compounding the disappointing sales of the album were issues that plagued the band on the subsequent tour. less than one month into the "hear in the now frontier" tour, tate became seriously ill and the band was forced to cancel concert dates for the first time. in an even bigger blow, the band's longtime label, emi america records, went bankrupt during the same period. queensrÿche was forced to use its own money to finance the remaining two months of the tour. the band played a handful of december shows in south america because of contractual obligations, and it was during this time, late 1997, that founding member chris degarmo announced he was leaving queensrÿche. however, his departure was not announced to the public until january 24, 1998. members of the band have later cited burnout and a desire to pursue interests outside of queensrÿche as 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." after leaving queensrÿche, degarmo began a full-time career as a professional business jet pilot. his involvement with music has since been sporadic. he remains highly regarded in the eyes of queensrÿche's fan base.