Before joining QUEENSRŸCHE, Lundgren (pictured below), 23, played several shows with the QUEENSRŸCHE frontman last September and joined Tate and QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton for a rare all-acoustic set at KISW's annual Holiday Hangover Ball on December 12, 2008 at Showbox SoDo in Seattle, Washington.
Parker's addition to QUEENSRŸCHE's touring lineup was officially announced by Tate in a fan club podcast in February, with Geoff adding that the group was "glad to have him."
In a recent interview with the German Empire, Lundgren stated about how he landed the gig, "I kind of expected it. I saw what was happening with the band. I got wind that [former QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist] Mike Stone might be leaving so I learned a lot of the material beforehand. I never really played with Whip [Michael Wilton, guitar] or Ed [Jackson, bass], and Scott [Rockenfield, drums] and Geoff wanted me to be in the band. Whip didn't really know me and he had a bunch of people that he wanted to play in the band. Of course, they know a lot of great musicians they've met over the years. He probably called a lot of guitar players, but the time frame was really short. So there wasn't a whole lot of opportunities because nobody can learn three albums in a month; it's really tough."
On what it's like to be on tour with Geoff Tate, who was Lundgren's future father-in law at the time of the interview, Parker said, "I am sure people out there cringe at the thought of touring with their father-in-law, but when your father-in-law is Geoff Tate, it's not bad at all... It's like dating your best friend's sister. That's the kind of relationship... There are certain things you are not going to say in front of them, but everyone in the band and the crew, we are all good friends. We tour the road, have fun together. This last tour Geoff brought out three of his daughters, his wife and their three dogs. It's like the whole family is on tour; it's like a vacation. We separate family and business and everything has been great so far."
On whose idea it was to create the "Dude, I'm totally nailing Geoff Tate's daughter" picks (see image below), Parker said, "It happened from an interview that Geoff had. He said that there's two different ways to explain that I was joining the band. One was to say, 'He auditioned and he's playing the solo project, then he's seeing Geoff's daughter and ends up playing with QUEENSRŸCHE.' Or Parker can say, 'Yeah, I auditioned for QUEENSRŸCHE, I got the gig and I'm totally nailing Geoff's daughter — high five.' [Laughs] Susan [Geoff's wife and QUEENSRŸCHE's manager] thought that was the funniest thing ever. So she said that I should put it on my guitar pick. At first I thought, 'I don't know about that.' But everybody thought it was fun; it was cool with the whole band. Geoff thought it was hilarious, too."
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