Operation: Mindcrime / ex-Queensrÿche vocalist Geoff Tate is featured in a new interview with UK-based Eon Music discussing his work with Operation: Mindcrime and his controversial split with Queensrÿche. Following is an excerpt from the chat.

Q: You’ve had such a long career; what albums are you proudest of, and why?

Tate: "I’m probably most proud of albums that had; it’s weird, but I’ve always wanted to create an album that had the same kind of feeling throughout the entire record, where it didn’t jump around through all kinds of different moods and emotions but it just kept this aura of the same feeling throughout the whole record. I tried doing that for years and years and years, and finally achieved it, I think, with the album Promised Land. That was my favourite album by Queensrÿche for many, many years. And after that, I’d say I’m probably most proud of the trilogy albums, absolutely, hands down my favourite records so far."    

Q: So you are a fan of Dedicated To Chaos?

Tate: "I don’t know if I’d say the whole album is one of my favourite records, but there’s songs on that record; ‘Hard Times’ is one of my favourite, favourite songs, ever. I love the sound of that song, and the way it turned out on the mix and recording of it. There’s a song called ‘Broken’; a haunting, haunting track – I love that track, I wrote that about my grandmother passing away. And there’s another one on there, ‘Big Noize’; what an epic track that is. I actually had the fortune to play that song with my Operation: Mindcrime band several years ago, and I loved that song. That’s one of my favourite all time Queensrÿche songs."

Q: Maybe Dedicated To Chaos is just one of those great misunderstood records.

Tate: "You know, it’s just one of those weird things about life; somebody passes along some information about some topic, and if enough people pick up on it and start passing around the information, it’s perceived by many as being ‘truth’. And it’s a funny thing about the human condition, especially in modern times, that we don’t question stuff so much anymore; we just read the headlines. The headlines basically form an opinion about almost everything; if you look at the current state of American politics you’ll see exactly what I mean; it’s just a cesspool of misinformation that gets spread around. You’ve got to remember the Dedicated To Chaos album, it came out when the band was splitting up, so there were all kinds of people speculating, and writing speculations about what was happening; they were blaming people, pointing fingers, and it was horrible, horrible break-up. Being part of [it] was such a waste of time and energy and money, but it is what happened and it is unfortunate. But you’ve got to remember the context of the situation; like so much in life, we forget about the context – what was going on at the time.   

The funny thing about that time as well, is that tour after Dedicated To Chaos came out, that was out thirty year anniversary tour, and we toured all over the world, and we played songs from all of our records - all the way back to our first EP, we played music from every one of our records, and it was a fantastic tour. Then after that, the whole thing kind of unravelled."     

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Tate recently announced more dates for his acoustic European tour this December/January, which will feature a storyteller format. Tate will perform material from his Queensrÿche catalogue and from Operation Mindcrime backed by a six-piece acoustic band.

Tour dates are as follows:

December
8 - Ingolstadt, Germany - Eventhalle Westpark
9 - Bolzano, Italy - Venue TBA
10 - Borgo Priolo, Italy - Dadga Club
15 - Bochum, Germany - Matrix
17 - Zoetermeer, Netherlands - Boerderij
18 - Eindhoven, Netherlands - Dynamo
19 - London, UK - O2 Academy Islington
20 - Norwich, UK - Waterfront
21 - Glasgow, Scotland - Cat House
22 - Dublin, Ireland - Voodoo
23 - Belfast, Northern Ireland - Empire
26 - Burgrieden, Germany - Riffelhof
27 - Muenchen, Germany - Backstage
28 - Ludwigsburg, Germany - Rockfabrik
29 - Mannheim, Germany - 7er

January
3 - Aschaffenburg, Germany - Colos Saal
4 - Heerlen, Netherlands - Parkstad Limburg Theater
6 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Venue TBA
7 - Sundsvall, Sweden - Venue TBA  
8 - Stockholm, Sweden - Venue TBA
10 - Jönköping, Sweden - Venue TBA
11 - Örebro, Sweden - Venue TBA   
12. - Oslo, Norway - Olsen På Bryn
13 - Kopervik, Norway - Ovenpaa
14 - Stavanger, Norway - Checkpoint Charly

Come November, heavy metal fans in at least eight east coast cities will be in for a night full of hell-raising fun as three of the genre's finest vocalists - Geoff Tate, Tim "Ripper" Owens and Blaze Bayley - will be performing the hits from their respective bands on stage together for what is hoped to be just the beginning of several dates over the next few months.

Geoff Tate, who's Operation: Mindcrime will be releasing their second CD of a trilogy in September titled, Resurrection, states that the collaboration between the three first came about while recently in the studio. "We were recording a song together that will appear on the new Operation: Mindcrime album called Taking On The World and immediately realized just how much fun it would be if we went out and did a couple of dates together. We want to give fans a great selection of hits and rarities along with songs we just enjoy performing... and the Trinity tour was born!"

The three vocalists will be backed by the same group of excellent musicians throughout the evening in a show that promises to be loaded with memorable metal for the music masses to enjoy.

Fans can expect to hear such songs as "Empire," "I Don't Believe In Love," "Eyes Of A Stranger," "Living After Midnight," "Breaking The Law," "You've Got Another Thing Comin'," "Burn In Hell," "Man On The Edge," "The Number Of The Beast" and "Run To The Hills" among others.

During his illustrious career, Geoff Tate has sold more than 25 million records at the helm of Queensrÿche, the band he fronted for 30 years from their inception through 2012, earning three Grammy nominations, five MTV Music Video Award nominations, and one MTV Music Video Award along the way. The landmark concept album Operation: Mindcrime thrust Tate's unique social consciousness, style and expertly crafted lyrics into the national spotlight in 1988, and was followed by Empire in 1990, the album that delivered Queensrÿche to arena-headlining status and sold more than three million albums on the back of hit singles and radio staples "Silent Lucidity" and "Jet City Woman." By the time the band released Promised Land in 1994, Geoff Tate was universally acknowledged as one of the greatest frontmen in rock and metal, and a driving force behind one of the most innovative bands in mainstream music. In September of 2015, his new band, Operation: Mindcrime released its debut effort titled, The Key, which examined what one might do if they discovered "the key" to changing the way we view the world, the way we look at time, the way we travel and could essentially change the human condition... for better or for release. The band successfully toured for months in support of the project and looks forward to their forthcoming release, Resurrection, this September.

Tim "Ripper" Owens first gained worldwide attention and acclaim when he joined Judas Priest as their lead singer in 1996. During his stint with Judas Priest, he recorded two studio albums and two live albums. The song "Bullet Train" - which featured his incredible vocals - was nominated for a Grammy award in 1999 in the category of Best Metal Performance. He subsequently went on to join Iced Earth and currently performs with such bands as Beyond Fear, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force and Charred Walls Of The Damned.

Blaze Bayley joined Iron Maiden in 1993 after the departure of Bruce Dickinson and remained the band's singer until Dickinson's return in 1999. Bayley, who had started his career in the mid-80's as the vocalist of Wolfsbane, recorded two albums with Iron Maiden before starting his own band, Blaze. In May of 2000, the band would release their debut album titled, Silicon Messiah, and would go on to put out two other albums. In more recent years, he's concentrated on solo projects.

Geoff Tate, Tim "Ripper" Owens and Blaze Bayley... not one, not two, but all three!

Three of the most well-respected metal singers from three of the most well-respected metal bands, together on stage in November. Tickets for all eight confirmed shows (see below) are now on sale.

November
18 - Rochester, NY - The Montage Music Hall
19 - Wantagh, NY - Mulcahy’s Pub And Concert Hall
20 - Sellersville, PA - Sellersville Theater
22 - Syracuse, NY - The Westcott Theater
23 - Poughkeepsie. NY - The Chance
25 - Londonderry, NH - Tupelo Music Hall
26 - Annapolis, MD - Rams Head on Stage
27 - New York, NY - B.B. King Blues Club