Avantasia are on their way to Australia. The Rock Opera, brainchild of Tobias Sammet of Edguy, and its impressive cast touch down briefly to perform two shows as part of the ‘Moonglow World Tour’ on May 12th and May 14th. If you’re lucky enough to live in Sydney and Melbourne there’s no other place to be on those nights and no excuses for missing what promises to be the show of a lifetime. We caught up with four of the cast for their own personal takes on the project – second up is Operation Mindcrime’s (ex-Queensryche) Geoff Tate who also touches on the upcoming US Tour and what’s next musically for him. Sadly at points the call drops out so this one is alittle shorter than our other cast interviews…
Mark: Hi Geoff Mark from The Rockpit calling, how are you?
Geoff: I’m good thank you.
Mark: How’s Switzerland treating you? (The Avantasia cast have just played their second of three dates in Pratteln)
Geoff: Good, good, we’ve been here for a few days and tonight is our third show before we move on to Spain, but it’s been good, it’s beautiful weather here.
Mark: A beautiful country, great time of year to be there. The big news though for people in our parts is that you’re coming down to visit us very soon.
Geoff: Yeah a couple of weeks.
Mark: There‘s just a couple of Australian shows on the 12th and 14th of May which is the first visit here for Avantasia, but obviously you’re no stranger to these shores, we saw you not that long ago and hopefully we’ll get you down with Operation Mindcrime sometime soon. How did you get the call up to take part in the project?
Geoff: Well Toby just called me and asked me if I’d be interested and I asked him to send me some music, and as soon as I heard the music I was in. I booked a plane ticket to the studio, and it was a wonderful experience. I’ve really enjoyed the tour so far it’s been great playing with all these great musicians and singers every night, I’ve absolutely loved it so far.
Mark: Is it a very different experience being part of a large ensemble cast rather than being centre of attention for the whole show as you are with ‘Mindcrime’?
Geoff: Yeah that’s really unusual to get used to, but kind of refreshing because we get to take a break and re-energise. It’s a three hour plus show and there’s a lot going on, but I’ll tell you one of the things that’s amazed me is the endurance Toby has, he’s a fantastic singer and just so ‘into it’ and he never holds back, he just goes for it all the time. I have so much respect for that.
Mark: There’s some wonderful artist involved, and some wonderful vocalists from, I guess, all kinds of bands, who’d have thought that you’d have Magnum’s Bob Catley sharing a stage with Geoff Tate, Jorn Lande, Eric Martin from Mr Big and all the other guys, how are you all getting along?
At this point the call drops out…
I call back (nice answerphone message)…
Geoff: Where did we leave off?
We recap…
Geoff: well most of us have all known each other just through our previous work with previous bands and albums, but the first time we all got together was so fun. We all met in the hotel bar and that kind of started it out and it hasn’t stopped. It’s been so fun hanging out with these incredible players and singers, and I was really kind of apprehensive at first, not having done it before but some of the veteran singers like Ronnie Atkins for example and Eric Martin and Jorn Lande they really welcomed me into the whole Avantasia world and made me feel very comfortable. It’s like I’ve known them all my life, you know, (laughs) it’s a really good, positive experience.
Mark: That’s great to hear.
Mark: For someone who’s put out three fantastic albums over the last few years – the trilogy of ‘The Key’; ‘Resurrection’ and ‘the New Reality’ which was a huge project in itself. Do you see any parallels between the way you think about music and the way Tobias does?
Geoff: In some ways yeah, you know. He’s a very visual person and I am too so we share that. We both have a love of melody and complex arrangements, and we both love heavy music. So there’s definitely similarities there and we’re also big music fans (laughs) so I think we share a lot of things similarly.
Mark: My net question is probably the one you get asked all the time, I know that operation Mindcrime are out on tour in the US in June, but what’s next for you as far as new music is concerned?
Geoff: Well I actually wasn’t going to release anything this year. I’m trying mostly to concentrate on touring with Avantasia, it’s a fairly long and involved tour but I have a lot of requests from different promoters to perform the ‘Operation Mindcrime in its entirety’ show. So I’m just fulfilling the last of those requests in June so hopefully I can move onto something new to perform after that.
Mark: That album, well I guess this would still be in its 30th year?
Geoff: I started touring that last January for the 30th anniversary of the album, and here I am six months into the next year (laughs) still performing the album! I’d rather people love it and still want to see it and hear it, I really appreciate that.
Mark: It’s a wonderful album, one that changed a lot of people’s lives, for me personally it opened me up to being more open minded about music and it’s still a mystery, the whole story, after all these years.
Mark: You’ve got a lot of music going on to keep you busy – this tour, your tour the 31st anniversary shows. What do you get up to in your rare downtime? You’re still making that wonderful wine?
Geoff: I am, that’s where I was today. Our winery is in Southern Germany close to Basel where we’re staying, about an hour from Switzerland. So I rented a car and went out, went walking through the vineyards, just checking out the latest growth on the vines. I met with my winemaker and his family and its Easter there so we had desert at their house at the winery. It was a wonderful afternoon actually and now I’m driving back through Switzerland to the show which happens in a few hours.
Mark: Yes, make sure you get there on time (laughs).
Mark: I know we don’t have too long left on this interview but one of the things I wanted to get your opinion on is the state of the industry. Music has changed so much over the last few years, streaming is killing everything, and today it’s a lot harder than it was to make money out of releasing new music. But then you come across things like this – the Avantasia tour, and you think well you can still put on a big production, you still can get people to come out to a Rock show, especially in Europe where the shows are packed out. Is the future of Rock music very much in the live arena do you think?
We drop out again as Geoff passes through a tunnel.
Geoff: I sure hope so. I sure hope so. I tell you what it’s incredibly exciting to play this show to between five to ten thousand people a night. It’s the way it used to be, you know, and it kind of puts you into a different headspace playing on those big stages in front of big audiences, it’s a wonderful feeling and I’m very grateful to Toby and the band for asking me to participate. I’m thoroughly enjoying myself. I have no idea where Rock music is heading but I’m definitely watching to see what happens. It’s an interesting phenomena the Avantasia thing, very interesting how people have gravitated to it, and the audiences are passionate, absolutely passionate about the albums and the music and the live performances. It’s actually quite inspiring as a performer to see that in an audience again.
Mark: It is interesting isn’t it with shows like this and the Rock and Roll biopics that are coming out, the Queen film, the Motley Crue movie too maybe. There is still an audience there that hasn’t gone away that is still passionate, it’s just finding a way to harness that, and Avantasia has it just right they do that.
Geoff: Yeah, it’s definitely a phenomenon and really, really interesting to watch. Every night the expressions on people’s faces; you hear them singing the songs. I never get lost, I always know where I am with the lyrics because I just watch people’s lips (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) that’s fantastic. Thank you so much for your time today Geoff, I think this is about the fourth of fifth time we’ve interviewed you over the years for the site, enjoy yourself and have a safe trip down-under.
Geoff: Thank you very much Mark, I really appreciate the interview. Bye, bye now.
AVANTASIA TOUR DATES:
May 12th – Sydney, Metro Theatre
Tickets: https://bit.ly/2IMBZMr
May 14th – Melbourne, The Forum
Tickets: https://bit.ly/2Uk2c6E
