Geoff Tate says he is the winner in the long-running Queensryche saga.
The former Queensryche frontman and his ex-bandmates reached a legal settlement in April of this year which will see Tate relinquish all rights to the name.
He was sacked from the band in 2012 but formed his own lineup of Queensryche, while his former friends hired Todd La Torre as singer and continued using the name.
In April, it was agreed La Torre and co will continue as Queensryche while Tate decided to perform under the name Operation: Mindcrime – named after the Queensryche concept albums.
Now Tate claims he is the winner after the out-of-court settlement.
He tells San Antonio Metal Music Examiner: “I’m very happy. I’m extremely financially happy right now. They had to pay me, which is what they should have done all along. That’s exactly what the whole court case was about.
“So they finally agreed to pay me for my share of the name and the business. I’m continuing on doing what I do and they can continue doing what they do, and we’ll all be happier.
“A lot of people are saying the other guys ‘won’ the name. Well, they didn’t win it. We never went to court. It was all an agreement on a settlement out of court. It was a financial arrangement. So it wasn’t like a win-lose thing. In my opinion, I think I won.”
Operation: Mindcrime consists of Rudy Sarzo, Robert Sarzo, Simon Wright, Randy Gane and Kelly Gray. They’ll start recording new material in September.
