re: Parker
Parker has grown up a lot. Yeah, the nepotism was high in 2009 when Tate brought him in. We were all pissed that Tate hired his then son-in-law. But he worked his ass off and continues to, and so I give him a lot of respect for that as a guitar player. He's a better fit than Gray or Stone, and has really been able to mesh with Wilton a lot better. Although Wilton has now taken over all of Chris' signature solo guitar solos, so Parker only does Chris' trade-off pieces.
But the thing is, Parker knows it all -- cold. In spring 2013, I was fortunate enough to be backstage pre-show, and was sitting with him. I walked in the room, sat down, and he had his headphones on, and was playing, I asked him what he was doing, and it was his routine -- he plays the entire set before the show to warm up. And he does that every day, regardless of whether they are playing or not.
So he adds dedication and commitment to playing.
As for creativity, he does write, but not really in the style that Queensryche is. He loved punk music, and grew up playing that. He's also into that rockabilly thing as well. I've heard some stuff, he can write for sure. And he writes some kick ass solos too. For example, most people assume that the song "Don't Look Back" from the self-titled 2013 LP was Michael's, because Michael wrote the music for that song. Nope. Parker wrote that entire harmonized solo. Same thing in Hellfire -- Whip's song, and he does that first smaller solo. But the main solo in the song was written by Parker. Chris sometimes did the same thing for Michael. Damaged was written by Chris, but Michael wrote and plays the solo.
So Parker has a lot of talent. But he's not really ever going to be more than "the other guy' like T-ski said, because he doesn't get a chance to shine in Queensryche. I asked Parker in 2013 twice if Michael was going to hand over some solos, and you could tell it was a bone of contention to a degree. Parker wants to play some of those Chris solos, but Michael wasn't giving them up. And you know what, after all those years of giving them up to Kelly Gray and Mike Stone, I don't blame Wilton one bit. I did ask Wilton about it, and he basically said those were his and Chris' signature spots, and he wants to make sure it is done by him. Again, I respect that completely. But it doesn't do Parker any favors.
Parker wasn't in the original plans for Rising W.E.S.T. WEST originally stood for Whip Eddie Scott Todd. They had Parker on as a guest. But when it went over so well, I remember Ed saying if Parker is in the band, what do they call it, and then I mentioned the whole Before the Storm lyric "rising from the west," and Ed goes, "yeah, there you go, that's it." That was before they moved on from Tate as Queensryche. But when they moved on, and took over the Queensryche name, they felt good about Parker, and he stayed on.
He did, prior to all that, somewhere in the 2011 timeframe, have an opportunity to try out for In This Moment, Maria Brinks' band, which I think would have been a better fit for him. This is, again, coming from Jason Slater, so take it with the usual grain of salt caveat. According to Slater, ITM required the guitar player to show original material -- they wanted someone who could write. So Parker, according to Slater, asked Slater if he could use some of the songs they had worked on (together, I am assuming). I'm not sure whether Parker pursued it fully or not, and never really thought to ask while I had access to him (and it would have had to be in private, of course). But to be honest, if he got the gig and turned it down to stay with QR, that was a bad career move for him. But again, no idea what came of it. maybe he didn't get it.
So no, I don't believe, as currently constructed, Parker has any chance of making a name for himself with Queensryche. But it's a gig, and heavy touring gigs that provide a steady paycheck (so he doesn't have to go back to working at Guitar Center), so I can't really blame him for sticking around. But no, image wise, and everything else, he's not really a "fit,' in my opinion. But he's earned his stripes for sure.