QUEENSRŸCHE Speak Out On New Album, Dysfunctional Relationships

QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Scott Rockenfield has been busy working on the group's forthcoming studio CD with bandmates Michael Wilton (guitar) and Eddie Jackson (bass) and "everything is going very well," according to a posting from Rockenfield on his official web site. "Michael, Eddie and myself have been working extremely hard, and things are sounding great!!!! [Vocalist] Geoff [Tate] will be stepping in to add his vocals anytime now. We are hoping very strongly for a release sometime in the fall."

In other news, Tate recently spoke to Roughedge.com about QUEENSRŸCHE's current status and his ongoing solo tour, which has kept him away from his bandmates during the recording process for the new album.

According to the singer, "the QUEENSRŸCHE camp, since [guitarist Chris] DeGarmo departed, is a very volatile bunch of people who are like a dysfunctional family. So, it's a very stressful sort of relationship. And so, in contrast, this [solo] tour, this situation that I'm doing solo-wise, is a vacation in comparison. So, it's good that you have a vacation, so that when you go back to work, you approach it with recharged batteries, or renewed vigor — whatever you want to call it, you know? (laughs)"

Tate also addressed the interview conducted with the singer by Cleveland, Ohio's WMMS 100.7 FM back in late June in which Geoff indicated that all communication between the individual band members was being done strictly through business managers and lawyers,

Said the vocalist: "I was doing an interview with them…and they took some comments I made... Well, I was talking about the dysfunctionality of the band, and making a few sarcastic remarks, like the band only communicates through their lawyers and managers, you know, because we're so dysfunctional. For some reason, Rockenfield [drummer Scott] got it in his head that I was putting the band down or something, so he got upset about what I said, and went online and made some comments to the opposite of that. And so, it prompted me to have to call him and the rest of the band, and get on the conference call while I was in Detroit, and say, 'Look, I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings or anything I'm just talking about my perspective, which is we don't talk, we don't communicate, and this is a very dysfunctional group -- you know, that's my truth. I don't want to argue about this online.' I said, 'Do you guys want to do that?' And they said, 'No — we don't want you to talk about the band.' I said, 'Oh, okay — peace. I won't talk about it.' It wasn't meant to hurt anyone's feelings. It wasn't meant to be a mean comment to hurt somebody that's just the way I see it. I was just being honest, you know? I don't think there's anything wrong with being a bunch of dysfunctional people in a band. Some people, some bands, work well that way. Look at THE WHO — they used to get in fistfights every day! That's just the way they work they're a volatile bunch of personalities. I mean, it's not all candy and roses in every group....

"So, I didn't see anything wrong with it. But, I made an agreement that I would watch what I say to people and the press, so as not to cause a problem within the band. So, I went on www.queensryche.com, and apologized to them, I think — I can't remember exactly what I said.

"And at least we were all talking, and that was the first time we had all talked in about a year, I think.

"There were all these rumors, everybody kept asking me last week: 'Is the band breaking up?' And I'd say, 'No, dude, we're not we're making a record right now!' I was just explaining something about the chemistry of the group, and it got taken out of context by my own band members! (laughs)"