Geoff Tate says Queensryche were never a close group of friends – but he’s denied the title of his album is a dig at his former colleagues.
He released his record Frequency Unknown in April, while the other Queensryche, fronted by Todd La Torre, launch their self-titled work in June. A court hearing in November will decide which of the two bands get to keep the name.
The artwork on Frequency Unknown features a fist bearing the initials FU, which La Torre recently slammed as a “cheap shot” – but Tate says that’s not the case.
He tells Jam Magazine “It’s an abbreviation of the album title. It’s a metal thing. I’ve seen tens of thousands of fists punching the air at Queensryche shows. There is nothing out of the ordinary about it. I get criticized because I’m not metal enough – now I do an obvious metal album cover and I get criticized for that!”
Soon after the acrimonious split last year, Tate said he’d always imagined the band still together as a group of old men, sharing stories about a long and successful career. Since then his attitude has changed – he now says, “It never was a brotherhood. It was a bunch of kids that got together and achieved success at an early age. We got used to that success and continued doing the things we did to get that success. We found comfort in our way of working. It’s just that simple. We were never close. We never hung out doing stuff and sharing life. It was always just, ‘Hey, we have another record to make. Anyone have any ideas? Let’s try to make a record. Here we go.’”
But he still regrets the way the split came about, saying, “I wish it would have been handled with a lot more privacy and decorum. I wish we could have settled it like gentlemen and moved on with our lives without stretching it out for a year and playing it out on the Internet like some sick drama.”
Frequency Unknown – which was remixed and offered to fans for free after complaints about the original version – features new recordings of four classic Queensryche songs. But Tate says it wasn’t an attempt to claim them for himself. “The record company asked us to do it,” he explains. “They said, ‘We really want to give you a lot of money to make this record, but we don’t want to give it to you unless you include the re-recordings.’
“I tried to wriggle out of it; I said, ‘I’ve already recorded these songs. How about I do those with a different arrangement and make them really special?’ The record company said, ‘No. We want them to be as close to the originals as possible.’
“These days economics plays a big role in decision making when people offer you a large sum of money for something you like to do.”
additional source: classicrockmagazine.com
19 Responses
I just heard some of the new QR with the Todd La Torre and it is light years beyond the crappy Tateryche CD.
While I agree with all the comments regarding Tate and this CD, I think you are all off the mark in praising the “other” Queesnryche. Have you heard the song samples? Its just as boring and dull and forgetful as everything QR has done after Promised Land. LaTorre is trying his damnedest to sound like Geoff Tate and still far from metal. The song Redemption could have come straight off Europe’s The Final Countdown. Not to mention the production/mix is overly compressed and too loud like everything anymore. About as catchy and worthy of a second spin as Q2K. Sorry…but your waiting on a band that died in the early 90s.
Agreed Tyler. Without Degarmo, this band simply isn’t the same.
“Never Close” But when Geoff Tate was on That Metal Show with Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine and
Don Jamieson, Geoff Tate did say that the band members of Queensryche were like brothers with
their families sharing birthdays and 4th of July barbecues together and what not…now he says they
were never close? WTF!!!!
I’d like to chime in with my opinion of this whole QR debacle. I know I’m going to catch a lot of s–t for this but I’m on team Geoff. Yes I’m a tater head! I also have been a fan since the EP. I saw QR open for Def Leppard in 88 at the beginning of the Mindcrime tour and they totally kicked ass. I read a lot of comments about Geoff refusing to do anything from the first three records but when I saw them in 88 the only song they played from the first 3 records was ‘Take Hold Of The Flame’, all the other songs they did from their hour long set was Mindcrime songs. QR was the creative relationship between Geoff Tate and Chris Degarmo. When Degarmo left QR was over imo. After Promised Land QR just fell off the map and the public taste changed. Geoff was kinda forced to take control after Degarmo left. Their record company went bankrupt and lost their management company. Geoff clearly being the most creative member of the band and the most goal oriented took control but again without Degarmo just couldn’t handle it but Geoff to me is the voice and the face of the band and always will be in my opinion. I read a lot of complaints about Rocklahoma and I don’t see the big deal. It was a tongue in cheek comment to get the crowd pumped. Ozzy would throw things at the audience to get the crowd energy up and he’s beloved but Geoff get’s slammed. I also read a lot of comments about the cell phone thing. Peter Frampton did the exact same thing and was praised for it. Just read these comments http://ultimateclassicrock.com/peter-frampton-throws-cell-phone/#comments. But when Geoff does it people lose their fucking minds! It’s crazy! I fault the band for airing their dirty laundry in a public forum. They could’ve just said creative differences and left it at that. Seems to me that they had a clear intent to smear Geoff’s rep so they could make an easier transition to bring in Todd. Now as far as the whole Cabaret thing I agree with the fans that was bullshit and I don’t understand the reasons behind it other than maybe showing that he has a sense of humor? I don’t know. I’ve also read a lot of comments about Geoff ruining the QR sound. I went on Spotify and listened to all the albums after Promised Land and even though none of them are as good as the classic stuff it’s not that radical of a departure from their sound in my opinion. It’s still Scott’s drumming and distorted riffy guitars and yes even though Geoff doesn’t sing at the high end of his range anymore his tone is still dead on and that’s ok with me. Neither does Geddy Lee and you don’t see people ripping him a new asshole for it. I also listened to F.U. and I thought that jab at his bandmates was very metal. Unless you were in the band you don’t know the build up that lead to San Paulo. People just don’t punch and spit at people for no reason. There’s a thin line between love and hate. How many people have gotten into fights with siblings/ex’s/family members and did and said crazy s–t? All of us! Especially when you’re life’s work is on the line. I listened to the Todd fronted QR album and I just didn’t like it. The drum tone was weak. The lyrics lost all the ascerbic bite. Todd’s voice is really good but he’s cloning Geoff. He’s not making it his own. It’s like a watered down version. I mean Whip,Scott, and Eddie god bless them were not the creative force that Geoff and Chris were and it shows to me. Now if that’s your bag I have no problem with that. I’m not writing this to seem superior or change people’s minds. Different strokes ok? Geoff is clearly an artist that doesn’t dwell in the past and lives in the present and looks to the future and I’m ok with that. I listened to both his solo albums and I quite enjoy them. I don’t need my music to be denim and leather and devil horns all the time. His solo stuff retains the dramatic edge and the tonality of his voice is just superb. So that’s my two cents.