Queensrÿche is one of the few bands from the 80s that transcended the era. They were unfairly lumped in with many of the hard rock and heavy metal bands of the day. While their sound and look had a similar hard edge, the rhythms were more progressive and the lyrics more thought-provoking. Indeed, it would be more accurate to say Queensrÿche has more in common with Rush than Poison. A big part of that probably has to do with the band’s lead singer, Geoff Tate.
On stage, Tate’s voice roars over four octaves, steadily supported by guitarist Michael Wilton, drummer Scott Rockenfield, bassist Eddie Jackson and various second guitarists. In conversation, however, Tate comes across as a low-key, serious-minded individual. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Empire, Queensrÿche’s biggest selling album, Tate talked proudly about the band’s accomplishments, as well as what’s coming over the horizon. He also spoke about his passion outside of music: winemaking.
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Today marks the re-release of Empire, Queensrÿche’s biggest selling album. Does it feel like 20 years have passed since its release?
Some days yes, some days no. We’re not a band that looks back too much. We’re pretty much focused on the moment or what we’re about to do. It was kind of strange — the record company calling us up and telling us they’re going to put it out again. We said, “Why?” “It’s the 20th anniversary.” It kind of makes you stop and look back a little bit. It was a milestone. Then again, I look at our career. Coming up in August, it will be 30 years for the band. That’s mind-blowing.
You had just already gotten a taste of success from Operation: Mindcrime. Was there a deliberate effort to follow it up with something more accessible?
There was an attempt to not do a concept record. That was our goal. We had begun working on Mindcrime 2 at that point. Honestly, we weren’t really into doing it at that time. We wanted to step away from that. That was our major attempt — to write a collection of songs. And that’s what it became.
What do you remember about putting the record together?
One of the things we tried to do with the songwriting was to really strip everything down. Write the songs and try to take them apart. And try to take everything we possibly could while keeping in mind that the song would have to stand up on its own. Kind of a less is more kind of approach, I guess. That was pretty much the approach we took.
When you put “Silent Lucidity” together, did you have any idea that song would become a Top 10 single?
No, I don’t think anybody ever does. What constitutes a big hit, there so many different factors. One, you have to have a good song. Second of all, you have to have millions and millions of dollars to behind it in promotion. That record, in particular, had a gigantic promotion budget. It all had the different delivery mechanisms for records at the time. Stocked to the hilt in all the record stores, when there were record stores. Putting all the videos into heavy rotation — there were so many singles form that record. And you had radio. And rock music was the music of the times. All those factors played into the success of that record.
Today’s environment is different to measure. One, no one listens to radio any more; two, there’s no more records stores; and three, everyone downloads the music, so that pretty much hurts the financial end as far as the record company spending money for promotion. It’s a whole different game.
At that time, Queensrÿche were able to work around the whole grunge scene. Did coming from Seattle give you any street cred in that area?
We just played shows and toured and did what we always do. When we put out a record, we tour a lot. We’re a good live band and people tend to gravitate to that. That’s what we did. All those bands that came after up after us — they are all bands that come to our shows and hang out. We used to play shows with Soundgarden. They’re really rock bands, like us. Grunge is an industry term to separate us from them, a marketing term really.
So there’s a mutual respect.
Oh yeah. I listen to Pearl Jam and Soundgarden especially. I really like that band a lot.
Because you’re from Seattle, everyone has this idea that you and Pearl Jam and Heart probably all hang out together.
We do. We see each other at shows, events, you know, restaurants.
The reissue of Empire includes some extras. I’m assuming these were all recorded during the Empire sessions. You have “Last Time In Paris,” which showed up on the Ford Fairlaine soundtrack.
That actually was going to be on the Empire album. They released it with Ford Fairlaine. EMI was involved with the marketing of that. They used it as our first single for the album.
But you left it off Empire?
That’s right.
And you have a cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair.” What prompted you to cover that one?
We were just in the studio and playing around with different things. Some one had brought in a sitar and we started playing it. I don’t know how we got started playing that particular song, but it just happened and we kind of got involved in it and we recorded it.
On the covers album Take Cover, you took a few other well-known songs and made them your own.
That was the intent was to try to take an already well-known song and give it our own spin. The only one we couldn’t really do much with was the Black Sabbath song (“Neon Knights”). We tried a lot of different styles, a lot of different riffs, but it just didn’t have the right feel.
Getting back to Empire, you also have on the second disc a live performance in London from 20 years ago. Any reason you went with that particular show?
It was recorded really well. The Hammersmith was a place where everybody played. There was kind of a scene. It was a great old-style venue. Great acoustics. There was a great pub scene around. We’d get everybody together to have drinks before the show. Then after the show, go back to the pub and talk about the show. Just a great atmosphere.
Empire was, of course, a song-oriented album, whereas Queensrÿche seems to have this looming reputation for conceptual pieces. Case in point, of course, Operation: Mindcrime Part 1 and Part 2, which featured Ronnie James Dio, and your last studio album, American Solider. Do you have a preference of concepts over straightforward, song-oriented albums?
I prefer doing concept records. I like taking big subjects and breaking them down into smaller, bite-sized songs. I find the whole concept album to be a real challenge, much more challenging than just writing songs. It’s what I like to listen to. I like to put the headphones on and listen to an album. I like hearing a band that can put together an idea and a theme. I prefer that. I think we do it well. And it’s something we enjoy doing.
Do you have any personal favorites? Do you like The Wall?
Oh yeah, I love The Wall.
Quadrophenia?
Yeah, Quadrophenia, Wish You Were Here, The Dark Side Of The Moon. I like The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway quite a bit. And quite a number of Yes albums.
I understand Queensrÿche is recording a new album next year for Roadrunner.
Yeah, we’re in the midst of making it right now. I’m standing right outside the studio right now, talking to you. That’s what we’re working on.
Will the new-record be conceptual or more straightforward?
I can’t really talk about it much at the moment. It’s under construction right now. It’s a cool record. It’s definitely a Queensrÿche experiment. We’re going off in different directions, experimenting a lot with our sound and different ways of playing our instruments. Trying not to repeat ourselves, but break new ground. We’re having a really good time making this record, which is great because you want everybody to be on the same page and everyone in the band to be enthusiastic about what’s going on.
Your have a new guitar player, your son-in-law, guitarist Parker Lundgren. Is he on the record?
Yeah, he’s on a few tracks.
Does he have a hand in any of the writing?
Not yet. He hasn’t written any songs. He’s been Michael’s right-hand guy. A lot of the stuff that Michael (Wilton) likes to do, guitar-wise, is two-guitar stuff, where you take a chord and spread it out for two instruments and it becomes quite a different thing. Having another guitar player really helps the ideas come along.
Speaking of concepts, earlier this year, Queensrÿche launched what was billed as the first adults-only rock show, the Burlesque tour. How did that idea come about?
Well, I love cabaret. It’s something I’ve always been interested in. I thought it would be kind of a fun thing, since we didn’t have an album out this year, to put a show together. Tell a story with the band. So we did. We wrote a show. Wrote a storyline, then start connecting all the dots. Getting all the performers together and a cast of characters. We just played the last show last week-end in the Chicago area.
One of the more enjoyable performances I think that we’ve done. There was so much going on. It took a lot of rehearsals and everything to incorporate all these different performers. Special marks you have to be on at certain times. It was really a test of our abilities to make it work, then make it portable, to take around to other places.
The reason we did the show originally was for a one-off date here in the Seattle area last February. And we hadn’t planned on performing it again. But a couple weeks after we did the performance, we started to get calls from promoters, asking us to bring it to their area, so we ended up taking it on tour.
It’s almost like you have to become an actor when you’re doing these shows.
Yeah, it’s sort of a Broadway style. It’s kind of like if you took The Rocky Horror Picture Show and melded it with Moulin Rouge. The whole thing in New Orleans during Mardi Gras — it’s like that. A lot of audience participation. The audience follows the story and get involved and come up on stage. The band and the cast of characters come out of the audience at certain times. It’s kind of that breaking down the fourth wall concept of theater.
You’re the second musician I’ve talked to this year who has his own wine, Insania. And your guitarist Michael Wilton is making a beer. Tell me how you got into the wine business?
I’ve been a wine fan for quite a few years. I’m a collector and a fan of different winemakers and different vintages. Just through traveling and meeting people, I’ve met some really talented people in that field. I made friends with a particular winemaker, Holly Turner and her husband Andy. Over the years, we had talked about wines, sharing wines, we’d have different tastings, and get together and try different wines I’d found on the road. One night, we were sampling some French wine that I’d brought back from the tour and we were comparing notes and Holly said, “Have you ever thought about making your own wine?” And that kind of got us talking about the idea. And that was five years ago.
It’s been great working with them. We’re starting to have some success now — we’re on our third vintage, which comes out in April. It’s just fun. It’s kind of a passion for me, kind of a side thing. It’s selling really well. We’ve sold out each vintage that we make, thinking about doubling or tripling it, but trying to take it slow. We try to keep a loose concept, not huge deals or anything, just keeping it very quality-oriented. So it’s doing really well.
So, do you drink a little wine before hitting the stage?
Yeah, I usually have a bottle of wine every night. I have a few glasses before the show and after the show.
