_________________________________ | Screaming in Digital
        ________________*________________ |
                       ***                | The Queensryche Net Digest
        __________*__*******__*__________ | Volume 015, 03Feb92
                 ******* *******          |
              *********   *********       | Edited by Dan Birchall
        ____************_************____ | birchall@pilot.njin.net
          **** ******************* ****   |
         ***   ***  *********  ***   ***  | FTP
         **     *     *****     *     **  | glia.biostr.washington.edu
        _*____________*****____________*_ | quartz.rutgers.edu
                    *********             |
                   ***********            |   Design, layout, editorial
                  **  *****  **           | content (c) Dan Birchall.
                  *   *****   *           |   Authors retain the rights
        ______________*****______________ | to, and responsibility for
                       ***                | the content of, submissions
                       ***                | to this digest.  Submission
                       ***                | constitutes license to use.
                        *                 |   I reserve editorial right
                        *                 | regarding grammar, length,
        _(c)_1992_______*________________ | spelling, and decency. 
        _________________________________________________________________
        _Screaming in Digital______________________________Editor's Note_

                February already?  Wow.  A few of you are still missing
        (eternal Christmas break?) but most are back now.  I had been a
        bit worried that things would slack off once the tour ended...
        I'm a fool for worrying.  One of the reasons this volume is out
        later in the day than some is that I had to subscribe several
        people while working on it. (No, I'm not complaining!) (The other
        reason is that I've been putting ice on my fiancee's knee every
        20 minutes, since she hurt it.)

                Lots of useful stuff in this one... read on if you dare.

        _Neue Regel___________________________________________What's New_

                Coming soon to a store, radio station, or MTV near you:
        "Anybody Listening?" the final single off Empire.  More on that
        throughout the digest.

        klm@gozer.mv.com (Kevin) writes,
                "The January 1992 issue of "Guitar World" (Guitar 
        School's sister publication) contains an interview with Chris
        and Mike, a "private lesson" and a transcription of "Jet City
        Woman."

        jl0941a@acad.drake.edu (Jeremy) writes,
                "A friend said that someone who he knows heard some new
        songs off a tape which were going to be on their new album -
        which I believe he said was finished, but I am not sure.  This
        guy's dad works for EMI, I believe.  I do not know if this is
        true or no.  I have no proof of these songs, but he said his
        friend said they were great."
                        {If there are such songs floating about, I would
                        believe that they were recorded during the same
                        studio sessions as those contained on "Empire."
                        I strongly doubt that any creation of new songs
                        has gone on during the current tour.  -sh}

        _Speak____________________________________________Correspondence_

        maksymc@eris.wtfd.orst.edu (Chris) writes,
                "I have a friend that is a traditional fan (all of the 
        albums, etc) and decided that the best way for me to get 
        introduced to them was to take me to their December 30th concert 
        in Portland OR.  I had no idea what they played other than Silent 
        Lucidity (from all the local radio hype last year) so I was going 
        into this concert compleatly blind.  Much to my surprise, I _had_ 
        heard most of the stuff that they performed that night, but just
        never heard their name associated with the music.  They were a 
        bit mild for my tastes at first, but they have been slowly 
        growing on me ever since."
                "After all, I am buying the $99 Operation: Empire box 
        from a local record store - gee, and this is only after one 
        month!  What am I going to be like by the end of the year?"
                        {The word 'psychotic' comes to mind... -sh}

        esi011@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Jon) writes,
                "I spoke to Chris and asked him what is said at the end 
        of Anybody Listening as you hear the waves rolling in. He said 
        that the band were apparently talking about 'goldfish and filling 
        the studio up with water.'  Honest, he did say this (He could 
        have been just winding me up).  Personally I think the album just 
        ends on a joking note (private to the band maybe), and the 
        listener isn't really supposed to hear the final chatter."

        dwb4025@venus.tamu.edu (David) writes,
                "I am trying to get a Tri-Ryche engraved on a Zippo 
        lighter, but haven't been able to find any businesses that will 
        do it... they all have the templates the computer uses to do the 
        engraving, for text, but can't do a "free hand" design.. Does 
        anyone know of a place that will do this for me?"

        cs102106%vixen.dnet@terra.oscs.montana.edu (Don) writes,
                "I thought I would give my opinion as to what Geoff said 
        during Revolution Calling on Livecrime:  "Wilton... show us how 
        it's done."  I assumed this was what he was saying, because he 
        was standing next to Michael, who was about to begin his solo."

        ch9102@seqa.bristol.ac.uk (Nikki) writes,
                "I have a little bit regarding the death of Mary.  I'm
        sure she died from being strangled by her rosary beads, as
        Video: Mindcrime showed Dr. X approaching her with them, and
        "Eyes of a Stranger" includes the line "Your rosary wrapped 
        around your throat," indicating she died of strangulation,
        probably killed by Dr. X."

        klm@gozer.mv.com (Kevin) writes,
                "I saw Queensryche in Worcester, Massachusetts last
        summer, and I agree that the keyboards were used more for
        launching patches than actually playing."

        plummers@ecsuc.ctstateu.edu (Steve) writes,
                "I finally got my hands on Mindcrime. I never heard it 
        before.  I was introduced to Queensryche at the time of "Last 
        Time in Paris", and bought Empire the first week it came out, 
        fell in love with it, but never went further. I liked Mindcrime, 
        but I like the mellowness of Empire a little better, they're both 
        "mental" music and I like that."

        cs102106%vixen.dnet@terra.oscs.montana.edu (Don) writes,
                "Does anybody out there have a scanner with which they 
        create digitized pictures?  I have a couple pictures of
        Queensryche which might make cool GIF's."

        rk1i+@andrew.cmu.edu (Ra) writes,
                "Just out of curiosity, the fan club wouldn't happen to
        have an e-mail address, would they?"
                        {Not yet that I know of.  If I could manage to
                        contact them, I could _probably_ get one set up
                        for them.  I'll work on it.  -sh}

        cs102106%vixen.dnet@terra.oscs.montana.edu (Don) writes,
                "In Screaming in Digital I think he was saying "If you 
        want to say goodbye, just say 'I Love You.'" rather than "Don't 
        say goodbye... "

        _Roads to Madness___________________________________Touring Info_

        esi011@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Jon) writes,
                I have seen the last 5 of Queensryche's London gigs and 
        they have all been amazing.  The first was particularly brilliant 
        at the Town And Country Club, November 88. This gig first 
        converted me and received extremely healthy reviews from the 
        British metal magazines.  Since then I have seen them at Hammy 3 
        times and the last gig was at Donnington 91." 

        cs102106%vixen.dnet@terra.oscs.montana.edu (Don) writes,
                "In Spokane, they were filming their last video off 
        Empire, "Anybody Listening?"  As far as I know, this is the only
        time on the Building Empires tour that they performed this song,
        and they did 5 separate takes in Spokane.  I only wish I had 
        tried to sneak in a tape recorder...  They eliminated Della Brown
        and Another Rainy Night from their set list in order to film for
        the video."
                        {That's my favorite song on the album, and I
                        wish they'd played it at other tour dates.  -sh}

        klm@gozer.mv.com (Kevin) writes,
                "Suicidal Tendencies opened for Queensryche in 
        Worcester.  I have no comment on them as my friends and I
        intentionally missed the warmup act so that we could save our
        ears for Queensryche and down a few pints at a pub down the
        street."
                        {They opened in Philadelphia too, and were
                        actually quite good.  As for downing a few
                        pints, someone who'd downed a few too many
                        trampled my chair, hat, and program.  -sh}

        _I Will Remember_________________________________________History_

        jjm13@po.cwru.edu (Jeff) writes,
                "I have an article here from Scene magazine, distributed 
        in northeast Ohio.  It basically consists of an introduction to
        the band and a review of Operation: Livecrime.
                "In the article it states that only 40,000 box sets were 
        made.  They are available "while supplies last," so it _is_ a 
        limited edition.  It doesn't say anything about the live 
        recording being separately released later."


                    Capturing the Queensryche Empire on Film
                        by Susan Fenske in Scene magazine

                Once upon a time, a band was a group of musicians who had 
        a sincere love for music and an unyielding desire to bring forth 
        a message and motivate their peers.  Rock music has traditionally
        been a rebellious and subversive way of getting revolutionary 
        ideas across; perhaps no other musical entity has done it better 
        than Grammy Award nominees Queensryche.
                Already indicating a certain amount of social discord, 
        Geoff Tate, Chris DeGarmo, Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson and 
        Scott Rockenfield rallied together in 1981 and named themselves 
        the Mob.  Since that time, they have carried an underground 
        mentality throughout their collective musical careers as 
        Queensryche with the subsequent releases of _The_Warning_ in 1984 
        and _Rage_For_Order_ in 1986.
                In 1988, Queensryche's social agitation climaxed with the 
        release of _Operation: Mindcrime_, a fictional and sinister rock 
        opera which follows the main character, "Nikki," through 
        interludes with weakness, political brain-washing, betrayal and 
        death.
                Nikki was a loser, a street kid who was dangerously 
        unpredictable.  Moreover, he had nothing to believe in, until one 
        day while attending a political rally, he heard the lament of the 
        discontent:  
                "Got no love for politicians or that crazy scene 
                in D.C., It's just a power mad town.  But the 
                time is right for changes, There's a growing 
                feeling that taking a chance on a new kind of 
                vision is due.  I used to trust the media to tell 
                me the truth, tell us the truth.  But now I've 
                seen the payoffs, everywhere I look. Who do you 
                trust when everyone's a crook?  Revolution 
                calling, revolution calling, Revolution calling 
                you."                                                   
                In 1991, as Queensryche prepared to embark on their first 
        headlining tour to promote their most successful album to date,
        _Empire_, their decision to perform _Operation: Mindcrime_ in its
        entirety was a clever one.  Their subsequent decision never to
        repeat it led to the making of a video.
                _Operation: Livecrime_, filmed on location in Madison, 
        Milwaukee and LaCrosse, Wisconsin on May 10-12, 1991, draws 
        liberally from the band's eccentricities and accentuates director 
        Wayne Isham's signature montage style.
                The video moves so fast, at times it seems merely choppy.  
        It often clips along chaotically and misses opportunities to 
        linger on an entire solo by DeGarmo or a dramatic moment 
        involving Tate.  The same camera work does, however, depict the 
        intensity and energy of the show although intimacy is seriously 
        lacking as the camera tries too hard to capture every kick and 
        sneer.  
                On the tour, the use of two large projection screens 
        behind the band, showing images both animated and live, helped 
        tell the _Operation: Mindcrime_ story.  There are times during 
        the video when the transitions from the images on the screen to 
        the band members are clean and a great asset to the tale.  Often, 
        though, the layering of images on the stage video, on top of shots 
        of the band, on top of footage of the audience with lighters held 
        high, detracts visually.
                The quick close-up encounters that we do experience with 
        DeGarmo, Wilton, Jackson, and Rockenfield are welcome.  Too often 
        in a live setting, the vocalist can demand much of the 
        concert-goers' attention, and the rest of the band goes virtually 
        unnoticed.  In this case, the backbone of Queensryche gets well
        deserved video time.
                Tate's role as frontman is also handsomely depicted, his 
        authoritative style seems instinctive; you can feel it when he's 
        pouring himself out freely and you know when he's near 
        exhaustion.
                Vocalist Pamela Moore makes an on stage appearance in the 
        video; she sang the part of "Sister Mary" on the original 
        _Operation: Mindcrime_ album and portrayed the "Lady Of Pain" in 
        use on the "Empire" tour.
                The interplay between Moore and Tate is arresting; the
        desperate state of Sister Mary and the vulnerability of Nikki 
        is unwittingly present.  Both do more than an adequate job of 
        exuding the guilt and isolation that the characters feel when 
        they realize their role in Dr. X's wicked conspiracy.
                Accompanying the video is a 40-page book with lyrics to  
        all 15 songs, brief libretto to help fill in the gaps of the 
        story, a fold-out pictorial collage of the band and companion 
        recording with the entire soundtrack of the video.  The complete 
        set is nicely boxed and available on cassette tape or compact    
        disc while supplies last; only 40,000 box sets were made.
                A street date of March 10 has been set for the release of 
        the home video _Operation:  Livecrime_.  Both the box set and the 
        singular video culminate a chapter in the life of Queensryche.
                Queensryche has been referred to as the "thinking 
        person's band," but has also been said to employ pretentious 
        intellectual trappings.  It would appear that they simply have a 
        love for communication, an appreciation for the performing arts 
        and respect for their individual talents.  You won't find guitar 
        bashing and unintelligible banter here.  Queensryche's crown is 
        understated integrity and artistic growth, just like it used to 
        be.

        _Gonna Get Close to You________________________________Spottings_

         esi011@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Jon) writes,
                At the Hammersmith gigs of 1990 I awaited round back 
        with around 5 friends and about a total of 20 other fans.  We 
        waited around for about one and a half hours and were then 
        fortunate enough to be led through the back door to meet the band 
        (they had just finished giving some magazine interviews).  We 
        werefiled into a side room and as we left got the band to sign 
        albums etc. I got all five of my CD's signed by each member (one 
        signature each cd). They were all really genuine and chatty and 
        not at all like your typical rock stars."

        _Anybody Listening?__________________________________Classifieds_

        Wanted: Bootlegs from the Building Empires tour
        Reply to: v120p993@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Kevin)

        Wanted: Lyrics to "Last Time in Paris"
        Reply to: birchall@pilot.njin.net

        _The Whisper__________________________________________Discussion_

        rk1i+@andrew.cmu.edu (Ra) writes,
                "My buddy and I listened to Suite Sister Mary rather
        closely.  We figured it was Geoff's voice doing the female part,
        and we're both rather convinced that he _doesn't_ use a pitch
        raiser.  He doesn't go up any higher than he does when doing
        Nikki's part, but he does change tone color rather significantly,
        and that is what gives the impression of a female voice.
                "However, it would seem that's something that can only be
        done after loads of practice and a difficult thing to do all the
        time, which may account for it not being on the Building Empires
        tour.  They obviously use a tape background, and then synchronize
        it to the girl's video image on the screens."
                        {To expand on one of your points, in the studio,
                        Geoff has the option of laying down Nikki's voice
                        first, and then, when he feels like singing it,
                        putting down Mary's.  On a live tour, he'd be
                        forced to change tone color frequently, live,
                        throughout the whole song, which would be quite
                        difficult and probably voice-damaging.  -sh}

        ch9102@seqa.bristol.ac.uk (Nikki) writes,
                "Listen carefully to the parts where Mary sings alone.
        The voices are similar, but not by any means identical.  I think
        Pamela Moore did sing the part she is credited with.

        _Spreading the Disease_________________________________Resources_

        dougp@juliet.caltech.edu (Doug) writes,
                "Last Time in Paris" can also be found on _Hard Hitters 
        CD Sampler #8-Summer '90_.  This is one in a series of 
        promotional discs that are distributed to radio stations.  You 
        can sometimes find these discs at used record/CD stores."

        esi011@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Jon) writes,
                "I have seen a bit of a 'Gonna Get Close To You' Video,
        on British TV from Queensryche's glamour days (which is most 
        amusing)."

        ch9102@seqa.bristol.ac.uk (Nikki) writes,
                "The "Unknown" song is probably Roads To Madness, as
        that would fit with the set list of the British tour, as far as
        I remember."

        esi011@cck.coventry.ac.uk (Jon) writes,
                "Concerning the tracks to a bootleg copy of Queensryche's
        gig at Hammersmith Odeon, I can tell you that the 'unknown' track 
        listed is in fact Roads To Madness which was performed 
        brilliantly on both the Hammy gigs in Nov 1990." 

        mugglestd@willow.ulowell.edu (David) writes,
                "I just found a new Queensryche thing for you to slobber 
        over (and try to find).  It's the promotional CD single for 
        "Anybody Listening," with an edit version (4:46) and the album 
        version (7:40).  The number is EMI DPRO #4863, the copyright 
        dates are 1992 and 1990.  It comes in your ordinary jewel box, 
        and has really neat graphics that I haven't deciphered yet."
                "I found two copies of this at my school radio station, 
        and gave one to a Queensryche-loving friend.  The other one I 
        think I'll keep--it's really cool."
                        {The commercially available single should be out
                        very soon, for those who have been waiting for it
                        like me.  -sh}

        cs102106%vixen.dnet@terra.oscs.montana.edu (Don) writes,
                "Regarding Queensryche sound-alike bands, here's another 
        one: Heir Apparent.  To make another comparison to Queensryche 
        (other than vocals and guitar harmonies), they also do a cover 
        of a Simon & Garfunkel tune.. but their choice is 'Sound of 
        Silence.'"

        _________________________________________________________________

                Well, that's all for now... more next week, I hope.  As
        always, feedback is welcome.  And for those of you who didn't see
        the last issue, be sure to send your favourite album and song to
        drd@gnu.ai.mit.edu for the survey... Also, any info for the 
        planned discography would be appreciated - particularly the items
        that aren't recordings - fan stuff!

                                Until next time...

                                                -Shag