Estranged founding Queensryche drummer Scott Rockenfield will not perform on the album the band is currently getting ready to record. The news comes via drummer Casey Grillo (ex-Kamelot) who has been performing live with the group since Rockenfield’s extended absence began in 2017.
Rockenfield has been absent from Queensryche (and the public eye) since going on paternity leave in 2017 but he reappeared last year with a new website, Queensryche2021.com, that featured a band photo with guitarist Parker Lundgren (who has since left the band) and vocalist Todd La Torre cropped out. In October, reports surfaced indicating that Rockenfield had sued the band, claiming he was wrongly dismissed and that he still legally holds the rights to one-third of the band’s businesses with Michael Wilton and Eddie Jackson.
Speaking to SW Wall Music in a new interview, Grillo said he was participating in the writing for Queensryche’s next album and strongly suggested he’d also be recording on it:
“We’ve actually been doing writing sessions here in Florida. We’ll get together and do the writing and stuff. Over the last year, year and a half, Michael started sending me tracks, back during Covid, and I would just do some tracks to whatever he did. Some of those songs became what’s gonna be on some of the record.”
“I did [record] a couple of songs on their last record. I did some percussion stuff on — it was like a bonus-type thing. I think it was only released in Europe. But I did a couple of songs for that. So I have actually recorded on a record with them [before] — but in a roundabout way.”
Queensryche’s new album would be the first time Grillo performed behind a full kit on record for the band. Vocalist Todd La Torre, who is also a drummer, played drums on The Verdict, released in 2019.
The same report that broke the news of Rockenfield’s lawsuit against the band also revealed that the original five members were in talks for a reunion (yes, even Chris DeGarmo!) before all of this transpired, but those plans are now on ice due to the lawsuit. While saying “there’s more to it than that,” the source added that “Todd (La Torre) has caused a lot of problems,” saying the band’s management wants him out. You can have a look at the filed legal papers at Metal Sludge.