GEOFF TATE: 'I Will Not Conform To Someone Else’s Idea Of Who I Should Be'

BloodyGoodHorror.com recently conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

BloodyGoodHorror.com: You've always taken risks with your music, and unapologetically so. I respect that position immensely, but I wonder, are there any moves you've made that you look back at and think were either misguided, or not executed the way you wanted them to turn out?

Tate: Good question. Yes, there are two moves that I regret: signing record deals with Sanctuary Music and Roadrunner were both, unfortunately, disappointing. Both of these companies went out of business. To be fair, the record industry today is going through a massive restructuring. The market has changed so dramatically and so quickly that companies can’t keep up and are falling like dominoes.

BloodyGoodHorror.com: You're often mentioned as being one of the great rock/metal singers. What kind of pressure does it put on you as an artist to live with those kinds of expectations? Have you ever worried that the material you write may not showcase your voice well enough for your more ardent fans?

Tate: It is very flattering when people say kind things. People interpret music, ideas and events differently and through their own "life" filters. We are all evolving at different rates and levels. One never knows how one's work will affect another, so it doesn't make much sense to me worrying about what others might or might not think. I don't think of music as a sporting event and I am not interested in competing. I find that living with very few expectations keeps me always surprised.

BloodyGoodHorror.com: Your former bandmates have been very vocal in recent days about QUEENSRŸCHE being a metal band. Do you consider QUEENSRŸCHE to be a metal band, or were you always a progressive band who happened to fit the metal scene at the time you came out?

Tate: Thank you for this question. This question of what "metal" is is quite debatable and ultimately, in my opinion, a ridiculous waste of time. QUEENSRŸCHE never fit into any scene, [and] never wanted to. The term itself was, I believe, first uttered in the lyrics of "Born To Be Wild" by the band STEPPENWOLF. Was STEPPENWOLF then a "heavy metal" band? In time, "metal" became a descriptive word used by journalists in the late 1970s and early 1980s to define music. The term caught on as a way for some bands and their PR people to differentiate their own music from all the other "rock" music out there. This is exactly how the term "grunge" came to be as well. These terms are really just marketing slogans and perfect examples of crass commercialism. As a musician, I am not interested, nor have I ever been interested, in being defined. Small minds seek to define themselves and their art. I am also not into being a "nostalgia act." I will not conform to someone else's idea of who I should be. I will continue to release new music. If you want conformity and want or need to feel like you did when you were in high school, you can always visit your local Hot Topic retail store, buy some "metal gear" put on your version of "metal" music and bang your head to your heart's content. Peace. When [former QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist] Chris DeGarmo and I began writing the music together years ago, our slogan or motto was "no limits." We always applied that idea in everything we did. Progression was our passion and our goal. I still hold these values. I believe that life is a glorious journey that is constantly in flux and my goal is to document that journey in my music.

Read the entire interview from BloodyGoodHorror.com.