh?

I care because they were a great band and I find them interesting, I even find their artistic failures to be interesting, and I liked the fact that they never played it safe but trying to follow the same formula over and over.

If it does end, and at this point, it should because this is becoming absurd, I am saddened that band did not end their career with class and distinction (like Soundgarden and R.E.M. did) but acted like a bunch of douche bags toward one another.

I wonder if the other guys really are more into the old style. Their contributions decreased when they band began moving away from the heavier stuff.

manny wrote:

I care because they were a great band and I find them interesting, I even find their artistic failures to be interesting, and I liked the fact that they never played it safe but trying to follow the same formula over and over.

Oh, I respect them going in different directions...all the albums I love are very different from each other....but I don't have to enjoy it either.

Some thoughts:

This internet perception that Geoff is 100% in the wrong and the rest of the guys are 100% in the right is highly dubious. I'm not Geoff's biggest fan but the reaction of folks on forums and Blabbermouth is ridiculous.

Yes, Todd is a great singer. Does anyone really think he will be a great writer like Geoff was? Anyone listened to the samples from his solo stuff on YouTube? Hear anything that sounds like it will be a classic on there? I'm sure if/when Jon Drenning tells him what to sing that it'll be amazing but being a cover band singer and a writer are different skill sets.

Really, Michael Wilton is a crappy songwriter. Jon Drenning is far, far better, which is why I think a new CRIMSON GLORY album holds a lot more promise than a RISING WEST one.

I used to think Rockenfeld was a great drummer. He sounds pretty sloppy in those clips to me. Not sure why these guys think they're ready for a world class vocalist if they can't get their act together on their own.

Most bands have one guy who makes it all happen. Blabbermouth/Internet folks assume it's always the singer who is OMG THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT MEMBER OF THE BAND BY FAR DUDE TOTALLY IRREPLACEABLE I CANT NAME ANYONE ELSE IN THE BAND and by this loss of focus they show that they don't really know how most bands work.

Fat Freddy wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

If Parker Lundgren is siding with the rest of the band members, you gotta wonder how that's affecting his relationship not only with Tate, but with Tate's daughter (his wife!)....

This is why you should NEVER work with family.

On one of the QR fan forums, I read that they are now divorced

Then I guess he's not using these guitar picks anymore huh?

I remember reading about those picks..... and they were Geoff Tate's idea - shows where his head is these days. I can't imagine approving anything like that for my daughter! It's just shows how big his ego is these days.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Some thoughts:

This internet perception that Geoff is 100% in the wrong and the rest of the guys are 100% in the right is highly dubious. I'm not Geoff's biggest fan but the reaction of folks on forums and Blabbermouth is ridiculous.

Yes, Todd is a great singer. Does anyone really think he will be a great writer like Geoff was? Anyone listened to the samples from his solo stuff on YouTube? Hear anything that sounds like it will be a classic on there? I'm sure if/when Jon Drenning tells him what to sing that it'll be amazing but being a cover band singer and a writer are different skill sets.

Really, Michael Wilton is a crappy songwriter. Jon Drenning is far, far better, which is why I think a new CRIMSON GLORY album holds a lot more promise than a RISING WEST one.

I used to think Rockenfeld was a great drummer. He sounds pretty sloppy in those clips to me. Not sure why these guys think they're ready for a world class vocalist if they can't get their act together on their own.

Most bands have one guy who makes it all happen. Blabbermouth/Internet folks assume it's always the singer who is OMG THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT MEMBER OF THE BAND BY FAR DUDE TOTALLY IRREPLACEABLE I CANT NAME ANYONE ELSE IN THE BAND and by this loss of focus they show that they don't really know how most bands work.

Can't disagree with any of this.

Although when it comes to contributions to Queensryche, do we know specifically what Tate and Wilton contributed? Without my CDs handly, I can't check. Surely Tate has contributed far more than Wilton, but DeGarmo was probably the biggest contributor to those classic albums and his side-project stuff, along with Geoff's, isn't very good, while Wilton's side-project stuff has been quite good. So who knows....