Given that Geoff Tate responded to being fired from Queensryche by simply going off and starting his own Queensryche, most of us expected the two camps to spend the next several years sniping at each other in the press -- and that's pretty much the way it's still going down.

If anything, the animosity seems to have gone up a notch since both Queensryches announced plans to release new albums in 2013. Although Tate insisted early in a recent chat with Legendary Rock Interviews (via Bravewords) that he's "kind of gotten past that now and am in a much better place now," he still proved more than willing to weigh in on the peculiar turn of events that led to his ouster.

"It was like a kick upside the head that I wasn’t expecting at all, especially at this point in our career where we’ve been a successful band for 30-plus years and have a very respected name around the world," explained Tate. "Why in the world would any sane people launch this whole shakeup and fire everybody who is your support system and everyone who’s involved with you, cancel all your income for the year and cut your head off by firing the face and voice of your band?"

Presumably still waiting for a satisfactory answer to his question, Tate continued, "They have basically sliced their own throat and rubbed the name of the band in the dirt in this quest of theirs and have no sane reason why such madness was necessary. It doesn’t make any sense. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what their whole plan is, what is their plan after the court date, it just doesn’t make any sense."

That court date is currently scheduled for November 2013, which means, as Tate put it, "A lot of water is going to go under the bridge before then, definitely." In the meantime, Queensryche fans can look forward to a year with two incarnations of the band on the road and (theoretically, anyway) on the charts. Read those concert listings carefully, folks.

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