Former Queensryche singer Geoff Tate has offered his first public comments on the newly-announced out-of-court settlement over rights to the band’s name, following a two-year-long legal dispute with his former bandmates.
The settlement sees original Queensryche members Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield and Michael Wilton (along with recent additions Todd LaTorre and Parker Lundgren) move forward with rights to the band name, while Tate keep the exclusive rights to perform the group’s ‘Operation: Mindcrime I’ and ‘II’ in their entirety as a unique performance.
“I think it's great,” Tate tells Billboard of the outcome. “I'm very happy that it's over and done and we can all move on with our lives. It's been a long, bitter two years, I'll tell you. I'm glad it's over.”
“We've been trying to work something out for months and months and months, and it's like any kind of lawsuit, it's just slow going,” he says of the process. “But finally I think the realization that going to court over the whole thing was going to be a huge nightmare and huge financial mess for everybody that [we] really started to look at it more seriously and realistically.”
While hesitant to discuss anything outside of the joint statement released Monday by both parties (read it here), Tate does explain the “Operation Mindcrime” performance clause.
“It's pretty similar to the Pink Floyd settlement where one group got the name and Roger Waters got ‘The Wall.’ It's very similar to that,” he says. “I retain ‘Operation: Mindcrime’ and everything revolving around that, and they got the name, so it's a win-win for everybody.”
Tate will do a brief Queensryche “farewell” tour this summer with a series of previously scheduled shows before launching a solo career.
Before Tate parted ways with Queensryche in 2012, there was a series of reports of tension within the group, including an alleged incident backstage in Sao Paulo, Brazil on April 14. Reports suggested that Tate secretly overheard band members discussing plans to fire him, which led to an alleged altercation at soundcheck, with Tate pushing Wilton to the floor before pointing a knife at drummer Rockenfield. Security staff from the venue reportedly had to separate them.
Video from the concert later that evening surfaced showing Tate spitting at Rockenfield during the show – see that at 3:59 in the video below.
See also:
Queensyrche members reach settlement over rights issues
VIDEO: Queensryche joined by Glen Drover in Toronto
Queensryche parts ways with Geoff Tate
VIDEO: Queensryche members debut as Rising West
Search Queensryche at hennemusic
