GEOFF TATE Explains His Reasons For Not Wanting Be In Another Band

Former QUEENSRŸCHE and current OPERATION: MINDCRIME singer Geoff Tate was recently interviewed by the IconFetch.com web site. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Speaking about his recent comment that he never wanted to be part of another band again, Tate said: "Well, I guess, since I said that, a lot of people have talked to me about that statement. It's a bit misunderstood. For me, in my situation, with my experience, a band is a group of people that are tied together financially, economically, with legal papers and shares and corporations and all that; it's a business. And you're kind of stuck together. You have to work together, even though you may not like each other, or you may not… maybe you've grown apart, musically speaking; that's very common with artists. You need to move on and do different things, but yet you can't because you're locked into this agreement with these other people. And I did that, and it was a real interesting situation that I feel very fortunate to have been a part of for many years. But it ended, and I'm not interested in repeating that. I wanna have a more open concept of creating work and touring and all that. I wanna work with a number of different people. I like the input. I like the collaboration. I don't wanna be tied to a person or a group of people, and I don't want them to be tied to me either, other than, 'Hey, would you like to get together and play this?' You know, that kind of thing. More back to the handshake deal."

Tate also talked about the agreement he made with his former bandmates in QUEENSRŸCHE about which songs from the group's catalog can be performed live at upcoming QUEENSRŸCHE and OPERATION: MINDCRIME concerts. He said: "I can play anything from the catalog, and, of course, I'm gonna play all the music I wrote. It's just they — the other guys, the QUEENSRYCHE camp — they can't play 'Operation: Mindcrime' [parts] I and II in its entirety live." He went on to say that the arrangement is "so ridiculous" before pointing out to the interviewer that this example clearly illustrates his previous point about not wanting to be involved with any more bands.

"The Key", the first album of an ambitious trilogy from OPERATION: MINDCRIME, sold around 2,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD was made available on September 18 via Frontiers Music Srl.

Joining Tate on "The Key" are a hard-hitting cast of familiar faces and new collaborators: bass players David Ellefson (MEGADETH) and John Moyer (DISTURBED, ADRENALINE MOB),drummers Simon Wright (AC/DC),Scott Mercado (CANDLEBOX) and Brian Tichy (BILLY IDOL, OZZY OSBOURNE),guitarists Kelly Gray (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Scott Moughton (Geoff Tate's solo band),keyboardist Randy Gane (MYTH) and vocalist Mark Daly (THE VOODOOS).

Interview (audio):