Geoff Tate on Potential Queensrÿche Reunion: “I Don’t Really Have a Need to Go Back”
Metal has a long history of people making dramatic exits from famous bands from the bitter firing of Dave Mustaine from Metallica in 1983 to the bitter firing of Jay Weinberg from Slipknot last year. Surprisingly enough, a genre full of people making extremely angry music sometimes has band members who get extremely angry at each other. But few bands had as acrimonious a split from their own lead vocalist as legendary prog-metal band Queensrÿche had with Geoff Tate.
After Tate’s ousting from the band in 2012, there was a lawsuit to settle who got to keep the name of the band, with a period of about two years where two bands toured and recorded under the name Queensrÿche until band members Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson, and Scott Rockenfield were granted the rights to the band name in 2014 and Tate was forced to change the name of his band.
While it seems that most of that is water under the bridge at this point, it also seems that Tate has no desire to reunite with his old bandmates. In a recent interview with Cassius Morris, Tate was asked if he would be willing to reunite with any of his former bandmates, including founding guitarist Chris DeGarmo who wasn’t in the band at the time of Tate’s departure and had nothing to do with Tate’s bitter split from Queensrÿche. Here’s what Tate had to say, as transcribed by Blabbermouth:
“Well, I think that we had 30 good years, which is phenomenal. Most bands make a couple of records. How many records did GUNS N’ ROSES make? Three? [Laughs] We had 30 years of making music, and we gave it a really good run. We had a lot of success. I think we created some really memorable albums, some really memorable songs that will outlive us. And I don’t really have a need to go back and try to recapture that with Chris or any of the other guys as well. I feel like it’s time to do other things, and to just explore. And we gave that a great run. It was successful. We did great things. It’s time to do other things now.”
In terms of his relationship with his former bandmates, that seems to have become much more tolerable. When asked if he kept in touch with any of them, he responded:
“Um, not regularly, not regularly. But sometimes situations arise where we have to sort of deal with each other, and it’s not unpleasant now. Enough time has gone by [and] the bridges have mended, I guess.”
So it doesn’t look like a Queensrÿche reunion with Tate is very likely, but at least the bitter feud has died down a bit.
To catch Tate live, he’s got a few dates doing guest vocals for Avantasia coming up as well as a few dates of just him. Check them out below.
12 Jul 2024 – AVANTASIA FEATURING GEOFF TATE @ AREA 53 FESTIVAL – Leoben, Austria
13 Jul 2024 – AVANTASIA FEATURING GEOFF TATE @ MASTERS OF ROCK FESTIVAL – Vizovice, Czech Republic
25 Jul 2024 – GEOFF TATE’S GREATEST HITS TOUR @ ROXY THEATRE – Bremerton, WA USA
27 Jul 2024 – 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF OPERATION MINDCRIME TOUR @ MATANUSKA BREWING COMPANY – Eagle River, AK USA
31Jul 2024 – AVANTASIA FEATURING GEOFF TATE @ FEZEN FEST – Székesfehérvár, Hungary
02 Aug 2024 – AVANTASIA FEATURING GEOFF TATE @ WACKEN OPEN AIR – Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
09 Aug 2024 – AVANTASIA FEATURING GEOFF TATE @ HELSINKI METAL FESTIVAL – Helsinki, Finland
16 -Aug 2024 – AVANTASIA FEATURING GEOFF TATE @ JAILBREAK FESTIVAL – Horsens, Denmark
18 Aug 2024 – AVANTASIA FEATURING GEOFF TATE @ MOTOCULTOR FEST – Carhaix-Plouguer, France
31 Aug 2024 GEOFF TATE’S BIG ROCK SHOW HITS TOUR @ HADEMARSCHER HOF – Hanerau-Hademarschen, Germany
