In all our years of doing interviews, we’ve never done a 20 Questions with a member of Queensr?che. So, naturally, we were all pretty stoked when we had the opportunity to send out questions to their bass player Eddie Jackson. Shit, even Floyd attempted to do a cartwheel! That in itself was pretty entertaining, but then we got Eddie’s questions back, and everyone’s mood changed. Floyd became sullen and depressed. Donna Anderson was bitchier than usual. And poor Jet Boy George was heard sobbing behind a locked office door, and nothing we said could get him to come out. He’s probably still in there for all we know.

By now, you’re probably guessing that this week’s 20 Questions are a little underwhelming, huh? Well, you can be the judge of that yourself because here they are. Try your best to enjoy them.

1. What are you currently up to? This is your chance to plug your tours, albums, projects, Web sites, etc.

I?m in the process of painting and having hardwood floors installed in my house, rehearsing for our upcoming tour in October, writing new songs for our forthcoming CD and not to mention potty training my son. Basically not a hell of a lot! And by the way, why should you give a shit for I don?t even know who the hell you are!

2. Metal Sludge has never done 20 Questions with a member of Queensr?che before. Call us paranoid, but we?ve been operating under the impression that you guys didn?t like us very much. Is there any truth to our suspicions, or are we way off the mark?

You pretty much answered your own question.

3. Rank the following bassists on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being a chump who sounds like they play with broken fingers, and 10 being a true master of the bottom end.

Billy Sheehan =
Nikki Sixx =
Geddy Lee =
John Myung =
Steve Harris =
Jef Pilson =
Kip Winger =
Jason Newsted =
Gene Simmons =
Chip Z?Nuff =

I?m not going to sit here and rate these awesome bass players because they all kick ass even with broken fingers! You know, I still didn?t get your name.

4. Queensr?che recently released The Art of Live, a live CD and DVD. Yet Queensr?che has also issued Operation Livecrime and Live Evolution within the past several years. How many live albums do you guys actually need in your catalog? What are you, KISS?

I didn?t know it was a fucking Live Crime to release a fucking Live Evolution of art in a fucking live environment! And to answer your fucking question?no!

5. In recent press photos, both Michael Wilton and Geoff Tate appear with shaved heads. Do you agree that this is a good thing? Or is this an attempt to acclimate the band to modern groups such as Disturbed, Staind, or the ever famous yesteryear bad boys of rock Right Said Fred?

I believe it was Geoff and Mike Stone who had the shaved heads. Michael Wilton has never shaved his head; however, he has informed us that he?s shaved his pube?s before. Wait a minute! What shaved head are you referring too because I?m starting to get worried!

Queensr?che today

6. Queensr?che is a band from Seattle, but when most people hear the term ?band from Seattle,? they tend to think of all kinds of bands including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Mother Love Bone, Green River, The Screaming Trees, The Presidents of the United States of America, The Wailers, The Ventures, The Kingsmen, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Sir Mix-A-Lot, et al. You get our point. Does that bother you at all that Queensr?che is not usually the first band people equate with the Emerald City? Even reports and essays about Seattle?s musical history completely gloss over any mention of Queensr?che! What do you have to say about that?

Well, you?ve just glossed over a couple of bands Heart and Steve Miller. You see we?re not the only band.

7. Of the following, which do you prefer and why:

Spectors or Fenders = I own both Spectors and Fenders and they?re both excellent instruments.
Dennis Dunaway or Geezer Butler = I?m a fan of both bassist?s. I grew up listening to these guys.
Rage For Order or Hear In The Now Frontier = Where the hell are you getting these questions from?
Randy Jackson or Janet Jackson = I prefer Eddie Jackson.
Stratovarius or Savatage = They both kick ass.
A fretless bass or a 12-string bass = I also own both a fretless and a 12 string bass and not one is better than the other because they each have their own unique sound.
Red Skeleton or W.C. Fields = These two actor/comedians paved the road for all the new actor/comedians nowadays. And to prefer one over the other is a fucking joke, and as a matter of fact I think you?re a fucking joke!
Steeley Dan or the Doobie Brothers = I also grew up listening to both of these bands. Each is different in their own styles so I can?t say one is better than the other.
ADATs or CDRs = I was using ADAT?s for quite awhile and I thought they sounded great, however, CDR?s have evolved as an industry standard today which makes it much more convenient.
Poison or Warrant = Both of these bands have done quite well for themselves. Enough said.

8. In all your musical career, you?ve never subjected the world to a solo album. Any plans to do that in the future, and if so, what exactly would an Eddie Jackson solo album sound like?

I?ve actually have been working on releasing a solo project called ?Right Said Ed?, it?s just a matter of time. And I can?t really say what it would sound like because if I do then you?ve already heard it.

9. What ?rock star? deserves a smack in the mouth and why?

Is this all you?ve got? Ask me a harder question!

10. What do you remember most about writing or recording the following songs:

The Lady Wore Black =
Take Hold Of The Flame =
Walk In The Shadows =
I Don?t Believe In Love =
Jet City Woman =
Silent Lucidity =
I Am I =
Sign of the Times =
Right Side Of My Mind =
Open =

I have fond memories for every one of these songs, I just don?t have time to share them with you, for I?m extremely busy.

NOTE: What the hell? That’s just about the softest softball question we ever ask anyone, yet Eddie still managed to take offense to it. No, Eddie, I guess your fans who are reading this really don’t want to know what you remember most about those songs. Our bad! Guess we should’ve stuck with our original question asking you if you’ve ever sucked cock for studio time. Our apologies.

11. In the mid 90s, Queensr?che built its own studio north of Seattle and called it ?Big Log Studios.? Who came up with this name and what does it mean? We can think of hundreds of things that ?Big Log? could be referring to, but rather than speculate, we?ll let you explain.

Big Log Studios was a recording studio by day and a whorehouse by night. Since our record label refused to send us a recording advance we decided to generate income by whoring ourselves out in order to pay for our expenses. We even accepted major credit cards!

12. Out of all the bands Queensr?che has ever toured with, which one was the coolest to work with, and which one was the biggest bunch of jackasses you?ve ever met?

In our 20 years of rock I don?t believe we?ve had any bad experiences touring with other bands. Sorry to disappoint you.

13. Yes or No, has Eddie Jackson ever:

Prank-called Scott Rockenfield = Yes
Passed out in a Starbuck?s = No, because I don?t drink coffee.
Eaten at a McDonald?s and a Burger King in the same day = No, however, I did eat at a Jack in the Box for breakfast, lunch and dinner because it was the only restaurant around.
Refused a fan?s request for an autograph = Only once have I ever turned down an autograph. Back in 1991 while on the Empire tour, one of my Spector basses was stolen after we had finished up an acoustic performance at a local radio station in Boston. They eventually caught the individual, however, unfortunately the bass was never recovered, and following a court appearance in Boston the idiot who stole it had the balls enough to ask me for an autograph. I told him to fuck off!
Met Bill Gates, Bill Cosby or Bill Leverty = No.
Bought a Poison CD = Yes.
Sang along to Sammy Hagars ‘I can’t drive 55′ (while driving) = Yes.
Checked into a hotel under “Jeddie Ackson” = Yes.
Shit in a bathtub = No. Only on a hotel bed.
Considered suicide = Absolutely!

14. We heard you like to play ?visual pranks? sometimes, as in printing your thanks and credits backwards, dropping little ?easter eggs? in the Queensr?che video game, etc. Dude. Who are you trying to mess with?

Everyone.

15. The song ?Last Time in Paris? appears on the soundtrack to the film Ford Fairlane. Do you think that Queensr?che fans are big fans of Andrew Dice Clay? And have you ever met the Diceman in person?

I was a big ?Dice? fan back in the day and no I?ve never met him.

16. Give us a memory about touring or being in the following cities:

New York City = Bayer Aspirin!
San Francisco = During The Empire Tour I watched the Dallas Cowboys beat the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC championship. As soon as the game was over I immediately called a local ticket broker and purchased two tickets for the Super Bowl. Awesome!
San Antonio = I?m originally from Texas so I have quite a few family relatives living in San Antonio and every time we tour there the families get bigger!
London = London, England 1984 was where we recorded our first full-length record ?The Warning.?
Minneapolis = Porno Queen Convention!
Berlin = East or West?
Detroit = I witnessed my first Detroit Red Wing hockey game in 1994.
Tokyo = Pedestrian Rush Hour!
Toronto = I have two words for you?threesome!
Chicago = Pizza!

17. What one Queensr?che song could go into a vault called ?Songs that Fucking Suck? and be locked away forever?

You?re starting to get on my nerves!

18. For what amount was your biggest music-related check, and what did you do with the cash?

I can?t remember the exact amount but I do remember cashing it right away!

19. The Last of Eddie Jackson:

Last book you read = ?The Angel of Darkness? by Caleb Carr.
Last new song you heard on the radio that you really dug = The last song I heard on the radio that really kicked-ass was about a year ago from the band Disturbed, and I believe the song was called ?Liberate?.
Last concert you watched from the audience = The last show I saw was Prince on ?The Musicology Tour?. It was Awesome!
Last cover song you played live = I believe the last cover song I played was The Who?s ?We Don?t Get Fooled Again? when were out touring with Dream Theatre in the summer of 2003.
Last time you boiled your bass strings = 1982
Last ?rock star? you shook hands with = Michael Wilton
Last new band that you really liked = Disturbed
Last fast food drive-thru you hit = Taco Time
Last time you got a nosebleed = The last fight I was in.
Last time you got drunk = I can?t remember!

20. Time for Metal Sludge?s Word Association. We mention a name, and you give us your thoughts.

Don Dokken = Rhymes with rockin?.
Chris DeGarmo = Extremely talented!
Pamela Moore = Just a whore from the underground, and by the way, a great singer!
Paul Speer = Eastsider Enigma!
Mike Stone = Cheese head!
Kelly Gray = Jagermeister head!
Mike Lowell = Awesome Basses! Again, I still don?t know who the hell this journalist is, but I have one word for you?spellchecker!
Sebastian Bach = He-Man Vocals!
Paul Gargano = Tour Bus Bunk Jumper!
Frank Zappa = Wizard!

And there it is.

Eddie actually put a little bit of effort into some of the later questions, but what’s with all the negativity? Those questions were pretty “lightweight” by our own standards. We thought we’d go easy on Eddie since it was his first time doing a Metal Sludge interview, and being as surprised as we were that he even agreed to do the 20 Questions, we tried not to push the envelope too far. Yet he started the interview all confrontational-like, and he kept his guard up the whole time.

Look, we’re not surprised if someone gives us a smart-ass answer to a smart-assed question. That’s to be expected at times. But some of the questions we threw at Eddie were feather-weight. He had the chance to come across as intelligent, insightful, and to share some good stories with the readers, but Eddie wasted that opportunity. There are Sludgeaholics that are also Queensr?che fans, and younger Sludgeaholics who had maybe never heard of Queensr?che before — all of them psyched to read this interview.

And now they’re all let down.

You know, it doesn’t matter who is actually asking the interview questions. It could be Paul Gargano, Iann Robinson, Lonn Friend, Jessie Capps, Eddie Trunk, Gerri Miller, that Juliya chick from Fuse, Riki Rachtman, Bill Maher, Ali G, Walter Cronkite, Kurt Loder, or Bastard Boy Floyd… it really doesn’t matter, because it’s the people who are reading or listening to your interview that really count. It’s their opinions that you want to shape, and they’re the ones that you want to impress. Not the interviewers. So whether it’s Rolling Stone, Spin, Blender, Playboy, The Saturday Evening Post, The New York Times, The National Enquirer or even Metal Sludge; at the end of the day, it’s all press, and press has a resounding impact — especially in our demographic where there aren’t that many media outlets covering the hard rock and metal genres. And that’s something to be taken very fucking seriously.

Oh well. For more information on Eddie Jackson and Queensr?che, be sure to check out their official Web site at www.queensryche.com. Drop them a note and tell them what you think of Eddie’s 20 Questions!