QUEENSRŸCHE Singer: 'Our Fans Never Know What Type Of Record We Will Put Out'

FuryRocks recently conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Geoff Tate. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

FuryRocks: Can you tell us a little about Mike Stone's [guitar] departure?

Tate: When Chris DeGarmo, one of our founding members left in 1997, we decided to carry on with the second guitar position open and play with different people. It worked out really well for us, to play with people who bring a different perspective. It helps us to pull from different musical pallets. Mike is an amazing guitarist, writer, and vocalist. He had a real passion for pursing his own goals and starts his own band. He was also a great person to hang with. It's one thing to be a great musician who does the job well but it's important to have someone in the band who you want to spend time with. We are going to miss him and wish him the best of luck in his new project and future endeavors.

FuryRocks: Was it difficult to carry on when Chris left the band?

Tate: After Chris left, there were a few albums that we were really trying to find our legs. Chris was a major component to the band, he was the "go-to guy." He knew all the business of the band; he had the relationships with the record companies and management and was a major creative influence of the band. When he left, we struggled, we didn't know how we could carry on since he did so much and we had become accustom to the working situation. We had to reassign all the duties that Chris took care of to the rest of the band (laughing). We had to find where our strengths were and that took a while.

FuryRocks: What do you attribute the success and longevity of QUEENSRŸCHE to?

Tate: Tenacity (laughing). All of us have a passion for music which is what drew us together. We all have vast record collections and all like different styles of music which has been beneficial to us in the sense it has kept thing interesting from a creative standpoint. When you have that shared passion, it's easy to work together. You don't have to work that hard to manufacture things, because it's already there, you just have to let it happen. It's a magical combination that we all appreciate and are grateful for. We also find that life is pretty inspirational. You get to travel and meet people who provide us with so much input; there is never a dull moment and never a lack of material to write about. We meet so many people all the time and have interesting conversations that we can pull from to write a song or an album. Also, the fact is that we change our albums up quite a bit. Our fans never know what type of record we will put out and I think they find that interesting. They have watched the band evolve and change.

Read the entire interview from FuryRocks.