In late 2002 or early 2003, the original lineup of Queensr˙che reunited to work on Tribe, after a not-so-popular three-year run with Kelly Gray on second guitar. After learning about the direction Tribe was taking, Chris DeGarmo called Geoff Tate and mentioned he had a few songs and ideas he thought might work, and Chris was invited down. Back in the fold, DeGarmo contributed three songs he had written ("Falling Behind," "Doin' Fine" and "Art of Life") and co-wrote parts of two others ("Desert Dance" and "Open"), along with various other guitar performances on the record.
Lyrically, as vocalist Geoff Tate describes it, Tribe is an observation of people in a post-9-11 world, based on a journal he kept while on the road in 2002 with his solo band. Musically, the album brings back parts of the layered and dynamic Queensr˙che sound found pre-Hear in the Now Frontier, mixed in with some chunky metal riffing courtesy of Michael Wilton and Chris DeGarmo.
Unfortunately, the reunion was short-lived. Amid a flurry of speculation, it was announced that DeGarmo had decided to once again leave the band (it had never been formally announced he had rejoined, only that he was working with them and was going to perform on Queensr˙che's European tour in support of Tribe). As a result, although DeGarmo appears on most of Tribe, the song "Losing Myself," written by replacement guitarist Mike Stone who had worked on it with Queensr˙che prior to DeGarmo's return, was placed on the album. DeGarmo also did not tour with the band in support of Tribe.
Releases
