MICHAEL WILTON: 'With The Addition Of TODD LA TORRE, We Have Taken QUEENSRŸCHE To A New Level'

Jeffrey Easton of Metal Exiles recently conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metal Exiles: With all of the pre-release touring that QUEENSRŸCHE is doing, how exciting is it to see the fan reactions to the new material and Todd [La Torre] fronting the band?

Wilton: It is unbelievable. When we bring the new show to the fans, and we are playing the songs the way they are supposed to be played, you see the fans in the front rows with their jaws dropped. With the addition of Todd, we have taken QUEENSRŸCHE to a new level, and it is just mindblowing live. We have integrated a few of the new songs to the setlist and the fans have given us so much positive feedback for them.

Metal Exiles: You guys have been around for years and I am sure the writing was on the wall. Were you surprised that the uprising in the band happened when it did?

Wilton: QUEENSRŸCHE has lasted longer than some marriages, and as with any business, people change and sometimes people change too much, they get stale and if it no longer goes the way it should, you have to bring in something new. You also have to pay attention to your audience. I could hear people screaming for the old songs, and even though I wear in-ear monitors, I could hear people scream, "Play something from 'The Warning', the EP!" It was the writing on the wall. Some people have their own musical direction they want to go in, and that means you have to make some changes.

Metal Exiles: I know that writing for the last several albums has been estranged, so how was it writing with Todd since he was the new guy and tell us how this album evolved so quickly.

Wilton: This album was a collaboration of the whole band. Todd is an accomplished drummer, Eddie [Jackson, bass] has a great ear for melodies and lyrics, and Scott [Rockenfield, drums] has great ideas for rhythms and orchestrations. This was letting everybody contribute to the whole album. It used to be, "This is what I am going to write and this is the way it is going to be," so now it is, "What do you think?" With "Redemption", I gave them the melodic line and the lyrics were written. The lyrics and melody for "Fallout" is all Eddie Jackson. Todd is completely vocal about it — he wants everybody's input for the song; that's the way he wants it. He is just not going to write lyrics and poems, he is actually helping out with the music as well.

Metal Exiles: I know that with this album, the band was finally conscious of what the fans wanted and that's what you are here for. The album sounds modern, but has that classic QUEENSRŸCHE sound throughout. Were you writing for that classic sound but not holding yourself in a box?

Wilton: Here you have energy, you have three of the co-founding members of QUEENSRŸCHE, three proven assets, you have the lineage, it is ingrained in our DNA. You are right; we are listening to the fans, we are attuned to them on the Internet, we know what they want to hear; it is all about being aware. There is a lot more to being a musician than writing what you want; you have to have an open mind and adapt to everybody's contributions. When you are writing the music, you really don't know if it is going to connect with the fans, so that's why we put songs from the first five albums in the set and the fans dug it; we were connecting and we knew that's what they wanted from the new album.

Read the entire interview from Metal Exiles.

"Fallout" audio stream:

"Where Dreams Go To Die" audio stream:

"Redemption"(new song) audio stream: