Geoff Tate Q&A

KNAC.com recently interviewed Queensryche frontman Geoff Tate, asking the group about ‘Operation: Mindcrime II’ being written due to today’s political climate. “As long as I’ve lived (47 years), I keep track of what goes on in society,” Tate said. “I love the social sciences and what makes us tick as a species. We go in these cycles… this circular motion. Things come into the consciousness then go out and in time come back in. To me, we’re in a very similar situation to the late ’80s. We have a very right-wing Christian funded government in place and they are working very diligently to change things in their favor and in their world view… which is in direct opposition to the way a lot of other people feel… who worked diligently to provide Americans with freedoms and…” Equality, stability,” he was asked. “Yeah, and all those things people have suffered and died for,” Tate responded. “It’s just an amazing time to watch… all these freedoms being taken out. One by one and it’s interesting to see the polarization of the country. Nobody knows what to do and here we are again at war in the Middle East. Ironically, when (‘Mindcrime’ drug addict) Nikki was first conceived George Bush was in power and he gets out of jail twenty years later and George Bush is in power (laughs). I couldn’t stay away from that irony. The times are similar in a lot of ways. So, it felt right to be visiting the story again.” Read more.