The Great Souther Brainfart's Don de Leaumont has issued a new interview conducted with vocalist GEOFF TATE (QUEENSRŸCHE). An excerpt follows:

Q: What was it that made you want to be a musician in the first place?

A: "I heard music [laughs]. I found it to be incredibly inspiring and emotional and the more I learned about it the more I became enamored with the act of creating music and how you could completely lose yourself in your imagination and surround yourself with this noise that you’ve created that you could manipulate and design to carry out the message of what you’re thinking about. Music is a playground in a sense, and you get to create these different places for you to go and for other people to go as well."

Q: The latest Queensrÿche album, Frequency Unknown, turned out to be quite the conversation starter. There was even a contest not too long ago where you had people video their thoughts on the album. What was it like watching people make such fools of themselves? Was there a little reverse psychology going on there?

A: [laughs] "Well, I think that’s a really astute observation on your part and I think the videos kind of speak for themselves. There’s really not much to say beyond that [laughs]."

Q: You released your second solo album, Kings And Thieves, in 2012. I thought it was such a great album and a departure from the Queensrÿche sound. Did you enjoy touring for that album?

A: "It was great. We had some amazing shows. I love touring. I love performing and playing music live. I think it’s one of the best things about a musician’s life to be able to do that. It was really great for me to be able to perform the solo material live. I haven’t been able to do that much because I’ve been really focused on Queensrÿche and I’ve been devoting the majority of my time, my thinking, and my life to that really. This was like taking a step away and breathing in some fresh air and trying a different approach to things which I really enjoyed. I loved playing that material."

Read the full interview at this location.