QUEENSRŸCHE To Begin Recording New Album In March

Komodo Rock recently conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Geoff Tate. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Komodo Rock: With the UK tour in December, what can fans expect from the show? With it being a co headlining spot with THIN LIZZY. Will you be bringing a big stage show or will it be quite toned down?

Tate: I think it will be more concentrating on the music, because we haven't toured in some of the cities that we will be playing for so many years. I think it's a good idea to expose people to selections from all the different records. The problem that we have is that we have so many darn songs. With so many records it's always difficult to figure out what we play live.

Komodo Rock: And what people want to hear?

Tate: Yeah, it's almost impossible. We can't of course play everything. It's difficult for us to decide what to play. We have a sort of betting pool going on in the band. Someone will pick a song to play then inevitably someone will say, "I'm tired of playing that song, let's play this one." There's a sort of political pop string going on trying to get the songs that you want to play on the set list.

Komodo Rock: That must be quite fun though in a roundabout way. To keep things sort of interesting for you guys?

Tate: Yeah. What we found kinda works, we keep changing the set list. We have songs that we always include and then we keep rotating other songs.

Komodo Rock: That would be good for the fans that are seeing more than one show on the tour. Do you find that you have a lot of people that do that? Come to multiple shows on the tour?

Tate: Yeah. We do actually. Through our website, our chat board and all that. They all kinda meet in clubs, pubs and restaurants then kinda carpool. It's interesting to see what people do, you know. We try to make it fun for them as well. We usually meet with people after the show and we have winners from our website where you get to meet the band. We get a whole mix of people every night. It's fun to hear the fans prospectus on the music.

Komodo Rock: That's really good. It's good to see bands really taking an interest in their fans as well. I think that's commendable in a lot of ways.

Tate: I was very surprised that a lot of bands don't do that. I've been finding out over the years we are one of the few that do that kinda thing. I actually really enjoy it. I like talking to people. I hear all kinds of interesting stories. Not just about our music but what people are going though. What their political beliefs are. We've met a lot of interesting people throughout the years that way.

Komodo Rock: When you took the HEAVEN AND HELL tour in the summer you interrupted work on the new album. Is there any more news on that at the moment?

Tate: Yeah. We've actually been working on it this week while we've been at home. We're finishing up the writing sessions for it and if all goes well we should start recording it in March. That's our plan. Then hopefully have the record ready towards the end of summer for release. We are also planning a big stage show for it sometime in the fall or early winter next year.

Komodo Rock: That will be a tour starting in America presumably, then going on from there?

Tate: I'm not sure if we are going to start in America this time. It's kinda too early to tell.

Komodo Rock: No that's cool. So when you are writing, is it a collaborative deal for you guys or do you write individual songs then bring them to the table and go he this is what I've got, what do you guys think?

Tate: Well, kinda both. Usually it's one or two people that get together and have an idea about something then they sort of spearhead the whole project, you know. Then everybody kinda comes in at different times and does their thing. Some people get more involved than others, depending on the record it is. The last couple of years the band has really been on a creative roll. We've been really busy writing music and recording it. It's a good time to be in the band. Everybody is very happy. All our personal lives are good which tends to make a good creative atmosphere.

Read the entire interview at Komodo Rock.