411Music Exclusive Interview - Geoff Tate Of Queensryche
Posted by John Malady on 04.11.2006
With Operation Mindcrime II in stores and a long world tour planned, vocalist supreme Geoff Tate takes some time to speak with 411mania.com's John Malady.
A 411mania.com exclusive conversation with Queensryche's Geoff Tate
Conducted by John Malady
April 2nd, 2006 at 9:00am
On Sunday April 2nd 2006 I was scheduled to conduct an interview with Geoff Tate the lead singer of the band Queensryche. Queensryche's new album, Operation Mindcrime II, is the sequel to one of the most heralded concept albums ever created in rock n' roll, 1988's Operation Mindcrime. I was extremely excited to have this chance to interview a vocalist that has had a huge influence on me musically and emotionally. I have been a die-hard fan of Queensryche since their self-titled E.P. was released in 1983. Queensryche has always been a band that hit me with intense emotion and power and their musicianship has always been of a high caliber. The conversation I had with Geoff was not only immensely informative about the upcoming release and tour but went beyond just talking about music and into a wide variety of observations about the world we live in and our place in it as human beings. I was honored to have this conversation with Geoff and was inspired to present it in a manner that showed just how much enjoyment I got from talking with him and the amount of respect I have for his honesty and intelligence. What you are about to read is more than an interview, it is a story of the morning that I got to talk to a music hero of mine. So sit back, relax, and get ready to enjoy 411mania.com Music Zone's own John Malady have an exclusive and in depth conversation with Queensryche's Geoff Tate.
I awoke at 7:45 am on Sunday, April 2nd, 2006 eager to interview Geoff Tate of Queensryche. I was to be conducting this interview at 8:20am so I had time to go grab a coffee and wait for the call. I had been given the opportunity to hear the new album Operation Mindcrime II, before my interview was to take place, so I was definitely ready to talk about the new record, when I suddenly remembered the clocks were moved forward at midnight. I jumped up at this realization and grabbed my phone to check for messages. The A&R rep had left a message 30 minutes prior letting me know I had 10 minutes until my interview with Geoff Tate. I felt the excitement drop down and disappointment start to well up inside of me. Did I miss it? Did I blow it? I quickly decided I would call the A&R rep to see if I could still get the interview as I started to leave my apartment to get coffee, my phone rang. I flipped it open hoping it was the A&R rep to re-schedule a time for me to talk with Geoff so I eagerly answered, "Hello." On the other end was Geoff Tate himself "Is this John? This is Geoff from Queensryche." At that moment I knew that some other force stepped in to make everything fall into place. I explained to Geoff that I thought I completely missed his call due to the clocks being moved forward, but it turned out that his last interview ran long and he was just calling me now. I was definitely relieved that I did not miss this opportunity. We started to chat as I went across the street to get a coffee. I told Geoff that I was able to listen to the new record but only once and even off of that single listen I heard a re-energized Queensryche. While I was getting my coffee and walking back to my apartment Geoff and I were discussing Operation Mindcrime II and how it came about that Queensryche decided to resurrect and continue the story of Operation Mindcrime. For a quick background of the Operation Mindcrime story, Operation Mindcrime II issued on the Rhino label is described on their website with the following text:
"Rock, Revenge, Redemption… the long-awaited sequel. Queensryche's 1988 opus Operation: Mindcrime is a musically adventurous rock opera revolving around Dr. X, a political puppet master who brainwashes Nikki, the story's main character, to assassinate corrupt public figures. The story also includes Nikki's lover, Sister Mary. A former teenage prostitute who becomes a nun, Sister Mary is murdered mysteriously, leaving the cliffhanger, "Who Killed Sister Mary?" Set 20 years after the original, Queensryche's new 2006 studio album, Operation: Mindcrime II, explores Nikki's fate after being released from prison and reveals the identity of Mary's killer."
One of the things that caught my ear when I heard the new album was that Mr. Ronnie James Dio, a vocal god of rock n'roll, sings the part of Dr. X. Geoff told me that it was a real honor to get Dio to sing the part. He described the event of calling Dio to ask if he would do it and after Dio read and heard the part, he said yes. Geoff spoke highly of Dio and also told me that there are lyrics on the new record that have Dio as Dr.X telling Nikki that without him, Nikki would be nothing, which hit Geoff on another level because Dio took Queensryche, early in their career, on a European tour as the supporting act and really helped them get noticed on an international level, so it had parallels with real emotions that weren't just there in the story but also in present reality. Geoff also described the thought process of making the new record, which was to really bust out the old gear and record without all the modern digital equipment in order to maintain the original Operation Mindcrime's overall vibe and tone. When we got to talking about the story of Operation Mindcrime and some of its many themes and meanings, such as the idea of consumerism taking over peoples lives and how that effects and controls everything that America is about, I was back at my apartment pressing record on my 4 track. This is what we talked about.
JM: It's interesting that you brought up that point because right now my girlfriend is in a critical thinking class and they are reading a lot of books about how consuming has taken over peoples lives so much that it is slowly taking the soul out of what it means to be alive as human beings. People seem to be so caught up with consuming mass amounts of gadgetry and…
GT: Well everything really. Everything is suspect in that respect. I think one of the things that's interesting that I have been thinking about lately is… you know... children for example. Many many people set their kids in front of the TV set and use it as a babysitter.
JM: Indeed.
GT: and kids spend hours watching television while a child has no ability to differentiate between programming. They don't know the difference between a sitcom, a documentary, a news program, a music video...they don't discern the difference, you know, and so all of it is taken in. They can't even see the difference between programming and commercials so this kid is a sitting duck for whatever psychology is being used on him at the moment. I think we can all recognize and agree that television has been built around the whole idea of selling you something…
JM: Yes definitely.
GT: A product or a political viewpoint, a lifestyle, a philosophy. You know? Everyone on TV is selling you something. It is not an easy thing to get across. So you are constantly bombarded with these sales pitches and some of them are incredibly elaborate and thought out. An art form really. And some are obviously really cheesy but a child has no ability to discern what is what without any parental direction or interaction, so the child is just left to his own devices. My point from all of this is, in this country we have raised at least two generations of children with the constant bombardment of television and in doing so we've raised these generations of consumers who were just programmed to buy buy buy buy. We have to buy. And why is that? Well, because they have to sell. That's the way this country was built and without the buying and selling it would crash the economy and then the rich don't get richer and the poor, well the poor always remain poor, I guess, but the whole structure of the country would crumble. Try going through a day without buying something? It is almost impossible.
JM: It is nearly impossible not to buy something in a day.
GT: How can that be?
JM: It's interesting to me because these are the types of things I have thought about my whole life. I seemed to be one that was blessed at an early age to pick out these kind of concepts and realize that even though I am contributing to mass consumerism because it's almost impossible not to in some form, but that at the same time I have at least a consciousness about what is actually happening around me. It has always obsessed my thoughts at times. This actually leads me to a perfect path into a question I wanted to ask you. When I got the word that I was going to interview you about a week ago, I was actually listening to The Warning and Operation Mindcrime, because about every six months or so I listen to one of the many Queensryches records, and I have since they came out. They have always been in rotation for me. I thought it was insanely cool that here I was listening to Operation Mindcrime and then I get the opportunity to speak with you directly a week later. One of the things that really struck me when I was listening to Mindcrime again, was that it all fits into what is happening now in the world as much as it did when it was originally released. I think it is great that you guys had your fingers on a pulse at the time and lyrically it still holds up. Mindless consumerism, greed, brainwashing are all concepts directly related to what we are talking about, especially the constant bombardment of advertising. The feeling of hollowness that was and still is washing over a culture of consumers.
GT: I think one of the main and central things that resonates with people about the Mindcrime story is that in a sense it is a classical tale of a young man growing up and the blinders coming on, and him starting to see the reality of what his life was. And asking all those questions we do in our 20's when we start wondering well, why is that working that way, and why do I have to pay taxes, and why is our government going to war? Why does one man, an elected president, get to determine the fate of the country? Why is that exactly? Why is the power in his hands? Why don't corporations have to pay the same taxes as individuals? All these questions you start wondering about in your 20's. You grow up with a completely different outlook you think it is a black and white world mainly because things are explained to you in a black and white way. You learn about rules and laws and then later on in life you think, well, the rules and the laws are all just a concept or an opinion. Only the poor and the middle-class obey the rules and laws while the rich make the laws that the rest obey.
JM: It has always been that way ever since value was adhered to physical things.
GT: And isn't that in complete and direct opposite to what you learn as a child?
JM: Very much so.
GT: I think that's what resonates with the story is that it is a coming of age story really. Recognition of what the truth is. So this kid Nikki goes out to find the truth and what happens is once he gets pounded and manipulated, crushed by the power, and the people in power, he realizes that the rich will always get richer and the poor will most often stay poor. It's like the belief in how human systems work. Very rarely does a person elevate themselves out of the very ends from which they were born in. They were born into a cycle of life and it takes real critical thinking to take yourself out of that. To stop the chain of events that keep you on this path you are born into whether it be an economic cycle or a mental cycle. Or abuse or alcoholism or drug abuse, you know, these are all cycles we are born into and you either have them or you don't, but my point is that most of the time people remain in the same situation which continues generation after generation. They don't usually climb out of it.
JM: I definitely agree with you completely. It is something that I am aware of. I am a de-programmer by nature. I have always seen the type of cycles that I have been caught in and it is a tough thing to do to break those cycles and actually stop them from occurring repeatedly. It takes a massive conscious effort on one's part to break the cycles or climb out of them.
GT: It really does.
JM: I have personally struggled with many things inside myself and I have made a conscious effort to isolate the observations I identify in myself and make an effort to not repeat certain things. It is a vicious cycle, though, because I think most people are not even conscious of it inside themselves because they are so busy running from the reality of it. Even being able to see it still doesn't prevent the cycle from repeating. It really does take a steady effort to break out of it.
GT: I think that old scientific adage of a body in motion will always take the path of least resistance. I think that is what we do. It is easy for us to fall into the same patterns again and so we do it. It takes a lot of work and effort like you were saying to take your foot out of the stream and keep it on the bank while the river is running by you. It is difficult and we tend to shy away from any difficulty.
JM: It is a shame also that the people that are successful at it don't really get any recognition for it. It is a personal battle. At the same time people get rewarded for the most superficial things and the real people in there, in the trenches trying to make a difference inside themselves are just as important because that personal effort can reflect to the outside and inspire others. If you can do these things yourself it usually bleeds itself outwards as energy and in staying with the science theme that a body in motion stays in motion can also represent the way ideas are transmitted outside oneself. I believe that a conscious effort to better oneself is noticeable to the outside and can inspire or educate people to do the same. It just doesn't get recognized and is noticed by others few and far between, but people get rewarded all the time if they have something that is physically apparent to others like a deformity or a lost limb and others applaud that because it is easily identified in peoples eyes as something different from them that makes the other persons day-to-day struggle one tougher than the rest of us, but a mental battle goes on primarily within oneself so no one really rewards the personal battles each of us try to or do overcome. People can only see that through you communicating it to someone.
GT: We don't even accept mental illness.
JM: No. Not at all!
GT: Well, probably more than we used to, but you are right it takes something like a deformity or a physical handicap for people to award other people for having to struggle in the world with everyone else
JM: Something people can touch or see makes it so people can't try to ignore it like something internal. They don't want to be like, "Oh good for you having dealt with being molested as a child, hey that's great." No one is really acknowledging that type of battle, better yet acknowledging someone overcoming the damage. First of all nobody wants to even talk about molestation or incest. It is a topic that is not talked about anywhere openly, which completely fascinates me. I don't mean to get completely off the subject of music, but these are things that fascinate and interest me…
GT: Me to. To me that's what inspires music. The subject matter. That's what it's all about. Many people would disagree and say musicians have no business talking about politics or they have no business talking about social issues. They believe musicians should be just entertainers and entertain (laughs).
JM: I suppose its all about what kind of musician do you want to be. If that's someone's goal (to entertain) then so be it, but there is no one out there in the world that should say any form of art shouldn't be used for someone's own true emotions or thoughts. I mean if you talk about these things and think about these things then why wouldn't your art reflect this. If art isn't reflecting something that is about the person who created it in some way shape or form, then it ceases to be art in my opinion. I suppose it then becomes science or propaganda (laughs).
GT: Exactly.
JM: You know, then screw them. They are probably the exact people we are talking about sitting in a room somewhere in a group devising selling strategies…
GT: Yeah. You know anybody who ever says that to me, art shouldn't talk about politics or…
JM: (agreeing with laughter)
GT: I always just say well… "Fuck you!" (Laughs)
JM: (while laughing) Fuck you is always a good response or maybe "Zeig Heil" is more effective.
GT: (laughing)
JM: You know, lets just run the artists out of the country like Hitler did…
GT: (still laughing) Well I think I will use your take on it from now on…
JM: No I think "Fuck You" is a much more straightforward approach because we wouldn't want anyone to actually have to think. (Laughs)
GT: (laughing) They are probably just unfamiliar with the "Zeig Heil" reference.
JM: Or you may run into some of the people that will respond with, "Well, we don't know if that really happened".
GT: (laughs loudly) I guess you could say the same thing about 911. You know controversy. It looked like controlled demolition to me. It didn't look like the plane crashed into the building and made it fall down, it looked like controlled demolition to me.
JM: There are many many theories about that and something that comes to mind for me is Pearl Harbor. I think there are similarities between the two.
GT: Oh definitely.
JM: It is definitely a different mask, but a mask all the same. I actually wanted to ask you something that came to mind shifting back to the new record Operation Mindcrime II. Do you still talk to Chris DeGarmo? (Ex-guitar player and one of the founding members of Queensryche)
GT: We do.
JM: How did he feel about you guys doing part 2 of Operation Mindcrime since he was involved with the original?
GT: Well I haven't talked to him since we began the project. We felt that doing a project like this would require a lot of involvement from everybody and a commitment to a lot of hours of a kind of erratic recording schedule and a very long tour. Chris wasn't available to do any of that, as he isn't able to fully commit himself to Queensryche in any respect so we didn't want to include him because he couldn't make the commitment. You know Mike Stone who has been with us the last couple of years has really come up and become the kind of writing partner I need. He is a talented musician and just comes up with a zillion different ideas and he is very easy to brainstorm with and create things with. He is a very good collaborator. We really got on a roll with this record as it was all written within four months and we kind of lived and breathed it. Mike flew to my place in Seattle and we just spent each day living and breathing the Mindcrime record and then we had all the songs together and a pretty good map to start. The rest of the time was spent recording it so all in all it was an eighteen-month project from start to finish and Chris wasn't really able to commit to that type of time frame at all.
JM: I didn't know how that issue was with you guys or if you still talked to him because he was involved with the first Mindcrime, which was a hugely successful record in Queensryche's career, and if you guys were interested in his overall feelings about the new project. Did he always know you guys would do a second part?
GT: He knew we were making the record as we have been talking about it over the years.
JM: Cool.
GT: Yeah, it's actually all cool with Chris. You know, he just went through a period in his life where his priorities changed and for some reason, that I don't understand because I am not in his shoes and I try not to make judgments based upon that fact, he wanted to do something different with his life so he is doing that and he's happy and we have adjusted so its cool. I do think if you are a musician you are a musician for life so I don't agree with his point of view and he doesn't agree with mine so we agree to disagree.
JM: That's definitely a good thing.
GT: I think different points of view are healthy as long as there is a mutual respect involved.
JM: Totally. Did you feel that not just the new guitar player Mike Stone but you had someone else initially take over in place of Chris? Did you feel that there was this pressure put on them by the fans to have to live up to the bar that was set or…?
GT: Yeah, I feel that it is something that is there and is sort of standard human behavior to judge. They definitely know it when they take the job. They know that they are coming in and people are going to judge them based upon what they do or they don't do and a plethora of different other things that are unimaginable that people judge. That's just the way it is. It probably isn't the best thing to do or the right thing but I guess that's just human nature is to judge and I guess you just kind of accept that territory that you are traversing.
JM: I have to say that part of that question was for my sister Lynn. We have been huge Queensryche fans from day one so I wanted to get that in there and give her some props.
GT: (laughs)
JM: I was definitely interested in the DeGarmo stuff too but I didn't know if you wanted to rewind the clock because now you have a new album coming out and I didn't want to make you feel like I was taking the focus off of the future.
GT: (laughs) Not at all, it's all right because its part of the whole story. His involvement with the music makes it all a part of the overall story so it's definitely relevant.
JM: Cool. Something that I found really cool on the new record is that the guitar harmonies in a lot of places really have that original vibe of the first Mindcrime but Mike Stone has his own sound as well so a lot of that guitar work I initially heard was a great blend of a new Queensryche with the tipping of the hat to the older Queensryche sound which I thought was very cool. I really only got to hear it once before talking to you and I would have loved to have been able to dissect it a bit more.
GT: I definitely sense that about you and the way you look at things. You're a critical thinker. I think you would really enjoy this record because there are a lot of bits and pieces that stick out that you can really think about on this record. Little mysteries and things that are buried in the mix that you can pick up on. I think you can enjoy the record on many different levels.
JM: I already felt that was the case. I liked how as you said earlier that the first half of the record is really about revenge and I got that feeling when I listened to it. A man on a mission with the blinders up just focused on one thing and that was revenge. You feel the anger when the record starts and Nikki gets out of prison you can feel that he is on the hunt and then he meets Dr.X, which the part of is sung on the record by Ronnie James Dio, which we talked about earlier. And Dr.X kind of mocks Nikki and calls him a fool…
GT: Dr.X points out that without him Nikki wouldn't be anything at all…
JM: And I felt that translated extremely well through the record. You said the second half was more about morality, or the realization of ones morality?
GT: Well the second half of the record it becomes more a question of morality. It talks about that because he kills Dr. X and he pulls the trigger consciously and he makes that decision to become a murderer at that point. That really is the first time he sees himself as a murderer because before he was never really aware of killing anybody even though he has committed dozens of killings.
JM: I have to say as well that you have always been just one of the best singers for me in rock n'roll. Very powerful. Your voice has always just grabbed me and took me to many places emotionally.
GT: Thank you
JM: I really thought that your vocal work on the new record was great. Your voice is still very powerful in its delivery. Is Pamela Moore singing on the Operation Mindcrime II record as well because Mary's voice is there throughout the latter half of the record?
GT: Yes that is Pamela Moore back again as Sister Mary but in a different form since Mary is dead she is more his conscience now. She comes back to haunt him on several occasions where she feels that he making the wrong move. He actually feels that he is making the wrong moves as well so he subconsciously creates Mary in his head. She makes several appearances throughout the record in that way.
JM: I thought that was great hearing her back again.
GT: Definitely. Well John I have to get going, but it was a pleasure talking to you and hopefully we can meet up again and have another conversation. I would really enjoy that.
JM: Thanks a lot man, that would be great. You take care and be assured I will be listening to Operation Mindcrime II come Tuesday. Thanks again Geoff. Take care.
GT: You to. Thanks.
This is for all the true fans of the Ryche. Thanks again to Geoff Tate for being one of the most interesting and honest of people to have a conversation with at 9:00am. Revolution Calling!
