to make a very long story short:
April 14 - Rumors about Geoff Tate Punching some of his bandmates and threatening Scott Rockenfield (the drummer ) with a knife just before a show in Sao Paulo
Around June 8th - all the other queensryche members do 2 shows with the Crimson Glory singer (who sounds almost the same as GT in the 80s) under the name "Rising West"
a couple of days later - Rising West announced that they are now Queensryche and that Geoff Tate has been fired
some more days later - Geoff Tate tells his side of the story: getting fired was a big surprise and he will try to stop the others to use the name Queensryche, since he (co)wrote most of the songs. he also mentioned that the other members never bothered to bring any new music to the table and agreed with all business decisions made in the past. On the Brazil incident, he says that he was told just before the show that they fired his wife (Manager of the band), stepdaughter and other family members that were on the Band's Payroll
Just before walking on stage, Scott rockenfield tells him "we just fired your family and you're next!". Geoff loses it and smacks him on the face... not much else to it according to him.
Yesterday - sworn statements of all 3 other members leaked to blabbermouth and pretty much say the same: Geoff has had a bad temper all along and he and his wife were dictators and would not allow any input from the rest of the band musically. Geoff hates their old (Metal) songs and doesn't want to play them ever (Oddly, I complained that most of their shows were "greatest hits" set lists over the last couple of years - how many times did they do Mindcrime and Empire anniversary tours?)
they also claim that GT sold the rights to make a movie about Operation Mindcrime without their approval.
On the Brazil incident: days before that show they called a meeting to which GT couldn't make it. in order to cut cost, they decided to outsource Management, merchandise and fan club management to a third party, and to fire GT's wife and family because they were too expensive.
While in Brazil, GT asked about what they did and in return they asked him about the movie rights. he walks away and later before the show completely freaks out and chased and hit his bandmates.. during the show he spits on his band mates and made some more threats
according to their story, GT is a very violent and angry man... which could be true.. the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.. very sad though to see this awesome band end like this.
