Geoff Tate Shares the Most Valuable Music Advice He Received from Gene Simmons

In a brand new interview with Justin Young of Monsters, Madness And Magic, former QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate was asked to name the best piece of music advice he ever got. He responded : "I don't know who told me this, actually, but I think that it was Gene Simmons from KISS. We were talking about writing music and that kind of thing, and he said, 'I think the best thing you can do is always just follow your heart. Follow what's interesting, write about what's interesting to you, and don't try to please people. Don't try to write something for somebody else. Write what you know.' And maybe that doesn't sound like something Gene would say, but I think he's very right about that. You really have to write for your own stake of writing and write the music you hear in your head and not try to please your genre or try to make everybody else happy, because you'll never be happy on your own if you're always trying to make other people happy. And you'll never really show your own voice or find your own voice artistically if you're always trying to please other people. So, I don't know. That's the route I've always taken. And it's the advice I give people as well: follow your heart."

Regarding his plans for the coming months, Tate said: "Oh, gosh. Yeah, it's festival season here in Europe, and so I'm playing a few festivals around the region and kind of gearing up for my U.S. tour, which begins again in September. [I'm going out for] another sweep through North America. I'm gonna be going into Canada this time, which I'm excited to see all the Canadian fans, since I haven't been there in a few years. So, yeah, that's pretty much it. Tour. Tour, tour."

Tate recently launched his "Operation: Mindcrime - The Final Chapter" tour. The U.S. leg of the trek, which kicked off on March 18 in Tucson, saw the 66-year-old vocalist performing QUEENSRŸCHE's classic "Operation: Mindcrime" album in its entirety for the last time.