Ruben Mosqueda of Rock Confidential spoke with singer Geoff Tate. Excerpts from the interview appear below.
Rock Confidental: Geoff, how is the anniversary box set of [Queensrÿche’s] Empire coming along? I recall you mentioning something was in the works.
Geoff Tate: Yeah, that will be released in the first quarter of 2020. It’s done. Its got a lot of bonus content, live tracks and liners. You’re gonna love it. I look forward to performing Empire next year because there’s songs on there that I’ve never performed live. Some of them I have never performed since we recorded them. It’s going to be special. I mean we’re opening with the Rage For Order album. It’s going to be fun.
Rock Confidential: Queensrÿche was always pro-military. The record American Soldier was a concept album that featured individual stories from different soldiers. What inspired that album?
Geoff Tate: My dad was career military. He was in the Marines, Air Force and the Navy. He fought in Korea and he fought in Vietnam. As a kid I was always interested in my father’s experience as a soldier. He never spoke about it. He didn’t talk about the wars and he never talked about his involvement at all. It was a “hush, hush” thing in the family. Then in 2008 or 2009, I was visiting my dad. We were sitting outside on his back porch, having an iced tea, and all of a sudden he starts telling me all about it. This was out of the blue. (laughs) So, I grabbed my phone and hit record and recorded an entire conversation with all of his stories. I was listening back to the conversation with my wife two weeks later and she was the one that mentioned that we could make an album around those stories. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it. So, I began to speak with different soldiers from different eras and from different conflicts. I think in all I wound up speaking with over 300 soldiers. They ranged from World War II to the Iraq war. That was such a fascinating journey. That album was dedicated to our soldiers, their experiences and how those military experiences tend to hang on to them well after they have returned.
Rock Confidential: Having completed the Operation: Mindcrime trilogy (2015’s The Key, 2016’s Resurrection, and 2017’s The New Reality), would you do more concept albums in the future? Do you have any ideas marinating in your head for another concept album?
Geoff Tate: I don’t know at the moment. I have song ideas, but if something takes shape, perhaps. It’s too early to say at the moment. Nothing’s been predetermined.
Read more at Rock Confidential.
As previously reported, Tate will perform the Queensrÿche albums Rage For Order, and Empire, in their entirety on the Empire 30th Anniversary Tour in 2020. To view dates, please click here.
3 Responses
How can someone not in the band or have rights to the music or the band name put out a box set?
More than likely, the band have very little input into the reissue. It’s mostly a record label decision.
Empire was always my favorite Queensryche album. Operation Mindcrime is always regarded as their best but second for me.