Archive for September 2010
Meeting Queensryche 1989
So there we were, some former friends from high school I heading to Tracks at Ward’s Corner in Norfolk, VA to do the free meet and greet with Queensryche. It was a nice warm afternoon in March. Kirshon brought something to get signed but I don’t remember what exactly. One of my friends brought his copy of their first EP and I had nothing. I couldn’t find my Warning cassette so when we were getting out of Kirshon’s truck, I just grabbed a piece of notebook paper.
It was a remarkably small crowd if memory serves me correctly and the line moved quickly. I snapped a few photos and had them sign my sheet of paper, of which each one of them joked on. When they got to my friend’s EP, Tate said, “Where have you been keeping this, in your back pocket?” He laughed and replied with, “Pretty much.” They were all really nice guys and some of the nicest I’ve met in situations like this. They were having fun with the people there and were constantly talking trash to each other.
Queensryche was touring with Metallica on their …And Justice For All/Operation Mindcrime tours, respectively. By this time I was already done with Metallica. I thought AJFA was a shitty album (still do!) and didn’t even really care for Mindcrime (still don’t!), but I figured I’d get to hear enough stuff from the previous 2 albums and the EP to satisfy me. They did several from Mindcrime but it was fine. They kicked ass and made Metallica look like amateurs. Even Metallica’s older songs sounded like they came from AJFA. Blech!
My girlfriend’s little brother Ryan came with us to the show and I think he may have been 14 at the time. He loved Queensryche so we took him. We were all 4 on the barricade for Queensryche but during Metallica we moved back towards the sound board area and a big mosh pit broke out in front of us. Ryan got sucked in and I could see the look of fear in his eyes so I ran into the pit and extracted him as quickly as I could. To this day he still says, “thanks for saving my life that night!” hahaha
Enjoy the photos.
DeGarmo and Rockenfield (click to enlarge)
Queensryche (click to enlarge)
Queensryche autographs...on notebook paper! (click to enlarge)
I was visited by an angel the other day.
Saw this elsewhere and found it share-worthy.
White Witch – S/T 1972
Here’s an odd one from my old vinyl collection. Danile and I were at Electric Smiles Records in Virginia 
Beach about 15 or so years ago rummaging through their $1 bins and I ran across both LPs from White Witch. They were automatically interesting for 2 reasons…band name and imagery. I bought them without hearing them. Why not? They were only $1 each. I think that was the same day we saw Pantera’s first 4 albums on LP as well, but they were like $15 each and I wasn’t into spending that kind of cash that day.
I had no idea what to expect from this band. Seeing that they were an early 70s band, I expected something sort of Sabbath-esque and maybe a little proggy like YES. Instead it’s a little more psychedelic with a few flashes of prog rock. Maybe a little Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash thrown in for good measure. Overall this first eponymous album is pretty good with some catchy chorus and musical hooks here and there. I bought the CDs for these several years ago and they apparently sell for decent cash on eBay these days. I sold their 2nd CD on eBay a year or so ago for $40. I preferred the debut album so I kept it. Now it’s in the stack to be sold with much of my CD collection and I am making the transition to going almost completely digital. Interesting that they toured with Alice Cooper. That would have been a cool show to see for sure.
So if you’re into the trippy 70s rock, I highly recommend that you download this. It’s been out of print for a few years. Read up more on the band here.
I really dig the guy’s vocals. He has a Barry Gibb tenor thing sans the falsetto. Favorite tracks are You’re the One, Don’t Close Your Mind, And I’m Leaving, Illusion (double bass!) and Help Me Lord. I do tend to skip over Home Grown Girl and It’s So Nice To Be Stoned. They’re both a bit goofy but pretty normal for the time they were written.
The Metal Files 
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