QUEENSRŸCHE Singer: The Door Is Open For DEGARMO To Contribute To 'Mindcrime II'

QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate has spoken to Billboard.com about the group's decision to write the next chapter to the 1988 ground-breaking concept album, "Operation: Mindcrime". Tentatively titled "Operation: Mindcrime II", the set is due next year via Sanctuary.

With regards to the pressure to top the original album, Tate said, "I think you always fail miserably in that respect, because you can't please everybody. You can only do what's in your heart, what's in your soul, what's in your head. We never set out when we made the first 'Operation: Mindcrime' album trying to create anything else other than making a cool record that we liked, something we felt confident with.

"You can have 10 people standing there listening to it, and they're all going to hear it differently," he added. "Once you've had that happen to you enough, you think, 'Gosh, I wasn't thinking about those people when I made this album in the first place, so why should [I] let that affect me?'"

According to Tate, writing for "Operation: Mindcrime II" began while the group toured this summer. Guitarist Mike Stone, who tours with QUEENSRŸCHE and contributed to their last studio album, 2003's "Tribe" (Sanctuary),is helping write "Mindcrime II". Original guitarist Chris DeGarmo had returned to write and perform on "Tribe", but Tate does not know if he will contribute to the new set. He says that while it felt good to write with DeGarmo, creative differences and tension were apparent. However, he notes that the door "is always open" to the guitarist's input. Read more.