GEOFF TATE On Being Fired From QUEENSRŸCHE: 'It Affected Me Quite Dramatically'

Geoff Tate has once again spoken about the possibility of a reunion of QUEENSRŸCHE's classic lineup, saying that it woud only happen if all the members "could man up and sit in the same room and actually have a conversation about everything."

In April 2014, Tate and QUEENSRŸCHE announced that a settlement had been reached after a nearly two-year legal battle where the singer sued over the rights to the QUEENSRŸCHE name after being fired in 2012. Original QUEENSRŸCHE members Michael Wilton (guitar),Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Eddie Jackson (bass) responded with a countersuit. The settlement included an agreement that Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson would continue as QUEENSRŸCHE, while Tate would have the sole right to perform the albums "Operation: Mindcrime" and "Operation: Mindcrime II" in their entirety live.

Asked by Drew Shannon of the QWIK Rock 105.9 radio station how he dealt with his exit from QUEENSRŸCHE after spending three decades fronting the band, Tate said (hear audio below): "Well, if affected me quite dramatically… Yeah, it was quite a difficult thing to get through. It was just unfortunate that the whole thing was sort of played out in the press the way it was and on the Internet. And, unfortunately, I think a lot of people got the wrong impression of what the band was like in the first place and what perhaps I was like as a person and they made judgments based on those assumptions, which is unfortunate.

"But, honestly, I feel great right now," he continued. "I've moved on and put all that behind me and released several albums since then and been touring. I've been all over the place, touring Europe and America, and I'm just not really too interested in looking back, if you know what I mean.

"It was a time and a place with those particular people, and now that's changed, and it's kind of time to move on. Most bands don't last as long as QUEENSRŸCHE did. Thirty years is a long time to be together in a band. And you kind of think that people would work out all their differences in that period of time. [Laughs] 'Cause most bands last about five or ten years, and that's it. So we went way beyond what is normal."

Tate added: "I'm proud of the music we made during our time together, and I have a lot of fond memories."

Asked if he could envision himself one day playing with his former bandmates again, Tate said: "Yeah, sure. Yeah. I think if all of us could man up and sit in the same room and actually have a conversation about everything, then that would be a huge step in the right direction of reuniting the band. But we haven't spoken a word since the breakup in 2012. So I'm not holding my breath. But I would never say never."

Tate's replacement, Todd La Torre, told Metal Wani last September that QUEENSRŸCHE is "sounding better than it did for over ten years" now that he is fronting the band. He added: "The fans have certainly voiced that opinion. That's my opinion, and that's a lot of opinions we hear every night. And the energy of the other members of the band is way healthier, way happier with [Geoff] gone and me in the band. And that's just the facts. There's no stifled creativity, and there's no kind of leader and followers, if you will, in the band. We all talk and try to make decisions the same, and it's very democratic. I'm never gonna tell Michael Wilton that his guitar riff is too heavy, for example, and that had happened in the past. The band is way happier, and I think that it's evident when you watch a live show — not [a clip on] YouTube, but really go to a show and feel what's happening and see what's happening. These guys are happy again and they feel like it's a rebirth of the band and that those dark clouds are well behind them."

QUEENSRŸCHE has released two albums thus far with the ex-CRIMSON GLORY frontman — 2013's "Queensrÿche" and 2015's "Condition Hüman".