GEOFF TATE MEETS WITH QUEENSRŸCHE IN BARCELONA
20th July 2017



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Former Queensrÿche frontman Geoff Tate has revealed that he recently had a "really nice little reunion" with his former bandmates, almost exactly five years after their acrimonious split.

Speaking recently to the '92 Minutes Of Hair With Mel' show on the Las Vegas, Nevada radio station KOMP 92.3, Tate was asked whether he has had any contact with his former Queensrÿche bandmates since the split and responded:

"I just did, actually. It's funny that you should mention that. Two weeks ago I was in Barcelona, Spain and I was playing with a band called Avantasia. I did a guest appearance with them, and they were headlining the [Rock Fest Barcelona] festival. And I read on the roster list that Queensrÿche was opening the festival. So I went out earlier in the day and watched their set. It was the first time I'd seen the band play without me.

"I'd never heard their new singer [Todd La Torre], but I watched them play and they were great, and that singer is fantastic. He's amazing! He sounds just like me. It was eerie and weird.

"And then I met all the guys afterwards and shook hands with them, we hugged and said 'hello', and it was a really nice little reunion, you know, get-together."

New metal Church drummer Stet Howland also played at Rock Fest Barcelona and said:

"Todd happened to be in [Metal Church's] dressing room right after Geoff Tate complimented him. Todd was blown away with Geoff's kind words and sincerity.

"Shortly after Todd came up and sang with us and was awesome. Spoke with Geoff a bit at our hotel and he was really cool. Both are amazing singers and both were very nice guys when I spoke with them.

"And rest assured, I'm a shit talker when there's shit to talk. But these guys were both awesome that day. Just sayin'."

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Todd La Torre
Last month Todd was asked in an interview if he could ever envision a scenario where Tate would return to the band either for an album or a tour and said:

"For me personally, I respect what those guys [his current bandmates] would ever decide to do.

"I think that this is a forward-thinking band. I think that we're in a really good place and we're writing music that... the band has regained that sound that I think was — and I hate to say it, 'cause I love Michael — but was missing for a very long time. We play everything in standard tuning, and I always try to aim high and do the best that I can.

"But me personally speaking, if some crazy thing happened where [Geoff] came back or whatever... I mean, I think we would cross that bridge if we came to it. I don't see it in the foreseeable future, but crazy things have happened, so who knows?

"I have no personal issue — for the record — with him. I don't know him as a person, just as an artist, so I respect what he's done as an artist. And so I'm emotionally detached from him in that sense. I don't really care. I care about what I'm doing with the band."

Michael Wilton also added:

"I think, basically, Todd said it. We've got something really great right now, and we're letting it grow, we're letting it expand.

"I don't have a crystal ball. I kind of live in the now, and it's one show at a time. So I just don't think that way."

Tate told Metal Wani in May that the only way he would ever play with his former Queensrÿche colleagues again was...

"...if "everybody [got] in the same room and actually confront[ed] all the things that were said and all the things that happened. And that is a really big commitment, because there was some really negative stuff that went down. And I don't know if everybody has that kind of want to go through that.

"The money would be the big driving force that would get everybody together, and I don't need the money, so I'm not really motivated to sit in a room and listen to what I've had to listen to [laughs] with everybody. But, you know, again, never say never."