I have to say I don't feel sorry for him at all. He and Edbass should man up and either put their point of view across or leave. They seem the two who are unhappy about things judging by Ed's previous apology for the album. I guess they are just employees these days, working for the man but hating their job.
This is the way I see it as well. What kind of contract did they sign that took away their input? Or is Geoff so OCD controlling that they just gave in?
To add to what Samsara said above: I doubt there is anything contractual that actually took away their input. But here's the reality of how Queensryche is structured as a corporate entity: The best-case scenario is that Tate and Rockenfield together own 50%, with Ed and Whip owning the other 50%. When it comes to band decisions, Scott will almost always side with Tate because he knows where his bread is buttered and because his wife and Susan are VERY tight. So in this situation, 50% of the band (Geoff and Scott) feel strongly that they want to go a certain direction. The other 50% (Whip and Ed) don't, but if they don't go along, the band is deadlocked, which means nothing gets done and they don't have a much-needed paycheck rolling in. They don't have the outside projects and income streams that Geoff and Scott have built up over the years, so they would suffer if they didn't just go along for the ride. So when you have a couple of guys that are already somewhat passive in their personalities, it is much easier to be nonconfrontational than to try to go against the grain.
But let's imagine a different scenario, and we have to go back over a decade to Chris' departure here, so let's fire up the wayback machine. With Chris in the band, the band is actually owned equally by 5 individuals. Let's assume just so we're dealing with easy numbers, that you have 100 shares divided equally (20 per person). When Chris leaves, what do they do with his shares? In the previous paragraph, the "best case" scenario for the others is that the shares were either retired, or were bought equally by the remaining 4 members. But what if Geoff bought them all? He now has a 40% interest (and 40% of the vote). Coupled with Scott, it's a 60% majority. Now who is in control? Or maybe Geoff doesn't buy them all, but they decide to take Chris' shares and divide them 5 ways. Why 5? Because Susan Tate is taking such a HUGE role in managing the band that she deserves to have a tiny ownership slice, so why not give her 4%? Now you have an ownership structure like this:
-Geoff Tate: 24%
-Scott Rockenfield: 24%
-Michael Wilton: 24%
-Eddie Jackson: 24%
-Susan Tate: 4%
Guess what? The Tate/Rockenfield voting block is now a majority of 52% to Ed/Whip's 48%. This is how corporations are taken over very subtly, and I'm guessing something similar could have happened here.
So why are the band making the decisions they are making? Because while the band's legacy is firmly rooted in metal, Geoff isn't a metalhead to the core and is more interested in making what he considers "art," whether it be the music itself or the presentation. He is pursuing what he wants to pursue, and he knows a certain number of people will support the band regardless of what they do. Besides, the more "casual" fans out there don't really care about any new QR material. They want to come to a show and hear the hits. So if QR can put out an album for the purpose of getting out on tour, and they know the vast majority of the set will be the hits and classics, that's all that matters. No matter how the new album sounds, they have a reason to get out on the road and make money.
Topic: Official Queensryche thread: Kickstart the next album (Read 695734 times)
