With a career spanning four decades, it is fair to say that Queensrÿche are a staple of the metal genre. While 1988’s ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ is their magnum opus, it was 1991’s ‘Empire’ and to a lesser degree 1994’s ‘Promised Land’ that saw the band achieve significant airplay on MTV. Goldenplec caught up with founding member, Eddie Jackson and guitarist, Parker Lundgren to discuss the unenviable task of competing with former band-members touring under the same name.
In April last year, it appeared that after thirty years the band would cease to be. The previous fifteen years were not kind to Queensrÿche. Guitarist and songwriter Chris DeGarmo helped record ‘Tribe’ before leaving the band for good in 2003 having initially left in 1997. The firing of singer Geoff Tate due to highly erratic behaviour on and off stage (with Rocklahoma 2012 being the final straw), left implosion the only likely outcome. But, Eddie Jackson claims that was never the case. “The intention was to carry on, regardless. It was a decision that needed to be made. We have been doing this for quite a while and we developed a nice following and have been in the business for quite a few years. This is in our blood, and regardless of the situation, we would still be doing what we’re doing today.”
“There was question of what would happen in the future, but it coincided time-wise with the side project we had with Todd. There was no doubt if we would continue on or not,” adds Parker.
Within three months Tate was working on a solo project while the rest of band began working with former Crimson Glory vocalist Todd LaTorre under the name of Rising West. With a (still ongoing) legal battle over the rights to the Queensrÿche name there are currently two bands touring under the name Queensrÿche. One, fronted by Geoff Tate, are in the midst of touring the U.S for the 25th anniversary of ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ while the other, which began as Rising West, is now also operating under the name Queensrÿche (with Todd LaTorre). They have wasted no time in booking themselves into a studio to record their second self-titled release (their first self-titled release was an EP released in 1983).
Meanwhile, Queensrÿche with Geoff Tate have also released a new album, ‘Frequency Unknown’ in April. Are you confused yet? You’re not the only one.
Eddie speaks about this; “There was confusion when we put together tours, because we’ve one Queensrÿche over here [Europe] and another Queensrÿche over there [United States], so there was some confusion with fans, and promoters. In fact, there were times where, on the marquee, it would display our name, with Geoff’s photo, with his band and vice versa. He’s promoting his show, and there was our photo up there. We knew that was going to happen.”
History has taught us that when a band loses its frontman, it often loses its identity at the same time. There are few exceptions. AC/DC got away with it, as did Iron Maiden. Even Van Halen got away with it for ten years. With a new album and recent live performances receiving favourable reviews, it would appear that we can add Queensrÿche to that list as Queensrÿche and Todd LaTorre appear to fit like a hand into a custom-made glove.
“Geoff was recording a solo record at the time,” Eddie recalls. “So there was a lot of downtime, so we decided ‘Why don’t the three of us put together a little side project, and have Todd sing?’ Nothing related to Queensrÿche, but that’s when all this came about. It just kind of fell into place. Once we needed to make the decisions that needed to be made, Todd just happened to be the person that would be the best fit at the time, and still is today.”
Parker also weighs in, “There’s a lot of speculation, if he was going to be able to fill Geoff’s shoes and everything, so for the first few shows, it was just us trying to prove ourselves, and Todd to prove himself. At the beginning it was Todd trying to sing the original albums, and now he’s come into his own and put his own touches to them.”
Queensrÿche recently performed at The Button Factory in Dublin, having pushed back a show from April in order to promote their new self-titled album. The fans were left salivating, waiting to see for themselves if Todd LaTorre could indeed deliver the goods in a live setting.
When asked about the album, Parker happily exclaims “Yeah, It’s doing great! It debuted at number 23 on the Billboard charts in the US.”
Eddie also adds “It’s doing great worldwide and in this day and age, it’s very respectable with the amount of sales, but the album is still active, there’s still a demand for it. We’re actually in the process of releasing a video ‘Spore/Midnight Lullaby/A World Without’, something like a ten minute movie. That’s going to be coming out in the next month or two, then it will be time to move on to the next phase”.
It will certainly be interesting to see what direction the band takes from here in the studio, but as it stands, Queensrÿche’s future looks bright with Todd LaTorre fronting it. With the single Fallout receiving even more listeners due to appearing as part of the ‘Pinball Rocks’ video game soundtrack, Queensrÿche appear to be ending 2013 with a bang.