Jeff Kerby from KNAC.com spoke to QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Geoff Tate recently about a number of topics including their new covers opus, Take Cover. An excerpt from the chat follows:

KNAC.com: With bands on this record like PINK FLOYD and BLACK SABBATH, is it simply a matter of running through songs that you like, or do you still hold a certain reverence for these groups? Do you still get star struck in certain respects?

Tate: "Uhhh, yeah. Yeah. On this last tour with Black Sabbath, especially. They put out three albums that were incredibly influential for us. We were referencing their songs when we were talking about writing our own. That would have been back in 1980 or 81. In fact, we called our band THE MOB from Mob Rules. It really gave us a pleasure to watch those guys up close because I haven’t seen them play since the Black and White Tour in 1980 or so. I learned a lot watching Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler play together. Those guys do something special that I’ve never seen anyone do together. They have this way of filling up space in a song and switching between chords and individual notes that I’ve never seen. It’s really unique. They bend notes the same way with each other and it’s sort of a harmony thing that is really an integral part of their sound. You can’t really copy something like that. It’s just got to be something that they do instinctively--it’s really interesting to watch. They have a keyboard player, Scott, and he was telling me that he has a hell of time with them because keyboards don’t bend like that--they don’t bend in and out of pitch. They are tuned to a specific note. When he first started playing with them, he said he had a hard time because he always heard himself out of pitch with them, but that’s part of their sound. Yeah, I’m star struck definitely. Those are the kind of people you admire a lot. You meet them and most of the time, it’s a pleasurable experience, and other times, its…not. (laughs)

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