Queensryche: Circa 2010-2011
Touring...and touring...and touring...Before we go forward and explain what Queensryche was doing after
American Soldier, it is necessary to go back and understand the state of the music industry. Starting in 2004 or so, the music business, at least when it came to hard rock and metal acts, really began to shift. Bands and their management teams realized that albums wouldn't really sell unless you're a top pop act. So, instead of relying on album sales to generate revenue, most bands hit the road hard, trying to play as many dates and make as much money as possible.
This was a complete reversal from the days of putting out a record every two years and then going on a 100-date tour, and then repeating the cycle. Now, instead of touring to generate more record sales, bands make records to give promoters another angle to book them and keep them on the road. For established and long-term successful acts such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, it really didn't affect them – they toured when they wanted to tour, regardless of the changes. But for mid-level and fringe headlining acts, and those on the bubble that had waves of success like Queensryche, touring became the only way to survive.
While this was a positive for many fans who didn't have the ability to see Queensryche when the band only toured a market once an album cycle, the strategy ultimately backfired. Starting about when Susan Tate began managing the group (about 2004), Queensryche continually went back to the same key markets in the U.S. Not just every album cycle, but two, sometimes three times per year. This helped the band pay off debt and enabled the members to make an extremely good living, even better in some ways than the
Empire years, and especially after the U.S. economy took a dump in the late 2000s.
Simply put, the band was making money and thriving financially until the end of 2009 on the strength of that “tour until you can't stand up” philosophy. In fact, there were stretches of dates where Queensryche would play six out of seven nights, and 13 out of 14. It was grueling, but lucrative because of the volume of gigs.
As much as Susan Tate's method of management has been questioned and criticized over the years, the one thing everyone – including the band – admitted: her work kept them afloat and their wallets full.
The problem, however, was her strategy was short term planning and couldn't be sustained. Queensryche found that the over-saturation of U.S. markets also eroded the band's (booking agent's) negotiation power with promoters in terms of how much money Queensryche would earn (called guarantees) for each show. As a result, each time the band went to book a new tour, they ended up making less and less money. Queensryche needed a “gimmick” as the years went on to convince promoters that the show would sell well, to enable the band to secure the financial number (the guarantee) per show it was accustomed to.
Well, in 2010, the guarantees per show were starting to bottom out, and Queensryche went all in on a gimmick to try and get things back up...
The Queensryche Cabaret (2010)Queensryche announced that it would bring a cabaret-style show, complete with aerialists, strip tease dancers and various other erotic/exotic acts to the masses in 2010. The performers would strut their stuff while Queensryche played a concert with songs from its catalog tailored to the acts being performed on stage. In a nutshell, as the saying goes, sex sells, and Queensryche was looking to exploit that and find a way to make some money.
The idea was spearheaded by Susan and Geoff Tate. The “acts” consisted of Susan herself (an ex-stripper), and Mysti Rockenfield (another ex-stripper), along with Miranda Tate (the Tates' daughter who was doing some exotic dancing/cabaret stuff at the time) and various other family members and friends. I'll let the photos do most of the descriptive talking regarding the stage “show” Queensryche put on:
Not all the members of the band were in favor of this approach. Michael Wilton, in particular, wanted nothing to do with the whole thing. He wore a hood (see photo above) for some of the initial shows to basically, as he described to me and others, “just try and hide and just play the songs.”
To put it bluntly, the band was CRUCIFIED for the cabaret. Both from the fans, and the critics. From a fan perspective, the sexual overtones and cabaret-style stuff were exactly the sorts of things that Queensryche had always publicly frowned upon for the most part. Queensryche was known to be against things that objectify women (again, generally) and this flew in the face of that. Just like Wilton, the majority of fans recoiled at the sideshow act the Tates were turning Queensryche into.
From a critical view, the cabaret idea (as some have remarked) could have had some legs...had the band not tried to pull it off so cheaply. By using friends and family to keep the costs low, the performance came off second-rate, as opposed to truly professional. Some critics noted that if Queensryche hired experienced talent, and really worked the show, the band may have found a new crossover audience with the cabaret crowd. But Queensryche went on the cheap, and after about 20-25 dates, the concept was put to bed. It lasted, however, through October or so of 2010. Queensryche played “normal” shows, including the aforementioned tour of the Middle East throughout the rest of the calendar year.
On a positive note, the one thing the cabaret tour got a thumb's up on, by many fans, was the setlist. Approximately 90-minutes in length (perhaps a tad more due to costume and set changes), Queensryche played a bunch of tunes that they had shunned on previous tours, including a trio of rarely played songs from
Promised Land (the title track, Dis-con-nec-ted, and Lady Jane), and the never-before-played “The Art of Life” from
Tribe. The setlist was constructed to support the theme very well, and from the accounts of those that attended, if you closed your eyes and just listened to the music, the band performed extremely well and the songs flowed nicely together.
Dedicated to Chaos (2011)Lead vocals – Geoff Tate
Guitars – Michael Wilton
Bass – Eddie Jackson
Drums – Scott Rockenfield
Additional musicians:
Guitars – Parker Lundgren
Guitars – Kelly Gray
Keyboards – Randy Gane
Bass – Jason Slater
Background vocals – Jason Ames
Background vocals – Miranda Tate
Dedicated to Chaos was released in the U.S. on June 28, 2011 in two different versions – a standard edition, and a special edition with four bonus tracks. It debuted at #70 on the Billboard chart (as opposed to
American Soldier being #25 and
Operation: Mindcrime II being #14), and dropped like a rock after that. It was, along with 1999's
Q2k, likely the most criticized record in Queensryche's career to this point.
Playing up to the title of the album, Dedicated to Chaos was all over the map in terms of musical style. From pop to metal to electronica. Quite simply, it was a mess of a record. Parts of it were a complete sonic departure from what people knew as Queensryche, resulting in a huge backlash from fans...and actual band members (we'll get to that in a bit).
Initially,
Dedicated to Chaos was supposed to be a band-written record (unlike
Operation: Mindcrime II and
American Soldier). The band was not pleased that their contributions were limited over the last couple of records, and allegedly, the four principal members of the band agreed to write the album together. Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson and Scott Rockenfield got together to come up with initial song ideas. But at some point in early 2011, Tate allegedly flipped the script.
Instead of working on the songs from the band, Tate instead sang on songs given to him by Kelly Gray, Randy Gane (Tate's old bandmate in MYTH) and Jason Slater. Wilton, in particular, was completely shut out from the writing process. In the end,
Dedicated to Chaos ended up with a few songs co-written by Jackson and Rockenfield, but the majority were again from outside writers, with Tate doing all the lyrics.
Editor's note: There are a large amount of b-sides compiled for this record. They have never been released, but generally, Slater opened up his unused song library to Tate, and Tate picked quite a few cuts and recorded vocals on them. Again, they've never been leaked or released (to my knowledge). They are also quite varied, style-wise. I have heard them (with Tate's vocals) and most are in the vein of Slater's old band, Snake River Conspiracy, highlighting electronica and the rhythm section.
In addition, Wilton has been asked on multiple occasions what happened to the tracks he was working on for Dedicated to Chaos, and if they would be recycled by Queensryche's current lineup. Wilton generally sidesteps the question, saying the band only works on stuff they have come up with in the present for whatever project they are working on.Perhaps the most shocking aspect of
Dedicated to Chaos was the album's lyrics. Sexually-charged songs such as “Got it Bad” were ridiculed, as were the majority of other tunes on the record. Tate unfortunately comes off as complaining about the world at times (Hot Spot Junkie, Retail Therapy), as opposed to his reputation as a deep thinker. And while coming off of
American Soldier, embracing lighter subject areas was probably a welcome change for him, it only served to further build the frustration fans were having with Tate and the direction he was steering the band.
Tate and Rockenfield did a lot of promotion for the album, however, trying to sell it on the strength of it being very rhythm oriented and experimental. If I recall correctly, Rockenfield tried to liken it to
Rage for Order meets
Empire, which, if you listen, isn't an accurate description at all. As for the rest of the band, they had other ideas. Right at, or prior to
Dedicated to Chaos' release, Wilton and Jackson took to social media to share their thoughts.
“I hope you enjoy my guitar parts on the new record” - Michael Wilton (summary/paraphrase)
Eddie Jackson went a step further, and simply apologized to fans on Twitter for the album.
It was a huge public sign of the growing dysfunction in Queensryche that has first reared its head publicly nine years earlier. If you recall, that was when Tate was on the road with his solo band and said on WMMS that Queensryche only spoke through lawyers, and were a dysfunctional group. As you can imagine, the fan backlash, on the strength of those comments from Wilton and Jackson, was immense.
Even Parker Lundgren, who was still a guest in the band at this point, remarked (again paraphrase) that he and the band worked on songs, and then when the record came out, there were songs he had never even heard once before. Wilton's comments about “guitar parts” is also likely accurate. Unlike
American Soldier, where you can hear Michael play throughout the album, only a couple of tracks on
Dedicated to Chaos have Wilton on them.
To be fair,
Dedicated to Chaos has its moments of promise and intrigue. “At the Edge” is probably the highlight, appealing to the progressive rock fan who enjoys
Promised Land, as does “Big Noize” (ridiculous spelling aside). Lyrics aside, “Hot Spot Junkie” (great guitar solo) and “The Lie” should capture a bit of interest from hard rock fans.
The singles from the record (if I remember correctly) were "Get Started" (a mid-tempo rocker that lacks any real crunchy guitars), which was used at Seattle Seahawks football games, and "Around the World." The latter is more of a pop rock song whose chorus tries to be a unifying statement that “all we need is love.”
Queensryche had planned a tour marketed initially to support
Dedicated to Chaos, but it was quickly scrapped in favor a tour celebrating the band's 30th anniversary. So, instead of being subjected to six or seven songs from the new record, Queensryche played one or two (Get Started, Around the World, and sometimes At the Edge), and the rest were tunes from the back catalog.
The band played gigs throughout 2011 and 2012 in support of its 30th Anniversary and to a minor extent,
Dedicated to Chaos. But the tension between them was at an all-time high, and would erupt in April 2012.
Samsara's top tracks from
Dedicated to Chaos: At the Edge. (If you really want to stretch, try Hot Spot Junkie).
Next up: 2012-2013: A discussion of the “Brazil Incident,” the fallout and changes from that (Tate's dismissal, Rising West, two Queensryches, etc.), Return to History Tour, Self-titled album.