You had to know it would come to this when Geoff Tate was thrown out of the group Queensryche. He recently filed a motion in Washington to assign the band name to him rather than let the other remaining members use it.
Today, the band and their lawyers defeated a preliminary injunction that would have kept them from using the name, but the battle is far from over. The original motion will now move forward at some time in the future.
AGPS Management senior manager Glen Parrish was still upbeat, telling Billboard "We are excited that the Washington courts saw what we and the fans have always known, that Queensryche is more than any one member," Parrish said in a statement. "We are sorry we had to go to court to show this, but we are determined to bring back the quality product Queensryche was known for. We can't wait to unveil to the fans what [the band creates] next musically."
Tate and his wife Susan, who had been the group's manager for a number of years, filed the lawsuit on June 22, alleging that Geoff was fired illegally and, by moving forward using the band's name, the remaining three members were tarnishing the group's name.
More details are being made public about how the group got to this point. The site Blabbermouth has published Susan Tate's statement about how she became manager for the group.
Geoff Tate's deposition was also made public on Classic Rock's site where he admits to hitting group members Michael Wilton and Scott Rockenfield before a concert in April in Brazil and states he was wrong and it was the only time he had hit one of the members. "I was upset at the time, having been told my wife and daughter had been fired and that I was ‘next’. I regret losing my temper and my actions are not acceptable. It is unlike me to act in this manner."
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