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The Interview was taken
by Aefa on Monday June 15th, 2009 @ the Metropolis in Munich
(with support from Marcela/Romania ;-)
Some Background on my Interview questions:
Over the past few month I have read and listened to quite a few
interviews Geoff had done, so I was familiar with the story of the
new album "American Soldier": How he never talked to his dad about his
experiences during the Korean War until 2006, how he started out filming
him out on the porch, and how it developed into the song "The Voice".
Since I have already covered that part in my album review and reports on
the website, and with some Germans having difficulties understanding
what "American Soldier" is about, I decided it was a good idea to ask
Geoff about his point of view and chat with him about the different
European and American perspectives - YAY :-)))
I have a digital recording I
extracted the interview from and there is also some video footage;
however,
the quality is not the greatest, since the light in the small backstage
room was quite shallow, and there was also lots of noise from people
talking outside.
I suppose it did. The difficult thing about answering that question is that
you don’t really have anything to compare it to, you know, growing up, cause
it’s the only life I have. My dad was kind of a strict
disciplinarian, military minded, and we had to do things very
systematically, chores and things like that, growing up. So I guess I kind of
carried that out on my own kids. Kind of like one of those guys that likes the
ship to run straight. I suppose I kept that from him. That’s the only way
I can think how it might have affected me.
You were born in Germany, did you experience a lot of moving around, was
dad always gone?
No. Actually, my dad was in the technical field, so he didn’t get
transferred a lot to different places like a lot of military people do. I was
born in Germany, then we moved to the States and we lived in the Seattle area
for a long time. Then he got transferred to New Mexico, but only for four years.
So we lived there for four years and then we went back to the Seattle area and
before he finished his military service there. So we only lived in three places
in my entire life.
Queensryche are well-known to be a band with a message. There are many
political references (I am for example referring to the LIAR jacket with the
face of W Bush) and of course you’ve many moral issues discussed in the lyrics.
So I have to admit I was quite surprised when I first listened the album,
because you all left it to the soldier's perspective. Have you ever, during the
production, thought about making it more political, as in using your own words
rather than leaving it all to the soldiers perspective?
Really the whole premise of the album was really trying to find out and
explore the soldier’s perspective. I’ve never been in a war, so I have actually
no comment about it, I don’t have any experience. Anything I would add would
just be speculation. It seems like we have so much of that these days, everybody
has an opinion about everything, even though a lot of people have no experience
in what they are talking about. Maybe it’s just my place I am at in my life
nowadays, but it’s hard for me to comment about things I haven’t experienced. So
I chose not to do that but to let other people who have been there and done it
speak about it.
Is it easier to sing about your own personal feelings and experiences
rather than other people’s stories and viewpoints like you did on American
Soldier. If you write the lyrics to a song from your perspective,
I’d figure you sing it from your heart?
I suppose so. But I think on the other hand, one can empathize with
somebody if the experience is translated to you in a way that moves you. I don’t
know...easier? That’s tough to answer - I guess they are just different. It’s
perhaps a different place you’re at when you are singing from
your own perspective than you are singing from somebody else’s. I don’t know, I
can’t answer that, that’s a though one. *laughs*
I know from experience that military people are highly regarded in the US.
Although I am a German I once had a loved one at the First Gulf War, (my
ex-fiancé, he was US American) So listening to the album for the very first
time, some very emotional memories returned. But to be honest, I wasn’t really
sure if I wanted to be reminded, cause it was a rather sad period in my life
back then in the early nineties. Are you aware that this piece of music might be
hard to swallow, depending on the grade of personal involvement?
Oh, for other people? Yeah. Very aware.
Next I want to talk about the different European and US perspectives, on
how we regard the military. For once, we are not directly involved in war and we
have a different historic background. Germans don't really acknowledge the
military, over here it is much more common to chicken out because it is a
compulsory military service. We don’t really look up to military members. If
you’d actually volunteered to go or they are asked to go, people are like “What
is he doing”? Cause it is not really popular to wear a weapon. How do you think
the album be received by the European audience who lacks this US experience and
understanding?
That’s a tough one to answer, cause I don’t know *laughs*. We haven’t played
a show yet. You know, I have done a lot of interviews for this record and all
over the word, different people commenting. And all of the input I’ve heard has
been very positive about the record, so that’s nice to know.
I am not so certain that in America, we look up to people that are serving in
the military either. But I think what we don’t do nowadays, which is great and
wonderful, is that we don’t take out our frustrations on our military personnel.
We understand that they have a job to do, and it’s a very important job and
their position should be respected. When my dad was in Vietnam and came back to
the States, the country was very torn up about the Vietnam War and people took
out their frustrations on the soldiers. But we’ve kind of come a long ways now
and realized that doesn’t really do any good. It’s really non constructive. War
is one of those things. I think any kind of intelligent person realizes that war
is not a good thing. We don’t try to glorify it, its one of those things that’s
with us and has been with us since human history started, perhaps. So it’s going
to be there and you need to have a strong military in order to protect your way
of living. Because if you don’t, someone will come over and beat you up. This is
kind of the way it works, there always going to be a bull, there is always going
to be somebody that wants something you have, so you have to protect it somehow.
So it’s kind of inevitable to have a military. Even countries – well, Germany
has a military, Italy has a military, every country has...
...but I think we have a
different approach...?
...yeah, definitely a different approach. The whole subject is one that’s
interesting to me, because it is so debatable and so full of different opinions
and different objectives. I like the debate about it, I like people talking
about it, and I hope that that’s what this record does. It gets people talking
about it. Cause I think the more that we talk about a subject, the more we have
the ability to understand it. And once we understand something – human beings
are pretty industrious – once we understand something, we can work to change
what we have. It would really be great if, at some point, we could all fall to a
point where we have a partnership society and we don’t have war anymore. I would
love to be in that position, I think everyone would.
I actually had Germans approach me, and they were afraid that the title
“American Soldier” suggested that Queensryche turned out to be a pro-military
band. Are you?
Pro Military... I think we’re supportive of the military, I believe in a
military strength, I believe in being very prepared militarily. So I guess if
that is pro-military, yeah, I guess we are. We have a lot of fans that are in
the military. You know, I don’t understand what people would be afraid
of...*laughs*
I think it’s the different approach, a different German - I don’t know if
it’s a European - point of view. Maybe it is a little misleading from a German
perspective, because Germans just don’t understand what being an American is
about. I do understand, I mean I’ve lived over there. But for Germans it might
be a little hard to grasp.
Yeah, perhaps.
I was also under the impression that the actual soldiers feel like someone
finally cares, someone finally listens, gives them a voice, pays attention: Do
you consider yourself a spokesman for the military, now that you also toured a
bunch of bases?
Oh no, not really. I think what we are doing is we are kind of like, perhaps
a voice for soldiers in a sense, maybe a vehicle is a better term. We are simply
telling their stories. Acting like a biographer in a sense, telling other
people’s stories. By doing that I think that it helps people talk about it. A
lot of times, soldiers come back from a war, being a very dramatic experience.
They kind of shut down about it emotionally and can’t really talk about it how
they feel for a long time. That emotional distance sometimes has a tendency to
really have a dramatic effect on their family. I think if families can
understand perhaps a little about what a soldier does over there, goes through,
it will help to not destroy the family and keep in more intact. Cause they’ll
see that it’s not their fault that dad or mom is acting the way they are. Maybe
they’ll be able to understand that what they just went through is a very
dramatic experience and they need time to adjust. We hear a lot of stories from
soldiers, once they hear this record, they hear their own lives in these songs...
...I was moved, I was really touched, but I wasn’t sure...I mean I love your
music, always in a good way, but it was also really tough...a lot of emotional
heavy baggage.
Yeah it affects you.
Before
the album was released in March, I have seen an image of the album’s backside
and it featured a US flag lying on the ground. Then they took the image off the
Internet. I was wondering if you were afraid to upset anybody and did a last
minute change of the cover?
When you’re making a record cover, you go through all those different
drafts, the artist submitting different ideas. Some ideas you accept, and other
ones "no, that’s not the right one". The image that was up on the Internet was
not the right image that we had accepted.
...so you’ve never chosen it in the first place?
No, so it was a mix-up with somebody set the wrong image in and nobody looked at
it to make sure that it was okay. It went up, then somebody noticed it and
brought it to our attention. We said "take it down, this is the right image". In
the age of email and that kind of thing...
...it travels fast, even to Germany :-)
Yeah, it travels fast, so we tried to take it down as quick as we could,
cause that wasn’t the image that we wanted.
Tonight you’ll be playing in Munich, tomorrow in Stuttgart. Since you were
born in Stuttgart - is that just a city mentioned on your passport, or did you
ever return to see where baby Geoff played in the sandbox?
Yeah, actually I know some people there, family friends. They have been
friends with our family for years. It’s a beautiful city, wonderful city. I
really don’t have a strong connection to it cause I didn’t live there very long,
but I always enjoyed going back and playing there, seeing the friends that we
have.
What can we expect tonight and on the upcoming dates in Europe and
Germany? Is it the same line-up as we have seen in Seattle? I am not really sure
if Emily’s there, AJ Fratto? I’ve seen Jason...
Jason’s here. Emily’s not here and AJ’s not here.
I have been wondering because the dates were not listed on AJ’s Myspace
site. Are you going to play the three suites of American Soldier, Empire and
Rage for Order? Is it the same setlist?
It will be similar setlist.
How do you feel the audience and your fans are responding to your music
today compared to 20 years ago?
Responding to it? I don’t know. I’ve never been a very good judge on that. I
only see music is a very personal thing for people. Some songs, some pieces of
music really affect you. Others don’t, others affect you in different times of
your life, some never do. We all grow, we all change, we all take in life and
experiences. Things we liked when we were 20 now we are not so into. People grow
and change. So, I don’t know, it seems like people are moved by music, different
songs, different albums, the same as they’ve always been, really. I guess...I
don’t know...that’s a tough one to answer, too (laughs)
I remember you once told one of the German Empire members that age 50, you
would stop doing QR and enjoy more time on your sail boat.
Did I? *surprised*
Yes you did! :-) As we all know, the big day passed last January and I’m of
course happy to see you here touring. What changed your mind?
Well, music, really. I think as long as you’re writing and producing music and
feeling good about it, you should keep doing it. I guess some day it will stop
when you don’t have anything else to say. So that’s a good time to put the sails
up and go...
With all the things you have experienced and accomplished in your life, is
there anything you still want to do?
Oh yeah, lots of stuff. I started this wine business a few years ago and
that’s doing pretty well now. I’m liking that a lot, although it’s pretty time
consuming. I’d like to spend more time on the boat *laughs*, doing things like
that. I started getting together a race circuit for sailing vintage boats. It’s
just really in the emphasis right now. Getting all the different owners and
boats together, being at a certain spot at a certain time so we can race. I’d
like to do more of that.
One of my daughters is getting married next month, so maybe I’ll have some
grandkids soon. That might be kind of neat. So I’d like to spend more time with
them.
There are a couple of books I’ve been working on, doing some film work this
summer.
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What ever happened to that one movie...[referring to House of Eternity with
Blackmore's Night's Candace Night] ?
It got postponed cause of the worldwide market crash – it strikes. But it’s back on and we’re shooting in August. Doing that in August and then doing the music for that film as well. So that’s kind of taking up a lot of my time.
Can we expect you to be back for more? Is there going to be another album,
another tour?
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