Geoff Tate - What happened to the American dream?

On a gorgeous sunny afternoon we meet Geoff Tate, one of the greatest voices in the history of heavy metal. With us is the Italian Dario Parente, his guitarist. The setting is an unusual one, a farmhouse in the Umbrian countryside where the artist has recently decided to relocate. What followed was a conversation that soon turned to weighty subjects of politics and society, topics dear to Tate ever since his days in Queensrÿche, one of the most innovative and successful bands in the history of metal.

Geoff, thanks for your time. It seems you now have a special bond with Italy: you've worked with many local musicians, including Dario, ever since the Sweet Oblivion project. Just a few days ago you announced a new chapter in the "Operation: Mindcrime" saga, out next May 3rd. How did it all start?

GT: Just an idea. I was listening back to "Operation: Mindcrime 2", because I hadn't listened to it in many years, and... I started thinking: who is Dr. X? Who is this man? And then I went back and listened to "Operation: Mindcrime 1". And again I asked myself: "Who is this man?" I don't know who he is. He's there, he's very peculiar, he's a manipulator, he moves in the shadows and you never really find out who he is or what he represents. I started asking myself questions like: "Who is he?", "How did he get to where he is?", "How is it possible that he has so much power over Nicky and Mary?", "What drives him?" I started thinking about it and then writing music. The songs began to take shape and I brought in Kieran Robertson to write them together with me. Alex Hart also contributed, and then Dario Parente joined the project and started playing guitar. During the tours we kept writing and developing the material. It has an interesting story because we recorded it on the road, in hotel rooms and in the backstage areas of venues, wherever we had time and space. Part of it was recorded in a castle in France. I wrote things on planes with headphones and a laptop. The record has already traveled a great deal over the course of its creation. It was a work in constant evolution that took about six years.

Do you like working this way, writing different pieces in different countries?

GT: Yeah. Well, you write wherever you can. Part of it was recorded right here, actually, at the villa (his home in Italy, ed.). So yeah, that's the musician's life: you travel a lot and you have to work whenever you can. Luckily, technology lets us do that these days.
In the past we had to write everything in our heads, then book a studio, go in and record it all - or parts of it - then wait, and wait, and redo it. Now we work on it constantly. You're always on it, developing ideas nonstop. It's a completely different way of working, and I like it a lot.
I prefer it this way. I don't like staying in the same place too long... they might find me! [laughs]

In some recent interviews you said that "Mindcrime 3" is built from Dr. X's point of view, within the same timeline as the first two albums. But exactly what period are we talking about?

GT: There were about 18 years between the first and second parts, and almost 20 years between the second one and now. This story actually covers both timelines, because it's Dr. X's point of view on what was happening during chapters one and two.

So after decades spent seeing the story through Nikki's eyes, you've now shifted to Dr. X. You've also said that, being closer to his supposed age today, you feel you understand his point of view better. Do you still consider him a villain? And how does he see himself - as a bad guy, or as someone sincerely driven by ideals?

GT: Exactly, that's a very interesting question. Is he a villain, or is he simply following his idea, his muse, his destiny? It's hard to define him. Is he evil? And what is evil, anyway? What's the definition? In his own mind, I think he sees himself as... let's say, a businessman, someone conducting his own affairs.

Mindcrime has always had strong political and social themes. I remember in an old interview you said the second chapter was inspired by George W. Bush being president of the United States. Has the current global situation also influenced this new chapter?

GT: Probably not directly. The current situation in the United States is maybe a bit more extreme than in the early 2000s and the late 80s when the first Mindcrime came out. But essentially, it's still the same people in power. What has always interested me is how manipulation works. For instance, to convince people to go to war, you have to give them a reason to believe it's real and that it's patriotic to go fight for your country. But the United States hasn't really been under threat for decades, probably not since World War II. Most conflicts are about resources. Where's the oil? And that's where we go. The people in power have manipulated the population into believing it's patriotic to fight for your country, but your country isn't under attack, it isn't even remotely in danger. It's simply very rich people who want the rest of us to kill, destroy and die for what they get in return. So it's manipulation, and people believe it. They send young people off to war to die. For what? So the rich can get even richer and own more oil. But they've convinced us it's the right thing to do.

You've been writing about these themes for decades and they still feel incredibly relevant today. I'm thinking of a song like "Surgical Strike", which described the evolution of warfare as far back as 40 years ago. It makes me think of the Gulf War and Afghanistan, but it still sounds extremely current today. I love the album it's from, "Rage For Order", because it was really ahead of its time. Many of the things we see today were already anticipated there, just think of the automation of war through AI and drones, or the recent tensions around Trump and AI companies like Anthropic. What's your perspective on this?

GT: Well, it's all become much more lethal. Technology has improved a lot, we've created machines that fight for us, drones that drop bombs without putting human lives at risk. So, in a way it's better... I guess! [laughs sarcastically] As long as you have the technology. If you don't have it, you're the victim. It's fascinating, a really interesting film just came out called "Mountain Head": it's about five billionaires who get together at a mountain retreat. They're friends from their university days and they spend the week challenging and one-upping each other. They manipulate news cycles to create mass hysteria and then invest in companies that grow precisely because of that situation. Obviously they profit from all of it, and it's fascinating because it's actually happening right now, in real time! You see the news and manipulated images, they're so realistic it's hard to tell what's real from what's fake. You can even see a video of a person speaking and saying things they never actually said. That way a lot of people get convinced that things are happening that actually aren't happening. It's very, very dangerous, the ground is crumbling beneath our feet, we're in quicksand. The only thing we know is real is that we can touch each other, but any image you see has been manipulated in some way. We do it too on our own sites: we make ourselves look a bit better, a bit slimmer, a bit taller. It's an incredible world, but a very difficult one to navigate.

What you're saying is interesting, because today we live in a completely different society compared to, say, 2010, when smartphones and social networks spread on a large scale. We're all constantly connected and overexposed, and in many cases we voluntarily place ourselves in the hands - and eyes - of the public. We're starting to see young adults who grew up entirely within this digital environment, the so-called "digital natives". I was born in the 80s and I still have strong memories of a more "analog" past, when we didn't even have the Internet or cell phones. This contrast makes me think of the nostalgia I sense listening to "I Will Remember", especially in the line: "When knowledge was confined, and then we wonder how machines can steal each other's dreams from points that are unseen". It really strikes me. Do you think new generations risk losing that connection with the past, and maybe with a more natural dimension of life?

GT: You know, my kids are grown now, more or less your age. What interests them, what they do, is very different from my own interests and experiences. It's hard for me to relate to their generation. I still can, but... they're always online, 24 hours a day, and they're heavily influenced by what other people think and say! In my generation that mattered when we were very young, but as we grew up it mattered less and less because we matured and became more grounded in the real world, I think. I'm afraid young people today might never achieve that independence, that ability to think freely. It worries me because I already see it in my own kids. And my grandkids - my God! - they're completely swamped by technology, phones and screens. It's a different world and I don't know how it's going to turn out, but I hope for the best, that people stay connected to each other. There are so many stories in the media about how people aren't really connected anymore and don't talk to each other anymore. Fewer and fewer conversations, just messages after messages...

DP: It's really strange. You know, I was on Instagram and I came across a guy really committed to helping people with mental health. His advice was to switch everything off for two or three hours a day. It's crazy that we've come to this point.

GT: Oh yeah, we're addicted to it. Weather, banking, directions, it's all in there. It's hard to disconnect. I've also read a lot about the effects of pornography on young guys. They don't have relationships, they watch and learn from that, they have sex with themselves. In the long run, what will that mean for population growth?

In the end it all comes down to problems tied to dopamine addiction.

GT: Yes. Also, often in pornography there's no real emotional connection between people, it's a mere physical act of gratification, so kids grow up thinking that's normal and they miss out on a huge part of human connection. What will this do to people's psyche? I don't know... I won't be around to see it! [laughs]

It's curious to think how relevant the theme of "Operation: Mindcrime" still is regarding manipulation through drugs. In 1988 it was about heroin and the twisted use of religion. Today, could pornography and social media be considered the manipulation tools of our era?

GT: Absolutely. Dopamine is the drug. You keep bombarding yourself with dopamine hits, chasing satisfaction, pacification. Your phone gives you everything you need. You could probably write a concept album about phones, like: "I hate my phone, I love my phone!" [laughs]

A question about the title track of "Empire", a song that painted a distorted American dream and highlighted social inequality and class divisions. Do you think it's still relevant today, considering what's happening in Western societies?

GT: Nothing has changed! America is a fascinating study, because you've got all these different people trying to coexist under one set of rules, and everyone's constantly trying to change them so they can get ahead and get richer. It's a very money-driven society. We don't have thousands of years of culture like you do in Italy, for example, where you've already been through all of this. Your culture has already had wars, civil wars, kings... from the Caesars to the Republic, you've already lived through it all. We've only got 250 years, so we're still like teenagers with bad acne and weird haircuts. And somehow we end up with someone like Donald Trump getting elected. People gave him access to the nuclear codes, he's a ticking time bomb. He says: "See all these rules? To hell with them! I'll do what I want and you can chase after me and sue me all you like!" It's a strange way of thinking, but this guy always gets away with it. Nobody stops him. Congress says "we should do something!", but nobody does anything and he just keeps doing whatever he wants. He's - as a comedian once said - a crazy horse in a hospital. All this tariff business and everything he's trying to do... he can't do it! He doesn't have the power! He's just talking, talking, talking, making statements, but he's not really doing anything, it's all just slogans. And that assassination attempt, when he got hit in the ear? It's obvious it was staged. Everyone's talking about it, it's in the papers. He's been named in the Epstein files hundreds of times. Everyone says "someone should do something about it!" But nobody does. Why? Because it's expensive. You have to take legal action against him and that costs a fortune. A regular person isn't going to say "I'm suing Donald Trump." You need millions and millions. And who has the time and energy for that while trying to live their own life? Do you really want to get your hands dirty with something like that? Because they will get dirty - there are people who've been threatened by his administration. It's all very fascinating to watch... from a distance [laughs]

GT: Yeah, I get what you mean. You become desensitized to the chaos. That song was written about 30 years ago, but today it's even more intense and invasive. Back then the media was TV: you just pressed a button and, boom, you were in Israel, Afghanistan, Italy... now it's all on your phone. Speaking of AI, something comes to mind. When Israel and the United States attacked Iran and Iran responded by launching thousands of missiles, they showed buildings collapsing in Dubai, destroyed streets... then you see people online saying: "Here I am on the beach in Dubai, see, nothing's happening here?" They're walking down the street, grabbing a coffee. It's crazy, right? Who does that? It can't just be some guy in his basement. It has to be a coordinated effort by PR or media teams, and by now every company has them.

DP: I was really struck yesterday because I made a post about Phil Campbell of Motörhead. I met him twice at festivals with Geoff and he was always incredibly kind to me. I was impressed by AI, because in the post I wrote that I'd met him twice and that both times he'd commented on my Italian style of dressing. Then, out of curiosity, I clicked on an AI feature that asked "what's the joke about Dario's style?". The AI reconstructed exactly what I meant, saying I was probably backstage at a concert, with everyone dressed in a rock style, with t-shirts and studs, while I was dressed more elegantly. That was exactly what I meant. I was shocked, I told my wife "this is the end of the world!"

GT: People are already using AI to write music. You can ask for a chord progression and instantly get something catchy. But then who owns it? Can you even copyright it? Is music becoming free? Everything is changing.

I saw that you've announced a tour in the UK - is there any chance we'll see you back in Italy soon too?

DP: We don't know yet about Italy, but we'll definitely be playing some dates here too.

I really hope it happens soon. I watched some of your latest 2025 shows on YouTube: the band was excellent and your voice, Geoff, sounds better than ever, if anything even improved. I'm not just flattering you, I really mean it. What's your secret?

GT: Well, years ago I made a deal with a certain Satan...

So it was true what they said about the umlaut in the name Queensrÿche!

GT: [laughs] No, I don't know... I work really hard to stay in shape. Dario and I train a lot. Well, we have one bad habit, we like to drink, so we have to make up for it by being careful with our diet and training so we can keep drinking [laughs]. A life without drinking isn't really a life, especially on tour. Life is good food, good drinks, good friends, good relationships, that's what it's all about. And a sunny day like this one in Umbria!

(April 12, 2026)

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