QUEENSRźCHE :: TRIBE
Geoff Tate: Vocals
Michael Wilton: Guitar
Eddie Jackson: Bass, vocals
Scott Rockenfield: Drums and percussion
After nine successful studio releases -- Queensr˙che , The Warning, Rage for Order, Operation: Mindcrime, Empire, Promised Land, Hear in the Now Frontier, and Q2K– rock’s most impossible to categorize entity is poised to assault the planet with their most insightful and ambitious project to date. With founding guitarist Chris DeGarmo contributing to the sessions for the first time since his 1997 departure, Queensr˙che is once again ready to roll. Guitarist Michael Wilton, bassist Eddie Jackson and drummer Scott Rockenfield join lead singer Geoff Tate to complete the original construct of the band that set out in 1982 to surgically alter the face of rock n’ roll.
“We’ve been trying to figure out how to make a Queensr˙che record for awhile now,” Tate confesses, “I guess you can say we’ve been at odds with one another, having a difficult time communicating, which I guess is natural after 20 years. So in the interim, I made a solo record (Geoff Tate) with some new musicians. I enjoyed the camaraderie. It gave me some perspective. But when Chris joined us for these sessions, the songwriting process started anew and the entire band felt the energy.
Queensr˙che is a musical institution devoted to the observation and analysis of the human condition. They have built a career based on conscious recording, tireless touring and fierce devotion to their tremendous global fan base. But for Geoff Tate, it’s really about his journey to find ‘the truth.’
“I’m kinda worried about the country right now,” says Tate. “I see us turning into a nation of sheep that’s being led down this path by the media. Television… We’re so culturally locked into watching this box, we’ve no idea that it’s telling us what to do, how to think, what to buy, what to wear, who to love and who to hate. Everything about our lives is subject to manipulation, and the most powerful tool being used is fear.”
As with their groundbreaking, outspoken efforts of the past, Tribe does not shy away from pointing fingers, exposing hypocrisies or simply compelling the listener to stop for a second, take a deep breath and think about what’s happening to humanity as we trek, guns blazing, into the third millennium. Of the album’s lead track ‘Open,’ Tate says, “I was angry at what was going on in other parts of the world, and angry at our nation's response to those same issues. It addressed my frustration with the current regime, and the insular thinking that was being spread.”
Continues Tate, “America to me, is a tribe that came together based on belief in a common idea: freedom. In a post 9/11 world, this belief system has shifted somewhat and as we search for meaning, we're ultimately led back to this tribe concept.”
“Man has this competitive spirit,” observes Tate. “We are constantly out to pit one man’s culture against another’s. It is competition that breeds accomplishment but it also breeds contempt and fuels intolerance and the violent desire to crush an opponent’s spirit. Maybe it’s a way of evolving that’s beyond our understanding. I feel that even though we gain knowledge through conflict, at the same time we lose our self-esteem or the thing that makes us feel good about ourselves. These are the personal aspects of life and culture that gave birth to the songs on Tribe.”
Tribe was self-produced by Queensr˙che with Scott Olson engineering and Adam Kasper mixing. The band begins their world tour in Europe in June and returns to the States for a co-headlining run with fellow progressive stalwarts Dream Theater in June and July.
Queensr˙che - Tribe, in stores July 22nd.
www.queensryche.com
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.com