Suite Sister Mary: With Just One Song, Pamela Moore Creates An Iconic Character
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Blistering.com: When you recorded it, did you and Geoff actually sing it together, or was your track separate from his?
Moore: Track was separate from his. In fact, he sang the whole song singing the female parts, which was a great way for me to be able hear it, ’cause that’s how I kind of learn my songs is repeatedly listening to stuff over and over and have the lyrics in front of me. So he and I weren’t specifically in the studio for that particular record. He had all his parts already done. And it helped too because it gave me a reference point as to what they were looking for . . . and it really does help too when you’ve really got finished vocals, it brings you into the same feel of what they’re looking for, and that’s pretty cool too. So you’re able to work off of that. I mean, certainly it would be the same if we were doing it live, but I think I would have been [laughs] kind of a nervous wreck if I knew I had to stand right next to Geoff and sing this song I had only heard the night before. So it made it a little bit easier for him to be out there and me to be inside the studio and not have to stand next to him and go, “Oh, God.”
Blistering.com: How long did it take for you to record the vocals?
Moore: I only had the day to work with it in the morning, and they had me do a lot of harmony stuff, they had me do some voiceover work, which of course is in there. I don’t remember. I wanna say it took maybe three or four hours, but maybe Geoff would know more than me . . . I think I was gone that night.
Blistering.com: How challenging was it for you to sing that?
Moore: It does have some very dramatic range to it, but I think it fit me well, especially at that time. I think it was more making sure I got a really good read on it, which means get a good interpretation of it, and it fit well with what Geoff was singing. I don’t really know if it was a super big challenge or not because I was just enjoying myself so much doing it. When I get in the studio like that, I don’t really see things as a challenge as much as you know, kind of being in the creative mode. To me, challenges would be like, “Uhhh, I can’t sing this part,” and that’s not the way it was in that situation.
Blistering.com: What did you think when you first heard the album? Did you hear it before it hit the street?
Moore: The first copy I got was from Scott Rockenfield. He gave me a tape of it. Actually, it was weird. I didn’t really talk to them much after the recording of it. They toured with it, but they never toured and did the song “Suite Sister Mary” when they toured . . . [until] their [Building Empires] tour and they played [it] for the first time in its entirety the Operation: Mindcrime album, and that’s when they first took me out on the road with them, and at that point I was just hired to just do a song, the one song. And it kind of developed into a lot more than that, you know, 15 years later. [laughs] I had a bigger part in Mindcrime II and I was dead. [laughs more]
Blistering.com: When you heard the album, what did you think?
Moore: I was impressed. It was kind of like the first real quote-unquote professional recording that had that kind of sound to it. I was floored. Just the mix and everything was so strong. Here I was doing these kind of poppy type songs and here’s this big, aggressive, big rock sound, and I was like, “Wow. That sounds really neat!” But I was really impressed, and especially with the background vocals and the orchestration and everything. It was amazing. And then when they got into doing the Livecrime [the 1991 video recording of the band performing Operation: Mindcrime] that was really somethin’ too. A lot of fun to do and to experience.
Blistering.com: When you heard it, did you think the album was going to do really well or was at least going to get critically well-received?
Moore: I thought it would probably do well because they were doing so well. I thought, “Well, it’s a band on a major label and they’re very popular" . . . When I listened to it though I had no idea it would turn into such a critically acclaimed album, as a lot of people call it now. I had no idea, even when I was recording it. I just felt, “I’m the hired hand and this is what I need to do to make it work for them.” For me, that was kind of it. I didn’t really talk to them for about a year afterwards until they approached me to do some shows with them back to back.
Blistering.com: What do you remember people saying at the time when the album was released?
Moore: A lot of people thought it was just Geoff singing, so it was a really big deal for me . . . a lot of people went, “Wow, you worked with Queensr˙che,” so at that time it was a great situation for me as far as people finding out who I was. As far as the album in general I think it really kind of picked up speed after the fact . . . I knew of them, I didn’t really know of the music but I knew that they were really starting to pick up speed. And to be asked to do it was really an honor. It’s like, “Wow, thanks for thinking of me. I didn’t think that I would get asked to do something like that.” Of course, I’m happy about it today but it was kind of a funny situation, because sometimes I’m known as so-called the sixth member, but I’m still just a hired hand. [laughs] It’s still really nice though. Those guys are really a great bunch of people to work for. I really enjoy it.
Blistering.com: When they had you come on the Empires tour, it wasn’t the whole tour, was it?
Moore: No. When we taped the Livecrime deal, I only toured with them on the Empires tour through Europe. It didn’t take me through the States. What they did was they had me record my part on these big huge screens that they performed with and I would do specific shows, like in Madison, Wis. I think it was two or three different shows where I toured with them for just a couple of days and they actually did the shooting during the day, and then at night that was quite the experience with all these different cameras on you. It was really fun, actually.
