In a recent appearance on The SDR Show, Geoff Tate talked about why Queensrÿche didn’t aim for hit songs.
“We never tried to write hits,” the singer replied when the host asked whether Queensrÿche felt pressure to write hits or focus on a specific direction after the success of ‘Empire’ and ‘Operation: Mindcrime.’
Tate continued, “No, who knows what that is. A hit is something that’s not just you as a person making the music. It’s the whole team of people putting the song together, to pushing the song out there on it every day, selling records and stores and nowadays it’s streaming.”
“A whole different thing. It’s not just one person. It’s not just the band,” Geoff added. Then, one of the hosts wanted to know if the rocker felt like their work was aligning with the culture at the time. After him, the other host asked whether he felt like he was in a creative groove during that period with songs like ‘Last Time in Paris’ and ‘Real World.’
Tate responded by saying, “It was always a feeling. We always had this philosophy of no limits. There was nothing that was going to keep us from pursuing our musical idea.”
“We weren’t going to give into, ‘Oh, it’s not fashionable, or oh, it’s not heavy or oh, it’s too light or it’s not light enough or doesn’t have any similarity to Kim Carnes’ ‘Bette Davis Eyes.” We’re not going to think about that. We’re just going to do what we feel is right and that was always our goal,” he then explained.
Last month, Tate discussed reuniting with his old band in a chat with Metalhead Marv of This Day In Metal. The vocalist said, “I don’t think it’s likely, really, at this point. I mean, there’s been several offers on the table, getting the band back together. And nothing has inspired anybody to get in the same room or even pick up the phone and talk.”
He added, “So, I think it’s pretty unlikely. In fact, there’s not really a band anymore [Laughs]. With [drummer Scott] Rockenfield gone, it’s just Eddie [Jackson, bass] and Michael [Wilton, guitar] playing, using the name Queensrÿche, of course, which is very valuable. And it’s not really a ‘band band’ as we know it. So, yeah, I don’t really think it’s likely.”
Tate will embark on the final ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ US tour for 2025. It runs from March 18 in Tucson to April 25 in Boise, Idaho, and picks up again on September 25 in Greenville, ending on October 18 in North Tonawanda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNie6AcCtuw
