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When Queensrÿche released their sequel to their seminal album Operation Mindcrime, Operation Mindcrime 2 last year, and with the release of the DVD Mindcrime at the Moore earlier this year which was recorded live at the Moore Theater in Seattle on the bands American tour where they played both albums in their entirety, the band were back at the top of their game.
Add to that their recent tour with Heaven and Hell and Alice Cooper, a European Tour on the horizon, and with the band about to unveil their new covers album 'Take Cover' in early November, Komodo Rock's Mike Elliott spoke to frontman Geoff Tate to find out more.
Mike Elliott: YouÂ’ve just got off the Heaven and Hell tour and you said that was a dream tour for you. How did that go?
Geoff Tate: It went great. It was very special to be part of that line-up of such legendary bands.
ME: YouÂ’ve often cited Alice Cooper and Ronnie James Dio as huge influences for you.
GT: Oh yeah, very much so. ItÂ’s funny
how Ronnie especially has been so much a part of our lives over the
years at different points. It was the first time that we had toured
with him in 25 years. It was really fun.
ME: So was it good to be out on the road with him, especially after working with him recently on Operation:Mindcrime 2?
GT: Oh yeah.
ME: Did he come out to play any of the songs with you on the tour at all?
GT: We didnÂ’t do anything like that this time. Maybe next time.
ME: IÂ’m sure fans would love that. Talking of touring., you are on your
way to Europe soon and it has been announced that at the Spanish dates
youÂ’ll be playing a special Mindcrime set, bringing Pamela Moore over
with you. Is that something just for Spain or do you think it will be
expanded to other European dates?
GT: We werenÂ’t really planning on doing
that but the promoter in Spain rang us and said that he really wanted
us to do the Mindcrime show, so we tried to make it happen. It all came
together so thatÂ’s good.
ME: So at the moment is it just the 3 dates in Spain that will be doing that?
GT: Yes it is.
ME: With that in mind, is set for the rest of the tour is that going to be career spanning?
GT: Yeah we will be doing songs from all
of our different records, including some of the cover songs that we
recently recorded that will be released on November 13th.
ME: With the Mindcrime tour you just did, you put out the DVD Mindcrime
At The Moore here in the UK quite recently. How pleased are you with
how that has turned out?
GT: Very pleased. I think itÂ’s the best
live DVD we have ever made. A lot of planning went into that, a lot of
work on the production. Then putting it all together took months.
ME: I think that shows on the final product.
 GT: Yeah it turned out really good. IÂ’m very pleased with it.
ME: You have a lot of superimposing of what is going on the video
screens. ThatÂ’s pretty special, it gives the impression of what it is
like in the audience. You donÂ’t always get that on live DVDÂ’s.
GT: Yeah itÂ’s a really special DVD. I think the fans have really
embraced it. They will continue to find things in it that are
interesting to see.
ME: With the UK tour in December, what can fans expect from the show?
With it being a co headlining spot with Thin Lizzy. Will you be
bringing a big stage show or will it be quite toned down?
GT: I think it will be more
concentrating on the music, because we havenÂ’t toured in some of the
cities that we will be playing for so many years. I think itÂ’s a good
idea to expose people to selections from all the different records. The
problem that we have is that we have so many darn songs. With so many
records itÂ’s always difficult to figure out what we play live.
ME: And what people want to hear?
GT: Yeah, itÂ’s almost impossible. We
canÂ’t of course play everything. ItÂ’s difficult for us to decide what
to play. We have a sort of betting pool going on in the band. Someone
will pick a song to play then inevitably someone will say “I’m tired of
playing that song, lets play this one”. There’s a sort of political pop
string going on trying to get the songs that you want to play on the
set list.
ME: That must be quite fun though in a roundabout way. To keep things sort of interesting for you guys?
GT: Yeah. What we found kinda works, we
keep changing the set list. We have songs that we always include and
then we keep rotating other songs.
ME: That would be good for the fans that are seeing more than one show
on the tour. Do you find that you have a lot of people that do that?
Come to multiple shows on the tour?
GT: Yeah. We do actually. Through our
website, our chat board and all that. They all kinda meet in clubs,
pubs and restaurants then kinda carpool. ItÂ’s interesting to see what
people do, you know. We try to make it fun for them as well. We usually
meet with people after the show and we have winners from our website
where you get to meet the band. We get a whole mix of people every
night. ItÂ’s fun to hear the fans prospectus on the music.
ME: ThatÂ’s really good. ItÂ’s good to see bands really taking an
interest in their fans as well. I think thatÂ’s commendable in a lot of
ways.
 GT:
I was very surprised that a lot of bands donÂ’t do that. IÂ’ve been
finding out over the years we are one of the few that do that kinda
thing. I actually really enjoy it. I like talking to people. I hear all
kinds of interesting stories. Not just about our music but what people
are going though. What their political beliefs are. WeÂ’ve met a lot of
interesting people throughout the years that way.
ME: And if you donÂ’t meet them then you are missing out on that side of thing?
GT: Oh yeah sure.
ME: When you took the Heaven and Hell tour in the summer you
interrupted work on the new album. Is there any more news on that at
the moment?
GT: Yeah. WeÂ’ve actually been working on
it this week while weÂ’ve been at home. WeÂ’re finishing up the writing
sessions for it and if all goes well we should start recording it in
March. ThatÂ’s our plan. Then hopefully have the record ready towards
the end of summer for release. We are also planning a big stage show
for it sometime in the fall or early winter next year.
ME: That will be a tour starting in America presumably, then going on from there?
GT: IÂ’m not sure if we are going to start in America this time. ItÂ’s kinda too early to tell.
ME: No thatÂ’s cool. So when you are writing, is it a collaborative deal
for you guys or do you write individual songs then bring them to the
table and go here this is what IÂ’ve got, what do you guys think?
GT: Well kinda both. Usually itÂ’s one or
two people that get together and have an idea about something then they
sort of spearhead the whole project, you know. Then everybody kinda
comes in at different times and does their thing. Some people get more
involved than others, depending on the record it is. The last couple of
years the band has really been on a creative roll. WeÂ’ve been really
busy writing music and recording it. ItÂ’s a good time to be in the
band. Everybody is very happy. All our personal lives are good which
tends to make a good creative atmosphere.
ME: Makes everything work a little smoother?
GT: Yeah it does.
ME: You mentioned earlier that the covers album that you have coming
out in November. YouÂ’ve said that the songs on the album are ones that
each of you chose to do. Each member chose two or three songs for
inclusion?
GT: Yeah we have quite an eclectic taste.
ME: I think thatÂ’s good though.
GT: Yeah it makes for an interesting record you know. It was actually a
very interesting project to be part of cos everyone got to bring in
their song. It forced the rest of us to listen to that song and figure
out what we could do with it.
ME: And expand your horizons?
GT: Yeah, exactly. ThatÂ’s the point I was getting to. You know
sometimes itÂ’s a song that you donÂ’t find very attractive but the way
your band mate brought it in and had an idea how they could do it was
very inspirational. It would get you on a creative roll, and I found
that to be quite challenging and very exciting.
ME: Do you think that once people listen to the songs you have done
they are maybe going to check out the bands that did them originally?
GT: Yeah. If theyÂ’ve never heard it I suppose thatÂ’s the logical route to take.
ME: Is that something you would like to see them do?
GT: Yeah definitely. Music is one of those things that is very
personal. People of course listen to music differently and experience
it differently. It means different things to different people and a
song that I might like might not be a song that you would like but you
know, thatÂ’s the beauty of music. It has so many ways in which it can
be interpreted. Then putting together this record is the same way. We
didnÂ’t do any song like it normally would be done. We gave it our
interpretation. The whole exercise was not to replay the song exactly
how the original was written. We gave it our interpretation.
ME: You gave it a Queensryche feel to the song and then take it from there?
GT: Like we say, “RYCHED UP”
ME: ThatÂ’s excellent. As far as IÂ’m concerned, if IÂ’m listening to a
cover song I donÂ’t want it to sound like the original. I want it to
sound likeÂ…Â….You guys playing the song.
GT: Yeah absolutely. Me too.
ME: On Sunday you sang the National Anthem at the Seattle Seahawks game. How was that?
GT: ItÂ’s really fun. I enjoy doing that. IÂ’ve done it quite a few times
for Seattle. In New York I sang at The Mets game. ItÂ’s a very unique
experience to stand out there all by yourself with no musical
accompaniment.
ME: Completely different to being on stage?
GT: In some ways itÂ’s very different and in some ways very similar.
Usually there is something about the National Anthem. ItÂ’s a cool song
to sing. You donÂ’t want to take it too far from the original but you
want to give it your own thing. People really react to it in ways that
they wouldnÂ’t react to another song. So I think you have to pay homage
to the original you know.
ME: Just one more question for you please. Several readers on our site
have asked about Scandinavian tour dates and if you have any plans to
add them to the current tour?
GT: No we donÂ’t at this time. We played Norway a couple of months ago
at a festival there. That was the only Scandinavian date that we had on
our schedule for this tour. Next year we plan on definitely doing more.
ME: So you start again about this time next year?
GT: Yeah
A big thank you to Geoff for taking the time to talk to us.
You can catch Queensrÿche in Europe from November. Their full schedule currently stands at:
11.15.2007 La Riviera Madrid Spain
11.16.2007 Santana 27 Bilbao Spain
11.17.2007 Sala Razzmatazz Barcelona Spain
11.19.2007 Teatro Sa Da Banderia Porto Portugal
11.20.2007 Live Club Milan Italy
11.22.2007 De Montfort Hall Leicester England
11.23.2007 Corn Exchange Cambridge England
11.24.2007 Regent Ipswich England
11.26.2007 Royal Concert Hall Nottingham England
11.27.2007 Academy Birmingham England
11.28.2007 St. David's Hall Cardiff Wales
11.30.2007 Academy Glasgow Scotland
12.01.2007 Music Hall Aberdeen Scotland
12.02.2007 City Hall Newcastle England
12.04.2007 City Hall Sheffield England
12.05.2007 Apollo Manchester England
12.06.2007 University Liverpool England
12.08.2007 Colston Hall Bristol England
12.09.2007 Guildhall Southhampton England
12.10.2007 University Exeter England
12.12.2007 Leas Cliff Hall Folkestone England
12.13.2007 Hammersmith Apollo London England
12.14.2007 Club Lucky Rijessen Netherlands
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