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Scott Rockenfield

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Scott Rockenfield
Rockenfield with Queensrÿche in 2009
Rockenfield with Queensrÿche in 2009
Background information
Also known asSRock
Born (1963-06-15) June 15, 1963 (age 61)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
GenresProgressive metal, hard rock, heavy metal, glam metal
InstrumentsDrums, keyboards
Years active1974–2017, 2021–present[1]
Formerly ofQueensrÿche, Headless, Slave to the System

Scott Rockenfield (born June 15, 1963),[2] also known as SRock, is an American drummer and composer. He is best known as the drummer for the progressive metal band Queensrÿche,[3] which he co-founded in 1982, and the hard rock band Slave to the System.[4]

Biography

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Early years

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Rockenfield was born and raised in Seattle, Washington.[2] He started playing music at the age of 11, after he saw some drums in elementary school and wanted to play on them.[5] That Christmas, his parents got him a cheap drum kit.[5] In the sixth grade, he became classmates with Chris DeGarmo, who would later become the guitarist in his band.[5]

While attending Redmond High School,[6] he took special interest in music and film.[7] Guitarist Kelly Gray, who would be a guitarist in Queensrÿche between 1998 and 2002 and with whom Rockenfield played in Slave to the System, went to the same high school and graduated in the same year as Rockenfield.[5] Rockenfield cites Judas Priest, Boston and Kiss as his early influences, and later he also became a big fan of Neil Peart and Rush, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, The Police and Pink Floyd; bands that were progressive and, "really pushed the envelope".[5]

Career

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Together with guitarist Michael Wilton, whom he met at Easy Street Records in Seattle,[2] Rockenfield formed the band Cross+Fire in 1980.[8] They covered songs from popular heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.[2] Before long, guitarist Chris DeGarmo and bassist Eddie Jackson joined Cross+Fire, and the band name was changed to The Mob. In 1982, they recruited Geoff Tate on vocals and the band continued under the name Queensrÿche.[6] Rockenfield was with the band until 2021, however he was on indefinite hiatus from 2017.[9]

Rockenfield and Paul Speer wrote and recorded an instrumental progressive rock album in 2000 entitled Hells Canyon, which is inspired by places and events in the Idaho region of Hells Canyon.[10] The album received good reviews.[11][12] In 2001, Rockenfield collaborated with former Queensrÿche guitarist Kelly Gray and the Brother Cane members Damon Johnson and Roman Glick in a hard rock project named Slave to the System, releasing one eponymous album.[13] Their album was re-released in 2006 on Spitfire Records.[2] In 2008, Rockenfield released a solo album, named The X Chapters. In 2013, Rockenfield played drums on the Headless album Growing Apart, which also includes vocalist Göran Edman and the Italian guitarists Walter Cianciusi and Dario Parente.[14]

In 2017 Rockenfield took a hiatus from Queensrÿche[15] which was originally supposed to last for a few months but then prolonged indefinitely. Former singer Geoff Tate later expressed concern for Rockenfield, suggesting that he was in a difficult life situation[16][17] and current singer Todd La Torre suggested it was unlikely Rockenfield would ever return to the band.[9] Rockenfield has since filed a lawsuit alleging breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful discharge.[18] A November 2023 court filing in Snohomish County Superior Court in the state of Washington, cites the parties agreeing that "all claims, counterclaims, and crossclaims between" Rockenfield on one side, as the plaintiff, and Wilton and Jackson on the other side, as the defendants, should be dismissed "with prejudice," with Rockenfield and his former bandmates "to bear their own costs and fees with regard to all such claims, counterclaims, and cross claims.".[19]

Composer and entrepreneur

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Out of all the members of Queensrÿche, Rockenfield is the most active musically outside of the band Queensrÿche.[2] For Queensrÿche's fifth studio album Promised Land, he created a musique concrète intro using heavily processed natural sounds he recorded using a portable ADAT tape recorder.[5] According to Rockenfield, "that was actually kind of the beginning of my journey into the film and sound design arena, so to speak, which is what I'm still doing today."[5] Rockenfield initially started composing music for TV commercials, and later moved on to video and film scores.[2] He writes all orchestrations on pianos and keyboards.[5] For Queensrÿche's self-titled album from 2013, aside from contributing drum parts, Rockenfield created orchestral arrangements, saying: "The great thing is that I can combine both [of my main activities] on the new Queensryche album where I’ve written a bunch of songs, but I also wrote the orchestra pieces in some of the songs.[20]

In 1997, Rockenfield and Speer created a music and video work named "TeleVoid", for which they received a Grammy nomination in the "Best Longform Video" category.[2] In 2010, Rockenfield founded Hollywood Loops, that specializes in sound effects for film, television and video game composing.[7] That same year, he also composed and recorded drum tracks for the Activision video game Call of Duty: Black Ops.[21] In 2013 he scored the trailer to the films After Earth and he will be scoring the trailer for the 2014 remake of RoboCop.[5] For these trailers, Rockenfield creates the music, and James "Jimbo" Barton is the acting mixer and producer;[5] Barton has also worked with Queensrÿche on several of their albums. Rockenfield does a lot of his work, most notably the recording of his orchestral arrangements, in the Klaus Badelt Studios in Santa Monica, California.[20]

In 2003, Rockenfield founded RockenWraps,[7] which supplies customized drum wraps to artists and companies such as ddrum, and Bucketdrums, which are 3.5 and 5 gallon buckets fitted with 12" drum heads.

Equipment

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Rockenfield uses ddrum drums, Paiste cymbals, Pearl and Gibraltar hardware, Attack drumheads and Easton Ahead drumsticks. His kit often carries his signature "chain" motif.

His set up is made up of:

Personal life

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Rockenfield married Cara Kaye Whitney on September 28, 1991 after dating each other for 5 years. Rockenfield and Whitney divorced in 1996. They did not have any children between them. Rockenfield later married Misty Rockenfield, but they divorced early 2017.[22] They have three children.[7] His hobbies include photography.[2]

Discography

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Queensrÿche

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Main article: Queensrÿche discography

With Paul Speer

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  • TeleVoid (1997)
  • Hells Canyon (2000)

Slave to the System

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Solo

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  • The X Chapters (2008)

Headless

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  • Growing Apart (2013)[14]

Soundtrack appearances

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Title

 Release With Soundtrack
"Prophecy" 1988 Queensrÿche The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
"Last Time in Paris" 1990 The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
"Real World" 1993 Last Action Hero

References

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  1. ^ "SCOTT ROCKENFIELD Launches 'QUEENSRŸCHE 2021' Web Site, Says He is 'Ready to Rock'". Blabbermouth.net. 9 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Rockenfield". Anybody Listening. Archived from the original on 2013-07-26. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  3. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas; Prato, Greg. "Biography: Queensrÿche". Allmusic. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  4. ^ Prato, Greg. "Biography: Slave to the System". Allmusic. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Scott Rockenfield (Queensryche) 2013 Interview on the Signals of Intuition". The Signals of Intuition. 99.1 CJAM-FM. 2013-05-25. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  6. ^ a b Brett Miller. "Before the Storm: The Early Days of Queensrÿche: The Storm is Coming". QueensrycheHistory.com. Retrieved 2013-01-03.
  7. ^ a b c d Rockenfield.com (2012). Bio. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  8. ^ "Declaration of Scott Rockenfield" (PDF). court testimony. 2011-07-10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-07-22. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  9. ^ a b "TODD LA TORRE Says SCOTT ROCKENFIELD 'May Not' Ever Come Back To QUEENSRŸCHE". Blabbermouth.net. 11 February 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  10. ^ Paul Speer. "Listen: With Scott Rockenfield". PaulSpeer.com. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  11. ^ Ohmart, Ben. "CD REVIEW: Rockenfield/Speer - Hells Canyon". The Muse's Muse. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  12. ^ Couture, François. "Hells Canyon - Rockenfield/Speer". Allmusic. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  13. ^ "CD Review: Slave to the System – Slave to the System". BlogCritics Music. 2006-02-22. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  14. ^ a b "Headless Featuring Queensrÿche, Yngwie Malmsteen Members Sign To Lion Music". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. 2013-04-08. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
  15. ^ "QUEENSRŸCHE Drummer Taking Paternity Leave; KAMELOT's CASEY GRILLO To Fill In". Blabbermouth.net. 28 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  16. ^ Vince Neilstein (11 July 2019). "Geoff Tate Thinks Queensryche and Drummer Scott Rockenfield are Embroiled in a Lawsuit". MetalSucks. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  17. ^ "GEOFF TATE Doesn't Know If SCOTT ROCKENFIELD Will Ever Play Drums Again: 'He Has A Lot Of Medical Problems Now'". Blabbermouth.net. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  18. ^ "SCOTT ROCKENFIELD Is 'Looking Forward' To 'Many Truths That Will Finally Be Revealed' In Upcoming QUEENSRŸCHE Trial". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. 2023-06-03. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  19. ^ "SCOTT ROCKENFIELD Appears To Have Settled His Legal Battle With Fellow Original QUEENSRŸCHE Members". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. 2023-12-08. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
  20. ^ a b Westland, Raymond (2013-06-17). "Revolution Calling – An Interview With Queensryche". Ghost Cult Magazine. Retrieved 2013-06-29.
  21. ^ "Rockenfield on Black Ops". Retrieved 17 November 2010.
  22. ^ "Dissolutions of Scott Rockenfield and Misty Rockenfield". HeraldNet. 2017-03-31.
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