Queensryche: In the Studio

Those hoping for clarity on the bizarre Queensryche membership situation will get just a bit of that from an update yesterday indicating the band are in the recording studio.

To recap: estranged drummer Scott Rockenfield, who took paternity leave from the band in 2017 then all but entirely disappeared from the public eye, reemerged earlier this year with a new website, Queensryche2021.com, that had vocalist Todd La Torre and guitarist Parker Lundgren cropped out of a band photo (the band’s official channels made no mention of the site). La Torre and Rockenfield passive-aggressively sparred publicly before the band played their first show since the pandemic, which included La Torre but no Lundgren, and Casey Grillo on drums (he’s been filling in live since Rockenfield’s hiatus began).

Now, in a new post on the band’s official social media channels, a photo shows La Torre and founding guitarist Michael Wilton with producer Zeuss “taking a break” from the studio. This is good news because a) new Queensryche music is in the works, duh, and b) it means Wilton’s status in the band is not in question, despite Rockenfield’s inclusion of him on his rogue website.

Unfortunately there are still a couple of things we don’t know: who’s playing drums? and is Lundgren involved?

Presumably we’ll have those answers soon enough. In the meantime, Rockenfield’s Queensryche2021.com has gotten an overhaul — no more cropped band photo — but it still looks just as makeshift.

Former Queensryche vocalist Geoff Tate, who split from the band in 2012, said in a 2019 interview that he believed Rockenfield and the band were embroiled in a lawsuit, then in 2020 he said the drummer has “a lot of medical problems.” There has been no confirmation of either of those assertions.

You’ll know more when we do!

[via Metal Insider]