As the drummer with Queensryche, Scott Rockenfield has been around since the '80's, so now seems as good a time as any to try something new. Slave To The System are his tool for this - something of a supergroup? Nah, just a bunch of mates having a good time!

Slave To The System got together in 2000. Why has it taken so long to get the album released?

It's funny, we have this kind of interesting history, and I'll try and give you the story that I've fine tuned so well in the millions of interviews. It was really kind of cool. We did get together back then, and Kelly Gray, who we kinda call our nucleus in this whole thing - he and I worked together and have known each other since high school, we go way back - but we worked together on the Queensryche record in 1998 or 99. He was on the 'Q2K' record with Queensryche for a while, and in that era, we had always talked about wanting to do something outside the band, just when we had some down time. Needless to say, his recommendation was that we get a couple of buddies - Damon and Roman from Brother Cane - he had worked with them before, I'd never met them, and they had mutual respect for me, as I had for them. We were both fans of each others bands, anyway, Kelly said "I know it'll be a fun thing, we'll just get everybody in the same room together and let's just see what happens. The excitement was really cool. So, we flew the guys out to Seattle and we sat down, and the first day Sue that we started making songs together after we shook hands, three weeks later the record was basically finished, recorded and they flew back home. You know, it was just one of those really, really great chemistry things that happened. Our personalities work well together, and our musical headspace. So what happened is, we recorded the thing, we pressed up a thousand or so copies on our own, and we sold some through the internet and just kinda did the self promotion thing and in doing that, we also shipped a bunch of these to some industry people, label guys, but you know it's such a hard road. Beating doors down, trying to get record deals and we didn't have a manager or an agent and we were all busy doing other things. Anyway, we did the record to have fun and just do something for ourselves that we could be proud of and listen to as time went on. In doing that, I think we ended up with this magical thing. So, a few years later, fast forward to last year, we got a call from Spitfire Records in the US. They were one of the people who had got a copy of the disc, and it had sat on their desk for a few years. But you know it's a timing thing in this world with music. What they did was, they just called us and said "We've been looking around for something new to work on, and we picked your cd back up off our desk and we've all been listening to it and it's a really great disk. Did you ever do anything with this, or are you interested in doing anything with it?" We hadn't done anything officially with it because it was just our own independent release. So they said "ok, we'll give you a deal and we'll put this thing out". So fast forward to this year, to February, when the single first came out and Sue, it's just gone crazy! The response has been really great, and I guess our patience - maybe because we weren't trying so hard and we wanted to have a good time - maybe that's reflected in how the whole deal and the fans response and everything. I think there's a lot to be said for not grinding your knuckles to the bone desperately trying to get a record deal. Like I said, we just made this record to have fun!

Wasn't that the whole premise of the band - not to be 'Slaves To The System'? Not to be beholden to any record company?

Absolutely, you got it right on the money. That was our plan, and hence the kind of play on words that we did with the band name, Slave To The System was our metaphor for what people have to go through when they're in bands. It's such a grind to get a deal these days and to get into the music business is a really different situation. I mean in the past ten years it's been that way. Definitely in the past five years it's gotten really bad with the internet and record companies, so needless to say, that's kind of what the band name was all about. We didn't want to be 'slaves to the system', which I am in a way with Queensryche and Damon is in a way with Alice Cooper and those are all good systems that we're slaves to in a way, because both of those bands, we have legacies that drive ourselves and are cool and we are actually in control of a lot of things collectively, but we did, you are very right, the band name is a kind of a play on that whole thing.

When you did eventually get the record deal, did you have to chance it in any way? Anything you have to tweak? Any remastering or whatever? The only reason I ask is because people are comparing you to Velvet Revolver and things like that, which obviously when you recorded it, was way before any of that happened.

That's correct actually. You know we were doing this concept - combining a couple of guys from different bands, not that we did it consciously, but I suppose we did. We were like the pioneers of doing that whole thing, and we do get compared to Velvet Revolver and Audioslave because we fall into that category. Great! I'm proud, and we all are with that type of connection, if that's what people want to compare us to because we look up to both of those bands and what they've done. To answer your question about what we've done to the cd, we actually did. Now, we didn't do it because the record company demanded it, so we still aren't slaves to the system as of yet (laughs), but we just did what we did. About 80% of what is on Eagle Rock and Spitfire is works done back then, and then a couple of years later (a couple of years AGO), we went in and recorded a whole new set of tunes that we were thinking about doing a second release with. So what we did when we gave the record over to Spitfire, we added two new tunes to it, just to kinda freshen it up in case anybody had bought the previous release direct from us. Kelly sings the two songs that we added which are 'Cruise Outta Control' and 'Rag Doll', so that added another dimension to what we do musically and we were really proud to have Kelly sing on a couple of things and they turned out really good. Then we actually mastered the record - we didn't RE-master, because the original was never mastered at all! We just recorded the whole thing at home, it was all done at Kelly's house, as his previous history is in engineering and producing, so we did master it down in Hollywood and added the two new songs so it was fresh and ready to kill our fans!

You started touring with STTS recently, so how is it going so far?

You know, the response has been really great. Once again, we just wanted to come out and try to squeeze in some time between our other "day jobs". I mean we're getting ready to launch, Damon's got to go do some dates with Alice in the summer, so we just wanted to get out and do some stuff and meet some of the fans and get out and talk to some of the radio stations over here in the US and they've really been pushing the record for us and it's really helped get us some attention. We've had great turnouts and the fans are just groovin' to what we're dealing! We hang around after every show when we're done, and we go to the merch booth and we sell a few t-shirts and cd's and we just sit around and make sure everybody's got something to go home with, and we talk until we can't talk anymore! It's been a cool thing. Once again, no stress! The whole point is, we don't want to have anything that makes stress for us, whether it be in writing songs or playing, whatever it is, it's all about being relaxed and on our own time. It's going really great and I'm glad that you asked.

So, if you're having success with STTS out on the road in the US, do you have any plans to take the show to any other countries, or will that be denoted purely by the time constraints of all your other ventures?

We're trying everything we can, we are absolutely looking into all plans to come over and definitely do some stuff in the UK and across Europe. We've been talking about it with our agent and we now have a manager. We have a team of people together and once again, it's really just a multi-tasking, juggling match of our other commitments (which are important to us) and we just want to try and make all of it work. It's just kind of a juggling and unfolding process to figure out the best times to make it all work. Within the next 6-8 months, we'll have all sorts of things going on. All we can ask of our fans and the press is keep up with our website. We'll keep everybody updated as to when and where we're going to be.

It's just that I was looking at the Queensryche dates and you're out for the whole of June, then late August, September and October, so I was wondering what was happening in July?!

Well, July, as of yesterday - funny that you should ask - is when we are looking to go out and possibly do a bunch of gigs with Alice Cooper. He's doing a stateside run and since Damon plays with him, that kind of gets us our foot in the door. So Alice gave us the very gracious offer, so it looks like we're going to be able to swing some of that. And I have kids to raise as well, so that comes into the equation!

Mindcrime II sold 44,000 copies in the first week and entered the Billboard album charts at number 18, you must be pretty pleased with that?

You know, we just got confirmation of that yesterday in an email. It gave kind of a run down of chart positions, all sorts of regional figures and stuff. We haven't had a record that's done that, for whatever reason - once again, things go in cycles and you just have to ride out your career and do what you do, it's been 10 or 12 years since we've had that initial first week of sales on a cd and we're really happy with it. We've got a big tour coming up to go out and have some fun with it, with plans to do the whole of Mindcrime I and II in the one show.

Apart from that, you're also still working with Paul Spear. What do you guys have planned at the moment?

Well, it's been a while since Paul and I have had the opportunity to do a project together. He and I have been good friends for quite a while. We scored a computer animated movie together, and that's something that he and I constantly look back on and go "man, that was really cool!" To actually go to the Grammy's and to be nominated for something that he and I did on our own is just fantastic. Ever since then, we've done a few projects together - the Hell's Canyon cd, an instrumental album and we worked on some TV commercials, all sorts of things that have actually expanded my horizons. I'm getting more and more into doing film music and I have some Hollywood film opportunities this year with some independent movies that are being made that I've been asked to score the music for.

I've been reading about 'Hair of the Dog'?

Yeah! (Laughs) 'Hair of the Dog'! That was quite the independent horror film and I scored the intro. The director has been a friend of mine for a few years.

It all looks pretty bizarre!

You know, it was - very! More stuff to come!

Now then, 'Rocken Wraps' - how did you come up with that idea? And I want some!

Sue - you are well informed! I have to sincerely say, that's really great. I do interviews with some people and they just talk about one or two subjects because I think that's all they really know, but you have done some research! Thank you for that! You definitely need some Rocken Wraps - everybody in the world that's a drummer needs a set! It's a company I started a few years ago, it's basically custom drum finishing. Have you looked at our website?

I have! I've had a look and I want them all! I can't decide!

We run into that problem - if you can call it a problem - every day. People are like "Wow, I don't know what to pick! They're all good, I want every one". Hey, listen, I'll take your credit card and you can order every one, any day of the week! Needless to say, I started it as an idea for myself, because I just wanted my kit to look different. Then I thought hold on, and I started making more and more colours and variations. The public wanted them, the Queensryche fans saw me out on tour with them, they were asking about them, so we ended up launching the company off of it, a little over 2 years ago and we have over 500 dealers worldwide now, we get endorsements from people every day. I mean, I'm sitting in a hotel in Lansing, Michigan - we have a show tonight for STTS, I'm taking my break with you, but I'm sitting here with my laptop answering every email! There's only two people that run the whole company and that's me and my brother. It's a family business and I do all the office stuff online, on the road, deal with the manufacturing, it's been a lot of fun. Have you noticed, that word comes up a lot in our interview today? I tend to only do things if I have fun! We've got a lot of cool things coming up for Rocken Wraps where hopefully, if it all works out, we're going to be licensing logo products from a bunch of people like Spiderman and all sorts of things that aren't available anywhere else. Interestingly enough, we're actually the only company in the world doing custom drum wraps - that we know of.

The good thing about it too, is that they're within most people's price range. I mean for a custom finish, hand painted kit you're talking thousands of dollars, but with these, you could have them for birthdays and Christmas!

I've got to be honest, we've worked so hard on this to break the price down in terms of how we've gotten our supplies and everything and my brother and I have prided ourselves on wanting everybody to be able to get a set for their drum kit and change the look of it, have something 'CUSTOM' or have something that just inspires you, but not break your bank! You're right, the hand painted stuff is very expensive, and is probably only for the elite who can afford to pay for some of that. That's a great market, god bless them, but we're just trying to do the opposite to that which is for $200-300 (depending on the size of your kit) you can have a completely different look. In a few hours of your time, you put it on and you're done. Then, six months from that, you can change it - on the same kit! We want everybody to have them - my EGO wants everybody to have them!

Well, for anyone who wants to check them out, here's the link to the website: www.rockenwraps.com. There, I might even get you some sales!

You know, I couldn't ask for better than that! That would be a great favour!

I suppose the last thing I wanted to ask you, is this. The style of music of STTS is very different from Queensryche. Which do you prefer doing?

Gosh, you know, that's a great question. The great thing about the two bands is that they're completely different, and yet they're also very parallel in certain ways. The parallels in both are probably my headspace. It's a great balance. I get the best of both worlds to play with this raw, unadulterated, free rock band where I don't really have to concentrate and think too much and we make records in a week! We just kinda throw things together and it really works for us. Queensryche, on the other hand, take a year to make a record because we're designed differently, how we do things. After doing a Queensryche record, I'm drained. It's cool, but draining. Then I go "Slaves record - one week and we're done. Ok, that was good!" It's nice. I get to breeze back and forth. As I get older I'm finding that I like more variety and those two are offering me that variety right now.

Well, they say variety is the spice of life, and it seems that Scott's life is full of it! Two great bands, film scores, drum finishes, where next? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. One thing's for sure, whatever happens, it'll be on Scott's terms, and it'll be FUN!