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Queensrÿche (l-r): Scott Rockenfield, Michael Wilton, Todd La Torre, Eddie
Jackson and Parker Lundgren

The vocalist appreciates the significance of his new-found position. “Look, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, to be the singer for Queensrÿche,” he appraises. “Let’s be honest, though. This is art that we’re creating, and we’re doing it for the love of it and for the passion of it. So yeah, of course it would have affected the level of my commitment or love or care. Maybe I wouldn’t have spent as much time on something if I felt it was going to be dismissed. So yes, it would have affected my involvement. I think it would be foolish for me to deny that it would’ve had some type of psychological impact, which would’ve resulted in a performance issue.”

“It comes back around to what I was saying earlier, about the musical chemistry and everything,” Scott supplements. “One thing that we wanted to revisit that was important to us was that camaraderie, and that equal working relationship and feeling that we had back in the early days. Just because Todd, and even Parker for that matter, are considered the new guys… Me and the rest of us, we didn’t want to be, ‘It’s us, and the new guys are joining us.’ It was more like, ‘Listen, we know we can work together, so let’s bring back the reason why it was so great for us in the past. Let’s just work it into this new relationship.’ It was all very easy, and very transparent. Nothing is contrived on this new album; not one musical note was forced, or contrived.”

The effort’s lyrical preoccupations are of a personal nature. “Each song has its own meaning,” Todd ponders. “It’s not a conceptual album per se, but I guess if you analyze the lyrics from all of the songs, maybe you would find that the majority of them are about moving forward in life. Some of the lyrics are kind of autobiographical as well; some of them are a compilation of all of our lives, and maybe some personal things that we’ve been through, and just moving forward in life. Not all of the songs are about that, but a lot of the energy is about moving forward.”

Mixing duties fell to James Barton, who had previously mixed Operation: Mindcrime, Empire, and Promised Land. “Listen, our goal was to make a new record and get back to what we felt we were doing best back in our great time period – from the EP all the way up until Promised Land,” Scott reminds. “Those first six records for us were a great, defining moment. For me, they’re still the strongest things that I think we’ve ever done, and that I like and enjoy, etcetera. We started making this new one, and working on it.

“When the time came we were ready to start recording – or we were gonna be – we thought ‘What do we wanna do? How do we wanna work with somebody?’ Jimbo was the first guy that came up. I actually sat here, and said ‘Let’s do the record with Jimbo.’ They all looked at me, like ‘Wow, I haven’t really thought about that, but what a great concept.’ We hadn’t spoken to him for 15 years. Anyway, it brought us back around to that great time period when he did Mindcrime and Empire, and even Promised Land. The sound of those records has always been a great thing for the band, and we were excited to get back to that type of sound, to be honest.

“We’ve strayed from that in the last few years. The music thing has been a struggle with Geoff and everything, so for us to get back with Jimbo was a perfect match. He was an amazing creative addition. On those last records that we did with him back in those days, he was a great part of why those records became what they did both creatively and in terms of the sound of them. It was perfect. He was really excited about the new songs that we sent to him when we first started talking about this. We just knew that it would be perfect, and it really became that. We were great friends. He’s just a great driving force, and I think the record took on a brand new life once we started recording with Jimbo.”

Queensrÿche (2013)

The drummer attributes clarity as the strength behind Barton’s mixes. “I think he’s really good at making sure that everything that we each do within the song – the drums, the guitars, and everything – can all be heard,” he compliments. “At least that’s what it does for me. I love the clarity he gets. We’ve got some music that’s definitely got intricate stuff contained in the compositions that we write, and he’s just good at making sure that it all sounds good and blends everything well. I like that about him. I think he gets a really great, powerful sound for us. Mindcrime and Empire especially, those are big, defining records in our career, and I think a lot of that has to do with just the sound.

“A lot of people really liked the way those records sounded. For us, like I said, we just wanted to get back to that again, and put Queensrÿche back on its feet with what we felt it should’ve been doing. I think that’s a great thing Jimbo brings, but he also brings massive creativity within that as well, and great suggestions of stuff that he hears in the songs, and in the content of what we’re playing. It’s kind of an overall picture, but I think clarity is a great thing that I would mention for him.”

Self-titling the record was a natural decision. “We had already tried to figure out what to do, and what the record meant to us,” Scott recalls. “At the final time when we figured we needed to come up with an album title, it was the first thing that actually came to mind. We were sitting in my studio at my house, all of the guys in the band. We were looking at each other to either come up with a name of something, like a subtitle to go underneath the band name. Nothing felt right. Anyway, I guess to cut a long story short, we’re Queensrÿche. We feel like we’re Queensrÿche, and we just felt that it was the best way to just establish that we’re kind of back, and we’re Queensrÿche. We had never actually had a self-titled full-length record in our past, so it kind of ties us back around to the EP where we did self-title it. That was a new beginning then, and this is a new beginning as well for us now.”

Cover artwork responsibilities were undertaken by Craig Howell, who had previously designed pieces related to science fiction franchise Star Wars. “The concept of self-titling was a simple thing,” the rhythmist reiterates. “It keeps it simple. It’s an easy thing for us to explain, and everything. That’s kind of what we really wanted to do with the artwork as well, which is just get back to establishing the band in the simplest form. I guess what I mean by that is… That symbol on the front, we call it the Tri-Ryche. We’ve had it since our early days. It’s been our moniker and our logo for a long time, and it just felt the best thing to get that thing back to where it should’ve been. The artwork that we’ve done in the last few years has not really been a collective, agreed upon effort, so Michael, Eddie, and I just wanted to do that.

“We started having conversations with Craig, and Craig by the way is a great artist. He works with George Lucas on a lot of the Star Wars stuff, and all of these other really great tie-in things. His enthusiasm was just really great; he’s a fan, but he also knew exactly what we were trying to achieve. Like I said, it’s simple. You see the band name, and you see the Tri-Ryche on the album cover. Hopefully that draws attention, and it just once again makes the point that we’re Queensrÿche. Here we are. We’re not here to cloud anything, or make a busy artwork, and stuff like that, I guess. Sometimes you can go too far, but it just felt easy. It was easy.”

Eddie Jackson

Various footage promoting the full-length exists. “We haven’t really done a video, I guess,” Scott considers. “We’ve got songs out there that just have static imagery, like from the artwork that’s on the record. They’re like teasers. We’ve done the songs ‘Redemption’, and ‘Where Dreams Go To Die’. They’re just on the Century Media website, on YouTube, and stuff. It’s just basically so that the fans can hear the music. An official video was filmed at the Rock Hard festival in Germany. We filmed that gig and we played the song ‘Fallout’, so ‘Fallout’ is the first official single that actually has a live video that we did. It’s not a fan video – it’s an actual one that we did. We’re gonna do more, I think.”

The possibility of filming storyboard-driven music videos is being discussed. “I think as time goes, we’re looking at all sorts of different interesting things,” the percussionist contemplates. “‘Fallout’ seemed to be a good choice to do a live video for, which also gives the fans a chance to see us live if they haven’t yet. We can use social media and everything, and people can see what the band is doing. However, ‘Redemption’ has been done. When we made the record in the last six months, we had a video crew with us the entire time. No matter where we were recording, we filmed everything – we’ve got the whole making of the record. ‘Redemption’ is all sorts of video clips from the making of the record, and now we’re gonna be looking at the next songs we’re gonna do as singles as the months go on so to speak. I think there’ll be some conceptual videos that we’re gonna look at doing – some fun storyline stuff, and everything.

“I guess my point is it’s actually exciting, because we haven’t had the support from a label that’s wanted to let us do videos. Budgets were included, and it costs money to do the right ones. For what it’s worth, Century Media is digging in deep with us and letting us have fun again doing that. I think it’s cool, because the fans are really gonna enjoy it. It’s a fun new thing for us now that we can play around with, and use to present our songs to people. I think it’s gonna help us, and I think the fans are gonna love it. You must enjoy that stuff as a fan of everything. I do; I love seeing that stuff, when bands get the opportunity to do more than just the iPhone videos of their shows every night. That’s boring for the fans, I think. There’s too much of those fan videos. They’re great, but there’s just so much of it. It’s nice to be able to do something different.”

The fact that the group had inked a record contract with Century Media was revealed on March 4th, 2013. “It was a cool thing,” Scott enthuses. “Conversations just started to happen. It was a few months ago, when we were still in the recording process. Our management basically started to look at what they could find for us, and present to us. Century Media was actually one of the first ones, and one of the only ones. The guys over there were so enthusiastic about our record, and about the band and what the band was doing. We then moved on to the live shows. They just started talking to us, and they were so enthusiastic that they just wouldn’t give up. They offered us a deal, and it was such a great thing. They’re great people, so we just said ‘Yes.’

“It’s a great label. You know Century Media probably more than I do, but they’re just a great global label that represents the music that we want to be surrounded by. It’s a better label for Queensrÿche right now. Like I said, they’re greatly enthusiastic and we feel really honoured. It’s gonna be a lot of fun to see how this all goes. We talk to them every day. They’re so involved with what we’re doing; I’m answering 30 emails a day from them about marketing plans, and things that are happening. It’s quite exciting.”

Preceding the issue of Queensrÿche’s eponymous long-player by a month was the 25th anniversary of Operation: Mindcrime, originally released in May 1988. Nowadays, the effort is considered a landmark opus from the band. “When we were doing it, we never thought it would be anything like that,” the sticksman concedes. “It was just something that we were having fun making and doing. My God, I’ll never know. I think there are a lot of great things about it that have lasted for so long. The story that we put together for the concept of the whole record, and the music that supported it that we were writing at the time – the energy behind this in our personal lives, but also in the band as well.

Operation: Mindcrime (1988)

“We were really on fire at that point. We just really dug deep, and I think you get all of those elements of just great energy going together, and great ideas. It came out in the record I guess, and maybe that’s where you get longevity. You know as well as I do, that record’s not like a normal record at the time. That was 1988, and at the time the record company wanted us to make hits like all of the bands in the LA area were doing. It was an easy sell, but we went in the other direction and made a record that was completely unlike that. Although it became extremely successful, it almost died.

“I’ll give you a fun story that you might find interesting. Three months or so after the record had come out, it was going down. We were touring it and promoting it by playing shows and everything, but weren’t getting any videos accepted. Radio wasn’t really tuning into any of the songs on the record either. I remember our management gave us a phone call, and they said like ‘Listen, it’s just not going as well as we were hoping. Keep touring and stuff, but we should think about making another record here in a while.’ Then right after that, things just turned around. We got a hit on MTV – ‘Eyes Of A Stranger’ or something like that came out. At that point, there was no stopping it. Anyway, that’s kind of a fun story.

“Listen, thank gosh that it’s lasted for so long. We’re fortunate to have a legacy of all of our material, but definitely a legacy of a few of our records really standing out for a long time. We’re blessed. Not too many bands can say that they’ve achieved that.”

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Operation: Mindcrime would seem logical. “You know how I was talking about things to do, and what’s coming up, and what our years mean to us,” Scott acknowledges. “We don’t have any defined things that we’re talking about doing, but there are always conversations about things going on. To be honest, most of our focus right now is on just the new record – all of the time we’re spending to promote it right now. We then have tours that are coming up. We signed a huge deal recently with a brand new booking agent, one of the big, A-list global booking agents. They’re so excited to have us, and that’s going to open up massive opportunities. All things can happen, but our focus is the new record and everything else at least at this point right now.”

A live outing commemorating the platter’s 25th anniversary would serve as an appropriate stop-gap release between the issue of Queensrÿche’s eponymous record, and its eventual successor. “It’d be totally fun, to be honest, doing a whole live version of Mindcrime, but with our new guy Todd doing it with us,” the percussionist agrees. “I think we could have fun with something like that, and like you said, use it as a release for later on in 2013 or somewhere early in 2014 as a tip of the hat to our Mindcrime legacy. Any of that is totally possible. We’re actually playing quite a bit of those songs in and out of our set now, and we’ve even done ‘Suite Sister Mary’ with our gal Pam – Pamela Moore who sang on the original back then. She’s great.

“There’s a lot of drama that goes on in our Queensrÿche world, but she’s been really supportive of what Michael, Eddie, and I chose to do in 2012 – she’s totally on our side. We’ve had a lot of fun with her. We’ve done some shows in the last six months where she’s just come onstage, and been a guest with us on a few of those songs. Our fans sure enjoy it when she comes out and sings with us. Like I said, we’re learning all that stuff, and we kind of know it all. It’s just a matter of making it a big thing at some point.”

Parker Lundgren

Operation: Mindcrime II arrived in March 2006, but experienced a lukewarm reception. “We all do things in our lives for whatever reason at the time,” Scott reflects. “If I had chosen a different path, Mindcrime II may not have ever come to fruition. I’m not sure it was… Listen, we just weren’t all involved. It was a weird time. That’s when the beginning of the struggle with our relationship with Geoff started to happen, to be honest. I guess my best answer is I’d rather talk about Mindcrime I than talk about Mindcrime II, if you get my drift (laughs). I’m just trying to be honest. I was a part of everything. I don’t like to downplay any part of our career, but the strength of our career to me has always been from the EP up until Promised Land. Once again, with our new record, I think that’s why we revisited that legacy of ours and made new songs that felt new, but also felt like they belonged in that time period for us. That’s what I’d rather talk about (laughs).”

Noticeably absent was the songwriting contributions of erstwhile guitarist Chris DeGarmo, who had parted ways with Queensrÿche in late 1997. “That’s the thing,” the drummer recognises. “You know as well as I do, it’s kind of like maybe in films. It’s an industry that we all love, because we all see films. You either get a great sequel that actually makes sense, or you get one that’s almost… If it’s not done correctly or with the same intent, then it starts distracting even from the first one I guess in kind of a subtle way. You’ve gotta tread lightly – I totally agree with you. Like I said, I’m glad that Mindcrime I still stands and that it’s been around for that long. I hope that it lasts for another 25 years, and that we can be just talking about Mindcrime I.”

The topic of Operation: Mindcrime generally sparks discussion as to whether the concept will ever become a trilogy. “Now you’re digging deep,” Scott laughs. “Like I said, I guess anything is possible, but it’s not something that I would ever even consider right now to be honest. Like I said, how far does the story need to go? I think the fun thing for us – and I’ve already been discussing some of this with Todd – is we’re already working on new music together right now for another release down the road here soon. It’s fun for us. We’ve talked about concepts, and maybe doing some fun stuff of which we’ve done in the past. As opposed to doing Mindcrime III, maybe we’ll just do something really cool that we haven’t done yet.”

While authoring a third instalment hasn’t been ruled out altogether, its emergence is unlikely. “I don’t think it’s ever going to be a possibility, to be honest,” the rhythmist feels. “I don’t think our fans want it. A lot of people were on the fence with Mindcrime II, so to attempt Mindcrime III I think would be pretty ridiculous. To be honest, if we did, then it would be the band doing it, and that’s where the huge difference would be. By comparison, II was Geoff and a bunch of other people writing music, and him forcing it all on us. That would never be the case, so at least Mindcrime III would be the band doing it, and that all of a sudden to me becomes a little bit more valid. We could call it Mindcrime 1.5 instead of II; we could make this the one that came out before II, but after I. It should’ve been with the band doing it.”

A unique moniker would perhaps strengthen the eminence of a sequel. “How about we make a prequel that goes before Mindcrime started?,” Scott queries. “Now we’re onto something,” he chuckles.

Being perceived as financially exploiting the property would be a valid concern. “That’s the thing you’ve got to be careful about with doing things like that, like a sequel to a really big project that you’ve done in your history,” the sticksman understands. “You’ve got to be careful that you’re not doing it for money and all that, because the fans will know all that. If it’s not heartfelt and doesn’t mean something, they’ll know all of that. I think that’s a thin line that you’ve got to be careful about, that you’re doing it with integrity.”


Queensrÿche (l-r): Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson, Todd La Torre, Parker
Lundgren and Scott Rockenfield

Fresh Queensrÿche material is currently being penned, meanwhile. “We have quite a bit of stuff that is written, to be honest,” Scott divulges. “It’s not collectively and solidly, but we have so many ideas that we’re ready to start digging in on. That’s where the fun actually is, because we’re like a feeding frenzy of sharks. When that happens, it’s pretty cool. That’s the stage that we’re at now, that there’s so much now for us to dig in on. That’s where it all starts to happen, and it happens pretty quickly once we feel something that’s going on like that. It’s cool, and that’s kind of the stage we’re at.

“I think it could be similar to the new album, and something new – new lyrical ideas. There could be a concept… You never know. You can have a cool concept, and a cool story that we might come up with. Musically, I think we’re ready to just start pushing ourselves even beyond what we’ve done just now on this new one. We’re gonna be working on it like I said, because we’re ready to do it again. It was so fun just this last time. The energy was so fun; we kind of miss not being in the same room, and doing it all again.”

Queensrÿche was released on June 24th, 2013 in Europe and subsequently on the 25th in North America, all via Century Media Records.

Interview published in June 2013.

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