kings & thieves

REVIEW: Geoff Tate – GT EPK (2012)

What can you say about a guy who’s already had two lineup changes before his new “Queensryche” has even played a single gig?  As usual, I’ll let Geoff say it all…

GEOFF TATE – GT EPK (2012)

EPK:  “Electronic Press Kit”, something an artist releases to the media to promote themselves. See above.

Although this has been out for months, it was only recently that Uncle Meat brought it to my attention.    While he was over recording our most recent video, he said to me, “LeBrain, you have to see the Tate video.  This thing is ridiculous.”

So I watched.  And I laughed.

Cheesey?  Check.

“Oh yeah.  I love my job.”

Pretentious?  Check.

“I guess I’m an experience junkie.”

Trying to look cool?  Check.

“I usually take a couple of motorcycles on tour with me…ride between cities.”

Stuff nobody cares about?  Check.

“Oh there’s my beautiful wife, Susan.”

Nothing in here about spitting at drummers, getting in fights, or carrying bladed weapons though!  Do you want to see something really funny?  Skip ahead in the video to 2:38.

“Oh, wait, watch this.”

And then he does this lame “jump”.  I mean, if he was David Lee Roth and did that cool spiral kick thing, that would something worth waiting and watching for.  Not…whatever that was at 2:38.

Don’t take it from me though!  Here’s some quotes from my esteemed Sausagefest colleagues.

Grant:  “Got about three minutes in before vomiting all over my keyboard. The ‘Two Girls One Cup’ of personal biographies.”

Scottie:  “WTF was that…”

Iron Tom Sharpe:  “Imagine what that cock seepage would be like if he was still good (and relevant) and they hadn’t sucked for the last 15 years…Nothing is sadder than seeing your heroes as they really are…”

Dave:  “He was always a cheeseball. The guys around him simply obscured that.”

Meat:  “Music’s latest train wreck.  So awful you just can’t look away.”

That’s all.  That’s all I can stomach.

0/5 stars

TATERYCHE

2012’s rockin’ stats, for your amusement!

In 2012, I posted 493 articles.  I did 157 chapters in a continuing series of Record Store Tales which has been extremely satisfying.  The rest have been a series of reviews, and rants!  Very popular was my series of Kiss reviews (53 of them!), when I covered every Kiss album in sequence. Currently, I’m finishing up my series of Iron Maiden reviews (42 so far in a series of 45), covering every album and rarity that I have access to. It’s been a blast!

Some personal statistical highlights:

1. Doing an interview with Brian Vollmer, of Helix (my 4th interview so far), which was a huge blast for me as a fan and writer.

2. The many Guest Shots (10 so far!) from contributors such as Tommy Morais, Statham, T-Rev, Mrs. LeBrain and Uncle Meat.  It’s been a pleasure to read and publish your work, gentlepersons.  Keep sending me stuff!

3. Record Store Excursion 2012, and the resulting video.  I love making videos, and this was a blast. At last check, it’s had almost 200 hits (194 to be exact) including some of the people at the stores that we reported on!

Thanks to all the readers out there who’ve made 2012 so much fun here at LeBrain’s Blog.  Let’s kick 2013 into overdrive.

My top ten posts of 2012, by hits:

Editorial: Paul Stanley’s voice problems 741
REVIEW: KISS – The Box Set (Deluxe mini guitar case edition!) 273
GEOFF TATE: Solo album KINGS & THIEVES song samples available now 270
REVIEW: Black Sabbath – Master of Reality deluxe edition! 254
REVIEW: KISS – Destroyer (Resurrected) (2012) 227
REVIEW: KISS – “Hell or Hallelujah” single! (2012) 211
Ex-Queensryche’s GEOFF TATE UPDATE: Still a douche 202
REVIEW: KISS – Destroyer (and a word about that 35th anniversary Resurrected thing) 193
UPDATE: Queensryche’s Tate is a Douche 185
Part 71/ REVIEW: Pink Floyd – Shine On (9 disc box set) 185

Top five LeBrain-reading countries:

Country Views
Canada FlagCanada 13,754
United States FlagUnited States 6,242
United Kingdom FlagUnited Kingdom 2,417
Brazil FlagBrazil 739
Finland FlagFinland 629

Here’s a fun one:  Top five Google searches that led people to LeBrain’s Blog!

queensryche split 82
paul stanley voice 76
kiss revenge review 71
geoff tate is a douche 68
kiss hell or hallelujah 66

LOL…Geoff Tate is a douche!  That’s awesome!

Hope you didn’t party too hard last night.  Let’s rock 2013 like there’s no tomorrow!

MORE Geoff Tate news: His side of the split?

OK folks, as usual I’ll let Geoff say it all.

On the “original” Queensryche with Todd La Torre:

They started a side project called Rising West, and they quickly found out that it didn’t have any value in the marketplace. They couldn’t sell any shows. They couldn’t get booked for shows. And that’s when they fired me and tried to use the name Queensryche to book shows, so they could all make a living.

So what you’re saying Geoff is that the firing had nothing to do with the spitting and the physical assaults and so on and so forth?  This argument doesn’t even make any sense.  Geoff’s claiming that Queensryche fired him, because their side project couldn’t sell any shows?  I’m sure they don’t need a side project to sell shows to make a living while they’re in Queensryche?  If business was as good as Geoff claims, anyway.

On Glen Drover, guitar player in Tate’s new “second” Queensryche:

I had known of him but never met him, but I’ve seen him play a number of times with Megadeth, and I thought he was a fantastic player; just a real fluid, effortless guitar player. And then talking with him, he’s just a really cool guy, very down-to-earth. He’s a Canadian guy who likes hockey and beer, and I’m all down with that.

Alright.  I’m down with that too.

And lastly, on his solo album:

It just happened pretty quickly, and I worked at a pace that’s pretty normal for me, really. A lot of what you hear on it are first, second or third takes. It was pretty immediate, us sitting in the same room, playing together, feeding off each other, and just kinda making stuff up as we went. So it was a fun, immediate record, without a lot of rehearsing it into the ground. Not a very polished record, not over-produced and slick. It’s pretty raw.

OK, that doesn’t sound bad.  Has anybody heard the record yet?  I’ve read good things, but Christmas is coming.

More:

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/geoff-tate-2012-interview/

More Queensryche:

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part I

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part II

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part III

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part IV

Can Tate and Queensryche patch it up?

Blabbermouth asked that question.  Tate says he’s up for it, now it’s up to Queensryche I guess.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=180790

When asked about the now-infamous “knife incident”, Geoff said, “Definitely, I regret my actions that night,” he said. “And I’m not making any excuses for it; it was definitely the wrong way to handle things. And I’m not trying to justify it, but bands are bands and we’re a bunch of guys, and sometimes guys are physical [laughs], and it’s happened many times over the years. The Who, for example, is a band that is pretty known for getting into brawls and things like this. It’s not uncommon, definitely.”

I don’t think Tate’s a bad person, he’s an artist, so are Queensryche, artists can be emotional sometimes.  Maybe they can patch it up.  Who knows.

But on the other hand, I’m curious what the new Queensryche with Todd La Torre have in store.  I dig the return to the metal.  I want to see what they can do, because the Queensryche name has been (in my opinion) tarnished in recent years by substandard albums and cabarets and all this.  I’d like to see Queensryche make a real metal album again, and I don’t know if they can do that with Geoff Tate.

But what do I know?  I’m just a guy.

What do you think?

More Queensryche:

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part I

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part II

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part III

Mike Ladano: Exclusive EDDIE JACKSON interview, part IV