GEOFF TATE On Staying In 'Fighting Shape' While On The Road: 'It's A Full-Time Job'

Former QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Geoff Tate spoke to the 100 FM The Pike radio station about how he keeps his voice strong and stays in shape for his rigorous touring pace of the last few years. "It's tough," he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "It really is — trying to achieve some sort of balance, lifestyle that kind of tends towards excess. [Laughs] All the traveling and the different hours of the day or night that you're awake, time zone changes, living in airports and trains and actually eating in different places to go around the world. Your diet changes all the time, so, yeah, it's really difficult to sort of gauge all that. I just kind of try to keep it down to something simple, which is portion control. [Laughs] And I have a big appetite — I love food and I love dining and all the different kind of restaurants you can go to throughout the world; I love that. And then wine — I'm a wine fan so I always have to have wine with every meal. So that takes its toll too. So, yeah, it's just moderation — trying to keep all that in check. It's a full-time job. [Laughs]"

Tate went on to say that the stereotypical "rock and roll lifestyle" has never been an issue for him. "I've never been a real drug user or that kind of thing, so it's never really been a problem for me," he explained. "Other people have struggled with it. For me, it's mostly about food and wine. [Laughs] I love to drink. [Laughs]

"When you go out and eat at a restaurant, they're not designing their food to be healthy for you; they're designing it to taste good so you'll wanna eat more," he added. "So they put all the bad stuff in there that they should keep in check. But that's not what restaurants are about. And personally, I travel two hundred-plus days a year, and that's where I'm eating — at restaurants — all the time."

Tate's current tour is celebrating the 30th anniversary of QUEENSRŸCHE's "Empire" and "Rage For Order" albums.

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.

Tate was replaced in QUEENSRŸCHE by former CRIMSON GLORY singer Todd La Torre.

Geoff recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of "Operation: Mindcrime" on European and U.S. tours.