GEOFF TATE
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
As the lead vocalist of the Seattle, Washington (USA) based progressive
metal group Queensryche, Geoff Tate finds himself in a position with the
group which he has never confronted before. No longer working his long time
friend and fellow songwriter, guitarist Chris DeGarmo.
Geoff Tate and the members of Queensryche, guitarist Michael Wilton, new
member, guitarist Kelly Gray, bass guitarist Eddie Jackson and drummer/
keyboard player Scott Rockenfield, have embarked on a USA tour and are
planning to record
in January 2002, the first studio album without the Tate/ DeGarmo
songwriting team in the group's history. In the meantime, the progressive
metal quintet,
has released a new CD AND DVD titled, "LIVE EVOLUTION".
According to Tate, it is the first time the group has captured the eclectic
sights and sounds of their music and live stage presentation in a
"dynamically powerful" way.
In the following interview, Geoff Tate looks at Queensryche's past and the
group's current projects and he talks about the private side of his own life
and the breakup with his long time friend Chris DeGarmo.
(Q)- Do you personally aspire to be a pop music star?
Geoff Tate- For me personally, no. I found that I didn't want to be a pop
music star, when I went through the period of time that we went through in
Queensryche, during the time we were working and touring on the success of
the "Empire" album (1990-1991). (He laughs.)
(Q)- You've never been into sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle have you?
Geoff Tate- No.
(Q)- Do you still exercise and lift weights on a steady exercise plan?
Geoff Tate- Yes. The way I handle stress isn't probably pretty good. So,
the way I handle stress is that I work out and do something physical. I'm
probably better off and I feel better and am healthier for that. When you're
a singer, your instrument is your body. So you try to keep it clean and
well oiled and repaired nicely for it to sound good.
(Q)- Songwriting and telling complex, intricate stories through music, is
what Queensryche has always maintained in each of their albums.
Geoff Tate- Songwriting is craftsmanship. It's taking a spark of an idea
and shaping it into your own musical theory and using your mind to push it
into an expression of how you feel about something. And that's the beauty
and excitement that's what has always kept me interested in music. You never
reach a point where you've done it all. It's always a new frontier and
there's always something you can do with it that is new and fresh. There's
always a new direction you can push it in or a new sound you can bring into
the music or a different instrument you can bring into the mix. It's never
ending and it's beautiful.
(Q)- Recently, Chris DeGarmo (guitarist) left the band due to "creative
differences", but Chris remains close friends with the remaining members of
the band. What has Queensryche been like for you ever since Chris DeGarmo
(former guitarist and songwriter) left?
Geoff Tate- I think that we had a special way of working with Chris and we
had a lot of success and we made a lot of really great records with him. He
was the main music writer of the band. Chris and I worked together as a team
and we collaborated on many special songs that made Chris DeGarmo and I one
of the more unique songwriting teams. We would often sit together and
brainstorm ideas out. And, it's a pretty rare and beautiful experience when
you have somebody who you can build up an idea with, where the two of you
have something working together that makes a really cool song. Since Chris
departure, I don't really have anybody to do that with now.
(Q)- Was there or has there been a period of doubt on your behalf, when
Chris left the band?
Geoff Tate- Yes. We were friends and buddies for twenty years. When he
decided to leave, it was quite a shock to me and the end of our musical
partnership, which was really hard for to take. And for him too.
(Q)- Why did you stay with Queensryche?
Geoff Tate- I felt like I needed to keep going but in different areas in a
different setup so to speak. So, from my experience, you'd have to talk to
Chris, because I won't speak about us separating from his perspective, you'd
have to speak to him about that. But for me, it left me with a giant hole to
deal with and I have to learn how to operate once again as a separate
person. (he laughs) He did a lot of the things that I have to do now and
that I have to learn how to do.
(Q)- You're more the leader of Queensryche now.
Geoff Tate- Yes. Exactly. It's a very uncomfortable role for me.
I work much better in a partnership role.
(Q)- How are you working to improve the situation and move on into the next
stage of Queensryche?
Geoff Tate- Over the last couple of years, I've been trying to find somebody
to write new material with, who I could relate to as I did on the same level
as Chris. Because I've got some really interesting conceptual ideas that
I'd lke to explore with, but I don't have anybody to do that with. So it's
very frustrating. I've been trying to find my way around it or trying to
find my own way to deal with it. I'm looking to find another songwriter to
work with in order to accomplish what I want to do musically.
(Q)- What is it like for you, on a personal level, to see how Queensryche
has had sales of albums do well one year and then not sell poorly the next?
Especially if the material is autobiographical? And, what about the music
critics?
They have often been harsh on Queensryche's music. How do you take some of
your criticism in regards to Queensryche's music?
Geoff Tate- With the music critics, it's kind of a sports mentality as well.
It is like that in any portion of the recording industry. So it is tough,
because you put out there your music, which is often very personal and it's
your self expression and your ideas and there's no rule book. It's just your
own self expression. So it's like, "Here it is, judge it, tear this apart."
(He laughs.)
(Q)- How do you deal with the harsh criticism?
Geoff Tate- I kind of ignore it. As my wife (Susan Tate) can attest, I kind
of wrap myself up into what it is that I do (music) and I am kind of single
minded. I do become really locked into what I'm doing and the passion
overtakes me and everything just falls by the wayside. So of which is
really good but in other ways it's kind of a problem. (He laughs.) Which is
just the way life is. It's kind of the way you look at it.
(Q)- Having an avid audience such as the fan club who internationally
support Queensryche must make taking Queensryche into the next stage of the
group's career even more difficult. Because the fans have come to expect a
high standard of progressive metal rock music from you.
Geoff Tate- Yes.
(Q)- Queensryche has never had one specific musical style, the group has
always been on the cutting edge of the progressive metal movement within the
rock genre. Why has Queensryche done so well with their live shows?
Geoff Tate- I lot of what I do in my life is instinctual. I don't really
plan things out all that much. I don't really
have a knack or head for that kind of thing. I really rely on a gut feeling,
intuition or whatever you want to call it, whenever it comes to Queensryche
and the music. Either in the (recording) studio or live. There's been
periods of time in my life when different subjects have been interesting to
me and those subjects found their way into the music and the lyrics of
Queensryche material. There was a time I was into science fiction and the
possibilities of the age we were living in. Later on I sort of got into the
political arena of observing what was happening around the world
politically. The songs are very autobiographical.
(Q)- Could you provide an example of a political situation which was based
on a real world experience, finding it's way into the lyrics of a
Queensryche album?
Geoff Tate- Yes. The Queensryche album "Operation: Mindcrime" (1988) were
based on the Canadian political arena surrounding
the Quebec separatists of Canada. I had a little first hand knowledge of
that. Later on I began moving into philosophical situations which were
expressed somewhat in the lyrics on the album "Promised Land" (1994). So I
kind of move through these various phases in my life and then I've written
about them and then kind of dragged the band along as well. I have always
tried to write music and lyrics that coincided with the interests that I had
at the time when we recorded the music for the various albums.
So I think if you look at the body of our work, it has the various different
periods to it. And, I think the diversity we've shown throughout the years
is probably what has made us last as a group as long as we have. We have out
own special niche and that niche is very different.
(Q)- There has always been an element of storytelling in Queensryche
songs.In depth storytelling is what draws and holds the Queensryche fans,
even if the mainstream media does not play Queensryche music.
Geoff Tate- Yes there has been
(Q)-On an international level, where is Queensryche at this stage in the
group's career?
Geoff Tate- In the USA, Japan, Europe and South America, we've remained
consistently popular. Especially South America.
(Q)- Why do you think a culture such as the Japanese embraced Queensryche
years ago?
Geoff Tate- Japan is a very pop culture nation. Culturally when Japanese get
to be around twenty years old, there is severe pressure on a young person to
mature and grow up and leave behind all of the things that they feel are
juvenile behind them, as they grow older. And music, in Japanese culture
traditionally has been seen as a thing you do when you are a child and then
you grow up and you go into business. So we did loose a lot of fans whenever
they grew up into their twenties. And then we kind of gain new fans whenever
the younger people in Japan grow into their teens. They tend to take their
lead from Europe a lot.
(Q)- What about Queensryche's popularity in Europe?
Geoff Tate- Well the music that Queensryche sold the most records with is
not as popular as it was years ago. We still have many fans throughout
Europe.
(Q)- What about touring on a global scale? Is Geoff Tate and the new version
of Queensryche going to remain popular as a performing band on a global
scale?
Geoff Tate- We can go into almost every city in the westernized world and do
a show with very little advertising. We can always make a living doing
this. But, as far as Queensryche being a group that has the group's name
attached to pop music and pop culture, it is not something I foresee
happening to Queensryche as it did years ago.
(Q)- The new Queensryche CD and DVD titled, "Live Evolution", shows
Queensryche throughout all of the group's various stages of musical
progression. What was the experience like recording the material for the new
recording?
Geoff Tate- it was completely uncharacteristic. We had just signed a record
deal with a new record label and when the executives came to Seattle
(Washington, USA) to see us at a live show we do every year for our
Queensryche fan Club, after the show, over dinner and a few drinks, the
record company executives explained their marketing plan for the band and
what they saw as possible ways to make a solid future for Queensryche. Among
the topics we discussed at that meeting was, that we hadn't done a live
record for years and years. The record company had a master plan for the
album to be very diverse and to show all of the sides of our recording
career. And, they wanted it within a month! (He laughs.) So there was a
really rigid time line to get this project completed.
Honestly though, we really needed to do something like that because we
hadn't worked within a tight time frame for quite a while and we'd been off
for nearly a year. When we'd finished out last concert tour, we all went off
and were doing side projects. It was a good way to bring the band together
again and to have us focus on completing a recording project within a brief
amount of time. So that's what we did. We did two shows in Seattle and
recorded the shows and the show really came out OK. My performance
especially, I was very proud of because it was a very spur of the moment
situation that I came into whenever I walked on-stage for those two evenings
for the concerts which eventually became the completed material for the disc
music and the DVD. The audience was very influential to me. They were
extremely supportive and that is something I've become very interested in
lately. I've been studying the audience affect on a performer and
especially the vocalist and the way that a vocalist can get to a level of
performing that stays constant and how a vocalist can arrive at what I'd
view as a plateau really. But when you have an audience that is incredibly
giving and they're psychically pushing you and you feel that kind of energy,
then it inspires you to push yourself to do things on-stage that you
normally couldn't or perhaps wouldn't do. For some reason, that all happened
whenever we went on-stage for the shows which became the material for the
new disc and DVD.
(Q)- Do you feel that you've "earned" the right to take center stage as the
front man for Queensryche or that you deserve the spotlight, whenever you're
out on-stage?
Geoff Tate- I feel fortunate that I'm allowed to do this and that I've
managed to make a living out of something that I really love and that I am
passionate about. I realize through my life, there's not a lot of people
who get to do that. So I feel fortunate and I always go up there on-stage
trying o do my best and I probably have that drive because I know that I'm
lucky to be there.
(Q)- What will Queensryche be doing for the next stage?
Geoff Tate- Queensryche is in a transtition mode right now. We've all been
since last year, unable to make a studio record together and now we have
contractual (with their record company) commitments in January (2002) to
begin working on our next record. Over the last year, we've all been working
on side projects. I have a new record myself. It is a thing that I think we
all needed to do this year.(2001) Hopefully in January everybody will be in
the right direction and we will be able to come up with something.
(Q)- Metal music and the group's who were popular as Eighties metal music
rock stars, are becoming popular once again in the USA, as well as in other
countries around the world.
Geoff Tate- Every year I hear metal is back. I don't really know what that
means. If it does come back to major popularity good. If it doesn't then
good. I'm enjoying what I do and we get to write records that we like to
write and there it is. Life goes on.
End.
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
As the lead vocalist of the Seattle, Washington (USA) based progressive metal group Queensryche, Geoff Tate finds himself in a position with the group which he has never confronted before. No longer working his long time friend and fellow songwriter, guitarist Chris DeGarmo. Geoff Tate and the members of Queensryche, guitarist Michael Wilton, new member, guitarist Kelly Gray, bass guitarist Eddie Jackson and drummer/ keyboard player Scott Rockenfield, have embarked on a USA tour and are planning to record in January 2002, the first studio album without the Tate/ DeGarmo songwriting team in the group's history. In the meantime, the progressive metal quintet, has released a new CD AND DVD titled, "LIVE EVOLUTION". According to Tate, it is the first time the group has captured the eclectic sights and sounds of their music and live stage presentation in a "dynamically powerful" way. In the following interview, Geoff Tate looks at Queensryche's past and the group's current projects and he talks about the private side of his own life and the breakup with his long time friend Chris DeGarmo.
(Q)- Do you personally aspire to be a pop music star?
Geoff Tate- For me personally, no. I found that I didn't want to be a pop music star, when I went through the period of time that we went through in Queensryche, during the time we were working and touring on the success of the "Empire" album (1990-1991). (He laughs.)
(Q)- You've never been into sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle have you?
Geoff Tate- No.
(Q)- Do you still exercise and lift weights on a steady exercise plan?
Geoff Tate- Yes. The way I handle stress isn't probably pretty good. So, the way I handle stress is that I work out and do something physical. I'm probably better off and I feel better and am healthier for that. When you're a singer, your instrument is your body. So you try to keep it clean and well oiled and repaired nicely for it to sound good.
(Q)- Songwriting and telling complex, intricate stories through music, is what Queensryche has always maintained in each of their albums.
Geoff Tate- Songwriting is craftsmanship. It's taking a spark of an idea and shaping it into your own musical theory and using your mind to push it into an expression of how you feel about something. And that's the beauty and excitement that's what has always kept me interested in music. You never reach a point where you've done it all. It's always a new frontier and there's always something you can do with it that is new and fresh. There's always a new direction you can push it in or a new sound you can bring into the music or a different instrument you can bring into the mix. It's never ending and it's beautiful.
(Q)- Recently, Chris DeGarmo (guitarist) left the band due to "creative differences", but Chris remains close friends with the remaining members of the band. What has Queensryche been like for you ever since Chris DeGarmo (former guitarist and songwriter) left?
Geoff Tate- I think that we had a special way of working with Chris and we had a lot of success and we made a lot of really great records with him. He was the main music writer of the band. Chris and I worked together as a team and we collaborated on many special songs that made Chris DeGarmo and I one of the more unique songwriting teams. We would often sit together and brainstorm ideas out. And, it's a pretty rare and beautiful experience when you have somebody who you can build up an idea with, where the two of you have something working together that makes a really cool song. Since Chris departure, I don't really have anybody to do that with now.
(Q)- Was there or has there been a period of doubt on your behalf, when Chris left the band?
Geoff Tate- Yes. We were friends and buddies for twenty years. When he decided to leave, it was quite a shock to me and the end of our musical partnership, which was really hard for to take. And for him too.
(Q)- Why did you stay with Queensryche?
Geoff Tate- I felt like I needed to keep going but in different areas in a different setup so to speak. So, from my experience, you'd have to talk to Chris, because I won't speak about us separating from his perspective, you'd have to speak to him about that. But for me, it left me with a giant hole to deal with and I have to learn how to operate once again as a separate person. (he laughs) He did a lot of the things that I have to do now and that I have to learn how to do.
(Q)- You're more the leader of Queensryche now.
Geoff Tate- Yes. Exactly. It's a very uncomfortable role for me. I work much better in a partnership role.
(Q)- How are you working to improve the situation and move on into the next stage of Queensryche?
Geoff Tate- Over the last couple of years, I've been trying to find somebody to write new material with, who I could relate to as I did on the same level as Chris. Because I've got some really interesting conceptual ideas that I'd lke to explore with, but I don't have anybody to do that with. So it's very frustrating. I've been trying to find my way around it or trying to find my own way to deal with it. I'm looking to find another songwriter to work with in order to accomplish what I want to do musically.
(Q)- What is it like for you, on a personal level, to see how Queensryche has had sales of albums do well one year and then not sell poorly the next? Especially if the material is autobiographical? And, what about the music critics? They have often been harsh on Queensryche's music. How do you take some of your criticism in regards to Queensryche's music?
Geoff Tate- With the music critics, it's kind of a sports mentality as well. It is like that in any portion of the recording industry. So it is tough, because you put out there your music, which is often very personal and it's your self expression and your ideas and there's no rule book. It's just your own self expression. So it's like, "Here it is, judge it, tear this apart." (He laughs.)
(Q)- How do you deal with the harsh criticism?
Geoff Tate- I kind of ignore it. As my wife (Susan Tate) can attest, I kind of wrap myself up into what it is that I do (music) and I am kind of single minded. I do become really locked into what I'm doing and the passion overtakes me and everything just falls by the wayside. So of which is really good but in other ways it's kind of a problem. (He laughs.) Which is just the way life is. It's kind of the way you look at it.
(Q)- Having an avid audience such as the fan club who internationally support Queensryche must make taking Queensryche into the next stage of the group's career even more difficult. Because the fans have come to expect a high standard of progressive metal rock music from you.
Geoff Tate- Yes.
(Q)- Queensryche has never had one specific musical style, the group has always been on the cutting edge of the progressive metal movement within the rock genre. Why has Queensryche done so well with their live shows?
Geoff Tate- I lot of what I do in my life is instinctual. I don't really plan things out all that much. I don't really have a knack or head for that kind of thing. I really rely on a gut feeling, intuition or whatever you want to call it, whenever it comes to Queensryche and the music. Either in the (recording) studio or live. There's been periods of time in my life when different subjects have been interesting to me and those subjects found their way into the music and the lyrics of Queensryche material. There was a time I was into science fiction and the possibilities of the age we were living in. Later on I sort of got into the political arena of observing what was happening around the world politically. The songs are very autobiographical.
(Q)- Could you provide an example of a political situation which was based on a real world experience, finding it's way into the lyrics of a Queensryche album?
Geoff Tate- Yes. The Queensryche album "Operation: Mindcrime" (1988) were based on the Canadian political arena surrounding the Quebec separatists of Canada. I had a little first hand knowledge of that. Later on I began moving into philosophical situations which were expressed somewhat in the lyrics on the album "Promised Land" (1994). So I kind of move through these various phases in my life and then I've written about them and then kind of dragged the band along as well. I have always tried to write music and lyrics that coincided with the interests that I had at the time when we recorded the music for the various albums. So I think if you look at the body of our work, it has the various different periods to it. And, I think the diversity we've shown throughout the years is probably what has made us last as a group as long as we have. We have out own special niche and that niche is very different.
(Q)- There has always been an element of storytelling in Queensryche songs.In depth storytelling is what draws and holds the Queensryche fans, even if the mainstream media does not play Queensryche music.
Geoff Tate- Yes there has been
(Q)-On an international level, where is Queensryche at this stage in the group's career?
Geoff Tate- In the USA, Japan, Europe and South America, we've remained consistently popular. Especially South America.
(Q)- Why do you think a culture such as the Japanese embraced Queensryche years ago?
Geoff Tate- Japan is a very pop culture nation. Culturally when Japanese get to be around twenty years old, there is severe pressure on a young person to mature and grow up and leave behind all of the things that they feel are juvenile behind them, as they grow older. And music, in Japanese culture traditionally has been seen as a thing you do when you are a child and then you grow up and you go into business. So we did loose a lot of fans whenever they grew up into their twenties. And then we kind of gain new fans whenever the younger people in Japan grow into their teens. They tend to take their lead from Europe a lot.
(Q)- What about Queensryche's popularity in Europe?
Geoff Tate- Well the music that Queensryche sold the most records with is not as popular as it was years ago. We still have many fans throughout Europe.
(Q)- What about touring on a global scale? Is Geoff Tate and the new version of Queensryche going to remain popular as a performing band on a global scale?
Geoff Tate- We can go into almost every city in the westernized world and do a show with very little advertising. We can always make a living doing this. But, as far as Queensryche being a group that has the group's name attached to pop music and pop culture, it is not something I foresee happening to Queensryche as it did years ago.
(Q)- The new Queensryche CD and DVD titled, "Live Evolution", shows Queensryche throughout all of the group's various stages of musical progression. What was the experience like recording the material for the new recording?
Geoff Tate- it was completely uncharacteristic. We had just signed a record deal with a new record label and when the executives came to Seattle (Washington, USA) to see us at a live show we do every year for our Queensryche fan Club, after the show, over dinner and a few drinks, the record company executives explained their marketing plan for the band and what they saw as possible ways to make a solid future for Queensryche. Among the topics we discussed at that meeting was, that we hadn't done a live record for years and years. The record company had a master plan for the album to be very diverse and to show all of the sides of our recording career. And, they wanted it within a month! (He laughs.) So there was a really rigid time line to get this project completed. Honestly though, we really needed to do something like that because we hadn't worked within a tight time frame for quite a while and we'd been off for nearly a year. When we'd finished out last concert tour, we all went off and were doing side projects. It was a good way to bring the band together again and to have us focus on completing a recording project within a brief amount of time. So that's what we did. We did two shows in Seattle and recorded the shows and the show really came out OK. My performance especially, I was very proud of because it was a very spur of the moment situation that I came into whenever I walked on-stage for those two evenings for the concerts which eventually became the completed material for the disc music and the DVD. The audience was very influential to me. They were extremely supportive and that is something I've become very interested in lately. I've been studying the audience affect on a performer and especially the vocalist and the way that a vocalist can get to a level of performing that stays constant and how a vocalist can arrive at what I'd view as a plateau really. But when you have an audience that is incredibly giving and they're psychically pushing you and you feel that kind of energy, then it inspires you to push yourself to do things on-stage that you normally couldn't or perhaps wouldn't do. For some reason, that all happened whenever we went on-stage for the shows which became the material for the new disc and DVD.
(Q)- Do you feel that you've "earned" the right to take center stage as the front man for Queensryche or that you deserve the spotlight, whenever you're out on-stage?
Geoff Tate- I feel fortunate that I'm allowed to do this and that I've managed to make a living out of something that I really love and that I am passionate about. I realize through my life, there's not a lot of people who get to do that. So I feel fortunate and I always go up there on-stage trying o do my best and I probably have that drive because I know that I'm lucky to be there.
(Q)- What will Queensryche be doing for the next stage?
Geoff Tate- Queensryche is in a transtition mode right now. We've all been since last year, unable to make a studio record together and now we have contractual (with their record company) commitments in January (2002) to begin working on our next record. Over the last year, we've all been working on side projects. I have a new record myself. It is a thing that I think we all needed to do this year.(2001) Hopefully in January everybody will be in the right direction and we will be able to come up with something.
(Q)- Metal music and the group's who were popular as Eighties metal music rock stars, are becoming popular once again in the USA, as well as in other countries around the world.
Geoff Tate- Every year I hear metal is back. I don't really know what that means. If it does come back to major popularity good. If it doesn't then good. I'm enjoying what I do and we get to write records that we like to write and there it is. Life goes on.
End.
