The Mission: Mindcrime Helped Eddie Jackson Achieve His Career Ambitions
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Blistering.com: What do you think of your performance on that album and the band as a whole?
Jackson: Back in the days, we felt we were at the top of our game, and obviously 20 years later we feel we’re at the top of our game now . . . I don’t know if I could say that if we were to record it now it would be the same, it would have the same feel. I’m not comparing us to the Beatles in any way, but because of the technology that we have now and compared to what it was 20 years ago, let alone 40 years ago or 50 years ago, I sometimes ask people, “Hey, just think, with Pro Tools and all this digital recording, just think if the Beatles had this sort of technology back then.” And the same answer I always get is, “You know, I think it would have made ’em sound pretty awesome,” but I don’t think it would have created the same vibe. I don’t think it would have been as special, because it is what it is.
Blistering.com: Is there any particular performance by somebody on that album that you happen to admire especially, like a solo or part of a song that they wrote?
Jackson: That’s hard, because everybody was givin’ 110 percent, you know? But I do think there was certain times when everybody would have some sort of a special moment when it came to performing because we were kind of pushing ourselves and just trying to better ourselves, not just musicianship-wise, but the creativity as well, and I would have to say that everybody excelled . . . I’m not trying to sound egotistical, I’m saying only because I admire these musicians, [I consider them] brothers because we’ve been together for so long, but I’m also a fan of them. But I think everybody had some pretty cool, special moments when it came to recording their musical parts.
Blistering.com: If you could look back at yourself as a guy in your mid-20s and tell him something, what do you think you would tell yourself?
Jackson: Continue with the same sort of aggressive, no-miss approach. I would preach that, because you have to keep pushing forward. Even if you’re completely satisfied with a product, you still have to keep pushing yourself and evolving, and like I said, I would just have to be aggressive with the “no-limits” attitude. Don’t hold yourself back. I think we kind of brought that to the table back then . . . We wanted to push the envelope. We just wanted to continue to keep that ball rolling, keep that momentum.
Blistering.com: Conversely, if you were that age and could see 20 years ahead, what do you think you would have thought of where you and the band are now?
Jackson: I think I could probably reiterate from before how to keep that sustain and the creativity . . . [When someone says to me], “You know, I think that’s some of the best stuff you guys have ever done,” I always say to myself, “I hope it isn’t the best stuff we’ve ever done.” I hope there’s still that creativity later on down the road to maybe get that same sort of remark. I think to hope that, if this is the best that we can do, then I’m ready to hang out my shoes. But if we can better ourselves, that’s almost like, that’s as much pressure as it is tryin’ to write a song that people are gonna connect with or the sustain of continuing to still be active and still be part of the business.
Blistering.com: Aside from the “Eyes Of A Stranger” video, which was the big break on the album, was there any other moment that told you that this record was going to take off?
Jackson: When we released that first video, obviously you have no idea how it’s going to get perceived. You have no control over it. When the record company decided to record another one, that’s when you kind of felt, “Whoa, wait a second. This thing’s startin’ to develop some additional legs here.” Now here we are recording a second one, a third one. “Eyes Of A Stranger,” “Breaking The Silence,” “I Don’t Believe In Love.” I think that’s when we realized there was something, it started to really move forward.
Blistering.com: Do you remember what critics said when they first heard it?
Jackson: There was some great comments about it, but I can’t say there was really anything negative. I think the one comment I can remember is when I was reading this article when it was released, and the fact that this journalist was commenting on, “You know, for a heavy metal band, you gotta give these guys credit for puttin’ together this sort of conceptual piece within their genre of music, as opposed to just your standard song per song per song per song like for any album.” And we still do that, but for that given moment I think it was kind of special knowing that these guys had a chance to listen to it and reviewed it and were kind of pretty much kind of praising the fact that these guys weren’t afraid to put together something like this. Especially when we’re only two or three albums in our career.
Blistering.com: Was there any thought of doing a sequel before fans started requesting it all the time?
Jackson: It was brought to the table a couple of times, but I just don’t think we were there at that given moment. I think our creativity was elsewhere. We were doing something different. I would have to say it was always on the back of our minds because we always kept getting asked, “When you guys gonna do a sequel?” But I think as a band we were just focusing on one thing and that was whatever time it was, whatever we were writing, whatever album it was, that’s what we were focusing on. It was mentioned here once in a while in the camp.
Blistering.com: When you look at photos from that time of the band with the hair and the costumes, what do you think?
Jackson: [Thinks for a moment, then laughs] We certainly look a lot younger, obviously, but, I don’t know. I would look at some of the shoes and clothes that I was wearing, I go, “I was wearing Capezios back then?” [laughs] Those white dance shoes, casual shoes that I [wore] and a lot of people did too. The stretch jeans, the spandex, you know. I don’t know. That’s what was in at the time, I guess.
Blistering.com: Michael was like, “I thought my hair looked pretty good,” but he was laughing at some of his clothes.
Jackson: [laughs again] Yeah, oh yeah. It’s just the way it is. You look a lot different now. I couldn’t believe how much hair I had back then.
Blistering.com: I think you still have a pretty good head of hair.
Jackson: Yeah, but I can feel it kind of thinning a bit here and there. Like I said before, accompanied by the natural highlights. We’re definitely much older. But I looked at my hair back then, I go, “Geez, my head looks like this Chia Pet on two legs. [laughs] A Chia Pet on two legs wearin’ white Capezios.”
Blistering.com [after recovering from laughing ourselves]: A whole generation has been born and has grown up since the album came out. Do you see them reacting differently to it than those of us that grew up with it?
Jackson: I would guess so, ’cause they’ve been introduced to a whole different style of music . . . I can imagine what’s goin’ through their minds because this thing’s 20 years old, and for the new generation to listen to it for the first time, who knows what would be—who knows what they would be thinking . . .
I could be wrong, but I think it might take them a few more extra listens before they finally connect with it as opposed to maybe the type of music that they’re listening to now, because it’s not the same. It’s a different style, even though it’s the same genre, but I think it was the songs are structured differently. Nowadays you don’t hear eight-, nine-minute songs. You don’t hear very many guitar solos . . .
We find it interesting how a lot of these fans have grown up with us and how they’ve been introducing Queensrÿche to their kids. To hear them singing our songs and we’re 20 years older than them, or maybe older, but it’s nice to know that you’ve got a fan base that are willing to share moments of their lives with their kids, especially when it comes to music.
