Chris DeGarmo with Miyuki, Keiko, Jayne and Mylene, backstage at Jones
Beach. Wantagh, New York, July 18, 1995.

Editor’s Notes

Greetings, and my apologies for not getting this out sooner. As expected,
getting married required a lot of my time in August. Matters were
complicated slightly by a local company, which deigned to offer me a job
far better than the one I had. The resulting schedule adjustments
unfortunately precluded getting SiD out anywhere near on time, and I know
there’s at least one time-sensitive article in here.

Oh, about that wedding - yes, I will be putting some pictures up
on the web, once I have time to get them scanned. But anyway - on with the
show.

Look for the September issue of Screaming in Digital in just a couple weeks
- I’m eager to get back onto the schedule I set, and this issue only
contains material received by mid-August. If you’ve got anything to put
in the September issue, please submit it quickly!

Letters to the Editor

Futures Past


Michael Brown
(michaelryche@ryche.denamore.mdn.com)

I’m delighted to hear that Queensryche will be recording another new
album. I was able to see the EP, Mindcrime and
Promised Land tours. I was quite hurt by all the
Queensryche members and fans during their last tour when they came to
Indianapolis - I felt that there was too much tension in the band and
doubted there would be a next album. I’m sure many thought that
Mindcrime could never be outfaced. I’ve been an avid fan
since day one, and I will remain so. Real heavy metal seems to be
fading quite a bit in the 90’s. I can only hope that a band with the name
Queensryche could revive the younger generation’s taste for a heavier,
cerebral, crisp and clean with no caffeine, no selling out, no radio gaga,
no foreclosure, true mind-rocking band.

Touring with Sepultura?


John Gee
(geejryche@ryche.nccslink.navy.mil)

I heard that Queensryche were supposed to tour with Sepultura last
tour. Did this happen, and if so, does anyone have any bootleg footage of
them?

As far as I know, Queensryche and Sepultura have never toured
together. -sh

Drawing


Ofer LaOr
(laorryche@ryche.interline.net)

You may be interested my Queensryche drawing at

http://www.interline.net/ofer/p5.gif.

News

The word from Tim Hinz at EMI is that their web site has moved to
http://www.emirecords.com/. In
addition, they are no longer affiliated with
Rock Online in any way. I’m not
sure whether The
Void will stay where it is now or not. Anyway, Tim tells me the
content at their old address is now obsolete, and any new material will be
appearing at the new address. If you’ve got links or bookmarks pointing
to the old address, now would be a good time to update them. Tim promises
that “when there’s news to tell, it’ll be up on our site first - or at
least close to first!”

In case anybody out there has some web-slinging skills they’d like to put to
a higher and better use, Michael Wilton says that the band and the
fan club are looking for someone - possibly part-time - to set up a web
page and run it for them. According to Michael, you “must be suave on the
computer, and have some thoughts on marketing.” He says Chris owns “a
monster of a computer” and can help out with graphics. They’d also want to
set up a merchant account with MasterCard or VISA and take orders over the
‘net. If this sounds like your dream job, drop the fan club a line at
rychenetryche@ryche.usa.net.

For all you IRCers, Sean Webb
(qujryche@ryche.gtec.com) has started a
#Queensryche channel on Undernet IRC. It’s probably registered by now, and
he’s looking for as many participants as possible, to help it become a
permanent channel. Stop on by!

Articles

Houston Empire


Rebekah Lichenstein
(rebekahlryche@ryche.bcm.tmc.edu)

I wanted to let you know that I am co-president, along with Cyndi
Dryden, of the Houston Empire. I believe our name will be Operation:
Houston/Anybody Listening. We have already been given the go-ahead, and
are just about up and running - we have a vice president and secretary
already. Without actively recruiting new members, have 9 or 10 people
interested. If anyone wants information, they can e-mail me, or Cyndi
(cyndrydenryche@ryche.aol.com). I will keep
you posted on our progress.

Seattle ‘96


Michael Wilton (Queensryche)

Seattle ‘96 was very cool. Everybody was nice and straight. I’ve been
asked by Sharon for the OK for 1998 - sure, if we’re there. Maybe next
time they can keep the costs down by making the meeting room outdoors in a
park, or even in the woods where all the grungers smoke pot.

Seattle ‘96


Sharon Lundstrom
(jtctwmnryche@ryche.ix.netcom.com)

Okay, it’s over! Well, we had a turnout of about 80 people.
Andreas and Matthew from Germany, Yukie and Atsugu from Japan and Isabella
from France, plus people from all over the US. Claudia gave a
speech, telling everyone a little about Seattle ‘96 and giving credit for
the brainchild to Anita Moor. We had way too much food. About
8:05, I walked outside to get the guys, who did show up. This
was crazy! I walked in with Chris, then Michael, then Geoff, Scott and
Ed. People started turning around little by little, then Geoff said, “So,
is this the Shriner’s convention or what?” and the place went nuts!

Actually, everyone was so well behaved, it was wonderful. I had
the fortunate position of being right in front of the guys as we walked
in, and got to see the full effect of what they did to the crowd
- eyes got huge, jaws dropped and there was a collective gasp, before the
crowd broke into applause. And believe me, everyone had a
great time after that!

Here I must apologize to everyone for
flat out lying to you. I was under obligation not to say
anything, to in fact lie. It was hard, but the thought of what kind of
surprise it would be kept me together. The guys were wonderful, staying
for a half an hour longer than their original hour. They made
each and every person feel that they were the most important one there!
We had Tim Shelton and Brian Naron there, selling Queensryche
collectibles. They had quite a collection, and did extremely lucrative
business. The tattoo guy didn’t show, didn’t call, nothing - so
he missed out.

Helen was my mainstay through all of this. She
helped me set up, and clean up afterwards, and was my rock through the
entire time. The best fan comment of the night goes to Mystii,
who said at the top of her voice as the guys walked in, “There is
a God!” Becky NM157/Bella Drowns was presented with a copy of the Seattle
anthem, which she was able to have signed by the guys. Mystii also got one
for contributing the artwork on the sign. It was a very rewarding
evening for me.

Things are definitely going to be different now, but
some things have to change in order for life to go on. It’s a wonderful
thing to be able to pull something like this off, to be able to provide
something to people that change their lives in some minute way, even for a
moment or two. Well, now you all know. And who knows, there just
might be a Seattle 97 - but how can you top this?

Seattle ‘96


Martha Cacioppo
(akasjaryche@ryche.aol.com)

As you’ve already heard, Seattle ‘96 was a rousing success - great people,
good food, hard work and, of course, a fabulous appearance by the number
one ‘Ryche men. In between all of the hustle and bustle, a couple of
people we could not have done without fell between the cracks and were
never properly acknowledged. I would like to do that here and now.

Sharon Lundstrom worked long and hard hours side by side with Helen Kopec.
Seattle ‘96 could never have happened without their diligence and
determination. Sandi Iaria, Claudia Salgado and I worked more behind the
scenes to ensure all would feel welcome: fliers, welcome packages for each
attendee, Operation: Sanctuary, Claud’s speech, et cetera brought it all
together. Helen’s laminates and name tags were professional and nothing
short of awesome. But let’s remember: she worked as hard as the rest of
us on the little things that no one would ever see or know about. She and
Sharon worked on the ‘grunt’ work too, to make sure everyone was happy.
This shows a determination and love for the event by all staff -
no job was too ugly or too difficult for any of us; no
one was in it for the glory.

I must thank two people who chipped in at the last minute and did any job
they could, from setting up shrimp trays to running to radio shack for
cables, and did not even receive VIP passes at the door, though
they are truly VIP’s: Amber Benoit and Andreas Funck, thank you!
Your contributions did not go by unnoticed, and though things
were hectic and frantic at the end, you should have been thanked publicly
and profusely. Laura Depuy also deserves mega-kudos - the drawing she
completed as a “thank you” to Sharon, which was signed by 98% of the
attendees and staff, was a gifted piece of work from her heart.

The band was accessible, considerate, talkative, responsive and
professional. And they all looked damn good. My experience with
them that night was more comfortable than I ever could have imagined -
nervous just didn’t exist, and I felt I had known them forever. After
speaking with some others the next day, we decided that this was a rather
universal view among the Seattle ‘96 attenders. It was as though any of
us could just walk into a bar with any band member and strike up a
conversation about anything: Memnoch, the Internet, travel, et cetera. I
don’t think I discussed any band-type topics with any of them.
They were ego-less and charming, and this impressed me deeply - they
cared.

Seattle ‘96


Meagan Frame
(mystiiryche@ryche.wam.umd.edu)

I remember thinking that it was gonna be impossible for me to get to
Seattle this summer. I was still in college when everyone was talking
about this, and you can’t save any sort of money making $162 every 2
weeks, topped off with loans to pay for school - but I managed.

Well, Effie and I boarded the plane at 8:30 am heading for Chicago… or
so we thought. After we were in the air for 15 minutes, we were told that
we had to jump, as the plane was losing altitude, but we were 1 parachute
short and hovering over the Potomac River, parts of it covered with
patches of ice…

Just kidding. Actually, we had a nice safe flight without any delay
to Seattle, and we even missed the bad weather in Chicago, which could have
delayed us an hour or more. Although I know I had some people freaking
out back home when they heard about the TWA flight taking off around
the same time.

I’m sure that anyone who hadn’t worked a full day before boarding the
plane out was just really psyched up to be heading to the Northwest. I
mean, to meet up with others who share such a strong affinity for this
5-member conglomerate in such a neat place.

Various interesting things happened to us while on the trip - the local
kid we picked up as a tour guide, the people who walked in on us because
the hotel staff tried to book 2 different groups in the same room, meeting
some of the locals, and some of the pranks played on them. That’s a
totally different story altogether, and I shouldn’t be the one to tell
it,as it wasn’t me who was regaining my - wait, what were we going for? I
just helped. I just have 2 words for you - Butt Pig. But the reason some
of us Internet people are still developing photos and FedExing packages
are the events that happened on July 19th and July 21, as well as some of
the other activities and journeys on which people embarked while in
Seattle.

Several people managed to visit Snoqualmie Falls, where some of the shots
from the Empire Tour program were shot. My friend and I managed to climb
down to the river’s edge, but with some of the other trails being closed
off, it seemed a bit difficult to cross the river and get to the path that
led behind the falls.

It must have been quite arduous to get down to those rocks with cowboy
boots on! While I was there, I found a tidal pool that seemed vaguely
familiar. Unfortunately, the actual photograph didn’t turn out, as I had
broken my camera and lost the piece that kept the extra light out
somewhere between the observation deck and the bottom of the trail, so
here’s a modified version of it.

After returning from the Falls, Effie and I got ready for the party that
was to start at 6 PM. Martha Cacioppo and Sandi Iaria had purchased the
foods and desserts (as well as taking care of other projects), Helen Kopec
and Sharon Lundstrom devoted their energies to the labor intensive process
of getting things set up, with the help of Andreas Funck and Amber Benoit
- and I’m sure I’m leaving out others, and for that I apologize!. There
was actually too much food, but that was okay, as I thought the cheesecake
worked for breakfast - but that was because we asked for a fridge. In
between fans exchanging names, addresses, and anecdotes,Claudia Salgado
gave a nice speech welcoming us to Seattle and the event that the party
was. Later Chuck Anderson, editor of the Tri Ryche Times, gave an “Ask
and Answer” session concerning the fan club….during which these 5 guys
in various shades of blue and black just sort of sauntered into the
room.

Eyes bugged out and jaws dropped before everyone started applauding. I
believe just about all the fans managed to talk to all the guys, and vice
versa - it seemed to me a rare and unique moment, and it was something I
was extremely happy to be a part of. It’s not often that you can be in a
room full of people - 80+, anyway - and just feel excitement and a serene
joy at the same time, and considering the struggles I had been having at
work up until the day I left, it was an extremely welcome change. It
seemed to me that there were a few moments when the guys were almost as
excited as the fans, which just brought a smile to my face.

The dinner seemed to be an even more emotional event - and I wasn’t sure
if that was going to be possible. Sharon had booked us a room in the Old
Spaghetti Factory, and we basically packed it. Everyone was taking
pictures of everyone else eating - and trying to wipe off any sort of
pasta sauce that would have accented some of those faces - and basically
just being silly. When the dinner was over, though, and some of us had to
leave the next day… parting is not sweet sorrow, it just plain
blows chunks - not of the sweet variety either! It was quite sad, as I
don’t think anyone truly realized just how deep the bonds went until they
had to leave. I’m just surprised I didn’t burst into tears like some of
the others.

I wish I had pictures of the Orca cruise, but I don’t (camera
incident). Hopefully others will submit their pictures. Just about
everyone I met on this trip told me that they were out taking pictures of
various things that were reminiscent of the visuals in the CD-ROM. I know
I would have been. We had a really sunny day when we went on the cruise -
I doubt that anyone would believe that we had gone to Seattle, as we came
back from the cruise rather sunburnt! But then again, I fell asleep in the
sun.

When it came down to it, it was hard to leave the city. It was a treat
for me to be able to wander the city at night alone, considering I hail
from that power mad town in the east….I think all of us left a little
bit of ourselves behind. I know I did.

Reviews

Amalgam


Robin Berry
(ladieinblkryche@ryche.aol.com)

I’ve noticed that there is a thread that ties most Queensryche fans
together, no matter who or where they are - the gift of sharing, be it the
experiences we have with the band, our perceptions on a variety of
subjects, or the collecting and trading of memorabilia. With that in
mind, I’d like to share with you an up and coming band that “touched a
chord” in me, called Amalgam.

I obtained their demo tape a couple weeks
ago, and their sound blends various artists including Queen, Rush, Dream
Theater, Satriani, Queensryche, Extreme, Kings X and Jane’s Addiction,
just to name a few. The variety of musical ranges yields a broad appeal
and overall I would say it’s not the same old thing, its kind of like a
grain of wheat in a haystack. For more information on the demo tape or to
sound bytes contact
amalgamryche@ryche.primenet.com.

Operation: Queensryche


Robin Berry
(ladieinblkryche@ryche.aol.com)

As Geoff Tate once said, “more?” As we all know, the music of
Queensryche is loved by many, however they don’t tour as often as all of
us would like. Well, hold on to your tri-ryches, Southern California
Rycher’s, for there just may be a cure in the form of an L.A. based
Queensryche tribute band who call themselves Operation:Queensryche.

July 20, I had the opportunity to attend one of their shows at FM Station
in North Hollywood. Queensryche fan that I am, I went to the show with an
open mind, but feeling a little apprehensive - could a tribute band
measure up?. By the time these five guys - vocalist Don Duzan, bassist
Kevin Kubes, drummer Andy Miller, and guitarist/vocalists Rich Symons and
Jody Whitesides - started into the third song, that feeling of
apprehension faded into a distant memory.

The stage set included scaled down monitors showing video footage which
provided the backdrop for a trip into England, a drummer who has an
uncanny resemblance to Scott Rockenfield and a lead vocalist who, if one
shuts their eyes - which I did - would be mistaken for Geoff Tate. After
they tore into Anarchy-X, followed by Operation:
Mindcrime, I Don’t Believe in Love and My Empty
Room, my mind had a hard time believing what my ears were hearing
when the voice of Dr. X came over the speakers, telling Nikki to kill
Mary, “and get the priest as well.” They were joined on stage by vocalist
Michelle Dunton, and delivered a spine-tingling version of Suite
Sister Mary.

Their play-list includes The Lady Wore Black, Prophecy,
Queen of the Reich - which I had the pleasure to hear as they
closed the set, performing it almost flawlessly, En Force,
Take Hold of the Flame, Before the Storm, Child of
Fire, Walk in the Shadows, I Dream in Infrared,
The Whisper, London, Screaming in Digital,
Gonna Get Close to You, all of Operation:
Mindcrime, The Thin Line, Jet City Woman,
Empire, Silent Lucidity, Best I Can, Della
Brown, One and Only, I Am I, Damaged,
Disconnected, My Global Mind, Bridge and
Last Time in Paris.

If Queensryche is the cure for what ails you, I suggest spending an
evening with Operation: Queensryche. Although they have only been
together approximately eight months, one would think they had been
performing together for years. They may have the fix you need.

I never could have imagined what was to transpire 48 hours after I wrote
the words above. I received a call from Jody Whitesides, who proceeded to
tell me that Operation: Queensryche guitarist Rich Symons, met an untimely
death in an automobile accident on August 10. A club date was planned for
Thursday, August 29, 1996 at the FM Station in North Hollywood, to honor
Rich’s memory. The band knew of a guitar player who could do some filling
in on the leads, but Jody was to do most of the playing. Four more of the
best tribute bands from Los Angeles were to join Operation: Queensryche in
this concert:

• Alcoholica, a Metallica tribute band.
• Caress Of Steel, a Rush tribute band voted best in Southern Cal this year.
• Red, Hot, Green, Pumpkin Jam, an alternative cover band.
• Not Yet Confirmed - The Atomic Punks, a Van Halen tribute band.

Other than this one-night performance, the future of Operation:
Queensryche is unknown at this time. For Operation:Queensryche
information please call Andy Miller at 805-251-6531.

This whole deal is kind of creepy to me. I’d received a couple of e-mail
messages from Jody asking me to go check out the band, and it was a couple
months before I finally took him up on his invitation. So I went, was so
impressed by how good they were, wrote this review, and before I got a
chance to see them again - which was to have been a complete Operation:
Mindcrime gig - or get the word out about them, one of them died. “Never
wait or hesitate, get in gear before it’s too late, you may never get
another chance.”

As my personal way of honoring Rich, someone I had just met and shared no
more with than a smile and a passion for Queensryche, I would like to
quote something by Kahlil Gibran for him, his bandmates, friends and
family: “Wear not the black of mourning, but rejoice with me in white
raiment. Speak not in sorrow of my going, but close your eyes and you
shall see me among you, now and forevermore.”

Classifieds

CD-ROM


Marko Ollila
(marko.ollilaryche@ryche.metsaserla.fi)

Does anyone know where I could get the Queensryche CD-ROM? It seems I
can’t find it anywhere here in Finland. Thanks in advance.

MIDI


Niclas Forsen
(nforsenryche@ryche.mail.abo.fi)

I haven’t read SiD that carefully for the last 6 months - sorry, been
quite busy - so I don’t know if this has been here before, but I ask
anyway. Anyone know if there are any Queensryche songs in MIDI format out
there. Just bought myself a new soundcard and sequencer and I would love
to hear how Queensryche would sound that way.

Silent Lucidity


Jason Quek
(qjasonryche@ryche.cyberway.com.sg)

I know this is a little late but I’d be grateful if anybody told me
where I can get the Silent Lucidity single. I’ve been searching
for it ever since the release of Empire.

Rage for Order T-Shirt


John Gee
(geejryche@ryche.nccslink.navy.mil)

Does anyone know where I can order a Rage for Order
album cover T-shirt? I would like one a lot.

The fan club used to have them, and they may still have a few left.
Try contacting them, at
rychenetryche@ryche.usa.net. -Shag

Rarities Tape


Marko Ollila
(marko.ollilaryche@ryche.metsaserla.fi)

Has anyone ordered the Queensryche rarities tape from Chris Tidwell? Is it worth the
$10 he asks for it? If you have, can you please tell me what material is
in there? A track list would be great. Also, is it true that 60% of the
money he gets selling the tapes goes to support SiD? If that’s the case I
think I’m going to order one.