{"id":16932,"date":"2017-03-06T01:00:21","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T06:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=16932"},"modified":"2024-01-30T16:03:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T21:03:09","slug":"16932","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=16932","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Geoff Tate: “Even though it would be in my best interest to sit here in an interview and say, \u201cOh yeah. We were really great together. I miss that. I wish everybody would get back together and be all hunky dory again.\u201d Honestly, I\u2019m enjoying what I\u2019m doing now. I like my life.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2016, Geoff Tate<\/strong> and his band Operation: Mindcrime<\/strong> did a very successful North American tour with Ace Frehley and blew audiences away with a powerful set of songs pulling from the Rage for Order album, other classic Queensryche songs, and selections from OpMC\u2019s latest albums, The Key and Resurrection.\u00a0 Well, 2017 has already been quite a year for Geoff Tate who has been out on the road with his acoustic\/storytellers format tour, \u201cThe Whole Truth.\u201d\u00a0 The shows have been receiving rave reviews for all over the world and it seems as if Geoff has found a bit of peaceful ground.<\/em><\/p>\n

Geoff was gracious enough to take the time out to talk with me once again from a recent tour stop.\u00a0 As always, Geoff was an incredibly kind, soft spoken, and really funny person to talk to.\u00a0 We discussed his acoustic tour, the misconceptions of Geoff Tate that he\u2019d like to put to rest, and his feelings regarding living in the now versus living on nostalgia.\u00a0 It’s interviews like this that make me truly love an artist even more so than I thought possible and I hope, if anything, you will get something out of this that you m<\/em>ay not have gotten before.\u00a0 Read on and enjoy.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Mindcrime.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Geoff, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today!\u00a0 This is our 2nd<\/sup> interview together.\u00a0 Maybe I should send you some flowers or something.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laugh] Thank you, Don.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

Before I go on, I just want to say thank you for the nearly 30 years of amazing music that you\u2019ve given me.\u00a0 It is truly very important music in my life.\u00a0 Do you hear that a lot and if so, do you ever get tired of hearing it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually, no.\u00a0 It\u2019s very flattering when people like what you do and they get something out of it.\u00a0 I like when people like it [laughs].\u00a0 Who would like that?\u00a0 It makes you feel appreciated.\u00a0 I enjoy hearing it.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

Is this something the early on when you started to develop and write music that you strived for or ever thought would happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, actually.\u00a0 It was very uncomfortable for me to have people praise what I did.\u00a0 I\u2019m still not really comfortable with that kind of thing.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s just the way that I grew up.\u00a0 My mom was not the most loving or encouraging mother so I think she probably instilled that lack of confidence in me.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s something that I\u2019ve learned how to accept.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

Is it the same thing with meeting fans and signing autographs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I remember the first time somebody asked me for my autograph when we first started out, I definitely didn\u2019t want to give them that.\u00a0 I felt like they would be wasting their time.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, I told people that I preferred not to give them my autograph simply because I didn\u2019t feel worth to be asked for that.\u00a0 Of course, then people would take it that I was being arrogant, stuck up, or that I wasn\u2019t appreciating the audience because I wouldn\u2019t sign an autograph.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t at all what I was thinking.\u00a0 I was just so insecure about people asking me for my autograph.\u00a0 Once I looked at it from their point of view, then I was able to accept it be comfortable with it.\u00a0 Now it doesn\u2019t bother me at all.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

The last time we talked, the whole Queensryche name debacle was still unresolved.\u00a0 You have since moved forward with Operation: Mindcrime and I\u2019ll be honest the output has been so stellar, especially the Resurrection album.\u00a0 Did getting past all of that finally make it easier for you to get back to being creative on your own terms again?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, very much so.\u00a0 It was a slow kind of feeling that took a while to really become reality for me.\u00a0 Once it happened I could recognize it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if somebody could imagine this but at the breakup point, there was so much negative energy and people saying horrible things about me and questioning everything I did.\u00a0 Sort of like what we just talked about with someone asking me for my autograph.\u00a0 I felt uncomfortable about it but they turned it around like I was being an asshole because I didn\u2019t want to give them my autograph.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I felt was going on with me during that court case.\u00a0 People just had the complete opposite opinion of me and they would say it [laughs].\u00a0 It makes you feel very self-conscious for a while and you start analyzing and looking at yourself saying, \u201cAre they even close to being right?\u00a0 Am I this way?\u00a0 Is this the way I come off?\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s like a process you have to go through to come to terms with who you think you are versus who people say you are.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

I wanted to talk about your recent \u201cWhole Story Acoustic Tour\u201d.\u00a0 That was easily one of the most amazing shows I have seen.\u00a0 You looked like you were having so much fun.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am [laughs].\u00a0 I really am for a number of reasons.\u00a0 I think that playing acoustic in these small venues it puts in such close proximity to the audience much more than I\u2019ve ever been.\u00a0 I\u2019m not using in-ear monitors so I\u2019m completely open and I can hear everything in the room.\u00a0 In-ear monitors kind of separate you from the audience.\u00a0 You\u2019re only listening to the music and yourself and you can\u2019t hear what people say or what\u2019s going on in the room.\u00a0 You\u2019re oblivious to that and in some ways, that\u2019s very nice from a performance standpoint. With this tour, using traditional stage monitors I can hear people talking, I can hear them singing along and I can tell if their sharp or flat or if they screw up on a word [laughs].\u00a0 It\u2019s like we\u2019re all together, singing together in the pub like they do in Ireland.\u00a0 It\u2019s a wonderful feeling.\u00a0 I also have this wonderful band of people who are creative, energetic, and liking being there.\u00a0 Being around positive people in this situation that I\u2019m enjoying is a recipe for a good time.\u00a0 I\u2019m having a blast.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also sorry that I let out that high note at the beginning of “Take Hold of the Flame”.\u00a0 I just couldn\u2019t contain myself but I was like, \u201cShit it\u2019s quiet in here.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] That\u2019s ok, Don.\u00a0 Yeah, it is kind of strange on this tour.\u00a0 Some people start playing drums on the tables or on the stage and it can really throw us off because they can be louder than we are.\u00a0 Maybe they are rhythm compromised [laughs].<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

On this acoustic tour, you really stripped these songs down to their original bare bone element.\u00a0 There must have also been a strong sense of nostalgia when you were deciding what songs to work on.\u00a0 Was it painful, cathartic, or anything?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t really have anything like that to be honest.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really associate the music with the band Queensryche.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think of it in those terms.\u00a0 I\u2019m not pining away thinking, \u201cGosh, I sure miss Eddie Jackson\u2019s bass playing on this track.\u201d\u00a0 Honestly, there are no memories like that.\u00a0 I don\u2019t mean that to sound callous but I just don\u2019t have those feelings.\u00a0 I mainly just thought about how I wanted to bring those songs back to where they started.\u00a0 Most of the music I\u2019ve ever written has been on acoustic guitar or piano so this was kind of bringing the songs back to the way it started.\u00a0 I liked that aspect of it; making it stand up on its own.\u00a0 I also really was interested from the moment that we started rehearsing together that the sound of the band was really different.\u00a0 I liked that a lot.\u00a0 It had a freshness and an immediacy about it that I liked.\u00a0 I also loved that it wasn\u2019t so distorted and so loud in volume.\u00a0 You can really hide behind volume and distorted guitars but when you play acoustically you have to have mastery over your instrument.\u00a0 The audience, you, and your band mates can hear every single note you play and every nuance and every breath.\u00a0 You really have to have your game on and have control.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

On this tour, you had an acoustic guitar on a stand every night just in case Chris DeGarmo wanted to show up and play.\u00a0 Did you ever hear from him at all and if this would have happened, how would that have felt for you personally and artistically?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, Chris DeGarmo didn\u2019t show up but John Moyer (Operation: Mindcrime bassist) did [laughs].\u00a0 He joined us in Austin, TX for a few songs and that was really great.\u00a0 I think I\u2019d be happy if Chris came by and said, \u201cI\u2019m here.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go over a couple of songs.\u201d\u00a0 Chris would never come out of the audience and just jump up there and play guitar.\u00a0 He\u2019s not that kind of a guy.\u00a0 He would have to come early in the day, soundtrack, and run through the tracks, that kind of thing.\u00a0 That would be fun though.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

There was such a chemistry between you and Chris on and off stage.\u00a0 Do you miss that connection?\u00a0 Not so much in just the terms of Queensryche but just sitting with an old friend, working on songs, and just playing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly, I\u2019m just not that nostalgic about it really.\u00a0 Don, there\u2019s just been so much water under the bridge so to speak but it\u2019s hard to even find something about it that was pleasing to me.\u00a0 Even though it would be in my best interest to sit here in an interview and say, \u201cOh yeah.\u00a0 We were really great together.\u00a0 I miss that.\u00a0 I wish everybody would get back together and be all hunky dory again.\u201d\u00a0 Honestly, I\u2019m enjoying what I\u2019m doing now.\u00a0 I like my life.\u00a0 Looking back on that period of my life with the band, there was so much stress all the time and so many personalities that didn\u2019t click.\u00a0 We just tried to make it work for so long.\u00a0 Once you\u2019re away from that scene and you\u2019re breathing easily and your blood pressure goes down, you wonder, \u201cWhy in the hell did I put up with that for all those years?\u201d<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

I remember my dad telling me once that to be over nostalgic just keeps you from moving forward and achieving things in this moment we\u2019re in.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can appreciate that you\u2019ve been there and learned from the situation but your father was right; move ahead and move on with your life and keep experiencing things and live.\u00a0 Get away from the past.\u00a0 I know so many people who all they talk about is the past.\u00a0 It\u2019s like the last 10 years hasn\u2019t even happened to them.\u00a0 They still talk about the good ol\u2019 days and that\u2019s where they live in their heads [laughs].<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like those people who talk about how high school was the best years of their lives.\u00a0 I fucking hated high school and couldn\u2019t wait to be an adult so I never got that way of thinking.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[laughs] Especially in high school where you don\u2019t even know yourself.\u00a0 You don\u2019t know what life is like.\u00a0 You haven\u2019t had that many relationships.\u00a0 You really are an innocent so to say that was the best time of your life is an absolute tragedy.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

Are there any plans to release this tour as a CD\/DVD?\u00a0 It would be criminal on your part to not capture these shows.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Laughs] That\u2019s really nice of you to say, Don.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really have any solid plans of doing anything in my life [laughs].\u00a0 I just kind of go with what feels right at the moment.\u00a0 We have recorded many shows of the tour and we\u2019re going to be recording more and filming some as well.\u00a0 Perhaps in the future, something like that will be released.\u00a0 It just depends on how much energy it takes to complete everything and put it all together and whether or not focusing energy on that will take away from something else I\u2019m looking forward to doing.\u00a0 I always have to balance that out.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

You have a lot irons in the fire, Geoff.\u00a0 You are into home restorations, you have your wine brand, you have the music.\u00a0 Do you sleep at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Laughs] Well, I sleep kind of sporadically.\u00a0 I\u2019ll sleep like 5 hours one day, three the next day, and then maybe six after that.\u00a0 Then I\u2019ll maybe catch up and do an eight-hour sleep but I rarely ever sleep eight hours.\u00a0 It\u2019s mostly between three and six.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

I have been on a kick as of lately listening to the Empire album.\u00a0 It blows my mind that it will be 27 years old this August.\u00a0 Looking back on that album, what are your thoughts on it 27 years later?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it sounds really good.\u00a0 That always surprises me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t listen to it ever but if I hear it being played on the radio or at an event or something like that, I\u2019m always surprised how it sounds in comparison to other songs that are played around it.\u00a0 I think James Barton, who engineered that record, really had something going on with the combination of the technology he was using and the different studios that he used for that album.\u00a0 It was pretty magical.\u00a0 I think also too that it was partly because of the song construction.\u00a0 The way that we that we put that album together sonically was quite different.\u00a0 We kind of looked at it as a kind of house of cards.\u00a0 You take the cards away until you get to the basic structure so that the cards don\u2019t fall down.\u00a0 That\u2019s the way we approached the songs.\u00a0 We just took out stuff that felt we didn\u2019t need and stripped everything down to a real basic form.\u00a0 I think that comes across the in the sonic quality of the album.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

I always wanted to know.\u00a0 Who was Della Brown and was that song based off of someone you knew?<\/strong><\/p>\n

She was a homeless woman who lived on the same block as I did.\u00a0 When I say lived, I mean that she lived outside and located herself between two buildings.\u00a0 I got to kind of know her because she was one of the characters of the neighborhood.\u00a0 I wrote the song based around her and her situation.\u00a0 It was also sort of a commentary on homelessness which has been a situation that has always sort of intrigued and fascinated me.\u00a0 Why is there so much homelessness?\u00a0 A lot of it I have been finding out is due to the fact that a lot of mental institutions were shut down starting in the late 80\u2019s and they just turned people lose who shouldn\u2019t be out walking around unsupervised.\u00a0 In the 60s and the 70s you didn\u2019t really see it so much but it\u2019s really changed since I became an adult and I\u2019m seeing more and more homeless people.\u00a0 It\u2019s really quite sad and tragic yet interesting at the same time.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

One of the things we talked about last time was how Promised Land was my favorite and it was your least favorite.\u00a0 When you hear something like this from a fan or writer about an album that you may feel differently about, does it ever make you want to revisit it to try and listen from a new perspective?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s my belief that art is really an individual appreciation and music is definitely an individual journey that people take.\u00a0 People are going to appreciate a song or a piece of music or an album differently than another person.\u00a0 In my experience, that\u2019s typically based on their own music experience and experimentation; what they\u2019ve grown up listen to and what they\u2019ve been exposed to.\u00a0 All of those things contribute to how we interpret music and how we relate to it so I\u2019m not one to dictate how people should understand or experience it.\u00a0 I think people should experience it on their own and come to their own conclusions.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

Geoff, if you could sing for any band for just one night, which would it be and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh wow.\u00a0 That\u2019s a hard question to answer [laughs].\u00a0 I would say that if I could sing for YES, that would be incredibly intoxicating to be surrounded by that music being played.\u00a0 The music is very complex and there\u2019s a lot to it that I would find challenging.\u00a0 Also, the level of musicianship is exceptional and I would be comfortable in that group.\u00a0 Being able to sing with people who could sing like those guys do with the harmony structures that they have in place would be very satisfying.\u00a0 There\u2019s really nothing like singing harmonies with people especially when you have a group of people harmonizing.\u00a0 It\u2019s just so incredible to get all of those voices working together in concert and singing the right note at the right time in the right phrasing; ending and starting together.\u00a0 It\u2019s just fantastic.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

Geoff, if Hollywood was to make a movie about your life, who would play you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Laughs]Wow.\u00a0 It\u2019s tempting, of course, to pick a superstar person that way you know you\u2019d probably have a very good representation of who you are and what you are but it really depends on the writing; who wrote the script and how they portray you.\u00a0 Everybody I admire as an actor is really too old [laughs].\u00a0 Older than me.\u00a0 I guess someone like Jarod Leto because he\u2019s a fine, younger actor and he\u2019s a little bit more of the rock n\u2019 roll persuasion.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

What is one misconception about Geoff Tate that you would love to put to rest?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I don\u2019t really know what a misconception is because I rarely read about myself so I don\u2019t always know what people think [laughs].\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard people call me arrogant and I don\u2019t agree with that.\u00a0 I think I\u2019m confident in what I do and I\u2019m confident in my ideas.\u00a0 Maybe people aren\u2019t used to that.\u00a0 I think often times people mistake confidence for arrogance.\u00a0 Another thing, Don, that\u2019s kind of unusual is that when I performed the Operation: Mindcrime 1 & 2 albums several years ago, it was kind of like a stage play presentation.\u00a0 I was acting the character.\u00a0 That character is not me.\u00a0 That character is a fucked up individual who\u2019s life has been completely tormented.\u00a0 He\u2019s a victim, he\u2019s killed people, and he\u2019s an addicted personality.\u00a0 He\u2019s nothing like me.\u00a0 I think people in the audience sometimes thought that was me so yeah, who would like that character?\u00a0 [laughs]\u00a0 I think it can be confusing for people and I can see how that would happen.\u00a0 Do you see what I\u2019m saying?<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

Absolutely.\u00a0 I mean, when I met Alice Cooper, he wasn\u2019t chasing around a nurse and strangling her while running around with a sword and yelling at everyone.\u00a0 He was a very kind, warm-hearted person.\u00a0 I think I\u2019d be bummed if met you and you were like Nicky (character from Operation: Mindcrime).<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Laughs] Exactly.\u00a0 Don, the hard part about having expectations is that you are constantly setting yourself up for disappointment.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s probably a good idea to have low expectations of life and that way you\u2019ll always be surprised [laughs].<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

My dad used to tell me all the time, \u201cAlways set the bar low because it\u2019s much easier for people to raise it than it is to reach high and knock it down.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Laughs] That\u2019s so true.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good one actually.\u00a0 I like that.<\/p>\n

==============================================<\/p>\n

Geoff, thank you so much for the opportunity to talk again.\u00a0 It\u2019s always a pleasure.\u00a0 You\u2019re a fascinating person and I wish you lived here in Atlanta so we could talk over wine for hours.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Laughs] Well, thank you so much, Don.\u00a0 I appreciate the interview and I hope to see you when I come back to Atlanta next.<\/p>\n

The Brainfart & Geoff Tate<\/strong><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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In 2016, Geoff Tate and his band Operation: Mindcrime did a very successful North American tour with Ace Frehley and blew audiences away with a powerful set of songs pulling from the Rage for Order album, other classic Queensryche songs, and selections from OpMC\u2019s latest albums, The Key and Resurrection.\u00a0 Well, 2017 has already been quite a year for Geoff Tate who has been out on the road with his acoustic\/storytellers format tour, \u201cThe Whole Truth.\u201d\u00a0 The shows have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[869,1208,332],"class_list":["post-16932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-geoff-tate","tag-operation-mindcrime","tag-queensryche"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20732,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16932\/revisions\/20732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}