QUEENSRŸCHE Members Talk Next Album; Quality NYC 'Cabaret' Footage Available

QUEENSRŸCHE members Geoff Tate (vocals) and Scott Rockenfield (drums) were interviewed on last night's (Friday, August 20) edition of Eddie Trunk's "Friday Night Rocks" radio show on New York's Q104.3 FM.

When asked about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to QUEENSRŸCHE's 2009 CD, "American Soldier", Tate said, "We're about more than halfway through our new album, writing it... In a sense, it is [a concept record]. It's a very contemporary record.

He continued, "'Empire' was a record of the time. Rock music was really the music of the times in 1990. Unfortunately, rock music isn't the music of the times anymore — it's very underground.

"What we're doing with this record is we're taking the 'Empire' song structure, in a sense, where it's very strong songs, very melodic, but we kind of restructured the rhythm section, and Scott's [Rockenfield, drums] done an amazing job on restructuring that — him and Eddie [Jackson, bass] have just really gone to town, and they've made it very contemporary-sounding.

"These days, in comparison to the old days, people used to sit in their houses and listen to music right in the front room on their stereo system. People don't do that anymore. They plug in and they're mobile and they're moving and they're doing stuff and the music, they're listening to it as they're doing stuff. This music has that feel. It's very contemporary in the sense that it's very rhythmatic. The rhythm structure kind of reflects the way modern life is — we're all busy, we're all doing stuff. And Scott being the incredible drummer that he is, the various time signatures, the feel of the record, it's now — it's very, very now."

Added Scott: "I think we've kind of done the 'Rage For Order'-meets-'Empire'.

"'Rage', in our early days of 1986, we were pushing the technological limits in terms of sound stuff and things we were able to do and musically and sonically, and I think what we're trying to do is kind of almost meld the two together in a modern day. So it's kind of like, for a lack of a better way. 'Empire' and 'Rage For Order' through a time tunnel, shoved into my blender, and then [presented] in 2011, when it will come out."

Quality fan-filmed video footage of QUEENSRŸCHE's August 20, 2010 concert at the Nokia Theatre in New York City as part of the band's current Queensrÿche Cabaret tour can be viewed below.

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. Hit the Black
02. Desert Dance
03. I Am I
04. Sacred Ground
05. Promised Land
06. Disconnected
07. Lady Jane
08. Another Rainy Night (Without You)
09. The Art of Life
10. The Thin Line
11. Jet City Woman
12. The Lady Wore Black
13. Tribe
14. Liquid Sky
15. Roads to Madness
16. Until There Was You
17. The Right Side Of My Mind
18. Empire

QUEENSRŸCHE's Queensrÿche Cabaret tour is being filmed for future DVD release. The trek, which kicked off in late July, was previously described by the group as "Teatro ZinZanni meets Cirque du Soleil, with the band performing their hits and never-heard-before selections accompanied by go-go dancers, burlesque dancers, drag queens, a juggler, ballet dancer, trapeze artist, a contortionist and others. Definitely a fun-filled evening like no other full of freaks and shrieks!"

QUEENSRŸCHE's twelfth studio LP, the epic concept album "American Soldier", was made available from Atco/Rhino in March 2009. The ambitious album encompassed a dozen songs inspired by numerous interviews with veterans conducted by Geoff Tate, the group's singer and chief songwriter, who was intent on telling their story using their words. After speaking with soldiers who served in various conflicts — from World War II to Iraq — Tate turned their firsthand experiences from the frontlines into an unflinching musical examination of the life of a solider and the consequences of war.