Official Queensryche thread: Kickstart the next album

[T-ski]

Don't know how rare this is, but someone posted the QR unplugged show's rehearsal footage on YouTube....

https://youtu.be/BZzL-nVdOC0?si=zqWrYlwlneRU-O0l

[WardySI]

Don't know how rare this is, but someone posted the QR unplugged show's rehearsal footage on YouTube....

https://youtu.be/BZzL-nVdOC0?si=zqWrYlwlneRU-O0l

 

Have never seen that thanks for the heads up

[WilliamMunny]

Don't know how rare this is, but someone posted the QR unplugged show's rehearsal footage on YouTube....

https://youtu.be/BZzL-nVdOC0?si=zqWrYlwlneRU-O0l

A band at the peak of their powers

[Awaken]

A band at the peak of their powers

Tate's voice 

[Samsara]

Don't know how rare this is, but someone posted the QR unplugged show's rehearsal footage on YouTube....

https://youtu.be/BZzL-nVdOC0?si=zqWrYlwlneRU-O0l

Pretty rare. That's prior to the show itself. So while the entirety of the show has been around for years, the pre-show rehearsal is new, at least to my eyes. Very cool stuff. You can see their chemistry. Tate sounded amazing. They all did.

[pg1067]

That sucks PG.  Your daughter is going to Keene if I remember correctly.

You are correct.  We moved her in on Saturday the 24th, and I came home the following Tuesday.

[emtee]

What a voice! Man oh man. Elite vocalist back in those days.

[pg1067]

Don't know how rare this is, but someone posted the QR unplugged show's rehearsal footage on YouTube....

https://youtu.be/BZzL-nVdOC0?si=zqWrYlwlneRU-O0l

Cool!  Having been there, I'm going to have to give this a look when I have time.

[Setzer]

Don't know how rare this is, but someone posted the QR unplugged show's rehearsal footage on YouTube....

https://youtu.be/BZzL-nVdOC0?si=zqWrYlwlneRU-O0l

Holy hell that is awesome. At first I thought it was just the "uncut" version of the show in better quality, but this is truly something special.

[WardySI]

A few days after returning home from seeing Maiden in Sydney came down with a shitty cold of sorts took about 5 days out of me but whenever the eyes turned their taps off did some Queensryche reading...

Dug through the entire 30 something Queensryche Discography Thread pages Samsara did up some years back https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php/topic,50337.0.html 

Had been taking a break from Queensryche forum stuff back then and missed it (or at least don't recall it ).  So that was a real treat to read through and everyone else's thoughts on all those albums.  Had me reaching back into some of their late 90-00's albums again too (their heyday records are regular spins fer me). 

Wonderful stuff and some good memories.  So take that as a little cheers for the gift that keeps giving

[WilliamMunny]

Yep, Samsara has been a constant resource for a lot of us over the years. I had Anybodylistening.net bookmarked for at least a decade

[Zydar]

Yep, Samsara has been a constant resource for a lot of us over the years. I had Anybodylistening.net bookmarked for at least a decade

When I got into the band around 15 years ago, that website was a great resource for a new fan. 

[WardySI]

I was heavily involved in the forums and regularly visited anybodylistening and I am a little disappointed it's no  longer available all that history was wonderful \m/

[Samsara]

Thanks all. I appreciate the kind words. I really do. The website and information at least regarding QR's live performances is now all included in Roads to Madness, the book. It can be purchased at roadstomadness.com.

Once you have the book, you have everything that was on that site, except for the blogs I wrote and discography info. The reason it is no longer online is because my web design skills were out of date, so to "update" the site, I just turned it into a book. A physical form for all that information. The book contents is also VERY much expanded from the website. So please pick up a copy. For those of you who don't want to spend the money to buy a hardcover or a paperback, a .pdf option does exist. You can literally keep that on your desktop and open it up, when you want to peruse all that information.

The FORUM attached to that site, The Breakdown Room, was around from 2004-2016. It was very successful, but it had run its course. I was very glad when I put it to bed. Wonderful memories, 15 minutes of fame, and then bad stuff as well.  I still have it all, but the forum won't be coming back.

As for the detailed information people are talking about, yes, the stuff on the albums, the article scans, my blogs and all of that stuff isn't included in the book. Some of it is in that biography I contributed to. But I didn't really write that book except for certain cutaway sections, and then when I rewrote certain things for the author to make it more complete.

I do plan to do another book at some point about the original QR's catalog of music. It's sorta in the planning stages. I have a couple of other projects I want to do before it (including one book that is pretty much ready to head to the designer next month - more on that by the end of the year). So eventually, that QR info will generally all be in a book form (well, I can't reprint article scans, but I can use quotes).

Apologies to those who loved the website. I thank you all. The ultimate tribute to the original Queensryche has to be done in a way that does justice to them, and for me, that has to be in a permanent form like a book. I just don't have the design skills (nor the patience to learn them) to make a modern website. (all my websites were either hand-coded or had a very basic HTML editor program that I still did a ton of hand-coding. It was a lot of work.)

And for those that roll their eyes about books - trust me, I'm not making much on any of it. Roads to Madness may generate a thousand bucks in profit for me in its lifetime. MAYBE. It's really pennies. For example, the hundreds of copies I sold of it since late-May until late-September, have made it break even and probably generate a couple hundred bucks of profit to this point. It cost a lot to produce a 600-page, full-color, coffee table book.

That will hold true on my next book (which I'll have info on later this year), which is standard size (6x9). I'll be going through Amazon on that one, and its full color, and if I charge 24.99 for it, I literally make $4.50 per book after Amazon's print on demand costs, all their fees, and percentage, etc. So it'll be VERY LITTLE profit. And hell, Roads to Madness was so big, it made no sense to have Amazon do it. I would have had to charge like 200 bucks to break even if I did that one through them.

Anyway, this got long. I just want to say thank you to those of you who loved AnybodyListening.net. I really appreciate it. And I hope with Roads to Madness, and eventually, another book on the original Queensryche, you'll all be able to relive that site in a more permanent form on your bookshelves and desks. 

p.s. shout out to Wardy for re-reading that QR discography thread I did. That was a lot of fun.

[TAC]

Card carrying member of The Breakdown Room right here.

[Grappler]

Card carrying member of The Breakdown Room right here.

Really?  Did you have the same username? 

Mine is/was the same on both forums.

[TAC]

Really?  Did you have the same username? 

Mine is/was the same on both forums.

Yes, and same avatar.

[DSB]

Yeah, I too miss the BDR.  Spent a lot of time on that forum.  I'll never forget the period of time when the band fired Tate and being on that site constantly waiting for the latest updates. That forum had a great run and I appreciate the effort that was put into it by Sam and the mods.

[Samsara]

Yeah, I too miss the BDR.  Spent a lot of time on that forum.  I'll never forget the period of time when the band fired Tate and being on that site constantly waiting for the latest updates. That forum had a great run and I appreciate the effort that was put into it by Sam and the mods.

Thanks for saying that. We tried our best. Made some mistakes, but also did some real good stuff. That period was absolutely crazy. 

[TAC]

The BDR was a nice companion forum to DTF for me.
It seemed smaller, but with a tighter knit group of members if that makes any sense. It was quite QR-centric obviously, but I enjoyed a lot of the music discussion that went on there.

I didn't always have a lot to contribute to the ongoing QR subjects, but people there seemed really respectful.

[TAC]

Busted out my old laptop, that hasn't been fired up in years...and there it is, still in my Favorites!

[Grappler]

but the forum won't be coming back.

[DSB]

I realize that Sam's focus is firmly on QR's classic line up these days but the BDR did champion the new Todd era starting with the Rising West shows.  It seemed the majority opinion was very positive in regard to Todd joining the band (mostly seems to be that way on DTF also)

I'm still very pleased with this iteration of QR and I feel the output far outpaces anything since PL (some would argue HitNF, I'm not one of them).  As has been addressed here numerous times, it's certainly not the same sounding band as the  prime QR years, but there is enough there that harkens back to that time (example: Lost in Sorrow could slide nicely onto Empire)

If I had to rate the Todd releases it  would look like this:

1) Verdict
2) DNA
3) CH
4) QR

Go to songs from the records:

CH - Eye9, Bullet Proof
Verdict - Light Years, Bent, Launder
DNA - Lost in Sorrow, Behind the Walls, Out of the Black.

[WardySI]

I realize that Sam's focus is firmly on QR's classic line up these days but the BDR did champion the new Todd era starting with the Rising West shows.  It seemed the majority opinion was very positive in regard to Todd joining the band (mostly seems to be that way on DTF also)

I'm still very pleased with this iteration of QR and I feel the output far outpaces anything since PL (some would argue HitNF, I'm not one of them).  As has been addressed here numerous times, it's certainly not the same sounding band as the  prime QR years, but there is enough there that harkens back to that time (example: Lost in Sorrow could slide nicely onto Empire)

If I had to rate the Todd releases it  would look like this:

1) Verdict
2) DNA
3) CH
4) QR

Go to songs from the records:

CH - Eye9, Bullet Proof
Verdict - Light Years, Bent, Launder
DNA - Lost in Sorrow, Behind the Walls, Out of the Black.

IMO nothing will likely ever come close to those heyday original lineup albums, the stars truly were aligned.

But yes have also enjoyed the last 4 records very much and agree there's a few tracks throughout that could've fit nicely onto one of the original lineup records, Lost In Sorrow probably my first choice also.

You couldn't list anything from the self-titled?

1. Digital Noise Alliance
Lost In Sorrow, Chapters, Out Of The Black, In Tormentum

2. The Verdict
Blood Of The Levant, Dark Reverie, Light Years

3. Queensryche
Spore, In This Light, Open Road

4. Condition Human
Hellfire, Eye9, Guardian

[Grappler]

I realize that Sam's focus is firmly on QR's classic line up these days but the BDR did champion the new Todd era starting with the Rising West shows.  It seemed the majority opinion was very positive in regard to Todd joining the band (mostly seems to be that way on DTF also)

I'm still very pleased with this iteration of QR and I feel the output far outpaces anything since PL (some would argue HitNF, I'm not one of them).  As has been addressed here numerous times, it's certainly not the same sounding band as the  prime QR years, but there is enough there that harkens back to that time (example: Lost in Sorrow could slide nicely onto Empire)

If I had to rate the Todd releases it  would look like this:

1) Verdict
2) DNA
3) CH
4) QR

Go to songs from the records:

CH - Eye9, Bullet Proof
Verdict - Light Years, Bent, Launder
DNA - Lost in Sorrow, Behind the Walls, Out of the Black.

I get hot and cold on the current band's releases.  I was all for it at first, but then felt like they were just putting an album out to play one song from it, while continuing to play songs from the first five albums.  I don't think they took enough of a risk in pushing the new material. 

I do enjoy the records, but at the same time, certain elements of their touring leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  I do think each of the albums has a number of good songs that I enjoy though.

[WardySI]

Completely understandable and you're not the only one to express this.  That said perhaps for a change it's an  advantage living abroad and not getting all the shows, only having the albums themselves to enjoy

[DSB]

Wardy - Re: QR Self Titled, I don't go back to that one too much.  Nice statement EP when they regained their identity for sure. It was a good, but understandably a rushed effort, and it sounded like it.  The following 3 releases are way ahead regarding production, sound, songwriting, and represent the band firmly getting their footing back.

Yeah, if I had to pick 3 tunes from that one I'd go with the 3 you chose.

Grap - I've seen the Todd fronted QR 3 times.  The first show was at the very beginning and I think it was after the self titled release but I don't think they played any songs from it.  Saw the Verdict tour, and they played 1 CH tune and maybe 2-3 Verdict tunes.  On the DNA tour they probably(?) played 5-6 tunes combined from Verdict and DNA, nothing from CH or ST, to the best of my sketchy memory.

The lack of Todd album songs being played live, and overall set length, has been discussed here at length so I won't rehash it.  But personally, I'd be totally cool seeing a QR show only playing Todd era tunes.  I've seen the other stuff more than enough.

[Samsara]

I realize that Sam's focus is firmly on QR's classic line up these days but the BDR did champion the new Todd era starting with the Rising West shows.  It seemed the majority opinion was very positive in regard to Todd joining the band (mostly seems to be that way on DTF also)

Yes, BdR did champion the TLT era. That actually was one of my biggest mistakes. Not in regard to the quality of the TLT material, but just taking a side, in general. I threw in with the Jackson/Rockenfield/Wilton side due to a variety of factors, and while the 5 minutes of fame was fun, the board lost its integrity in the process. It was fun for a while, and I got some cool access. But it was fool's gold that I was too blind to see. I really don't want to say any more on it, because it isn't important in the general enjoyment of Queensryche music. But to put a bow on it, if I had to do it all over again, I would have just walked the line.

Music-wise, I think the TLT era is very different, and in all honesty, very much a different beast. But then again, QR was a very different beast in all its iterations: OG lineup, Kelly Gray era, Tate/Slater era, TLT era. It's all Queensryche, but all of it very distinct to my ears. Particularly when you compare the current era to the OG lineup era. They are not the same. At all. And that's fine. That's the way it should be. Alice in Chains with and without Layne Staley are two completely different musical entities. I enjoy them both. Same with QR. I just prefer certain eras to others.

[DSB]

Yes, BdR did champion the TLT era. That actually was one of my biggest mistakes. Not in regard to the quality of the TLT material, but just taking a side, in general. I threw in with the Jackson/Rockenfield/Wilton side due to a variety of factors, and while the 5 minutes of fame was fun, the board lost its integrity in the process. It was fun for a while, and I got some cool access. But it was fool's gold that I was too blind to see. I really don't want to say any more on it, because it isn't important in the general enjoyment of Queensryche music. But to put a bow on it, if I had to do it all over again, I would have just walked the line.

That's some interesting insight into where your head is at regarding the BDR during that timeframe, appreciate the candor.

But I gotta say this, I think the majority of us (maybe I'm being naive) threw in with Scott, Michael, and Ed during that period due to the years of subpar musical output driven by the direction Tate was taking the band, and his shenanigans, culminating with his behavior in Brazil.  At the time the sacking of Tate and the addition of TLT was a breath of fresh air and it was exciting to be a fan of QR again.

[Setlist Scotty]

I just prefer certain eras to others.

How would you rank them? Obviously the OG is at the top, but what about the others?

[jammindude]

I enjoy the TLT era (and for the record, I have not heard DNA yet) but the most frustrating thing to me is that they occasionally show flashes of the "weirdness" of the OG era.

For example, I've said before that I LOVE Eye9. And the reason is because I could totally picture that song appearing on something like Promised Land without seeming out of place at all. But most of the rest of the TLT output has felt much more like a very good power metal band.

[Samsara]

How would you rank them? Obviously the OG is at the top, but what about the others?

Eh, I don't know. I like some of all of them. Depends on the day. The original band's music is my favorite catalog music from any band. After that, I really couldn't tell you. Songs off the top of my head that I really love:

(no order)

Howl, When the Rain Comes, Re-Arrange You, Murderer?, Signs Say Go, At 30,000 Ft., A Dead Man's Words, The Killer, Eye9, Fallout, Spore. I'm sure there are a bunch more. Those just came immediately to mind.

[bosk1]

That's some interesting insight into where your head is at regarding the BDR during that timeframe, appreciate the candor.

But I gotta say this, I think the majority of us (maybe I'm being naive) threw in with Scott, Michael, and Ed during that period due to the years of subpar musical output driven by the direction Tate was taking the band, and his shenanigans, culminating with his behavior in Brazil.  At the time the sacking of Tate and the addition of TLT was a breath of fresh air and it was exciting to be a fan of QR again.

That sums it up pretty well for me.  To me, there was (and still is) no reason to walk any line. 

I will support QR (by buying albums; not really interested in going to any shows, but wouldn't avoid them either if the stars aligned where it was convenient and affordable, or if going with friends) because they continue to make music that interests me.  I will not support Tate because (1) he doesn't do that, and (2) I find it hard to support him because of his own actions, which he seems unrepentant of. 

But of course, all of that is easy for me to say as just another fan on the outside.  Samsara has a unique involvement with all parties involved, and that brings a unique perspective.

[Grappler]

That's some interesting insight into where your head is at regarding the BDR during that timeframe, appreciate the At the time the sacking of Tate and the addition of TLT was a breath of fresh air and it was exciting to be a fan of QR again.

I would say that at the time, there was hope for the band - moving past the sub-par material on Dedicated to Chaos and being metal again.  And while I enjoy what the current lineup has done, I don't think they have made good moves when touring and creating setlists, but I've spent plenty of time in this thread lamenting that.  They're stuck in this area of having to play nostalgia fests to generate income and really don't play enough new material to remain relevant.

In the early and mid 00's, QR would come to Chicago and play 2-3 nights at the House of Blues.  It was exciting.  Now?  They get booked for the summer suburban music festivals - which is where I saw bands of my parent's generation, who only have one or two original members and play their greatest hits to people in lawn chairs and blankets.  In comparison, a band like Kamelot has changed members, including singers, and leaned hard into playing mostly new material on every tour.  They're not afraid to continue to get on a bus and play shows and build their fanbase up again. 

[Samsara]

That sums it up pretty well for me.  To me, there was (and still is) no reason to walk any line. 

...

But of course, all of that is easy for me to say as just another fan on the outside.  Samsara has a unique involvement with all parties involved, and that brings a unique perspective.

Yes, I do have a unique perspective. Regarding "walking the line," I was referring to, specifically, if I had to go back to 2012 knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have thrown in with a side. AT THE TIME, I felt what I did was very much the right thing to do. But years and a lot more understanding in the rearview, I can see that it probably wasn't a move I should have made with BdR. 

I'm not referring to how I feel about the current Queensryche or Geoff Tate, right now, in 2024.

Regardless, it was quite a trip and I'm glad to have become friends with a lot of good people through the creation and administration of The Breakdown Room. It had a good run, and is an interesting story.