Buddy Lackey
31-01-2005, 08:38
Hot Ticket: Queensryche
Band's sequel to 'Mindcrime' album serves as its swan song
'I think it's just time to do something different,' says singer Geoff Tate.
By Alan Sculley / Special to The Detroit News
Group's latest album, "Mindcrime II," picks up after the first album's main character, Nikki, has spent 15 years in jail.
When Queensryche revealed plans to record a sequel to "Operation: Mindcrime," the 1988 concept album that has become the group's signature work, some fans viewed the move as little more than an attempt by the band to regain its glory days as an arena headliner.
Queensryche singer Geoff Tate was quick to deny those intentions, noting that mass success isn't even a realistic possibility anymore.
"It's not going to live up to the sales of "Mindcrime" I, Tate says. "We don't have a business structure set up to deliver the album in a massive way -- the way EMI Records did back in 1988 when we were on MTV."
Besides, Tate says, "Mindcrime II" will probably be Queensryche's final studio release. Clearly a band plotting a return to glory would be thinking beyond just one more CD.
"I think it's just time to do something different, a different challenge in life, something that's fulfilling in a different way," Tate says.
As far as swan songs go, Tate figures a sequel to "Mindcrime" would be a heck of a parting shot. The original story was set in a dark future society and centered around a street kid named Nikki who falls under the spell of a manipulative character named Dr. X, who turns Nikki into his loyal assassin, eliminating anyone who poses a threat to Dr. X.
Tate, not surprisingly, doesn't want to divulge many details about the storyline to "Mindcrime II." But he does note that the sequel picks up years after the original story, after Nikki has spent 15 years in jail.
Musically, Tate says, "the sequel will have many contrasts to the original CD.
"It is so many years later, and so much more information has crossed under the bridge," Tate says. "I'm a different person. I think differently. And musically what's challenging to me is so much more involved than it was in 1987 when we made 'Mindcrime.' By comparison to the new record, 'Mindcrime' will seem very simple in its musical presentation."
Queensryche, which also includes guitarists Michael Wilton and Mike Stone, bassist Eddie Jackson and drummer Scott Rockenfield, is priming fans for "Mindcrime II" on the second leg of its American tour. The show's first set features songs from throughout the band's career, whicht began in 1981 in Bellevue, Wash., and reached a peak in 1990 with the quadruple platinum CD, "Empire."
The second set is "Operation: Mindcrime" -- played in its entirety -- and with some additional twists, including actors who help expand on the musical/lyrical elements of the story.
"We've changed and modified several of the songs' arrangements and added some new sections and some new parts," Tate says. "We wanted to make it interesting for the audience who had seen it perhaps before, and also, to help flesh out the story line a little better, make it a little easier for people to understand certain things that are happening with the story."
----------
Osoi einai na peite provlepsimes malakies, mh to kanete, thanks
Band's sequel to 'Mindcrime' album serves as its swan song
'I think it's just time to do something different,' says singer Geoff Tate.
By Alan Sculley / Special to The Detroit News
Group's latest album, "Mindcrime II," picks up after the first album's main character, Nikki, has spent 15 years in jail.
When Queensryche revealed plans to record a sequel to "Operation: Mindcrime," the 1988 concept album that has become the group's signature work, some fans viewed the move as little more than an attempt by the band to regain its glory days as an arena headliner.
Queensryche singer Geoff Tate was quick to deny those intentions, noting that mass success isn't even a realistic possibility anymore.
"It's not going to live up to the sales of "Mindcrime" I, Tate says. "We don't have a business structure set up to deliver the album in a massive way -- the way EMI Records did back in 1988 when we were on MTV."
Besides, Tate says, "Mindcrime II" will probably be Queensryche's final studio release. Clearly a band plotting a return to glory would be thinking beyond just one more CD.
"I think it's just time to do something different, a different challenge in life, something that's fulfilling in a different way," Tate says.
As far as swan songs go, Tate figures a sequel to "Mindcrime" would be a heck of a parting shot. The original story was set in a dark future society and centered around a street kid named Nikki who falls under the spell of a manipulative character named Dr. X, who turns Nikki into his loyal assassin, eliminating anyone who poses a threat to Dr. X.
Tate, not surprisingly, doesn't want to divulge many details about the storyline to "Mindcrime II." But he does note that the sequel picks up years after the original story, after Nikki has spent 15 years in jail.
Musically, Tate says, "the sequel will have many contrasts to the original CD.
"It is so many years later, and so much more information has crossed under the bridge," Tate says. "I'm a different person. I think differently. And musically what's challenging to me is so much more involved than it was in 1987 when we made 'Mindcrime.' By comparison to the new record, 'Mindcrime' will seem very simple in its musical presentation."
Queensryche, which also includes guitarists Michael Wilton and Mike Stone, bassist Eddie Jackson and drummer Scott Rockenfield, is priming fans for "Mindcrime II" on the second leg of its American tour. The show's first set features songs from throughout the band's career, whicht began in 1981 in Bellevue, Wash., and reached a peak in 1990 with the quadruple platinum CD, "Empire."
The second set is "Operation: Mindcrime" -- played in its entirety -- and with some additional twists, including actors who help expand on the musical/lyrical elements of the story.
"We've changed and modified several of the songs' arrangements and added some new sections and some new parts," Tate says. "We wanted to make it interesting for the audience who had seen it perhaps before, and also, to help flesh out the story line a little better, make it a little easier for people to understand certain things that are happening with the story."
----------
Osoi einai na peite provlepsimes malakies, mh to kanete, thanks