GEOFF TATE Recalls Meeting DAVID BOWIE

In a brand new interview with Oregon Music News, former QUEENSRŸCHE and current OPERATION: MINDCRIME singer Geoff Tate was asked for his thoughts on the passing of British art-rock icon David Bowie. He responded: "David Bowie was very inspirational to me growing up. 'Space Oddity' was the only track that I had heard by him as a kid; followed by his performance with Bing Crosby ('Little Drummer Boy') on television. I was mesmerized by their two voices which they sang at a very low register. They had such beautiful rich voices. "

He continued: "David Bowie had such an incredible career, always pushing the boundaries.

"If you have any level of success with your art, people immediately begin to put fences all around you. People want to put you in a genre or in a box. David Bowie was one of those artists that was more about taking down the walls and growing. He was very inspirational. I didn't always like his music at the time, but I always enjoyed it in the perspective of the journey that he was on. In fact, I had an interesting Bowie experience; I met him once. It was on the 'Let's Dance' tour. It was real quick it was backstage at a show. I got a chance to meet him, shake his hand with about a hundred other people! [Laughs] It wasn't an intimate conversation or anything like that. Still, it was an incredible experience."

Tate went on to say: "All my daughters — David Bowie is the first man that they’ve fallen in love with! [Laughs] There's a character, Jareth, in the movie 'The Labyrinth'; [Bowie] was so charismatic and magical in that movie that all the little girls fell in love with him.

"Something I learned from David Bowie is that we all perceive music differently. I think a lot of this is determined by our own life experience and how we relate to the music. He released an album called 'Earthling' sometime in the '90s. I bought the album, I listened to it and I absolutely didn't like it. I put it away and didn't think much about it. About six months later, I'm in Paris; I walk into a Virgin Megastore to see they have. I see the same album 'Earthling' there for sale and they have it at a listening booth. I put the headphones on, I'm listening to the opening track and, boom, I got it. I listened to it. I got it. I bought it again."

Bowie died on January 10, two days after his 69th birthday. The British singer, songwriter, actor and fashion icon reportedly passed away from liver cancer, after suffering from a handful heart attacks in recent years.

"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).