Official Queensryche thread: Kickstart the next album

[Samsara]

Hey all. For those interested, I interviewed Toby Wright, the engineer/mixer of Queensryche's Hear in the Now Frontier. I wrote up an article talking about the record for its upcoming 25th anniversary. Toby is most known for his work with Alice in Chains and Korn. But sandwiched between those two bands was a one-off with Queensryche.

Here it is if anyone wants to check it out: https://anybodylistening.net/hitnf-25.html

Have a great week. 

B

[ReaperKK]

Great read Samsara!

[devieira73]

Nice article! It's always sad that the original line-up didn't stayed together... surely they would have made so many more amazing albums.

[TAC]

Nice article! It's always sad that the original line-up didn't stayed together... surely they would have made so many more amazing albums.

I suppose. Personally while I like what they tried to do with HITNF, that and Promised Land were both very disappointing. Plus Geoff’s voice was already going.

[Samsara]

Thanks for checking it out.

The album still has its filler, imo. But it has grown on me a great deal over the years. I understand better what the goal was and really appreciate it. Songs like Some People Fly, Hero, even Cuckoo's Nest, I dig a lot more than I did.

My favorite tracks are still the same (spOOL is still tops), but overall my enjoyment of the record has really grown. I actually credit Tate's acoustic solo performance of "Some People Fly" in 2017. There was something inspiring about it that made me really appreciate the record even more.

[devieira73]

I don't have problem with PL and HITNF (although obviously they're not at same level from Warning to Empire). In fact, I would be more concernable with those DeGarmo songs from Tribe - but maybe that was a result of the bad relationships at the time. But, even with an aged version of Geoff's voice, I think the band could still return to form and make more amazing prog hard rock albums, without returning to its heavier days.

[WardySI]

Yes.

Also like a lot of the album and while I do believe a lot of the newfound appreciation for HITNF is us looking back for nostalgic value, and well, because there's not been a lot of great since and we can better appreciate the record upon reflection, aside from a few of its songs always liked plenty of the record.

And I've always said had the band managed to stay together and forged through their issues, HITNF probably would've simply been relegated to that one poor album and like many other bands such as Maiden and Priest etc, Queensryche would've found their way eventually and absolutely would've delivered some magic again.  Tribe was too soon perhaps but it alone hinted the magic was still there can only imagine with more albums under their belt things would've swung back around as they usually do!?

IMO 

Good read thanks Brian

[Lowdz]

I’ve come to appreciate most of PL over the years, and some of HITNF but it’s a poor album with a dreary sound. And it’s supposedly DeGarmo’s album so I never really clamoured for his return, I just fell out of love with the band.

[Setlist Scotty]

I’ve come to appreciate most of PL over the years, and some of HITNF but it’s a poor album with a dreary sound. And it’s supposedly DeGarmo’s album so I never really clamoured for his return, I just fell out of love with the band.

Funny that you mention that. I remember when it was first announced that CDG had left, I wasn't disappointed - in fact I was kind of excited to see who they would bring in to replace him and what they would do next, since it was obvious from the songwriting credits that HitNF was primarily CDG's baby. IIRC, there had been some rumors that even John Sykes or Nuno Bettencourt or some other "free" name guitarist might join QR. While to this day I'm not thrilled with HitNF, I do strongly regret CDG's leaving, and I wonder where they might have gone next had he stayed. Tribe gives some indication which I could take or leave, but in general his songwriting was of higher quality and has been missing since his exit.

[bl5150]

I’ve come to appreciate most of PL over the years, and some of HITNF but it’s a poor album with a dreary sound. And it’s supposedly DeGarmo’s album so I never really clamoured for his return, I just fell out of love with the band.

Same here - it was the last QR album I bought for a very,very long time.  I bought OM2 just because I caught the tour and then my well meaning sister bought me Dedicated To Cabaret for Christmas   

[TAC]

I bought HITNF and I liked what that were going for. I just thought it was way too inconsistent. But it does have the best band portrait of their career.

I also bought OM:2...just because I guess. I made it like halfway through.

[Phoenix87x]

Promised land is my favorite QR album where as I don't think I've ever even made it all the way through HITNF in one sitting before 

Two wildly different albums, but to each there own.

[TAC]

Promised land is my favorite QR album where as I don't think I've ever even made it all the way through HITNF in one sitting before 

I've never made it through Promised Land in one sitting.

[Setzer]

Promised land is my favorite QR album where as I don't think I've ever even made it all the way through HITNF in one sitting before 

I've never made it through Promised Land in one sitting.

It's an experience!

[nick_z]

Huge fan of Promised Land here. It's always a fight vs. Empire for the third spot in my Queensryche album ranking (after O:M and Rage for Order)

I love that it's at the same time accessible and full of cool ideas and details to discover...both in the production (one of my favorites, ever) and the songwriting. I liked it when it came out, but I've grown to absolutely love it over time...

[Samsara]

Promised Land really divides the fan base. In some ways, more than Hear in the Now Frontier. I've said this story a few times here over the years, but I didn't like PL when it first came out. I remember being in college, and not having the money to get it, begging my mother for a $20 loan until Friday so I could go to "The Wiz" and pick up the album (I saw the huge display in the window on my way back home from classes). She did, I got the CD home, put it on, and was like "WTF is this? I am I, I had seen on MTV. It was okay. "Damaged" was awesome. Then I was confused why the record was so mid-tempo. I listened to it a couple times and put it away.

A week or so later it was raining, late at night, I had gotten home from work, everyone was asleep. So I threw it on my headphones, laid in bed, and by the time the title track finished, I totally "got it." I read the lyrics to make sure I was following along, and realized just how personal the record was, and WHY it was mid-tempo (aside from a couple tracks). Once I heard the nuances in the record, and accepted that this was more of a deeper dive (up to that point, I'd say PL was the least accessible record in QR's catalog -- it might still be), it clicked.

Even now, it hovers near the top for me. Mindcrime will always be 1. But PL is always in the mix between 2-5. Always. What stops it from probably being the solid #2 is that it is about a song too short, IMO, and it could use another aggressive track or two. I also wish they would have re-cut the vocals on "Someone Else?" (It has the electric version's vocals spliced on top of the piano version, which came later.) Either that, or had spent the time and came up with the beautiful hybrid version they did live on that tour (which to me is the ultimate version of that song.)

So all those little nitpicks (and they are little) make it swim in that ocean of The Warning, Rage, and Empire in that 2-5 zone.

To be honest, The Warning has now mostly taken over as #2, if I consider it in the proper running order (which is sequenced that way on my digital stuff). PL and Rage fight it out for #3 after that. Empire probably is 5th, but depending on the day, it could be as high as 3. Della Brown, Anybody Listening, the title track, so, so good.

Anyway, I digress...

[TAC]

What's weird is that I never considered Queensryche a great live band even though I loved their music.
I did not like Promised Land at all, but the show I saw on that tour was incredible.

[KevShmev]

What's weird is that I never considered Queensryche a great live band even though I loved their music.
I did not like Promised Land at all, but the show I saw on that tour was incredible.

Connect the dots.

[Lowdz]

I’ve come to appreciate most of PL over the years, and some of HITNF but it’s a poor album with a dreary sound. And it’s supposedly DeGarmo’s album so I never really clamoured for his return, I just fell out of love with the band.

Same here - it was the last QR album I bought for a very,very long time.  I bought OM2 just because I caught the tour and then my well meaning sister bought me Dedicated To Cabaret for Christmas   

Disown her if she did it on purpose 😁

I persevered for several albums after HITNF and have everything up to American Soldier or om2 whichever was the last, just hoping something would change. Then nothing until Toddryche.

[Mebert78]

My apologies if this was posted and I missed it, but Geoff had some interesting remarks about the making of Promised Land in a recent interview linked on Blabbermouth. I always knew it was mostly a Tate/DeGarmo album, but I thought the other guys were a little more involved than Tate made it sound.

We made the record under extreme circumstances. We hadn't talk to each other in three years after we finished the 'Empire' tour, and the record company was knocking at the door for another record. And we knew we had to get in the studio to make one. None of us really wanted to be in the same room, but we had to do it. So I came up with this idea, 'Well, let's get everybody together on a remote island and we'll all sit in one place for a few months and throw around a bunch of ideas and see what happens and maybe kind of get back to being a band again,' like we were on maybe the first album. That didn't work. [Laughs] We still went and did that plan, but I think the drummer, [Scott] Rockenfield, he stayed for two weeks. He got all his parts done and left. And then the same with Eddie [Jackson, bass]. He was there about a week; he got done and left. Michael [Wilton, guitar] did some parts. He was there about three weeks and left. And it was just Chris [DeGarmo, guitar] and me and our engineer for six months [laughs], staying on the island, making the record.

[T-ski]

My apologies if this was posted and I missed it, but Geoff had some interesting remarks about the making of Promised Land in a recent interview linked on Blabbermouth. I always knew it was mostly a Tate/DeGarmo album, but I thought the other guys were a little more involved than Tate made it sound.

We made the record under extreme circumstances. We hadn't talk to each other in three years after we finished the 'Empire' tour, and the record company was knocking at the door for another record. And we knew we had to get in the studio to make one. None of us really wanted to be in the same room, but we had to do it. So I came up with this idea, 'Well, let's get everybody together on a remote island and we'll all sit in one place for a few months and throw around a bunch of ideas and see what happens and maybe kind of get back to being a band again,' like we were on maybe the first album. That didn't work. [Laughs] We still went and did that plan, but I think the drummer, [Scott] Rockenfield, he stayed for two weeks. He got all his parts done and left. And then the same with Eddie [Jackson, bass]. He was there about a week; he got done and left. Michael [Wilton, guitar] did some parts. He was there about three weeks and left. And it was just Chris [DeGarmo, guitar] and me and our engineer for six months [laughs], staying on the island, making the record.

The Making of Promised Land Big Log video vs. Geoff Tates memory.

You make the call.

[bosk1]

My apologies if this was posted and I missed it, but Geoff had some interesting remarks about the making of Promised Land in a recent interview linked on Blabbermouth. I always knew it was mostly a Tate/DeGarmo album, but I thought the other guys were a little more involved than Tate made it sound.

We made the record under extreme circumstances. We hadn't talk to each other in three years after we finished the 'Empire' tour, and the record company was knocking at the door for another record. And we knew we had to get in the studio to make one. None of us really wanted to be in the same room, but we had to do it. So I came up with this idea, 'Well, let's get everybody together on a remote island and we'll all sit in one place for a few months and throw around a bunch of ideas and see what happens and maybe kind of get back to being a band again,' like we were on maybe the first album. That didn't work. [Laughs] We still went and did that plan, but I think the drummer, [Scott] Rockenfield, he stayed for two weeks. He got all his parts done and left. And then the same with Eddie [Jackson, bass]. He was there about a week; he got done and left. Michael [Wilton, guitar] did some parts. He was there about three weeks and left. And it was just Chris [DeGarmo, guitar] and me and our engineer for six months [laughs], staying on the island, making the record.

The Making of Promised Land Big Log video vs. Geoff Tates memory.

You make the call.

OK, I hear you.  And I think it is undeniable that every word Geoff Tate should be fact-checked because the man has demonstrated at every turn that he either does not understand or care about truth.  But that being said, the Big Log documentary does not necessarily disprove what Tate said.  Keep in mind that it was a PR piece meant for fans to hype up the new album.  For argument's sake, every word of what Tate said could be true, and it would not have been hard to cut together footage from the experience to make it look like five guys reuniting and finding themselves as a band again in new and creative ways, even if that wasn't what went down at all. 

[Kwyjibo]

I'm very sceptical of this, and if I remember correctly Samsara's book makes no mention of it either.

[Samsara]

Just because it waan't in the book doesn't mean there isn't a kernel of truth there. I tend to think Tate isn't lying. But I doubt its the full story.  Well  its NOT the full story.

btw, saw Rockenfield was busy on FB this morning. I don't think I've ever seen a singer referred to as a "subcontractor" before. 😬😳

[Kwyjibo]

Yeah, but if it was a known thing, wouldn't you and your colleagues put it in the Promised Land chapter?

[Adami]

What's weird is that I never considered Queensryche a great live band even though I loved their music.
I did not like Promised Land at all, but the show I saw on that tour was incredible.

Connect the dots.

I'm afraid that for TAC, the dots will remain.....disconnected.


And I'm out.

[DragonAttack]

I'm afraid that for TAC, the dots will remain.....disconnected.

And I'm out.

  

[Samsara]

Yeah, but if it was a known thing, wouldn't you and your colleagues put it in the Promised Land chapter?

Sure. But we tried to tell the story in as neutral a way as possible. I'd have to go back and read what we had in there, but I'm sure we mentioned some of the background circumstances.

[Setlist Scotty]

btw, saw Rockenfield was busy on FB this morning. I don't think I've ever seen a singer referred to as a "subcontractor" before. 😬😳

And then he addressed Tater's comments from two years ago when Tater said Scott's in a dark place, probably won't play drums again, etc. Like Scott is only discovering those comments now? Someone had to have made him aware of those comments within 6 months of when Tater said them - why only say something now?

[Grappler]

btw, saw Rockenfield was busy on FB this morning. I don't think I've ever seen a singer referred to as a "subcontractor" before. 😬😳

And then he addressed Tater's comments from two years ago when Tater said Scott's in a dark place, probably won't play drums again, etc. Like Scott is only discovering those comments now? Someone had to have made him aware of those comments within 6 months of when Tater said them - why only say something now?

Todd was just quoted on Blabbermouth recently about how integral Casey Grillo was to the new album.   

I think the last time Scott dropped a bunch of statements last year was when Blabbermouth noted that Casey would be recording the new album.  He seems to have a real bug up his butt about Casey being the drummer in the band.

[faizoff]

Was there ever any official reason given for Scott leaving QR?

I used to follow the band up to the 1st album with Todd, haven't kept with them of late and haven't even heard their albums in a while. For me Promised Land was an almost instant liking even after overplaying Mindcrime and Rage non stop. Empire was the record that took forever to get into, just didn't like the vibe of the tracks other than Silent Lucidity though it probably has my favorite production of theirs.

[Grappler]

Was there ever any official reason given for Scott leaving QR?

He ghosted them, though I would imagine there is more to the situation than what the public knows.  A scheduled paternity leave went open-ended as months turned into years.  The band had to move on without him if they wanted to continue to tour and record, hiring Casey Grillo full-time.  Scott seems to remain a partner in the QR corporation and has yet to be bought out though, unlike when they split with Geoff and settled with him. 

[goo-goo]

Some words by Scott

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/queensryche-drummer-scott-rockenfield-blasts-subcontractor-todd-la-torre-calls-out-geoff-tate-for-crazy-statements/

[Kwyjibo]

To whom does he speak?
Maybe he's speaking to me ....

[ZirconBlue]

Some words by Scott

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/queensryche-drummer-scott-rockenfield-blasts-subcontractor-todd-la-torre-calls-out-geoff-tate-for-crazy-statements/

He still sounds unhinged.