QUEENSRŸCHE Frontman: 'The New Material Simply Goes Off Live'

Australia's The Metal Forge recently conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE vocalist Geoff Tate. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On the divided opinions over the recently released "Operation: Mindcrime II" album:

"I guess the divided opinions over 'Operation: Mindcrime II' is a good thing, because it means people are actually listening to the album. I really haven't taken too much notice to be honest. I've been so busy putting together the European tour we just did together, as well as organizing this upcoming tour we have. On top of that, I'm also working on another album right now (the follow-up to his debut self-titled solo album from 2002),so I've had my nose to the grindstone doing all these things, which means that I really haven't taken too much notice on what's been happening outside. But from what I do know, most fans seem really happy with the album, and it's also been selling well."

On plans to adapt the "Operation: Mindcrime" onto the big screen:

"We have a screenplay, and it's in the hands of Hollywood agents right now. They're shopping it around to different studios, and so far we've gotten the stage one green light with a studio that is interested in it. Film is a whole different industry to music. With music, you make an album and then you shop it around to different labels. They then take the album and sell it to the public. In the movie industry, this had to go through different screenwriters, scriptwriters, then we had to get an agent to shop it around, and then that agent has to work with another agent. A whole bunch of different people touch it before it gets anywhere off the ground. But so far things are looking good. We're at stage one right now, so things are slowly moving. There comes a time when you have to decide just how badly you want to make this film? Do you want to give away all your rights, or do you want to hold onto some sort of creative control on a certain level? You just have to decide just how far you want to go with it. Film studios will always want to completely own the rights so that they can do whatever they want with it. We want to retain that creative control, so that's why we're at stage one so far. But we're happy to be there. Someday it will be made. We'll just have to see what happens next. If all else fails, god I just might take out a loan and make the movie myself! (Laughs)"

On how the new material comes across live:

"The new material simply goes off live. We just finished some incredible shows in Europe, and I would say that they were probably some of the best shows that we've ever had. We got an incredible reaction, and the rest of the band is playing so well now. We really were on fire! (Laughs) We also have an incredible soundman. He really makes things sound different. You never really know what you sound like, and that's one of the really difficult things about being in this position. You could be having the best show of your life, but if your soundman is adequate, or even worse, inept, nobody in the band knows it! (Laughs) As far as the fans can tell, you're just making noise up there. We actually had a soundman for a short while out on tour a few years ago, and we actually found out a year later from the concert promoters that they weren't interested in booking us because they had received so many complaints about the way that we sounded! (Laughs) We were all thinking, 'Oh my god! Why didn't somebody tell us?' We now have that all resolved, and we can't wait to get back on the road. We especially can't wait to get down to Australia. We've never had the opportunity to go down there before, and now we finally can! Seeing as this is our first visit to Australia, we'll of course be giving people a presentation that is somewhat QUEENSRŸCHE-like with plenty of visual effects and surprises. Material-wise, we'll be focusing on the 'Operation: Mindcrime' albums, along with some songs from our other albums as an encore. It all depends on time allowances, audience enthusiasm and that kind of thing. And of course there's health! (Laughs) How everybody is feeling is always a big factor on things. In all honesty, we're all so damn excited about this album and playing it live, I don't think anyone could stop us! (Laughs)"

Read the entire interview at www.themetalforge.com.