QUEENSRCHE Singer: 'As An Artist, Art Is Meant To Evolve'

PopStar.com recently conducted an interview with vocalist Geoff Tate of Seattle progressive rockers QUEENSRCHE. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

PopStar.com: "Got it Bad" [is] the sexiest song on the [new QUEENSRCHE album, "Dedicated To Chaos"], not just in terms of the lyrics but in its sultry rhythms and primal back-beats. What (or who) inspired the song or was it born of a more universal feeling about love and obsession?

Tate: Well, I'm kind of obsessed with obsession. [laughs] I've always found that to be a very interesting topic and maybe because it's one that strikes close to home. I have a very obsessive personality. I love that song, too. I think the first line was really inspired by my wife, who I find a lot of creative energy from. She has this personality that when she walks into the room, people kind of gravitate towards her. She's got really positive energy and I like that about her quite a bit. So I was watching this scenario unfold at some event we went to and that line popped into my head so I had to write it down real quick so I didn't forget it. [laughs] So the whole song was brought about through that first line. People always ask me, "How do you get inspired to write especially after the length of time you guys have been together as a band?" and I don't ever have a problem with it. I think life is just so inspirational in itself, especially the life we live. We're constantly moving, we're constantly in different places. Every day I'm talking to interesting people and having interesting conversations, There's never a dull moment. In fact, I'd have to schedule a dull moment. [laughs] I have to take some time to stop and just meditate a little bit.

PopStar.com: Over the years, the band has evolved and at times released material that was outside the realm of what many would expect to hear from QUEENSRCHE. There are fans who have embraced the creative versatility of the band, and those who simply did not support it. What would you say to them?

Tate: I don't know if there's much you can say to somebody who is locked into a certain record. I'm glad that they like something we do. Whether they like everything we do, that's kind of a lot to expect from somebody because we all listen to music differently. We all run it through our own life filters and we attach certain music to points in our life that we're going through or we get really involved with a song or an album and that becomes kind of the theme music to our lives. So I can't be too critical of people in that sense. I do the same thing. I've had records that were really special to me that bring back certain special memories to me in my life. As an artist, art is meant to evolve. That's the nature of it, and you don't want to stifle it and put it in a box and never go outside the lines because the artist becomes very despondent, I think. The nature of it is to keep changing and moving and evolving. I'm not the same person I was back in 1983 at all. I've had so much more life experience, and that has to come through in the music or else why do it? It is very much a self-indulgent occupation, I must say. [laughs]

Read the entire interview from PopStar.com.

Photo by Andy Batt