Geoff Tate is in the giving spirit this holiday season. The Operation: Mindcrime vocalist has decided that his new song "The Way the Wind Blows" will be sending any windfall it receives to the MercyWatch homeless non-profit organization.

In a chat with Totally Driven Radio (heard above), Tate says that he was impressed by MercyWatch, calling them "an incredible project" that helps doctors and health care professionals and counselors to "actually go out and do street work and find homeless people and counsel with them and try to help them become part of the capitalistic system."

He added, "What I've found, dealing with MercyWatch, is that it seems to be about 50-50 — mental illness and addiction are the two problems, specifically, with people. They just get to a point where they can't function and they have to do something, and the only thing they can do is hit the street. It's a sad epidemic, and I use the word 'epidemic' on purpose, 'cause it's something that everyone in the country is experiencing, not just the people that are experiencing homelessness, but everybody else too, having to see [the homeless people] and deal with them and the feelings you have. 'What do I do? Do I give them change or is that adding to the problem?' And the constant daily struggle that we all face. And, 'Is that going to be me soon out there with them? Am I gonna end up in a tent somewhere, because I can't pay for the health care that I need?' Because, again, we live in this capitalistic society [where] people have gotta win and make money no matter what, and you can't win if you're giving away money to social welfare." The outreach program helps in the community of Snohomish County in Washington where Tate lives.

The track was inspired by Tate's own experience of witnessing the homeless population in his hometown. The song does not appear on the newly released The New Reality album and is being issued independent of the disc.

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