Now Is Not The Time For Rock Says Geoff Tate

William Lee | 10-31-2019

Former Queensryche frontman Geoff Tate recently shared his views on the current state of rock music and how it is difficult for newer artists to find success because the rules are much different from when he started out.

Tate made the comments during an interview with The Cosmick View. He said, "The game has changed radically; it doesn't even resemble anything like it was when I started out. The rules are all different, if there are any rules, really.

"I would say as far as a genre of music, rock is not the music of the times - definitely not worldwide. It has pockets of popularity and I for one am solidly entrenched in rock music and I make a nice living touring and releasing albums to my market and I still tour; this tour was 26 countries.

"You know, that's pretty respectable. I like that. It works for me. But as far as many bands and artists making a living doing that, I don't know. It's really tough for a new band to get an audience, and that's what you need in order to survive in this business, is an audience of people that are willing to support your art, buy your records or buy the tickets to see you perform. And without that, a young artist doesn't have anything other than their music. So, the challenge is getting that audience.

"It used to be, when we started out, that you would go out on tour with the headliner band and they were kind enough to share their audience with you, you know. And if you were good at what you did their audience would accept you and maybe be interested in what you had to say and you'd start building from there. But nowadays, there's just so much competition and there's so many bands and artists that want to say something and tour around. How do they get access to an established artist audience? It's near impossible for everybody to do it.

"So, I for one like to help out artists that I can and have certain artists that I enjoy and I like, I like what they're doing, I like them as people. I try to give them spots on my tour to share my audience with them. I think that's just the way you should do it. That's the way it was when I was starting out and I'll continue that tradition."