QUEENSRYCHE

The more I listen the more I am liking this new QR record. At least it can be said that "Queensrÿche" sounds like Queensrÿche and not some grunge/alternative rock band. "Redemption" is grabbing me, as is "Where Dreams Go To Die", "Vindication" and "Open Road".

I guess I'll need to grab F.U. soon.

So "F.U." arrived and I listened to it all the way through last night. Well, "Cold" is the best song on it. The last song "The Weight of the World" is interesting as well. Some nice guitar solos peppered throughout this thing. Overall, it's a continuation of the same stuff that QR have been releasing for the past decade. I need to give it a few more spins.

The more I listen to FU the more I like it. I guess one could call it underrated. It is a heavy, rockin' album. Too bad Geoff's still unlikable, which hinders the listening experience slightly.

Eh, I find him more likeable then Axl Rose, at least Tate has the deceny to show up on time.

corplhicks wrote:

The more I listen to FU the more I like it. I guess one could call it underrated. It is a heavy, rockin' album. Too bad Geoff's still unlikable, which hinders the listening experience slightly.

But it sounds unfinished. It's like he put anything and everything on it. I know bands often write a lot of turds in the process of writing an album, but most bands know to leave certain songs off the album. Geoff just added everything.

I mean, there are a few songs on this album that are old Jason Slater demos from other projects. Demos he admitted to being unfinished or not good enough, and they appear on Frequency Unknown pretty much unchanged outside of some new lyrics peppered in.

And now that I look at Slater's website, the songs are still there but the descriptions of them are gone. Guess Geoff didn't want the truth getting out.

Eyesore wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

The more I listen to FU the more I like it. I guess one could call it underrated. It is a heavy, rockin' album. Too bad Geoff's still unlikable, which hinders the listening experience slightly.

But it sounds unfinished. It's like he put anything and everything on it. I know bands often write a lot of turds in the process of writing an album, but most bands know to leave certain songs off the album. Geoff just added everything.

I mean, there are a few songs on this album that are old Jason Slater demos from other projects. Demos he admitted to being unfinished or not good enough, and they appear on Frequency Unknown pretty much unchanged outside of some new lyrics peppered in.

And now that I look at Slater's website, the songs are still there but the descriptions of them are gone. Guess Geoff didn't want the truth getting out.

It didn't sound unfinished to me(at least not like St. Anger did)

Vexer6 wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

The more I listen to FU the more I like it. I guess one could call it underrated. It is a heavy, rockin' album. Too bad Geoff's still unlikable, which hinders the listening experience slightly.

But it sounds unfinished. It's like he put anything and everything on it. I know bands often write a lot of turds in the process of writing an album, but most bands know to leave certain songs off the album. Geoff just added everything.

I mean, there are a few songs on this album that are old Jason Slater demos from other projects. Demos he admitted to being unfinished or not good enough, and they appear on Frequency Unknown pretty much unchanged outside of some new lyrics peppered in.

And now that I look at Slater's website, the songs are still there but the descriptions of them are gone. Guess Geoff didn't want the truth getting out.

It didn't sound unfinished to me(at least not like St. Anger did)

Unrealized, I guess is a better word. If he was going for half-assed, he succeeded.

Eyesore wrote:

Vexer6 wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

The more I listen to FU the more I like it. I guess one could call it underrated. It is a heavy, rockin' album. Too bad Geoff's still unlikable, which hinders the listening experience slightly.

But it sounds unfinished. It's like he put anything and everything on it. I know bands often write a lot of turds in the process of writing an album, but most bands know to leave certain songs off the album. Geoff just added everything.

I mean, there are a few songs on this album that are old Jason Slater demos from other projects. Demos he admitted to being unfinished or not good enough, and they appear on Frequency Unknown pretty much unchanged outside of some new lyrics peppered in.

And now that I look at Slater's website, the songs are still there but the descriptions of them are gone. Guess Geoff didn't want the truth getting out.

It didn't sound unfinished to me(at least not like St. Anger did)

Unrealized, I guess is a better word. If he was going for half-assed, he succeeded.

That's probably why there's a lack of cohesion as well. I've been listening to the Todd album all day today, and it sound literally solid, as each song pretty much bleeds together, in a good way. Geoff would probably call his album "diverse..." and as much as I like it, you have a point here.

As for the Axl Rose deal, I would much rather wait for hours to see a show than have my phone taken away and thrown into the audience. And, again, Axl never straight-up told his audience that they suck.

corplhicks wrote:

As for the Axl Rose deal, I would much rather wait for hours to see a show than have my phone taken away and thrown into the audience. And, again, Axl never straight-up told his audience that they suck.

 

Yup, Axl is still way worse.

Looks like the market is sorting itself out:

thejokeriv wrote:

Looks like the market is sorting itself out:

That had to be part of a festival... 

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

Looks like the market is sorting itself out:

That had to be part of a festival... 

It's a bike rally type of thing, yeah. Looks like there are some unknown bands playing a small stage, it's mainly a bunch of non-music stuff and then just one big band that plays the main stage at the end of each night.

There were 20,000 people at this event, and I see another pic they posted recently that was said to have 30,000. Doing this sort of thing is probably the best way to the band back in front of a lot of people who may have lost interest long ago or never heard them before.

Eyesore wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

Looks like the market is sorting itself out:

That had to be part of a festival... 

It's a bike rally type of thing, yeah. Looks like there are some unknown bands playing a small stage, it's mainly a bunch of non-music stuff and then just one big band that plays the main stage at the end of each night.

There were 20,000 people at this event, and I see another pic they posted recently that was said to have 30,000. Doing this sort of thing is probably the best way to the band back in front of a lot of people who may have lost interest long ago or never heard them before.

Yep - it was call "Roar On The Lake" or something like that....... They were the headliner, so I am sure the name helped drive some ticket sales.... still better than than the 50 - 300 that TateWreck has been playing to

Update: Tate/Ryche's court battle over ownership of the band name, which was originally supposed to start in November, has been postponed till January of '14....

Tate supposedly needs more time to get his legal sh*t together, but my inner cynic wonders if he's going to use the time to fart out another quickie CD release using the Queensryche name before he loses it.

blabbermouth wrote:

Singer Geoff Tate — who was fired from the Seattle progressive rock band QUEENSRŸCHE last year after fronting it for three decades — was granted a continuance until January 27, 2014 in his legal battle with his former bandmates over the rights to the group's name.

Tate and his wife, Susan, QUEENSRŸCHE's former manager, filed a lawsuit in June 2012 asking the judge to award them the rights to the band's name in exchange for Tate paying Eddie Jackson (bass), Michael Wilton (guitar) and Scott Rockenfield (drums) the fair market value for their interests in the QUEENSRŸCHE companies. Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson filed a countersuit against the Tates in which they accused Geoff of creative obstruction and violent behavior, and Susan Tate of questionable business practices.

In their August 9 motion to continue the trial date — originally scheduled for November 18 — and amend the case schedule, the Tates requested "a minimum 180-day continuance to provide sufficient time for the parties to continue active settlement negotiations without incurring substantial trial preparation costs and, if such efforts fail, to provide sufficient time to complete discovery and properly prepare for what will be a very lengthy trial." The Tates added that "80 potential witnesses" have been identified for trial and they estimated that the parties will need to collectively take 20 to 40 depositions. Further complicating the scheduling of depositions is the fact that Tate's former bandmates will be traveling for most of September and will be unavailable for depositions.

Said the Tates in their motion, which can be viewed on the The Breakdown Room web site: "There simply is not enough time to properly prepare for trial. Discovery is incomplete. Even if the parties only depose a fraction of the witnesses identified, doing so will take 20 to 30 days. Many of these witnesses are located out of state. The facts that underlie this dispute span nearly 30 years. Trial could take three to four weeks with 20 to 40 witnesses."

On August 16, Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson filed an opposition to the Tates' motion to continue the trial date and amend the case schedule, claiming that "any challenges [the Tates] face [in preparing for the trial] are 100% the result of their failure to properly prosecute their case and as such should not be able to delay the resolution of this matter to [Tate's former bandmates'] detriment or [Tate's] advantage."

"From October 2012 until April 2013 there was nearly no activity in the case," Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson wrote. "In April 2013, [the Tates] propounded interrogatories and requests for production on [Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson]. Responses were supplied in May. Not until July 31, 2013, did [the Tates] raise any objections to the adequacy of the responses to that discovery, more than two months after said responses were served. Other than two related subpoenas for documents, [the Tates] have engaged in no other discovery."

Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson also accused Geoff Tate of "continu[ing] to harm the QUEENSRŸCHE brand" since the Tates' original lawsuit was filed in June 2012. "The newest self-titled QUEENSRŸCHE CD release by the [Todd La Torre-fronted version of the band] entered the U.S. charts at #23 and continues to get 9-out-of-10-star reviews and is still selling very well on a weekly basis around the globe," Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson wrote. "In comparison, Geoff Tate released his own QUEENSRŸCHE CD in April of this year titled 'Frequency Unknown' and depicted as F.U. on the cover, which entered the charts at #82, received very bad reviews around the world, and has slowed to almost no more weekly sales. [The Todd La Torre-fronted version of QUEENSRŸCHE's] new CD even outperformed the last two CDs of them with Geoff Tate, selling more in a month than the 'Dedicated to Chaos' CD has since its release in 2010, and charting much better than both that album and the previous one, 'American Soldier'. Thus, the return to the classic sound [Tate's former] bandmates have made with the new CD and live shows has been met with overwhelming success."

They added: "Geoff Tate also chose very poorly in hiring live musicians that have shown that they are not capable of representing the correct performances of the QUEENSRŸCHE music legacy, and he was constantly replacing them. He has been offering his low-quality version of QUEENSRŸCHE to the promoters at a much reduced rate, as low as $10,000 per night, when, in fact, [his former] bandmates have done their best to keep the authorized QUEENSRŸCHE at an average of well over $20,000 per show this entire year. However, this becomes harder and harder with Geoff Tate's sub-par band and cut-rate pricing that continues to be damaging to the QUEENSRŸCHE brand and legacy no matter who ultimately wins control after trial."

In a brand new interview with The Oakland Press, Rockenfield said said that "negotiations are ongoing between Tate and the singer's former bandmates and "there's still time for anything to happen between now and [the start of the trial]."

"I think our confidence is pretty high," Scott said. "There's a lot of legal stuff you have to deal with, but we just feel good and look at it as a light at the end of the tunnel and keep playing shows and making music. I think when you do that, the right decision will be made in time."

Interesting that the judge didn't give Tate the full 180 days that was requested - I guess the judge has had enough of Tate's legal team....

I read some of the docs and Tate has been charging half of Queensryche's normal fee and trying to lock the real band out of some markets by playing it 2 or 3 times in a year.

Yep, the continuance us all about a cash grab - he probably needs the cash to pay his legal fees....

The Geoff has a new T-Shirt for sale:



The Tri-Ryches look oddly familiar:

On a somewhat related note, I finally got round to picking up the ToddRyche CD today. Better late than never, I suppose. Probably won't have a chance to give it a listen till tomorrow tho.

thejokeriv wrote:

Interesting that the judge didn't give Tate the full 180 days that was requested - I guess the judge has had enough of Tate's legal team....

I read some of the docs and Tate has been charging half of Queensryche's normal fee and trying to lock the real band out of some markets by playing it 2 or 3 times in a year.

Yep, the continuance us all about a cash grab - he probably needs the cash to pay his legal fees....

Yeah, pretty shady of him, but I guess it's smart, too. If the market is supposed to sort this out, then he could argue that his version of the band is playing more shows. Promoters don't care about who's in the band, only the name, so if he's cut their in half his version of the band will get more gigs. And that's what's been happening.

I've heard he's playing the same places more than once in very short periods of time, effectively shutting the other version of the band out of these places.

That's some scumbag shit right there. Hopefully the other guys can prove this in court and using it against Tate.

Geoffy boy can't win this battle on the crap music he is making. He's just a crafty little bitch.

Troublezone wrote:

Geoffy boy can't win this battle on the crap music he is making. He's just a crafty little bitch.

Love it, writing the book now: "Crafty Little Bitch: The Geoff Tate Story."

corplhicks wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

Geoffy boy can't win this battle on the crap music he is making. He's just a crafty little bitch.

Love it, writing the book now: "Crafty Little Bitch: The Geoff Tate Story."

 

Eyesore wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

Interesting that the judge didn't give Tate the full 180 days that was requested - I guess the judge has had enough of Tate's legal team....

I read some of the docs and Tate has been charging half of Queensryche's normal fee and trying to lock the real band out of some markets by playing it 2 or 3 times in a year.

Yep, the continuance us all about a cash grab - he probably needs the cash to pay his legal fees....

Yeah, pretty shady of him, but I guess it's smart, too. If the market is supposed to sort this out, then he could argue that his version of the band is playing more shows. Promoters don't care about who's in the band, only the name, so if he's cut their in half his version of the band will get more gigs. And that's what's been happening.

I've heard he's playing the same places more than once in very short periods of time, effectively shutting the other version of the band out of these places.

That's some scumbag shit right there. Hopefully the other guys can prove this in court and using it against Tate.

i really do hope that the judge forces tate to sell.

Queensrÿche film mini movie - Queensrÿche: Ad Lucem!!

Legendary Seattle rockers, Queensrÿche recently filmed a 'mini movie' with the tracks, "Spore" "Midnight Lullaby" "A World Without" and "X2" providing the score to a 10-plus minute story, dubbed Queensrÿche: Ad Lucem. The film was created by Veva Entertainment Co. with director Daniel Andres Gomez Bagby and producer Marco De Molina and was filmed last month on location at Central City Stages in Los Angeles. Todd La Torre, vocalist for Queensrÿche has issued the following statement:

"We decided to take a different approach with this video, which is comprised of four pieces of music from our latest self-titled release, Queensrÿche. It's a conceptual mini-movie music video that invites the audience to scratch beneath the surface a bit, rather than the usual "chewed food" that so many are used to being fed. We really wanted to deviate from a performance type of video so the music and story-line could be the main focus."

La Torre also adds, "The overall theme of the song Spore is one that deals with personal demons, relationship struggles, career pressures, personal/professional morals and ethical dilemmas. These are issues we all face on some level and the video touches upon them all. Midnight Lullaby/A World Without deals with the loss of a mother during childbirth, leaving a father as a single parent and struggling to move forward through the turmoil. X2, though it opens up our album, provides for a nice outro to it all. The end result is a roller coaster of emotion in an effort to find a healthy resolve. Given our history, we feel that this multifaceted conceptual video, along with a great cast of actors to suit, will really resonate with our fans."

Todd LaTorre likes to talk doesn't he?

Usually the New Guy doesn't get to say much besides "It kicks ass!"