Geoff Tate says the drama surrounding Queensryche has been good for business.
Two versions of the band are currently in existence after the original group fired him last year, and a court ruled both parties were free to use the name until a final hearing in November.
The vocalist put his own lineup together and released the album Frequency Unknown, while Scott Rockenfield, Michael Wilton and Eddie Jackson hired Todd La Torre and launched a self-titled record.
Tate tells The Classic Metal Show, “What we’re doing in November is, we’re dissolving our corporation. It has nothing to do with music – it has nothing to do with ‘he said, she said;’ it’s just paying off the members of the corporation.
Who has the money to buy it will buy it. Whoever has the most money will get it. It’s as simple as that. It’s rules and regulations – it’s a paint-by-numbers kind of thing.”
He insists that, since music has nothing to do with those legal matters, the media controversies have no value whatsoever – except for one thing.
“All it did was create publicity, which Queensryche hasn’t had in years,” he says. “And I’ve gotta tell you, Gene Simmons was right: any publicity is good publicity. We’ve had more sellouts on this Queensryche run that I’ve done than Queensryche has had in ten years.”
Tate was recently hammered by criticism when he was seen grabbing a fan’s phone from a crowd then throwing it into the audience. But he says it’s no big deal – and that he and the phone’s owner laughed about it after the show.
“I grabbed the guy’s phone, took a picture and tossed it back to him – but he missed it because the lights were in his eyes,” says the singer.
“He was in our meet-and-greet after the show and we were laughing about it. I said, ‘Oh, man, I’m sorry; did your phone get damaged?’ He said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ We were happy and we had drinks backstage. In the frenzy of a concert there’s all kind of activity that happens with the front row. It’s rough, it’s chaotic, it’s intense.”
additional source: classicrockmagazine.com
8 Responses
The sales figures and reviews of the 2 Cds put out by both camps tell the truth. Funny how you belittle metal fans and our genre, yet you are still attempting to suck money out of the fans with mediocre material. Please go away.
Its only good for your business Geoff, because musically you have become completely irrelevant. So the only publicity you can get is when you’re an asshole, or the real Ryche is getting publicity for the music the fans want to hear. There are probably people out there hearing LaTorre’s version of the band and thinking its you, which is good for you, but bad for the real band. But as you continue your downward musical spiral, eventually you will disappear like Paul Dianno and remain the bitter prick that you are, while the real band plays on. So enjoy the interview requests while you can. Soon they too will disappear like your career.
queensryche was awesome till 2009.they played neue regal in nyc,they were heavy,loud,great.someone from the tate camp took me my gchick n her daughter up to teir vip section so we could all see the show better,n we even met mr.eddie trunk,n he took photos with us.2010,thtas when I took some time off queensryche.queensryche caberet tour,brutal,circus,not metal,not cool,geoff can sing,geoff has lost his mind.but I still listen to my favorite metal album ever,operation mindcrime,geoff come back to earth
what????
Geoff, please stop the bullshit. You should realize by now that besides Susan & Miranda, there are MAYBE 6-7000 people in the world who buy your crap. The video doesn’t lie concerning the phone incident, even if you insist on it. You had no clue in hell where the guy was that owned the phone and you’re toss wasn’t withing 15 ft of the guy. And as far as the controversy being a boon for business, why has your disc been outsold by the real bands disc in 1 week. Finally, as far as concert attendance, if you were doing so well, why did you have less than 100 people at your show in Nashville on 6-20 ( pictures are up on the web) and even more of a glaring example you’re full of shit; if attendance is so wonderful, why were your minions passing out FLYERS at the real bands cd release party. You’re supposed to be an international act, and you have to resort to what teenage garage bands do at the mall to try and scare up attendance. God you suck. What’s even more painful is that it didn’t work. You only managed to pull a little better than 1/2 capacity in your own hometown show. To quote The Killing Words ” it’s oooooooooverrrrrrrr!!!
Wow – incredible Rage for Order tie in. Well done rukh316. Apparently Geoff does dream in Infrared, because there is no reality based on his comments.
Ouch!! The truth hurts, doesn’t it, Geoff?
gerkoff, the new ryche album is unbelievable. so psyched about it. crazy how much better that thing is than anything youve done since degarmo bailed. pussking….