Before The Storm

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This first-person narrative on the early history of Queensrÿche was originally written and published by Northwest Metal Historian Brett Miller. An old high school friend of the founding members of the band, Brett's account of the childhood and teenage years of Chris DeGarmo, Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield, Geoff Tate and Michael Wilton prior to Queensrÿche provides depth and clarity on how the band was formed and the members' earliest influences. Thank you to Mr. Miller for graciously allowing us to edit and re-publish his words and pictures here on AnybodyListening.net.

______________________________ I'm originally from Bellevue, Wash., where I grew up with the Queensrÿche guys. Chris DeGarmo was my locker partner and best friend along with our friend at the time, Dave Goldberg. We were like the Three Musketeers through Jr. High and High School. I also knew Mike Wilton since the 7th grade. I was the light man for Chris & Mike's first band, Joker.

I remember going to parties with Chris DeGarmo back in Jr. High School. If there were girls there, Chris would find an acoustic guitar and impress them by playing Led Zeppelin covers like "Over the Hills and Far Away" and "Stairway to Heaven.” He always did well with the girls. If there was an electric guitar handy he would play "Barracuda" by Heart or "Life In London" by Pat Travers. Chris was a HUGE Jimmy Page and Paul McCartney freak, and he did a funny McCartney impression.

Joker was formed in 1978 by Mike Wilton with friends from Interlake High School in Bellevue where we all attended. Mike was better known as a three-sport star athlete than as a musician at the time (he actually toured Europe on an all-star youth baseball team).

Sophomore Chris DeGarmo was added to Joker in 1979. On lead vocals was their friend Paul Passarelli who was the “David Lee Roth” of Bellevue and sported custom made DLR-style stage clothes and a big personality (Paul now fronts the Mike McCready UFO Tribute band "Flight To Mars"). Paul differentiated himself from the other local singer with his rich baritone voice, and was always the life of any party.

We all prayed at the altar of Van Halen at time. We lived our lives according to the doctrine of David Lee Roth. We also were heavy into Bon Scott-era AC/DC, Scorpions, and Judas Priest. Joker entered a local “Battle of the Bands” contest at the legendary Lake Hills Roller Rink, which was home to live rock and roll in Bellevue since the 1960s.

I had the plum job of stage manager there from the time I was 15 until I was 18. Joker was eliminated in the first round, but the real story from that contest was the hot new lead singer with the band Tyrant who no one had ever heard of. He was from Spokane and went by the name of “Jeff Waterfall.” His actual name was Jeffrey Wayne Tate. Tyrant was a sensation with the local metalhead crowd with its sophisticated polished look and sound. Tate's Rob Halford-like wail was incredible. It made people stop whatever they were doing are pay attention. Tyrant’s guitarist was actually more famous locally than the singer. His name was Adam Brenner, and he was generally regarded as an amazing clone of Eddie Van Halen.

Adam's wealthy family owned the successful local bakery, Brenner Bros. Bagels. Adam had the best equipment and was able to practice all day and focus on becoming a rock star. Adam was good and he knew it. He was the first guy locally to have a Floyd Rose tremolo bar, which he showed off at the soundcheck at the aforementioned Battle of the Bands.

Adam recalls specifically that while “we were rock kids and only played metal,” that “Geoff was trying to get us to play more progressive stuff like Yes & Genesis.” Despite his lifelong personal preference for artsy non-metal music, Tate seemed to understand that his skills were more commercially viable singing heavy metal.

Tyrant did an awesome version of Rainbow's "Man on the Silver Mountain" with Tate singing Ronnie James Dio's words flawlessly. They also played a ton of Van Halen.

Joker was eliminated in the first round, but Tyrant went all the way to the finals. The band that beat TYRANT in the finals was called Ridge. Ridge played more poppy covers like "My Sharona" which the judges liked better. Featuring Ted Pilot on vocals, Ed Archer on rhythm guitar and Ken Mary on drums, Ridge later changed its name to Fifth Angel and were signed to Epic Records. Ken Mary also became a member of Alice Cooper's 1985 band with Kip Winger and Kane Roberts.

Tyrant broke up immediately after losing in the Battle of the Bands finals, leaving Tate without a band. As an aside, in 1985, Adam would get Aerosmith’s managers Leber-Krebs, who got him signed to Geffen Records. He then changed his name to “Adam Bomb.”

After Joker was eliminated from the Battle of the Bands in the first round, Chris DeGarmo's time in the band did not last long. He was let go so Joker could bring in Jeff Olson (formerly of ROX) whose band High Roller had also been eliminated and broke up shortly thereafter.

Jeff had a massive amount of equipment, including a Marshall stack and PA system. Even though Jeff was (and still is) an excellent guitarist and singer, Chris had many friends and fans who were disappointed that he was let go. Chris couldn't afford a Marshall stack like a lot of the other local rich kids in posh suburban Bellevue. All he had at the time was a little MusicMan combo practice amp.

Chris had to borrow better amps from friends for shows. His family struggled through those years since Chris' dad had abandoned the family years before. That's what the Queensrÿche song “Bridge” is about. Chris' mom worked her ass off to keep the family afloat. As a testament to the kind of guy Chris is, as soon as Queensrÿche got big, Chris bought her a house and retired her. He's really a great guy.

With their own PA system now, Joker began to get bookings at Jr. High and High School dances all over Washington state, shocking the disco-loving jocks and cheerleader crowd by opening with Judas Priest's "Hell Bent for Leather" fire-code violating flash pots shooting fire into the air accompanied by a ton of black smoke. It was common for Unicam Booking Agency to receive complaints the following Monday. Joker was never invited back to any of those schools!

Chris DeGarmo joined a band called “Tempest” who got very popular fast by playing cool tunes like "Black Diamond" by KISS and other good metal and hard rock acts. Their bass player/singer Mark Hovland had a very good voice and soon Chris was vindicated as a great guitarist after being kicked out of Joker. Eventually Tempest added former ROX drummer Mark Welling (known today as the definitive drummer for Christian rock band Bloodgood) and they became DeGarmo-Hovland-Welling.

D-H-W had a real good local buzz and put out a recording featured Christian-themed lyrics by Hovland. D-H-W broke up shortly after when Welling left them to join Jeff (Geoff) Tate's new progressive band Babylon. By the end of the 1979-1980 school year, Joker's drummer Doug McGrew quit the band and Joker officially broke up as well.

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