GEOFF TATE On QUEENSRŸCHE Split: 'I Wish It Could Have Ended Civilly'

[MetalAges]

Former QUEENSRŸCHE and current OPERATION: MINDCRIME singer Geoff Tate was interviewed by rock journalist Mitch Lafon for a recent edition of the "One On One With Mitch Lafon" podcast (Facebook page). You can now listen to the chat using the Spreaker widget below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On whether he has any regrets about the way his time with QUEENSRŸCHE came to an end: Geoff: "Oh, absolutely, I wish it could have ended civilly, and without all the negativity surrounding it all. That was really quite ridiculous. Yeah, I wish it would have been a quieter, sort of a, coming a conclusion, definitely. But it is what it is, and I've got to move on and try new things." On rumors that QUEENSRŸCHE's albums "Operation: Mindcrime II" (2006), "American Soldier" (2009) and "Dedicated To Chaos" (2011) were, essentially, Geoff Tate solo recordings that did not feature all members of QUEENSRŸCHE: Geoff: "Ehhh…. No, everybody's played on every record, to some extent. Umm… You know, in a band, in any group, there is a person, or typically two people, that come up with the majority of the ideas; they're just the driver. And for a band to work and to last as long as QUEENSRŸCHE did, for example, it takes a driver and it takes other people who are passengers who are willing to put their seatbelts on and go for a ride; it requires that kind of chemistry in order to work. And I am a driver. I've got ideas — I have definite ideas on things — and visions of how I want to do things, and I just present them, and everybody either gets on board, or they don't, and we continue on." On whether any of those albums — "Operation: Mindcrime II", "American Soldier" and "Dedicated To Chaos" — are mostly him and some studio musicians, and not the other guys in QUEENSRŸCHE: Geoff: "Every album is me… that I've ever done. It started on the first ones. They invited me to play music with them, and this is what you get. You get a guy with a lot of ideas, and you have to decide if you wanna be a part of them. If you do, great. If you don't, well, I'll do it some other way." OPERATION: MINDCRIME's debut album, "The Key", will be released on September 18 via Frontiers Music Srl. Joining Tate on "The Key" are a hard-hitting cast of familiar faces and new collaborators: bass players David Ellefson (MEGADETH) and John Moyer (DISTURBED, ADRENALINE MOB), drummers Simon Wright (AC/DC), Scott Mercado (CANDLEBOX) and Brian Tichy (BILLY IDOL, OZZY OSBOURNE), guitarists Kelly Gray (QUEENSRŸCHE) and Scott Moughton (Geoff Tate's solo band), keyboardist Randy Gane (MYTH) and vocalist Mark Daly (THE VOODOOS).

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