GEOFF TATE Shares The Best Music Advice He Ever Received—From GENE SIMMONS

In a recent interview with Monsters, Madness And Magic‘s Justin Young, former QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Geoff Tate revealed the most valuable music advice he ever received.

“I don’t know who told me this, actually, but I think that it was Gene Simmons from KISS,” Tate said. “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.”

Tate shared his plans for the coming months, saying: “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 began his “Operation: Mindcrime – The Final Chapter” tour. The U.S. portion, which started on March 18 in Tucson, features the 66-year-old singer performing QUEENSRŸCHE‘s classic Operation: Mindcrime album in its entirety for the very last time.