Planet Loud spoke to Geoff Tate frontman with legendary rockers Queensryche in Milwaukee during their current American Soldier tour to find out what’s changed within the band over their 26-year career and about their outside interests.
Planet Loud – Hello Geoff, how are things going?
Queensryche – Great, great! Thanks.
Planet Loud – How’s the American Soldier tour going so far?
Queensryche – Excellent. We’re in Milwaukee right now, we’ve got two nights here. We’re about two weeks into the tour so far. Our show’s running smooth and attendance is good. We’re real happy about it.
Planet Loud – So good to hear. Let’s talk about the band a little bit. How does modern-day Queensryche compare to the Queensryche of 26 years ago.
Queensryche – Well, we’re older [laughs]. Older and wiser. Experienced. Quite a big difference. When I started out I was a kid, ya know?
Planet Loud – Is touring different now? Is it more laid back with the wife and kids around?
Queensryche – Well….nowadays touring is more of a necessary part of what you do as a musician. You have to promote your record. You have to play shows so you learn how to pace yourself and work at capacity. We probably work a lot harder these days than we used to. Of course, you can’t make a living on record sales anymore. So you have to tour to supplement your income, so we tour in about 30 countries around the world. It usually takes us about a year and a half to get everywhere.
Planet Loud – Anything going on these days besides Queensryche?
Queensryche – Oh yeah, all kinds of things. Probably my main focus is my wine label. I’m a wine maker. The wine is called Insania. It’s doing fairly well. We released our first vintage in February and everything sold out, so that’s a good thing. I’m very happy about that.
Planet Loud – Where is Insania based? Washington state?
Queensryche – Yeah. Washington is actually the second largest wine producer in the country, right behind California. We have a huge wine industry. Great vineyards, and great conditions for growing grapes. It’s a great place for me to follow my passions in that area.
Planet Loud – Very cool. Let’s talk about the newest Queensryche release “American Soldier”. What inspired you to make a concept album told from soldiers’ perspectives?
Queensryche – Well. The idea started with a conversation I had with my dad a few years ago. He’s a veteran of both Korea and Vietnam. It really just kind of evolved from that, ya know? It started with an interview I did with him, kind of an impromptu conversation, that I recorded. I thought that the interview style of doing something like this was actually very beneficial because it gives you a lot of background to work from. You actually get to talk to people that have had the experience instead of speculating on it. Also, when the time comes to compose the music we had these wonderful audio and video tapes to watch. It was very inspiring to hear these stories. It was real easy to compose music from their inspiration. I guess conceptually it was kind of a no-brainer because all of these stories fit so nicely together.
Planet Loud – Was the writing process dramatically different from the Operation Mindcrime record?
Queensryche – Not that different really. Again, it’s a matter of sitting down and describing what it is you’re going for and trying to paint the musical picture of what the story is about. It was a very similar process.
Planet Loud – How long did “American Soldier” take to complete?
Queensryche – We started in the summer of 2006 and we finished in January of 2009. It was a long process. In fact it’s one of those records we made while touring as well. So we would interrupt the record-making process to go on short tours here and there, and we also made another record in between releases, too. It was called “Take Cover” which was sort of a two week process, but took us away from making “American Soldier” for a while.
Planet Loud – So what was “Take Cover” all about?
Queensryche – It was a collection of cover songs that we recorded. Some of our favorite songs that we put our spin or interpretation on. One of the songs we recorded was a song called ‘Welcome to the Machine’ which is from Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” album.
Planet Loud – Excellent. Can’t wait to hear it. Is it being well received by the fans?
Queensryche – I think so.
Planet Loud – What kind of response has “American Soldier” garnered thus far?
Queensryche – A lot of great response, actually. It seems to be one of those records that really connects with people in a good way. I think it’s probably a very powerful communication tool. It kind of helps people talk about their experiences. Definitely people in the military can relate to it because it’s their stories and their voices, as well as people who are not in the military who have friends and family in the military. It’s a great album to communicate through. There’s a lot of changes people go through when they go overseas and are engaged in a conflict or a war situation. Most of the time they come back as very different people and unless they are encouraged or allowed to speak about what they’ve experienced it can create a gulf between and their family and friends. I think one of the things this record is doing is helping people share together and it helps people understand. When my dad came back from Vietnam he was very different from when he left. As a kid you sometimes blame yourself, kinda like ‘what am I doing wrong?’ and it’s not like that at all. It’s just that the situation that they had been in is so extreme and they’re trying to adjust. As a kid you don’t understand that kind of thing. It’s a dynamic that’s way over your head. I think that this album can provide some sort of understanding and help people see and comprehend what soldiers go through. It’s pretty intense stuff and they need some help to share that and talk about it. Get it off their chest, ya know? The more we understand about the people who have been there and done it, the better off we’re gonna be as a society.
Planet Loud – So true. Let’s talk about the tour a little bit. What songs are making up the set list this time around?
Queensryche – Well, we’re doing something unique for us. We’re playing the entirety of three of our records over two nights which means that we have two set lists that we’re alternating back and forth. And they comprise of all the songs from “Rage For Order”, “American Soldier” and “Empire”. So we’re switching back and forth on these set lists so that the hardcore fans that come to multiple nights will be able to hear all of the songs. We’re playing a suite of “Rage” then we kind of segue into “American Soldier” and we finish it off with “Empire”. We also have film and video support to help interpret some of the songs.
We also have some extra musicians touring with us. We have Parker Lundgren on second guitar. We have Jason Ames on keyboards, vocals and third guitar and then we have one of the soldiers who performed on the record which is AJ Fratto. AJ is also from your area.
Planet Loud – Yes, exactly. AJ is from Geneva, NY and has been a Navy rescue diver, a Blue Angels crew chief and he’s also a singer in the band ‘Below the Stitch’. He’s a great guy. (that’ll be twenty bucks, AJ)
Queensryche – Yeah, he is. He got a special leave to come out on this tour with us. He’s very energetic and good-natured. He’s very positive and great to have with us on the tour. He’s tearing it up out there. [laughs]
We also have my daughter Emily joining us on stage as well. She sang one of the songs on the new album.
Planet Loud – That’s great Geoff. I can’t wait to see the show. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us. Let me wrap it up with one last question. I keep hearing this rumor about the “Three Tremors” with you, Bruce Dickenson and Rob Halford. A Wikipedia article even states that there have actually been a few live performances. Is there any truth to this at all?
Queensryche – [laughs] No, no. That’s all wrong. [laughs] Well, I’ll tell you the story.
It all started about ten years ago. We were touring together, Halford, Queensryche and [Iron] Maiden. We’re on a day off and a bunch of us went out to have dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant and we’re all throwing back Italian wine and grappa, eating great food and telling road stories. At one point Ron Smallwood, the manager for Iron Maiden, pulls the waiter aside and asks what the music is that was playing in the background. So the waiter says, “well that’s the great opera singers, the Three Tenors.” Rod, who is really funny, stands up all kind of tipsy with his glass and throws it up in the air and says “I think we should make a record with Geoff, Rob and Bruce and call it the Three Tremors! What do you think?” We all laughed and that was pretty much the end of it. The next day it started showing up in the press and ten years later I’m still answering questions about it. [laughs].
Interview by Jeff Gerew
