QUEENSRYCHE

And tate continues his delusions of grandeur press tour..... of course, it helps Tate that DeGarmo has taken the high road and kept his mouth shut......

GEOFF TATE: 'Everything That People Associate With QUEENSRŸCHE, CHRIS DEGARMO And I Did That'


"I didn't see it coming," he said. "I didn't even think it was possible. First off, why would you break up a band that is incredibly successful and has been successful for years and years and years, for 30 years? There's no sense, it's very difficult, very difficult and becoming even more difficult day by day to operate and to be successful in the record industry. It's no mystery that it's hurting badly. And so why would you take this incredible successful entity and break it all apart?

"And why would you fire the main writer? Why would you do that — and the person who is the face of the band and is the identifying key figure in the success of the group? I don't mean that to sound egotistical because it's not. It's just the truth. Why on earth would you do that? It sounds like career suicide, especially at our ages. We're all in our 50s. ... Why would you break apart this successful thing at this point in life? I can see if you had some grand plan that, if you're in your 20s and you had all this time and all these years ahead of you. But we're all in the last decade of our working lives. It just sounds like madness to me."

"I think (the settlement) makes people, or at least spells out for them, what actually is the situation," Tate said. "And by that I mean I wrote the majority of the music in QUEENSRŸCHE all of these years. And Chris [former guitarist Chris DeGarmo, who left QUEENSRŸCHE in 1998], when he was in the band, wrote the majority of the music in the band. So he and I were the ones that came up with the concepts and the soundscape and the image of the band. Everything that people associate with QUEENSRŸCHE, he and I did that. We were responsible for that. So what you have now with him not in the band and me not in the band, is you have the people who were responsible for what people associate with QUEENSRŸCHE not in QUEENSRŸCHE anymore. So QUEENSRŸCHE means something completely different now than it ever has before. See what I'm saying?"

Read more at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/geoff-tate-everything-that-people-associate-with-queensryche-chris-degarmo-and-i-did-that/#TcRhJ9CpuEegvhKI.99

He's right.

thejokeriv wrote:

"And by that I mean I wrote the majority of the music in QUEENSRŸCHE all of these years. And Chris [former guitarist Chris DeGarmo, who left QUEENSRŸCHE in 1998], when he was in the band, wrote the majority of the music in the band.

How can they both have written the majority of the music?

He actually has a point, but he hasn't expressed it as well as he could have.

Quote :

So he and I were the ones that came up with the concepts and the soundscape and the image of the band. Everything that people associate with QUEENSRŸCHE, he and I did that. We were responsible for that.

100% truth

I don't think Tate understands the concept of "settlement." Buffoon.

Temple of Blood wrote:

He's right.

He's a liar. Geoff cannot write music.

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

He's right.

He's a liar. Geoff cannot write music.

He plays saxophone and keyboards...maybe he can?

He is right, when you think of Queensryche, its his voice that stood out, at least it did to me.

Him and Chris DeGarmo where the leaders, main motivators, and songwriters. Its not to say the other guys did not contribute or where not important to overall sound of the band, but its clear which members dictated the artistic direction of the band.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

He's right.

He's a liar. Geoff cannot write music.

He plays saxophone and keyboards...maybe he can?

Maybe. But honestly, if he could I would imagine that, after 30 years, there would be at least one song solely credited to the guy. But really, he emphatically claims to have written "Silent Lucidity," and has done so countless times, so his credibility concerning songwriting is pretty much worthless.

manny wrote:

He is right, when you think of Queensryche, its his voice that stood out, at least it did to me.

Him and Chris DeGarmo where the leaders, main motivators, and songwriters. Its not to say the other guys did not contribute or where not important to overall sound of the band, but its clear which members  dictated the artistic direction of the band.

But this is only true of their latter albums. The early albums, those that most of us claim to be the best, are not DeGarmo/Tate albums. Michael Wilton's name is credited on a hell of a lot of those early songs. If people are going to argue that Tate played a big role in writing those songs, why doesn't Wilton get the same kind of credit? On every album up to Promised Land, he's credited on nearly half the songs if not more on each album.

So I don't know how it's clear that it was Tate and DeGarmo that dictated anything prior to Promised Land, which was largely a DeGarmo album. Same with Hear In The Now Frontier. And obviously after that Tate slowly began to take nearly full creative control. But even on Tribe, Wilton is credited on half the songs. From Mindcrime II on, however, that's pretty much all Slater/Tate stuff.

Either way, none of us really know.

In the early days of the band DeGarmo did a good chunk of the writing and all of the arranging.  Wilton and the others would give him riffs and he would craft them into songs.  Chris also handled most of their early promotion and was the de facto leader of the group.  I was told this by their previous front-of-house engineer who worked with the band from their club days until the end of The Warning tour (he also produced the re-recording of the Live In Japan video).  

If Tate took over more of a leadership role it was Rage For Order or afterward.  

It irks me that Tate tries to take credit for Silent Lucidity, that was 100% a DeGarmo arrangement.

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

He's right.

He's a liar. Geoff cannot write music.

Irrelevant. DeGarmo can.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

He's right.

He's a liar. Geoff cannot write music.

Irrelevant.  DeGarmo can.

And so can Michael Wilton.

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

He's right.

He's a liar. Geoff cannot write music.

Irrelevant.  DeGarmo can.

And so can Michael Wilton.

I know that someone posted a list of song credits at some point but my recollection is that DeGarmo wrote the best songs of QUEENSRYCHE's career.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

He's right.

He's a liar. Geoff cannot write music.

Irrelevant.  DeGarmo can.

And so can Michael Wilton.

I know that someone posted a list of song credits at some point but my recollection is that DeGarmo wrote the best songs of QUEENSRYCHE's career.

Alone, Wilton wrote "Nightrider," "Blinded," and "Deliverance," which are all great songs. The songs he wrote with just Tate, which we can safely assume are all Wilton musical compositions, are "Warning," "Before the Storm," "Child of Fire," "I Dream in Infrared," "Chemical Youth," "Revolution Calling," "Speak," "Spreading the Disease," "The Needle Lies," "Empire," etc. Hardly a list of their worst songs.

Eyesore wrote:

Alone, Wilton wrote "Nightrider," "Blinded," and "Deliverance," which are all great songs.

Because of the vocal melodies, not the guitar riffs. Wilton seems to play more generic patterns than DeGarmo.

Quote :

The songs he wrote with just Tate, which we can safely assume are all Wilton musical compositions, are "Warning," "Before the Storm," "Child of Fire," "I Dream in Infrared," "Chemical Youth," "Revolution Calling," "Speak," "Spreading the Disease," "The Needle Lies," "Empire," etc. Hardly a list of their worst songs.

"Speak" and "Needle Lies" have great riffs. Many of the others have forgettable riffs and force the vocalist to do all the heavy lifting.

I'd have to disagree. All those songs mentioned have great riffs.

Yeah, now we're getting into personal taste and perspective...

I don't think so. You can look at those patterns and see how generic and inside-the-box they are. You could almost use a random number generator to come up with some of those "solid" melodies and chord progressions.

It's one of the big reasons I criticize ICED EARTH's songwriting more than most here.

No matter how you spin it, there's no science behind it. It does boil down to listener preference. And I've always found those riffs strong and original. That's cool if you don't.

There's definitely a science behind it.

Average riffs per song: 5.
Input in Iron Maiden power chord progressions.
Play melody with about 12 notes in it up and down a scale and harmonize it using diatonic thirds.
Rinse and repeat.

You may not be familiar with the "science" but it certainly exists.

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

He's right.

He's a liar. Geoff cannot write music.

Irrelevant.  DeGarmo can.

And so can Michael Wilton.

I know that someone posted a list of song credits at some point but my recollection is that DeGarmo wrote the best songs of QUEENSRYCHE's career.

Alone, Wilton wrote "Nightrider," "Blinded," and "Deliverance," which are all great songs. The songs he wrote with just Tate, which we can safely assume are all Wilton musical compositions, are "Warning," "Before the Storm," "Child of Fire," "I Dream in Infrared," "Chemical Youth," "Revolution Calling," "Speak," "Spreading the Disease," "The Needle Lies," "Empire," etc. Hardly a list of their worst songs.

I would say the songs eyesore listed are some of best queensryche songs. I know we are talking personal taste/opinion and all that but anyone saying these songs have generic by the numbers riffs seriously needs their ears syringed.

All through this queensryche saga of late I've felt that tate has come off as an utter bell end. I can only go by news stories and interviews I read and from what I've read tate has made himself look like a right prat. He had a great voice and still has a good voice in my opinion but he can't write music, certainly nothing I care to listen to. His solo albums are boring and the last 3/4 tate fronted queensryche albums have been dull as dish water apart from the odd track. I didn't mind his last solo album, frequency unknown. Wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Alone, Wilton wrote "Nightrider," "Blinded," and "Deliverance," which are all great songs.

Because of the vocal melodies, not the guitar riffs.  Wilton seems to play more generic patterns than DeGarmo.

Quote :

The songs he wrote with just Tate, which we can safely assume are all Wilton musical compositions, are "Warning," "Before the Storm," "Child of Fire," "I Dream in Infrared," "Chemical Youth," "Revolution Calling," "Speak," "Spreading the Disease," "The Needle Lies," "Empire," etc. Hardly a list of their worst songs.

"Speak" and "Needle Lies" have great riffs.  Many of the others have forgettable riffs and force the vocalist to do all the heavy lifting.

Temple of Blood wrote:

There's definitely a science behind it.

Average riffs per song: 5.
Input in Iron Maiden power chord progressions.
Play melody with about 12 notes in it up and down a scale and harmonize it using diatonic thirds.
Rinse and repeat.

You may not be familiar with the "science" but it certainly exists.

I'm familiar with how music theory works--and how it affects the majority of popular music. What you're describing is a plethora of mainstream heavy metal numbers. It's a widely practiced formula, sure, but if I used it as a standard to criticize or discredit varying artists' craft as generic or what have you, I would be throwing out a bunch of bands that I already enjoy. It's how bands use said formula that's important, and is what makes these songs original rather than derivative.

In short, I fancy this formula more than you do. It's purely subjective.