I had the pleasure of speaking with Geoff last week to close out my Friday. Immediately following, I headed home and spent no less than three hours researching winemaking and all of the regions on the west coast that I need to visit while listening to Operation: Mindcrime II<\/em> and American Soldier<\/em> with new ears. I hope that this interview inspires you all to do the same.<\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Thanks so much for taking some time out to talk to me this morning! I was just poking around your website, and you have a ton of stuff going on lately!<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Sure! Yeah, I usually have a pretty crazy schedule with events and shows and things like that.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Yeah, it seems like you\u2019ve been up to quite a bit these days!<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Yes, I\u2019ve definitely had a lot of things in the works. Before we dig into this though, I have to ask how you pronounce your last name?\u00a0[I\u2019ve get asked this question in 9\/10 interviews, and figured some of our loyal blog readers might be curious].<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> It\u2019s Pukl- think hockey puck with an \u201cel\u201d at the end. I know it looks like it\u2019s missing a ton of letters.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> That\u2019s a very interesting name. I\u2019ve never heard that one before.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s Hungarian, and on top of that, my grandfather edited it a little when he came over and made it even harder to say.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Ah, that makes sense.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Yes. So getting into it, I know you just wrapped up your 30th<\/sup> anniversary tour with Queensr\u00ffche! What has that been like?<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Yeah, the tour just wrapped up. We had a new studio album as well called, \u201cDedicated to Chaos\u201d which we released last summer.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> That album felt like quite a departure from all of the Queensr\u00ffche music I\u2019ve heard in the past. I feel like it\u2019s got a much stronger melodic focus than previous records.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Well, we tend to write records depending upon the subject manner that we\u2019re trying to get across in the lyrics. We flip flop between making really heavy concept albums and very metal records. We made quite a few albums that one might consider pop records, and I think this one may fall under that category. It\u2019s very similar to the \u201cEmpire\u201d record or \u201cHear In the Now Frontier\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> What\u2019s the process for you guys when you decide to do a new record? Do you sit down and discuss the concept first or do you have some songs?<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> It starts various ways, really. Sometimes it starts with a lyric line or a short paragraph or story. Usually it starts with an abstract idea. Sometimes it\u2019s just a subject, like I think I\u2019d like to write about the political unrest in Nicaragua. I find that interesting. Sometimes I\u2019ll go in with something like that in mind.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> How about this latest album. What sparked it?<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Gosh, I think it was just trying to make a very singable record that people could put on and sing along to. We also wanted to make a lighter record than what we\u2019ve done in the past few years. We did two concept records back to back, \u201cOperation: Mindcrime II\u201d and \u201cAmerican Soldier\u201d. Both are really pretty aggressive records that are pretty dark and melancholy. We wanted to do something that was a departure from that\u2014 something lighter.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> What\u2019s your writing process like within the band?<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> It depends on who\u2019s writing the song. If it\u2019s Eddie and me for example, we\u2019ll work very closely on the arrangement, deciding what\u2019s a verse, bridge, chorus, that sort of thing. Then, when it\u2019s time to record it, the other guys get involved as far as playing the parts that were written for them. We give them a lot of room to expand on it and put in their own flavor.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0CP:<\/strong> I read an interview with you recently where you commented that you had mixed this record differently than in the past to adapt to the new way people listen to music\u2014 through their headphones.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> I\u2019m always thinking about what\u2019s happening now. I\u2019m pretty plugged into what\u2019s going on musically around the world and with politics, you know. I try to stay really on top of things and keep it relevant. I\u2019m always looking and trying to predict what the next trend is going to be. I\u2019m sort of an armchair anthropologist. I like looking at social situations and seeing what I can predict is going to happen in that situation. So yeah, I\u2019m constantly keeping an ear to the ground to see what\u2019s happening. And people are absolutely listening to music on headphones more nowadays than they ever did before. It\u2019s a mobile society now, and people can take their music everywhere. That\u2019s fascinating to me that people stay plugged into it. And then they can switch to answering their phone, listening to voice mail, cruising the internet. It\u2019s a fascinating time to be alive and witness all of this happening.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Absolutely. I know I listen to things on my phone all the time while I\u2019m reading the liner notes, lyrics, reviews and anything else I find in Google about the album or song I\u2019m listening to. It\u2019s neat to process all of that stuff together.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> It\u2019s like when I was a kid growing up, I\u2019d sit in my bedroom listening to the song or album and read everything from the album cover. It\u2019s no different; it\u2019s just a different medium and system.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Yes. Now I know you\u2019ve also been into acting and documentary film making over the years. You were recently in a movie called, \u201cThe Burningmoore Incident\u201d. How did you get into that?<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t really ever want to get into it, actually. I met these guys that wanted me to act in their movie, and they were convinced that I\u2019d do a good job even though I kept reminding them that I\u2019d never done anything like that before. I\u2019m not a professional or anything like that. So they had me take a screen test, and I did that and got the part. I shot the movie, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s come out yet, but it\u2019s coming.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Can you tell us what it\u2019s about?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> I can\u2019t really talk about it, but it\u2019s kind of a psychological horror film that was done in a really clever way.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> I\u2019m already interested!<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Yeah, it was a fun project. It was cool to try something new and try my hand at acting. I found it to be pretty enjoyable.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Do you see a lot more in the future?<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> I suppose. If I get asked and it\u2019s the right kind of role, then sure!<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Now another thing you\u2019re involved in lately is Insania winery. How did that come about?<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> I\u2019ve been a long-time wine fan. I started collecting wine years and years ago. The whole thing was brought on through travel. We traveled to a lot of countries around the world touring, and I always got to sample these incredible wines from all of these different cultures and various parts of the world. I just became a huge fan of wine and winemaking. I found it very interesting. I met some very cool people who are from my state of Washington, who were interested in having me on as a partner to make wine.<\/em><\/p>\n We started the Insania brand about five years ago, my wife and I and Holly Turner and her husband Andy. We\u2019ve got four vintages now. We do a red and a white, and they are very French Bordeaux inspired wines. We use the classic French varietals of Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Merlot for the red blend, and then Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon in the white. We\u2019ve just been having such a ball with it, introducing it to people and going to wine shops and doing bottle signings. We do tastings and dinners with celebrity chefs that come in and pair our wine with their food.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> That sounds like a great time! If you had to pick your favorite wine, what would it be?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> You basically got to design your ideal wine there!<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Yeah, it was really a labor of love. We worked on it for quite a while to come up with the blend we thought was the best representation of our idea. Once we had the blend, of course the real challenge is consistently making it each year with the challenges of the harvest to deal with. But so far we\u2019ve been really good at it. This is going to be our fourth vintage that comes out this spring.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> It sounds like a lot of fun over there.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> It sure is a lot of fun\u2014 especially if you like wine! (Laughs)<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> It\u2019s certainly something I\u2019ve been getting further into, and especially working here with a great wine list.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Well you guys are in San Diego, so you\u2019re pretty close to Temecula.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Yes!<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> That\u2019s a great wine region. There\u2019s some great stuff coming out of that region.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Yeah, I\u2019m new to being out here, so I\u2019m looking forward to taking some trips out to explore some wineries.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> That area is really beautiful; it\u2019s one of my favorite parts of California.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> It\u2019s incredible! I\u2019m still amazed that you can drive for an hour or two and go through three or four different microclimates. It\u2019s still really bizarre to me.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Listen to you; you\u2019ve already got winemaking language going on! Microclimates\u2014 that\u2019s great!<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> (Laughs) What can I say? I\u2019m kind of a geek.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> That\u2019s how I am. I lean into something and before I know it I\u2019ve fallen into it.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Getting back into your music, are you looking into any future solo projects?<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> I am! I\u2019m actually working on one right now that I hope to have wrapped up pretty soon. This show that I\u2019m doing at Anthology is an acoustic show with some friends of mine who are fantastic acoustic players. We\u2019re doing kind of a blend of my last solo album, some Queensr\u00ffche songs, and we\u2019ll toss in some new ones that haven\u2019t been released yet. It\u2019ll just be a really fun night. Very homey, intimate, we\u2019ll probably take requests, things like that.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> That\u2019s awesome. Is this something you\u2019ve been doing a lot of lately?<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> For the last couple of years, I\u2019ve been doing more stuff outside of Queensr\u00ffche in order to just stretch out. But I\u2019ll tell you, even though I\u2019ve sang shows in front of hundreds of thousands of people and also intimate shows of a few hundred, but whenever I go out to an event or something and someone asks me to sing a song with them, I\u2019m petrified! (Laughs) I don\u2019t know much material outside of my own material that I\u2019ve written, and so if someone asks me to sing \u201cDanny Boy\u201d, I couldn\u2019t sing it! Not even if someone offered me a million dollars could I sing that song. So I\u2019m trying to be a bit more versatile and learn more stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Well, having thirty years of your own material in your head is quite a lot to remember! It\u2019s hard to keep track of someone else\u2019s\u2019 stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> That stuff is embedded into my psyche. I could do any of my own stuff at any time, but if it\u2019s someone else\u2019s\u2019 stuff, I have a hard time with it. But I\u2019m expanding my horizons.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> It\u2019s a different mindset to learn someone else\u2019s\u2019 material. It\u2019s a little more mechanical.<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Yeah, it does take a different mindset. You know, my wife manages this band called The Voodoos, from Ireland. They\u2019re a fantastic band, by the way. Really cool stuff. But the other night we were at a show watching them, and they always ask the audience if anyone else is a musician. And if someone raises their hand, they give them the offer to come up on stage and play a song. It\u2019s really cool\u2014 a very Irish thing to do. So a guy raised his hand, and the guitar player just handed him his guitar and walked off stage. So the kid looked like he came out of the 1950\u2019s. He really looked like he came out of a different time. And he launches into \u201cFolsom Prison Blues\u201d by Johnny Cash. He just does this amazing version of it out of the blue. It was unrehearsed, out of the blue, and the rest of The Voodoos came up on stage and jammed out with him. It was a very cool, very authentic moment. I\u2019ve seen people do it before, but I\u2019m not someone who can just do something like that, but I want to be. So that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been working on the last few years.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> That must really re-energize and inspire you, doing something new like that.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n GT:<\/strong> Oh yeah. Any kind of artistic endeavor, when you\u2019ve had success doing one thing, you do as many variations on that thing as you can, and then you run out. You need to have some new input and a new direction. We\u2019re all looking for that. Everyone is looking for something that will inspire us. It\u2019s addictive.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Special thanks to Geoff for his time! Be sure to check out the links below for more information on Geoff’s Insania wines, his music,\u00a0Queensr\u00ffche, and more! Don’t miss his special acoustic performance here on the 26th!<\/p>\n Geoff Tate’s Official Website<\/a><\/p>\n Queensryche on Spotify<\/a><\/p>\n WHAT: <\/em>Geoff Tate Acoustic<\/strong><\/em> An Interview with Geoff Tate of Queensr\u00ffche by: Casey Pukl If you’re anything like me, you’ll understand why today’s interview is barely edited (except for the part where I bared my sister’s Queensr\u00ffche-loving\u00a0soul to Geoff Tate). Some people are just interesting. They are the people that you can listen to for days and never get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1442],"tags":[11512],"class_list":["post-4317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists","tag-artist-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32957,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4317\/revisions\/32957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/geoff-tate-e1324077246502.jpeg\" "\\"geoff-tate-e1324077246502\\"")
<\/a>If you’re anything like me, you’ll understand why today’s interview is barely edited (except for the part where I bared my sister’s Queensr\u00ffche-loving\u00a0soul to Geoff Tate). Some people are just interesting. They are the people that you can listen to for days and never get bored. Geoff Tate is one of those people. If you’ve ever listened to\u00a0Queensr\u00ffche, you could probably predict that Tate is someone with a lot of ideas, opinions, and knowledge; but listening to him speak about wine, writing, staying current, and what inspires him is just plain interesting.<\/p>\n<\/a>GT:<\/strong> I\u2019d honestly have to say the Insania Red. It\u2019s really good. A lot of people think I\u2019m just this musician guy that got involved with winemaking and it\u2019s going to be crap, but then they taste it and see that it\u2019s a very serious wine. It\u2019s well done. A lot of times people are shocked. But I\u2019d say that\u2019s my favorite.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWHEN: <\/span>Thursday, January 26, 2012, 7:30pm <\/strong><\/em>
\nTICKETS: $10-$44 <\/span>Buy Tickets<\/a><\/em>
\nMORE INFO: <\/span>Artist Profile<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"