QUEENSRŸCHE: Live Acoustic Performance To Be Webcast This Afternoon

QUEENSRŸCHE will take part in a live acoustic performance and interview today at 2:00 p.m. PST on 107.7 The Bone with Billy Steel. Listen online at www.1077thebone.com.

In other news, QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Geoff Tate recently spoke to the Las Vegas Mercury about the group's current tour and their forthcoming CD, the next chapter to the 1988 ground-breaking concept album, "Operation: Mindcrime", tentatively titled "Operation: Mindcrime II".

"I talked to the band, and they were all very interested in exploring the possibilities [of writing a 'Mindcrime' sequel]," he said. "We're planning on releasing ['Operation: Mindcrime II'] sometime this year. It's interesting to kind of rekindle the spirit of the record."

According to Tate, the sequel will be set 15 years later — the modern day — where we'll find Nikki still incarcerated for his involuntary crimes. Tate has been coming up with ideas through a process of soul-searching on behalf of his fictional protagonist.
"I was thinking, 'What would I be doing if that happened to me?' I guess I'd analyze every aspect of my life 15 times over, you know? Recount every move, rethink every decision I made. Figure out a game plan for how to do it better if and when I ever get out of here.

"Last year, I got asked to write a screenplay of the album," said Tate. "So I sat down and kind of tore the story apart. There are a lot of vague areas that I didn't explain, which is fine for a musical composition, but with a screenplay you have to go into much more detail with character development, motivations, that kind of thing."

But sequel and screenplay are both down the road. For now, there's only the original, which seems to be keeping Tate more than occupied as QUEENSRŸCHE tours its way westward — and as he metamorphosizes into his alter ego every night.

"There's a lot of me in Nikki," said Tate. "I draw upon that and just find myself really moved by the music and the story. I don't talk once to the audience — I sort of transform into this character and that's how I communicate. It's really exhausting. The first week we did the show, I was a basket case. I had a hard time getting up in the morning. It's a physical show too...there are parts where I roll off these ramps and hit the ground and get back up. I gotta trot up to the gym every day to keep this up."