GEOFF TATE On Upcoming QUEENSRŸCHE Album, Solo Performances

QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Geoff Tate recently spoke to Scott Iwasaki of the Deseret News about the singer's upcoming solo shows and the next QUEENSRŸCHE album, which is due in 2009.

On separating his solo music from the music he writes for QUEENSRŸCHE:

"When I write a song I like and present it to the band and they don't like it, then it goes into my solo pile. We have code words in QUEENSRŸCHE to make it more palatable if the song isn't good for the band. They'll say things like 'I can't give that song the passion you want it to have' rather than saying 'What a stupid song."'

On the setlist for his solo performance:

"Coming up with a set list is pretty easy when I'm doing it by myself. I do have a band, and we will be playing my solo album (self-titled release in 2002),but I will also be playing some QUEENSRŸCHE songs that QUEENSRŸCHE doesn't play live.

"I know you can't please everyone, but this way those who know my solo work usually know about my QUEENSRŸCHE work. And those fans may like hearing QUEENSRŸCHE songs that they don't usually hear live."

On the new QUEENSRŸCHE CD, which started with a discussion Tate had with his father, a career military man:

"He fought in Vietnam and Korea and was in the Marines and the Air Force and does some civil servant work for the Navy. One night I asked him about his experiences. He told me for the longest time he didn't want to talk about them but said he'd been thinking about it. So we started talking. And then I asked if I could videotape the discussion. [Tate's wife and manager, Susan] said, 'You should write a record about these stories.' So I started interviewing more veterans and got people who served in World War II, Iraq, Vietnam, Somalia, Korea — that was really inspiring."