Christopher Lee DeGarmo (born June 14, 1963) is an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being the former co-guitarist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter in the progressive metal band Queensrÿche from their formation in 1980 until 1997, and with whom he played during their most commercially successful period. He briefly returned for collaborations in 2003.
DeGarmo was a member of Jerry Cantrell's band during his 1998 solo tour, and also contributed to his 2002 album, Degradation Trip. In 1999, he co-founded the short-lived supergroup Spys4Darwin with Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney. Since departing from Queensrÿche, DeGarmo has made his living as a professional private jet pilot. Since 2009, he has been making music with his daughter Rylie DeGarmo under the name The Rue,
Career
Early years
DeGarmo was born in Wenatchee, Washington. He would later write about this in "Bridge", from Queensryche's 1994 "Promised Land" album. The song describes DeGarmo's cherished relationship with his grandfather, and the emotional experience of his biological father trying to make amends after years of absence.
In sixth grade, he was in the same class as his future bandmate Scott Rockenfield. DeGarmo joined Interlake High School as a sophomore in 1979, and joined his school-mates in garage bands such as Joker, After he was kicked out of Joker to be replaced with a guitarist who could afford more expensive equipment,
Queensrÿche
Beginnings and major success (1980–1997)
In 1980, Wilton and Rockenfield, who was a drummer, had founded a band called Cross+Fire, and DeGarmo and Hovland joined shortly thereafter. They played covers of popular heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Hovland left because he had to commute quite far and wasn't really into Iron Maiden. and which earned the guitarist a BMI songwriter's award.
Departure from the band (1997)
DeGarmo left Queensrÿche for undisclosed reasons in late 1997 following the band's tour in support of the band's sixth studio album, Hear in the Now Frontier. His departure was not made public until January 28, 1998. Reflecting on Queensryche's Promised Land era, DeGarmo revealed that he had already considered leaving the band:
<blockquote>I was questioning the long term stability of the group by that point. The level of internal and external dysfunction was unacceptable to me. Apparently, no one else was paying attention, or bothered to compare the successful elements and priorities of our past to our current trajectory.</blockquote>
His remarks appear to be in line with later statements from other band members that burnout and a desire to pursue interests outside of Queensrÿche were the reasons for his departure. For example, Rockenfield has said: "He wanted to pursue other things. He felt like he had done what he wanted musically in his life, and wanted to move on." Mike Stone (2002–2009, 2021-present), and Parker Lundgren (2009–2021).
The Tribe sessions (2003)
With an impending deadline to deliver their next album, and the band's strained internal relationships leaving them short on material, a call was placed to DeGarmo to see if he would be interested in contributing songs to the project. After a meeting with Tate, he agreed and took part in the sessions for Tribe, contributing the music to the songs "Falling Behind", "Doin' Fine" and "Art of Life", and co-writing the music to "Desert Dance" and "Open". and especially his high-school friend Wilton. In 2011, DeGarmo commented:
<blockquote>Well, I'll never say never. I don't know how likely it is though. I'm still on good terms with everyone. We're still connected and communicating. We have the chemistry, that's not an issue.</blockquote>