According to QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton, there is “drama” between the band and ex-drummer Scott Rockenfield and they never heard about any reunion offer with ex-singer Geoff Tate
While making an appearance on this past Tuesday’s (March 14) episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk“, QUEENSRŸCHE‘s Michael Wilton was asked about ex-QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate‘s claim that the original lineup of the group was offered an “obscene” amount of money for a reunion tour, which was squashed by some of the band’s current, original members. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I don’t know. I didn’t hear about it. I never saw any offers. I know our management never saw any offers. So I have no idea about that.”
Michael also touched on the situation with former QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Scott Rockenfield, who in October 2021 filed a lawsuit against Wilton and bassist Eddie Jackson, claiming breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful discharge. Wilton and Jackson went on to file a countersuit against Rockenfield, accusing him of abandoning his position as a member of QUEENSRŸCHE and misappropriating the group’s assets for his own personal benefit.
When asked if there has been any contact with Rockenfield, Michael replied: “It’s a touchy subject. And that’s something that we will have to talk to you about in the future.”
When it was mentioned that it sounds like “some drama” has gone down between Rockenfield and QUEENSRŸCHE, Wilton said: “Yup. Current real-time drama. Whatever.”
Geoff Tate previously appeared on “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” in January of 2022, where he was asked if he is holding out for a QUEENSRŸCHE reunion to happen someday. Tate responded: “I’m honestly not really expecting that to happen, basically because we’ve been offered just obscene amounts of money to get back together and do one tour — one tour and we’d never have to tour again. And a couple of people in the band turned it down; they’re not interested in doing it. So that would really be, I think, the only motivation that would get everybody together was an obscene amount of money.”
He continued: “But that didn’t work, so [laughs] there’s really no hope for it after that, I think… Money is not the motivator, and getting together for an artistic dream isn’t a motivator either, so what do you have? You have nothing. Obviously, both camps are happy in the position they’re at. I know for myself, I love my life — I love what I’m doing and I love traveling and playing music for people. And so far, I’m still kicking it, still happy and healthy.”
Geoff would go on to mention that he is fine with the never returning to QUEENSRŸCHE while continuing to move ahead with his solo career.
“We did hold it together for years and years and years,” he said. “It was a really, really tightly run ship and it was very lucrative and we had a lot of great records and did a lot of world touring and made a lot of friends and played a lot of music together. And we had our time, and I’ll aways be grateful for that time that we had. That was a time, and it doesn’t mean that that time has to go on forever. There’s new times to be had and there’s more music to be made, there’s more songs to be sung and more audiences to play music for.”
QUEENSRŸCHE has been using former KAMELOT drummer Casey Grillo for touring and recording since April 2017. Former CRIMSON GLORY singer Todd La Torre has sung for the band since 2012.
