{"id":1553,"date":"2012-11-26T21:40:15","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T16:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/Interviews\/?p=1553"},"modified":"2012-11-28T22:27:20","modified_gmt":"2012-11-28T16:57:20","slug":"in-depth-interview-with-queensryche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/Interviews\/2012\/11\/26\/in-depth-interview-with-queensryche\/","title":{"rendered":"In-depth Interview With Queensr\u00ffche"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview by Avinash Mittur<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"The new, rejuvenated\u00a0Queensr\u00ffche lineup performed at the House of Blues in Hollywood last Saturday November 24th, and a couple of hours before they hit the stage for this much-anticipated performance, our man Avinash Mittur managed to catch up with four members of the band, Eddie Jackson (bass), Michael Wilton (guitar), Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Parker Lundgren (guitar) for an interview. Read the chat below, and check out the official\u00a0Queensr\u00ffche website<\/a><\/strong>, facebook<\/a><\/strong> and twitter<\/a><\/strong> pages for more info on tour dates and other things.<\/p>\n

First thing, how are you all doing tonight?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael:<\/strong> No comment! [laughs]<\/em><\/p>\n

Scott:<\/strong> We are ready to shred actually.<\/p>\n

Eddie:<\/strong> We just flew in yesterday, so we\u2019ve kind of relaxed a bit and getting ready to throw down some rock music tonight.<\/p>\n

Michael:<\/strong> We\u2019re feeling good! We\u2019re really excited to bring this show to Hollywood.<\/p>\n

The band released a teaser for the new record a little over a week ago. Are there any plans to release a follow-up to the teaser with more new material being featured?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott:<\/strong> Well we were pretty bold in putting that out in the first place but listen, the plan is that came out because we\u2019re going into the studio and we start recording next week. The record is completely written, and we\u2019re going to head in and start tracking. Our plan is to have it out sometime at the end of the first quarter of next year, hopefully spring. That\u2019s the whole gist of why we put that teaser out. Are there going to be any more teasers? I don\u2019t know, you never know!<\/p>\n

You\u2019re working with Jimbo Barton again on the new album. It\u2019s been eighteen years since the Queensryche last album he worked on, Promised Land<\/em>. What\u2019s it like working with him after so many years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott:<\/strong> Good research, that\u2019s awesome! You know, it is eighteen years isn\u2019t it? 1994 was when we did that record, so yeah it\u2019s been eighteen years! Listen, it\u2019s a great thing- we\u2019re really excited about it, he\u2019s really excited about it. We\u2019ve wanted to work with him for a while, but for whatever reason we just hadn\u2019t gone there yet. This is a great time for us to do that though. We all discussed who we wanted to do the record with and he was one of the first names that came up. It was easy for us to pick up the phone and call him. It was like our relationship picked up right where it left off, so it\u2019s gonna be a lot of fun. He\u2019s a very creative guy that did some great records with us in the past. I think that\u2019s one of the most important things when it comes to why we want to work with him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The last time you worked with Jim was on Promised Land<\/em> but you\u2019ve been playing material released prior to that album in the recent sets. Are we going to see material from Promised Land<\/em> start to appear in future sets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eddie:<\/strong> Possibly!<\/p>\n

Scott:<\/strong> I think our goal tonight is to kind of visit a lot of the stuff from our first five records basically. So far, that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been focusing on. <\/strong>I think as time goes on, we\u2019re going to expand on that. It\u2019s fun for us to play the stuff we haven\u2019t played for a long time, and I think it\u2019s fun for the fans to see the stuff we haven\u2019t played for a long time. While that equation is working on both sides, for the fans and for us, I think we\u2019re just gonna keep doing it. That\u2019s gonna mean more and more of our material and also some new stuff as soon as we get it done.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been changing the set a little, I know you played some other songs at the Halfway Jam show last summer. Are there any classic songs that you guys wanted to incorporate into the set, but couldn\u2019t for some reason or another?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott:<\/strong> I think we\u2019d play for three hours if we could and really give it all! There are a few different things that we\u2019ll do tonight that weren\u2019t done at that particular show and I think as time goes on, we\u2019re gonna start adding more and more things that we wanna have fun with you know? Once again, I think a lot of the old stuff will continue to come back.<\/p>\n

Michael:<\/strong> We\u2019re doing a 90 minute set list, and these songs all work really good together. Sure, we\u2019ll learn more songs, and put some new songs into the set, but 90 minutes is kind of a perfect set-length. We really hammer in the old songs- one thing about playing the old songs is that when Queensryche was established, we were a touring band. We were a guitar-oriented band. We toured non-stop and to win the audiences over, we wrote music that created this synergy between us and the audience. For whatever reason, we haven\u2019t seen that in a while. That\u2019s part of what\u2019s so fun about playing these old songs from The Warning<\/em> and the EP.<\/p>\n

The Warning <\/em>was actually reissued on vinyl pretty recently. Do you think Rage for Order<\/em> or Operation: Mindcrime<\/em> might receive a similar treatment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott:<\/strong> Oh really? I didn\u2019t know that The Warning <\/em>was reissued, right on! You know, there is kind of a resurgence huh?<\/p>\n

Eddie:<\/strong> Well, they were all originally released on vinyl back in the day. Whether we re-release them on vinyl remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Scott:<\/strong> There\u2019s so many things that happen with EMI and the other companies we were with in the past, sometimes we know about it, sometimes we don\u2019t in all honesty. I think there\u2019s always a market for people wanting stuff like that, especially because of nostalgia. I think it\u2019s really cool that vinyl is coming back, hopefully it\u2019ll come back more and more!<\/p>\n

You know, Operation: Mindcrime <\/em>is turning twenty-five next year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott:<\/strong> That\u2019s what we hear! We\u2019re not getting any younger I guess, right? [laughs]<\/em> Time flies when you have fun.<\/p>\n

Are there any plans to celebrate the anniversary live or in the studio?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott:<\/strong> You know there are always opportunities to do that with everything we have. I think the main focus is on what we\u2019re doing right now with the setlist we put together, getting the new record finished in the next three months and after that, who knows?<\/p>\n