Cry Of The Wolf Interview with Geoff Tate of Operation: Mindcrime, (Queensryche)
Cry Of The Wolf Interview with Geoff
Tate of Operation: Mindcrime, (Queensryche)
Geoff Tate has
released the final album for his Operation: Mindcrime trilogy, A New Reality. I
spoke with him about the current album, touring, Missing keyboard players, and
the general state of the music business.
Thanks for taking
the time to do this. Take us through the writing process.
Well for this particular project it was the story followed
by the music. I wrote this several years ago while hiking in Spain. Came w=up
with quite a few musical outlines and it grew from there. There is no set way.
Sometimes it’s a word or a figure that starts it all off. Or just a short idea
that you have. You try to write a song that describes how you feel at the
moment. Turns into a song
Do you take the
ideas and take it to the band or is all done via file sharing?
For this project we brought them in and we sat in one place
for a few weeks and recorded. It was a matter of playing a piece of what I had
started and then saying let's take it a bit further. Try to get people to
express themselves within the framework of what is written. I like to have
albums that paint a picture. Create a sound environment to work in.
Touring?
I start in January in Dublin. I will be in Europe until April,
take a break and then begin the North American tour in September
Culturally there are differences in audiences it used to be
more dramatic. But the age we live in there are less differences. We like to take
them on a little journey.
Do you have a regimen you go through on the road
to stay in shape vocally?
Yeah. I try not to drink so much. Live a moderate lifestyle
so you can make it to the next show. You're constantly on the move and exposed
to different people. Try to keep your immune system strong.
Security concerns
on the road?
Really the only country that I ever had trouble as far as security
was the United States. But I don't see anything different. I try to live in my
own world. I think it is a fascinating time to be alive right now. We are
communicating and witnessing things that happen around the world which we never
could before. You can comment on situations that occur across the world daily.
Used to take a longer time. The pace of communication has increased. We are
living in real time worldwide. We are also, especially in America, looking at
ourselves reflectively. Analyzing how we stack up to other countries. Why do
the few get so many benefits and many don’t. Why do we have to pay property tax
on property we own? And where does our
money go? It's certainly not on the roads of the infrastructure. Everything is
falling apart. There is a good reason why our speed limits are so low. Our
roads cannot handle the cars we have designed. Cars are amazing now but the
roads are engineered very badly. I think it's a reckoning. We are questioning
if what came before was actually a good idea. It's important that we all become
part of the discussion. When you speak in anger people shut down.
Future plans for
you?
Tour, tour, tour. No plans for a DVD. There is a new song
that I wrote for charity. I'm donating all the proceeds to mercy watch. They
work with drug addiction.
I have to ask
about Queensryche. Does it frustrate you when you are asked about a reunion?
No I don't get frustrated a t all. It's human nature. I get
asked that all the time.
When you first
started with Queensryche. Did you imagine that it would go as far as it did?
I don't think anyone can ever guess how far something like a
band will go. Especially something as volatile as a band. We really did a lot
of stuff. Very productive. Spent 30 years making music together. That is a darn
good run. I'm sad that it ended the way that it did. Too bad it could not have
been handled better. It ran its course. I don't miss it. But I would never say
no to a reunion. But I don't see it as likely.
As an early fan of
Queensryche, what does "NM 156" stand for?
It is the model number for the computer based life form.
What is one of the
craziest things that has ever happened to you on tour?
It's all crazy. You know when you travel the world as a rock
band. Traveling through borders and check points you’re a little group in a
traveling box. Some people like it, other people can't. You never know who is going
to crack. You have to keep an eye on everyone. We have actually lost people on
the road. A keyboard player with us. Went through customs and never returned.
Who knows? To this day I don't. Never saw him again.
Probably in jail
somewhere
Probably. I'm guessing. It's odd that we never heard from
him again.
“The New Reality” is the third and final chapter in the musical
trilogy from iconic metal vocalist Geoff Tate. Following a little over one year
after the release of the second chapter, “Resurrection”, in 2016 and about two
years after the first chapter, “The Key”, Operation: Mindcrime is a creative
platform that continues in the spirit of the historic album of the same name,
spawning concepts as grand as the music, and intertwining the intensity of the
former Queensryche vocalist's iconic past with the provocative, progressive
mindset that has made him one of music's most resolute forces and frontmen.
Joined by a cast of musicians, Kelly Gray, John Moyer, Simon Wright, Scott
Mercado, Scott Moughton, Brian Tichy, & Mike Ferguson, whose talent and
resumes speak volumes for the quality of musicianship that will be on display
here, “The New Reality” is a another fine progressive rock/metal entry from
Tate.
Geoff
Tate sold more than 25 million records at the helm of Queensryche, the band he
fronted for 30 years from their inception through 2012, earning three Grammy
nominations, five MTV Music Video Award nomimations, and one MTV Music Video
Award along the way. The landmark concept album Operation: Mindcrime thrust
Tate's unique social consciousness, style and expertly crafted lyrics into the
national spotlight in 1988, and was followed by Empire in 1990, the album that
delivered Queensryche to arena-headlining status and sold more than 3 million
albums on the back of hit singles and radio staples, "Silent
Lucidity" and "Jet City Woman." By the time the band released
Promised Land in 1994, Geoff Tate was universally acknowledged as one of the
greatest frontmen in rock and metal, and a driving force behind one of the most
innovative bands in mainstream music. From Operation: Mindcrime and Promised
Land through 2009's overlooked gem American Soldier - Tate's ambitious concept
album that explores the consequences of war as told through the voices of
veterans - Tate's 13 album tenure with Queensryche was marked by exploration,
intrigue, bold risks and gratifying results. “The New Reality” carries on that
musically adventurous tradition.
TRACKLISTING:
A
Head Long Jump
Wake
Me Up
It
Was Always You
The
Fear
Under
Control
The
New Reality
My
Eyes
A
Guitar In Church?
All
For What?
The
Wave
Tidal
Change
The
Same Old Story
PRODUCED
BY: Geoff Tate & Kelly Gray
STUDIO:
London Bridge Studios, Desmodromix - Seattle
RECORDED
BY: Kelly Gray
MIXED
BY: Kelly Gray
MASTERED
BY: Kelly Gray
BAND
MEMBERS:
Geoff
Tate, Kelly Gray, John Moyer, Simon Wright, Scott Mercado, Scott Moughton,
Brian Tichy, Mike Ferguson
Links:
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