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Tom: Cool. Here goes: Queensrÿche has been around for over 20 years now. When you began did you ever, in your wildest dreams imagine that it would be so successful and last so long?
Scott: Ha ha ha… Well, I don't think anyone ever plans on that. I think our goal was when we first got together was to, you know, make music together. We had gone to school together and we were friends. That kind of started our relationship together and, um, we just kind of realized at the same time, back in 1981 or so that we had the elements to make a band and we just wanted to get together and make music. And so we did and our theory when we started was just to make music for ourselves…you know, not try to target anybody or try to figure out what people want to buy, and try to go that route, We did it for ourselves and we were fortunate that it clicked and people bought it. That has been our philosophy ever since. Every record since then has kind of been the evolution of Queensryche. We make records for ourselves and we evolve and we challenge ourselves in different ways. I think doing that has just kind of, uh; doing that has gained us a fan base that continues to hang with us.
Tom: Speaking of fan base, you guys have some very hardcore fans. With the exceptions of possibly Black Flag and Biohazard, I have seen more of your fans with the Queensrÿche logo tattooed on them than pretty much any band I have ever seen. How do you feel about that?
Scott: We've got some pretty insane fans. (Laughter) The tattoo thing I've really never understood. But, that's totally cool. We've got some really cool fans…they've been around for a while…
Tom: There was a woman here tonight with a tattoo of your singer Geoff Tate on her leg.
Scott: Pretty Crazy! (Laughter)
Tom: Where did the name Queensrÿche come from?
Scott: Oh boy! You know, we don't really have a glorified story for that. It was back in the early days we did our first EP, the self-titled Queensrÿche EP, days before we were going to release it we didn't have a name for the band. There is a song on their called "Queen of the Ryche." So we all sat down one day and we were brainstorming and somebody said. "Hey what about "Queensrÿche"? We were like. "OK. Works for us!" and we went with it.
Tom: I'll never forget when I got turned on to you guys. Way back in the day I got turned on to The Warning in high school and I was like "Whoa…this stuff is great!" (Laughter) and now from the past right up to the present: Queensrÿche have a new album out called "Tribe." Tell me how you came up with the title and what it means to you.
Scott: Well, it's kind of uh… a summary of what it is about is…it's an observation on our behalf of what is going on with the world, definitely what's going on in the United States and in society. There's this modern day tribalism that's happening. One, around the globe you've got these European nations coming together in these tribal forms, you know, with the same currency, and things going on with societies. Geoff (Tate) took a motorcycle trip last summer and there is a lot based on the observations he made on the trip across the U.S. When he came back he had this journal full of notes that he had taken and when we looked at everything we realized there could be an interesting story… a theme of Tribalism in there. So, you know, we just kind of followed the path.
Tom: In January 1998, Chris DeGarmo announced his departure from the band. This new Queensrÿche album marks his return to recording with the band for the first time in five years. How did that go?
Scott: Oh! It was good! We started writing the record, the four of us: Micheal, Eddie, Geoff and myself, during the Fall of last year. January rolled around and we realized that we wanted to go in and start fine tuning it and actually record the record. And we started to do that, and Chris just came out of the blue…he's been living in Seattle for a while and he just contacted us and was like "I hear your making a record, I am interested in knowing if you guys want to do a couple of songs together." We thought it was an interesting concept, plus it played into that whole "tribal" thing…our own tribe being a collection of people. So we sat down and the chemistry was there and we had a couple of cool songs, so he co-wrote three songs with us. Then we finished the record and he didn't want to do anything after that. He didn't want to tour or anything like that. His commitments were at home more. But, it was good man. It was good.
Tom: In 1988 Queensrÿche broke musical ground with their now legendary concept album Operation: Mindcrime. A detailed storyline, character development and strong songs contributed to make it the band's most ambitious and innovative work to date. Was it harder coming up with the material for Operation: Mindcrime due to the fact that it was a concept album?
Scott: You know, it just kind of takes a long process. That record was in the works for a couple of years. Music had been worked on by us for, you know, a long time and then we came up with this idea and once we started to make the record and the concept just kind of fell into place. You know, we were angry, young youth…kids back then. That and the story is an angry rebellious story …and it's actually funny…that story was based on our observations of the Reagan era, you know, all the shit that was going down with him being in office and all that…stuff that happens when a Republican is in office…
Tom: Go figure…
Scott: Yeah, and my point was going to be that Tribe is actually an observation of a lot of the things going on with Bush in office. They are both Republicans and that is funny. We were at war with both of them. Anyway, Mindcrime was a long journey. But it was a cool and fun project.
Tom: Operation: Livecrime, a recording of your rock opera was released and in the past you have performed the entire show, then came out an performed a regular set. What was that like?
Scott: It was really great because Mindcrime came out in 1988 and we toured a lot on that record, but we were opening for everybody. We were six months around the world with Metallica, we opened for four months around the world with Def Leppard, you know, but we weren't presenting it the way we wanted to present it. We ha d restrictions being the opening act. So when Empire came out, when it catapulted itself up into multi-platinum sales and we were going to go headlining, we realized, you know, let's make it a tour of both, because we want to present Mindcrime the way we wanted people to see it. So, we went out and we spent a lot of money on production and filmed all this stuff and put together the whole Mindcrime thing because we really just hadn't done it yet. It was a great show.
Tom: Yeah! It was incredible. Any chance you will ever take Mindcrime out on the road again?
Scott: Oh Yeah!!!
Tom: Excellent! I know a lot of people will be happy to hear that.
Scott: There's a lot in the works right now, and there might be something really interesting coming up here soon.
Tom: Cool.
Scott: Keep posted…
Tom: The current tour is more than half over. What's life like on the road with Queensrÿche these days? Do you find it more tiring than in the past?
Scott: Very long! (Laughter) You Know, It's going really well. We started this tour in May, overseas. We went over to Europe for a while, came back did a whole month …sorry, two months, in the States with Dream Theater on this co-headlining thing with them, which was a great success. Then we're out here on our own now headlining. This is an eight-week run and this is week number six. It's a long one, but it's going good. It gets harder as you get older. We all have families, kids and you know, I have young kids and older kids, so it just gets hard. They don't like me being gone, but it pays the bills.
Tom: You were talking about Europe. Do you see a major difference between the European crowds and crowds in the States? In this country Metal is big, but over there they REALLY latch onto bands and never let them go.
Scott: It's like they are still in the 70's. They have a serious Metal movement over there. It's cool. We go over there and we have a great following there. We sell a ton of records all across Europe and you know, we go over there and play…we went to, uh, in early June we went to Greece for the first time ever and played for 7,000 people I think, in Greece while we were there. We went to Spain…I'd never been to Spain yet, and then all the places we had been. We did 25,000 people in Sweden. So, uh, no complaints!
Tom: With all this touring, what is the weirdest, strangest or funniest thing to happen to you on tour?
Scott: You want road stories…We get this question all the time and we all just look at each other. We don't really have any answers. We're extremely tame, you know. We don't do drugs; we don't do women…that just leaves Rock & Roll right?
Tom: Right…
Scott: (Laughter) Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll. Sex and drugs are not part of the equation for us. So I don't have any stories!
Tom: That's cool. I just ask because a lot of times some weird stuff happens… Now, the next question is kind of weird. 1990's Empire was a top ten sensation. Fueled by the hit of "Silent Lucidity," the album sold more than four million copies. Many people who were not familiar with the band Queensrÿche actually thought that "Silent Lucidity" was a new song from Pink Floyd, how did you feel about that?
Scott: Oh, well, you know, in some ways it was flattering. We wrote Silent Lucidity…just thought it was a great song and we put it on Empire and who knew what the Hell it was going to do in terms of it's success and it's connecting with people. We've all been Pink Floyd fans in our youth, so I suppose there are elements of that in every song that we do along with all the other influences we have. But, I suppose that if your going to get compared to somebody it's better to be compared to Pink Floyd than somebody like the Ramones. Not that I don't like the Ramones, but I think our music is a little more along the lines of Pink Floyd than the Ramones. (Laughter)
Tom: Right. (Laughter) I understand. Being a Ramones fan myself, I see where you are coming from on that…
Scott: I love the Ramones. Maybe that was a bad analogy.
Tom: No. That was cool. I understand what you were saying.
Scott: So it was a flattering thing. Actually it's funny because we met David Gilmore once. The last show they did on the Division Bell Tour we were in England and they did fourteen shows at the arena there…fuck, I don't remember. It was along time ago. Two weeks solid sold out shows! We went to the last show and we went backstage and hung out and got to meet Gilmore and it was really cool because he was like, "You know that Silent Lucidity song? I like that song."
Tom: Cool!
Scott: He was being sincere. It was fucking cool. So, I figured we were good to go, you know… Everybody can think what they want.
Tom: I saw them on the Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour and I got one of his guitar picks and I lost it somewhere in my house. It has been lost for ten years and I am seriously considering hiring a psychic to locate it. (Laughter)
Scott: (Laughter) Right!
Tom: Being one of the most influential bands of the Progressive Metal genre, Queensrÿche have inspired so many musicians, what do you think of the way that Metal has gone today with the likes of Nu-Metal etc.?
Scott: I think there is good and bad. As much as I follow, I like some of the stuff. There are elements… Everything that is being done now has been done in the past… along with, fuck, any music we make. There is only so many ways you can write a song. Steven Tyler always says that "nobody is unique anymore; it's about how you can be uniquely derivative of somebody else. (Laughter) That's how we made it." That is what he said about Aerosmith. I think that is a valid statement, you know, but there is a lot of re-hashing what's going on. But there is a lot of cool stuff, a lot of good stuff. I like all sorts of different music, so I don't really pick one or two. It depends what I am into that particular day. But it's cool. There is some good stuff coming out.
Tom: David Lee Roth said some thing like that. He said something to the effect that nobody writes original tunes anymore. You just hear some song you like and the think: "If I wrote this, I'd change the beginning to this, then change the end to this, and since I changed those, I'll change the middle" and Presto! …You have a new song.
Scott: Yeah. That's where you get your inspirations that spawn ideas.
Tom: Queensrÿche influenced so many bands, but who are some of the bands that inspired you?
Scott: In the early days, I was more into the bands of the progressive era I suppose. Rush was an influence, Pink Floyd, um, Yes, Iron Maiden… Depending on what my mood was that particular day. It's kind of morphed through the years. Once again, just depending what I am into at the time. But it's a bigger gamut these days than it was in the past. Now I listen to a lot of film music and classical music. You know I compose film music as another business that I have. I have Grammy Nominations for composing movie scores…
Tom: Congratulations!
Scott: …and I've been doing instrumental music for years. I find a lot of inspiration in that kind of music and I bring that to the band and so that's been good. I listen to a lot of different stuff.
Tom: Who are some of the bands that you like to listen to from today?
Scott: A Perfect Circle is pretty cool… and Underworld… the movie Underworld. I bought it not for the score, but for all the songs that are on it. There is some really good stuff on there by Maynard and some of the other people he's been working with…
Tom: I heard that the soundtrack is better than the movie…(Laughter)
Scott: Really? I want to see the movie because the music is so cool.
Tom: Well, The movies not that bad…I'm not telling you not to see it. I'm just saying that the soundtrack is just better than the film... kind of like the Mummy movie there… the one with The Rock. The soundtrack rocked but the movie was "blah."
Scott: Ok.
Tom: Final Question - What does the future hold for Queensrÿche?
Scott: You Know, More and More! The immediate future is that we have two weeks left of this tour. We go home on November third. We've got the Holidays off through March, but we start work on the new record in November. The second week of November, after we're home for two weeks, we go into the studio and start writing and recording the next record. Hopefully we'll have it done by early, early spring of next year and then we have offers to do a huge European tour and a huge summer tour next year. It's just kind of a vicious cycle. Intermixed with that is your family and also all your other side projects. I have four other things in the works, a film coming out in about a month and a half that I just scored the music for… so, you know, (Laughter) …it keeps things busy.
Tom: No rest for the wicked they say…(laughter) Any Final Words?
Scott: Thanks to everybody for listening and paying attention and enjoying the music.
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