Honestly, there's been so much damage done, I don't think QR will ever be able to recover and put out quality music....no matter who's in it. Maybe CDG's return could turn it around, but I don't see anyone else being able to repair what has become of QR.

Just my .02

Kelly's reply on Facebook:

No knock on the noggin from me, Chief.

Actually, given QR's obsession with doing everything on a budget (Parker instead of a better-established guitarist; the Two Husbands of Sue Tate doing vocals / keyboards), Kelly Gray is not at all a bad idea.

He has good chemistry with the rest of the band, and though QR would probably end up sounding more like a blues / groove / hard rock band if he was doing the writing, it'd still be better if he were an official member and writing the songs as part of Queensryche.

Also, not relying on outside inputs might allow Wilton to contribute a good song or do (he did When The Rain Comes on Q2K, which is one of the best songs off that album), and I am for that as well.

However, even if Kelly gets on board, it's not going to change ridiculous decisions like the Cabaret, the Lita Ford tie-up, the fanclub, and all the other new ways the Tates find of jumping the shark, riding it, and selling QR-brand shark steaks to anyone still interested in buying. Unless he can stand up to her, but I'm not holding my breath for that. Also, I'm not sure if Geoff is just nervous, given what he claims happened in the Q2K liner notes about Kelly and drugs / alcohol.

Kelly in QR would definitely help them musically: I'd much rather hear Q2K 2 (Q2K10?) than Mindcrime III with outside writers. Whether it will stop the slide in other areas is very uncertain.

Ok, before half of the world shoots me in the noggin', hear me out.

When Kelly Gray joined the band in 1998 and the band put out Q2k in 1999, like many of you, I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, it didn't sound right, he used the wah pedal way too much, and he simply wasn't the type of player that Chris was, but I stuck with it for awhile.

After some time, while I loved Kelly's work outside of QR, I found myself being one of the ones that really thought the band should bring on someone more capable of playing the old songs the way they were intended (and that sure as hell backfired when Stone butchered the stuff).

So here we are, 10 years later, and Kelly co-wrote four songs on American Soldier, and also was working with the band, writing with them, rehearsing with them, touring with them doing front-of-house sound, etc.

Now I look through some recent pictures, and it's painfully obvious that Kelly, Geoff, Scott, and Ed all get along well. Not sure about Wilton, but I guess they get along fine.

I also listen back and while Queensryche will never truly be the same band as it was with Chris, there are gems on Q2k that really need highlighting, specifically the leftover Howl, Liquid Sky, When the Rain Comes, Sacred Ground (the music), Burning Man (the music, lyrics needed to be longer), etc. And obviously, the tunes for American Soldier Kelly helped write were fairly good too.

Through scuttlebutt, it is also fairly common knowledge if you ask the QR guys, they all universally love the sound of Q2k (which was Kelly's work).

So after all that, I ask you, WHY IS KELLY GRAY NOT IN QUEENSRYCHE?

I know there was that incident of someone from the QR crew passing away on Kelly's front lawn, I know he allegedly had an issue drinking (note the Q2k expanded edition liner notes when Geoff basically says it was a free for all drug-drink fest on the road with Kelly), etc.

But obviously, the band is over it, considering Kelly has been on the road with them.

So put the man back in the band. He writes songs, he engineers, mixed and produces records, he plays guitar, and he has a history with the band.

Frankly, I think most people were interested where a second album with Kelly Gray on guitar and as a band member would have went, musically, and the band never afforded him that opportunity. Well, here is another opportunity.

Bring him in again. I said it. Bring Kelly Gray back, and see what a unified band (mostly, not sure how connected he is with Wilton, but it's probably fine) can do again. If you have four of five guys unified in a band, and all on the same page and want to write music together, that is a good thing. At this point, just do it.

If we get a cross between Howl, Sacred Ground, Liquid Sky and 100 Mile Stare, it won't be all that bad, it just won't be the clean sounding band of the 80s. At this point, "Queensryche" has nothing left to lose. And live, just have Wilton handle most of the clean stuff, and have Kelly play rhythm. He even said he prefers rhythm, so let him do it.

At least there would be some sort of "band" again.

Kelly isn't the preferred guy, but at this point, you take what you can get. The band likes him, he knows the band, he can write, play, produce, mix, and engineer. He's everything an operation that wants to run on the cheap could want...AND he gets along with the entire remaining band members that count (sorry, Parker). So bring him back in and see what happens.

You've got nothing to lose...

Total disagreement. Mike was not the guy that made DT's music. Chris was that guy for QR, PLUS the other stuff. Not shades at all.

The music was becoming redundant. He seems to be saying, "hey, this is nice I don't have to bust my ass all day, I can just be a musician".  I don't know if he would give the keys to the car to someone else and then come back expecting to get the keys back.  I don't think Chris thought QR would continue after he left but when he came back he wasn't given the keys.

I was surprised, but I'm not heartbroken.  I hope this really brings DT back to writing some really great music, rather than just the long-ass epic songs.

For everyone complaining about DT's lack of songwriting in favor of their "musical masturbation", (I absolutely include myslef in this statement), Mike P leaving is great news, but in terms of fan relations it is a big blow. All the cool releases from Ytse Jam, and all the live DVD's and CD's, etc, etc will be in short supply from this point forward I think. 

It's no secret that most people on this board have wished that DT could produce an album similar to James last solo disc a few years back, and now maybe that's more of a possibility. I can't even imagine what DT will be like going forward, but I feel if they really focus on "songwriting", things will fall into place much easier than if they just pull some dude with 4 arms off the street to play Mike's parts.

Agreed.  And to cite the QR example again, they would have been alright if the other members stepped up and took the songwriting role more seriously.  At least in DT you have a group of talented songwriters who will continue carrying the torch.

Outside of the departure of a high profile front person, I think almost any band can survive the departure of one musician if the rest of the guys play it right.

Queensryche would have easily gone on had they taken the time to find a real replacement for CDG. They should have been looking for someone with all of the same talent sets that he had, instead of giving the job to guys they got along with personally or family members. That's where they went wrong.

DT will go on just fine provided they find the right replacement. Not all of the fans will accept it, at least not at first, but they'll be OK if they do the right thing.