Former QUEENSRŸCHE Singer GEOFF TATE: 'There Are No Limits To What I Can Do Musically'

Former QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate says that there are no limits to what he can do musically now that he is recording and touring as a solo artist.

Tate was fired from QUEENSRŸCHE in 2012. A two-year legal battle followed where Tate sued for the QUEENSRŸCHE name, only for his former bandmates Michael Wilton (guitar),Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Eddie Jackson (bass) to respond with a countersuit. They eventually settled the dispute, with Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson continuing as QUEENSRŸCHE.

Asked if it feels cathartic after so many years with QUEENSRŸCHE to create songs and CDs the way he envisions, Tate told Metal Rules: "When you are working with a group, it's a different process. There is a sense of compromise that you have to achieve because you are working within the strengths and weakness of those players. There is stuff they can or can't play or will or won't play. You define who you are and what your music is based on because of that group of people. Now I don't have to work within those confines. I can do what I envision.

"QUEENSRŸCHE never started out with a definition of who we were," he explained. "That was other people who defined us and put us in a category. There was no place we were supposed to be other than what we invented for ourselves. That's the just same philosophy that I always kept; there are no limits to what I can do musically. I do what I hear; I perform or write what I like."

Pressed about whether he feels that he is a better songwriter now than in the '80s with QUEENSRŸCHE, Tate, who has just released a new album called "A New Reality", said:" I tend not to use the words 'better' or 'worse' when it comes to music. I'm more of an experienced songwriter now. I have done a lot of different musical presentations and written a lot of songs; this is my 18th album with 250-plus songs. I have gained a lot of experience writing music and have tried a number of different things a number of different times. Sometimes the same thing with a new twist."

"A New Reality" is part three of a trilogy of OPERATION: MINDCRIME records following Geoff's albums "The Key" and "Resurrection", both of which were also released through Frontiers Music Srl.

Tate confirmed to Metal Rules that "A New Reality" will be the final OPERATION: MINDCRIME album, explaining: "It started when someone asked me during an interview where they read OPERATION: MINDCRIME is not a band it was a project. I told them it was and it was always meant to be a project. It was put together to achieve the goal of presenting this trilogy. Now that the three albums are done, the OPERATION: MINDCRIME project is over. Now people are asking why is the band over? [Laughs] It never was a band in the first place! It was a bunch of great musicians that I assembled and asked to be a part of and contribute to my story. It's a project that reached its end. I don't really know what lies ahead musically for me. I know I have a year and a half of solid touring ahead for me. I'm looking forward to that. We will do North America in the summer."

Tate recently recorded a brand new song in support of charity. All proceeds from the track, which will be released later this month, will benefit MercyWatch, a nonprofit focused on outreach to the homeless community in Snohomish County, located in the U.S. state of Washington, where Tate lives with his family.