Queensrÿche

Queensrÿche are a progressive metal band from Seattle, Washington, USA. They began as The Mob during 1981, formed by guitarist Michael Wilton, drummer Scott Rockenfield, guitarist Chris DeGarmo and bassist Eddie Jackson. Without a singer, they recruited Geoff Tate to sing for them at a local rock festival. At the time, Tate was in another band called Babylon. After Babylon broke up, Tate performed a few shows with The Mob, but left the group. In 1981, The Mob put together sufficient funds to record a demo tape. Once again they asked Tate, who was in another band [a=Myth (10)], to do the vocals and they recorded four songs “Queen of the Reich”, “Nightrider”, “Blinded”, and “The Lady Wore Black”.

Since the name “The Mob” was not available, they decided to name the band Queensrÿche after the first song on their demo tape, “Queen of the Reich”. In 1983, Queensrÿche released their demo tape as a self-titled EP "Queensrÿche". Tate agreed to leave Myth and become Queensrÿche’s permanent lead singer.

In 1997, guitarist and primary songwriter Chris DeGarmo left the band for personal reasons. Over the years, his replacements have been Kelly Gray, Mike Stone, and Parker Lundgren, respectively.

In a band meeting on April 12th 2012, which Tate did not attend, the band members discussed outsourcing the fanclub and merchandising, resulting in the firing of Tate’s stepdaughter, Miranda, from running the band’s fan club. Wilton, Rockenfield, and Jackson also fired the band manager, Susan Tate, because of ongoing “arguments and division” over decisions and “feelings that Susan Tate was not working on the behalf of the band as a whole.” On April 14th 2012, before the soundcheck for a show at the HSBC Arena in São Paulo, Brazil, Tate inquired with Wilton, Rockenfield, and Jackson why they had fired his wife and stepdaughter, and the other band members asked Tate questions about the deal with Zoetifex Studios. Following that São Paulo incident, Tate was fired from the band and replaced with Crimson Glory singer Todd La Torre.

On June 12th 2012, Tate and his wife filed a lawsuit in a Seattle court against his former bandmates, claiming that he was illegally fired from the band. They also sought a preliminary injunction to prevent both the plaintiffs and the defendants from using the Queensrÿche name. On July 13th 2012 the Washington state superior court defeated this motion, as well as a motion for a preliminary summary judgment filed by the defendants. The court ruled that both parties may use the brand Queensrÿche until the next court date. As a result of the judge’s preliminary verdict, there were two versions of Queensrÿche for two years.

Geoff Tate fronted version of Queensrÿche released their album 'Frequency Unknown' on April 23rd 2013.
Meanwhile the Queensrÿche line-up comprised of Todd La Torre, Michael Wilton, Parker Lundgren, Eddie Jackson and Scott Rockenfield released their new self-titled album 'Queensrÿche' on June 24th 2013.

It was revealed to the public on April 28th 2014 that Rockenfield, Wilton and Jackson were given the exclusive rights to the Queensrÿche trademark and that Tate received the rights to Operation: Mindcrime.