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The Original “Tribe” Records Again |
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FEATURE
by Tom Lounges Back in late July --
Queensryche -- added a tenth studio album to their loud and proud canon
of epic albums.
Tribe stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of the band’s past
releases. Though not as
conceptual in nature as say, Operation Mindcrime, this new record has a cohesive thought
process that flows from start to finish.
In this set of songs, lyricist Tate takes
a steely-eyed view of the current global conditions. In the end, he concludes that for all our modern technology
and claims of civilization, we are not unlike the primitive warring
tribes of old.
“Man
has this competitive spirit,” said Tate.
“We are always pitting one culture against another, which fuels
discontentment and intolerance between the factions or ‘tribes’
until ultimately we have the kind of conflict we are seeing
today.” Tate filled a road
journal with his thoughts and keen observations while he was out for the
better part of 2002 traveling across America on a solo tour.
Tate’s words spilled
from the pages during a Queensryche “think tank” session. As he read
sections of his journal aloud, Michael Wilton heard in his head some
tasty guitar riffs in which to wrap them up.
Once Eddie Jackson’s
brooding bass lines and Scott Rockenfield’s pounding percussion were
added to the mix, the result was Tribe,
which Tate cites as one of his favorite Queensryche albums ever.
What had fans buzzing
early on this album, were the rumors that co-founding guitarist Chris
DeGarmo had made an unexpected return to the Queensryche ranks during
the creation of Tribe.
DeGarmo had abruptly
parted ways with the group in 1997 and has spent most of his time since
piloting charter planes and occasionally jamming with ex-members of
fellow Seattle band, Alice In Chains.
The rumors of prodigal
son DeGarmo’s return proved true, to the delight of Queensryche fans
everywhere.
“The four of us had already begun writing and recording.
We actually had quite a bit of the record already together,”
recalled Tate. “Suddenly
Chris called me up out of the clear blue and said – ‘Hey I hear
you’re in the studio. I’ve
got a couple songs that are just burning a hole in my head that I would
like to play for you. If
you guys liked them, you might include them on the record.’”
The old chemistry
kicked once DeGarmo convened with his former bandmates and the music
began to flow. “Chris came down to the studio the next day with his
guitar and an amp. He sat down and threw out a couple of musical ideas
that were important to him and within a couple of days we’d turned
them into songs,” recalled Tate.
The ju-ju was so good between the old friends that ultimately
five of the ten songs on Tribe
were co-written with DeGarmo. He even slipped back into his old
Queensryche groove well enough to step up and lay down guitar parts on
the tracks he helped to write.
Though his
fingerprints are all over the new album, DeGarmo is NOT performing live
with the band. Stepping in
on second guitar for all concert dates is Chicago string-bender Mike
Stone, whose playing is heard on those Tribe tracks not featuring DeGarmo.
Stone is the latest
guitarist to step into the void intentionally left open by the band
after DeGarmo’s departure.
“We decided back in ‘97 that we would never have a full time
replacement step in,” said Tate. “We really wanted to keep that seat
open for people to come in a collaborate with the band.
That way it keeps things very interesting for us because we are
able to play with different people we all like a lot and it exposes us
to different musical influences.”
As to whether DeGarmo will continue to work in a writing capacity
with his musical alma mater remains to be seen.
“This was a completely unexpected reunion that turned out to be
an enjoyable experience,” said Tate. “Whether it goes anywhere from
here who knows.”
Tate explained that the live stage show Queensryche is bringing
with them to the Star Plaza
Theatre on October 10 is
a very high tech and highly visual event and utilizes a battery of Apple
computers, big screens and mobile cameras.
“It’s really a
pretty wild show to see,” promised Tate.
“Musically, we are included songs from every album we’ve
done. To the frustration of
our tech crew, we’ve been changing the songs in the show slightly from
night to night.”
When asked to cite Queensryche’s finest musical moments, Tate
ponders long before answering.
“Rage For Order was a real
stepping out point for the band, because that album is where we
discovered our own voice as a band.
Before that we were very derivative of the metal scene that was
around us,” he said.
Mindcrime of course was a very well received effort from the band and was
really the launching point for people’s perceptions of what the band
was about,” he continued. “Promiseland is probably my favorite album as far as musicality goes, because we’re stretching out that there and maturing as songwriters and our craftsmanship at songwriting was definitely improving,” he concluded. “And I really like Tribe a lot, as a complete record from start to finish.” See QUEENSRYCHE live on Friday, October 10 at Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, Indiana |
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