Geoff Tate, The Voice Queensrÿche Will No Longer Be Known as Geoff Tate, The Voice Queensrÿche
In April, Geoff Tate reached a settlement with his former bandmates in Queensrÿche, the terms of which stipulated that Tate could no longer call his band Queensrÿche, although he could advertise as “Geoff Tate, the Voice of Queensrÿche.” They also stipulated, somewhat hilariously, that while the Tate-less Queensrÿche could perform songs from the band’s revered release Operation: Mindcrime, only Tate could perform the album in its entirety. (He also has exclusive rights to perform Operation: Mindcrime II in its entirety, but even Tate’s own mother wouldn’t care to see that, so whatever.) Now it appears that Tate is taking full advantage of this incredibly minor victory: his band will heretofore be known as Operation: Mindcrime.
People whose job it is to try and sell Tate and his band to the public may disagree with me, but this actually strikes me as being a dumb move. Anyone who sees an ad for “Geoff Tate, the Voice of Queensrÿche” will (obviously) know exactly what they’re getting; anyone who sees an ad for Operation: Mindcrime… well.. who knows what they’ll think? If it was me, I’d probably assume it was a Queensrÿche cover band (which I guess it is, in a sense, but you know that’s not what I mean), because cover bands often utilize album or song titles for their moniker (see: Schism, Mr. Brownstone, One, etc.). So from a branding perspective, this really makes no sense to me.
From a comedy perspective, though, it’s swell! Tate is one of those dudes for whom the expression “Give that guy enough rope and he’ll hang himself” was made. He can’t seem to do anything right, no matter how hard he tries. So I’m excited to see how he fucks up next. As a person and a musician Tate seems to have totally lost it, but as a walking, talking personification of schadenfreude, he can be considered a visionary.
[via Metal Insider]
