GEOFF TATE On QUEENSRŸCHE Split: 'I Wish It Could Have Ended Civilly'

Former QUEENSRŸCHE and current OPERATION: MINDCRIME singer Geoff Tate was interviewed by rock journalist Mitch Lafon for a recent edition of the "One On One With Mitch Lafon" podcast (Facebook page). You can now listen to the chat using the Spreaker widget below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether he has any regrets about the way his time with QUEENSRŸCHE came to an end:

Geoff: "Oh, absolutely, I wish it could have ended civilly, and without all the negativity surrounding it all. That was really quite ridiculous. Yeah, I wish it would have been a quieter, sort of, a coming to a conclusion, definitely. But it is what it is, and I've got to move on and try new things."

On rumors that QUEENSRŸCHE's albums "Operation: Mindcrime II" (2006),"American Soldier" (2009) and "Dedicated To Chaos" (2011) were, essentially, Geoff Tate solo recordings that did not feature all members of QUEENSRŸCHE:

Geoff: "Ehhh…. No, everybody's played on every record, to some extent. Umm… You know, in a band, in any group, there is a person, or typically two people, that come up with the majority of the ideas; they're just the driver. And for a band to work and to last as long as QUEENSRŸCHE did, for example, it takes a driver and it takes other people who are passengers who are willing to put their seatbelts on and go for a ride; it requires that kind of chemistry in order to work. And I am a driver. I've got ideas — I have definite ideas on things — and visions of how I want to do things, and I just present them, and everybody either gets on board, or they don't, and we continue on."

On whether any of those albums — "Operation: Mindcrime II", "American Soldier" and "Dedicated To Chaos" — are mostly him and some studio musicians, and not the other guys in QUEENSRŸCHE:

Geoff: "Every album is me… that I've ever done. It started on the first ones. They invited me to play music with them, and this is what you get. You get a guy with a lot of ideas, and you have to decide if you wanna be a part of them. If you do, great. If you don't, well, I'll do it some other way."

OPERATION: MINDCRIME's debut album, "The Key", will be released 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).