QUEENSRCHE Drummer On 'Dedicated To Chaos': 'We Made A Metal Record'

Bryan Reesman of Attention Deficit Delirium recently conducted an interview with QUEENSRCHE drummer Scott Rockenfield. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Attention Deficit Delirium: What kind of reaction did you get to the cabaret tour last year? I heard mixed things from people. Some of them were confused by it.

Scott: There was no middle ground or gray area. You probably loved it or you probably hated it, and we saw all of that on the Blabbermouth sites of the world. Needless to say, that was another QUEENSRCHE experiment that we always do. We weren't going out to promote a new record, but we didn't just want to sit and make a record because to be honest, we get bored. We like to keep the movement going, and we like to see our fans. The invention of cabaret was [that] Geoff [Tate, vocals] loves to act. He really likes getting up and having a purpose on stage rather than just getting up and doing a light show and a rock set. He wanted to do something different. So he pitched that to us, and it became what it was. It was an opportunity for our families to get involved; our wives were onstage with us as part of the troupe, so it gave us excuses and covered the expenses of having them travel with us. That was nice for my wife and I, plus I could stare at her every night not wearing any clothes.

Attention Deficit Delirium: When we spoke last summer, you were tossing out influences like Lady Gaga in a production sense [for your new album, "Dedicated To Chaos"] as opposed to a musical sense. Some fans were not sure what to make of those comments. Could you clarify them now?

Scott: I remember when we talked about that, and I've gotten flak for those comments ever since I made them because unfortunately people didn't read it correctly or maybe I didn't explain myself correctly. I listen to a lot of that stuff, and still do, because I have kids that are teenagers, and that's all they like to listen to. I can't change the radio in the car when I'm driving because they won't let me, so I get to know it. In all honestly, I enjoy all of it. I like the Katy Perry stuff and can't stop getting out of my head, so there must be something to be said for some of that music. I've had to get to know and love it, and I think in doing that I've analyzed it on a deeper level: "Why is this so popular besides the fact that they're young and women?" Could that help my career for another 10 years if I could figure out why these kids like this stuff? Can I somehow be a part of that in the QUEENSRCHE thing, for example, but still keep it QUEENSRCHE? I definitely don't want people think that we are making a QUEENSRCHE/Lady Gaga record, but in terms of production value and the delivery method of how she does certain things, or how somebody current like that does stuff, I think it's cool. Listen, if I played drums on a Gaga song, it would fucking shred. I would love to do that, although I don't think that would ever happen. We made a metal record. It's definitely a heavy, dark "Dedicated To Chaos" type of record that is unlike anything out there. You're just inspired by things in life and use those inspirations in your own way. One of the songs I wrote on the record is called "Around The World" and was completely inspired by Moby, of all people, who I was deep into that week for some reason. I was listening to a bunch of Moby stuff on my iPod. I like him. I think he's an interesting guy who does his own thing, which I really find intriguing because I'm kind of a loner sometimes in my own world as well. So I analyzed a lot of what he was doing, and I wrote a song that was completely inspired by him. I think it became one of the strongest tunes on the record that people are going to be able to grasp onto. But when you listen to what I did, you'll think, "This was inspired by Moby?" People will probably be shocked, but it actually was. In a nutshell, QUEENSRCHE listens to everything. All of us have different tastes, and when we get together and add that to make the songs, all those influences end up inside the songs in some ghostly fashion.

Read the entire interview at Attention Deficit Delirium.

Photo by Andy Batt