QUEENSRŸCHE Members Are 'Bringing The Metal Vibe Back' With RISING WEST

RISING WEST, the new band featuring Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield and Parker Lundgren of QUEENSRŸCHE, along with powerhouse vocalist Todd La Torre of CRIMSON GLORY, was interviewed for the first time on yesterday's (Thursday, June 7) edition of "The Men's Room", which airs on the Seattle station KISW 99.9 FM. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Interview (audio):

On the formation of RISING WEST and the status of QUEENSRŸCHE:

"We have some time off this year, so we put a project and this kind of turned into this monumental, epic band. And we're doing that as kind of a side thing away from QUEENSRŸCHE."

"We still very much areQUEENSRŸCHE, and QUEENSRŸCHE will be continuing on. We want to just have some fun, play some old 'RŸCHE, bring back some memories and just kick it."

On Todd's involvement with RISING WEST and the status of CRIMSON GLORY:

Todd: "We've [CRIMSON GLORY] got some shows in Europe coming up in August and we're writing a new album. But I met Michael at NAMM, a large music convention in California, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We were at a private artist dinner party for Seymour Duncan and we met there and had dinner and talked and it just kind of morphed from there."

"Obviously, the friendship side of it, [the other members of CRIMSON GLORY] are happy for me, they want me to do it. Profesionally, I'm sure that there's some concern, that they don't want CRIMSON GLORY to be diminished. It's not, we're still writing. But it's not a full-time touring band like what these guys do. And yeah, anybody would do what I'm doing. But they're happy for me. I mean, it's a very similar genre. Both bands are pioneering bands of the progressive metal genre, and so it's gotten a lot of cross-promotion for CRIMSON GLORY. And the QUEENSRŸCHE fans are like, 'Who's this guy?' So it's exposed both sides of the aisle. It's all for the love of the music and the style of music that we play and the style of vocals that I sing. It's more of a rare thing; it's not as mainstream. But the following for CRIMSON GLORY and QUEENSRŸCHE are the most loyal, devout, diehard fans that have been following both bands for 25 years for CRIMSON and 30 years for QUEENSRŸCHE. I mean, these are the guys that write the music, they play the instruments, they are the embodiment of these songs that we've all loved. And so for me to be able to come in and be asked to perform these songs is an honor. It's a lot of fun. I have personal attachment to some of these songs. When my grandmother passed away, I remember riding in my car and listening to the [QUEENSRŸCHE] song 'Roads To Madness'. I mean, these songs resonate with me in a different way. So when I sing it, it comes from my heart. And I think when you see a live performance, you'll see."

On performing all the QUEENSRŸCHE classics:

Todd: "I can just hit the notes. I've never had lessons. I'm not formally trained. We rehearsed today and we're playing all the old classics and I can belt it out just like the record. It's amazing, 'cause I'm a drummer my whole life — 24, 25 years; I started when I was 13 — and to be watching one of my largest influences on drums two feet from me playing, it's an amazing experience."

Scott: "He keeps playing when I leave the room to go to the restroom. And he's playing better than I am. It's really beginning to kind of piss me off."

On his RISING WEST bandmates:

Todd: "Honestly, they're all amazingly humble, they're funny. They all have families that are beautiful families. They're all down-to-earth, real people. No egos… It's amazing. I feel very welcomed. I don't feel like a 'hired gun.' I've been offered very equal say in the setlist, and even the [RISING WEST] logo. I mean, I was a very integral part of creating the logo. We all talked on the phone, conference calling."

On RISING WEST's setlist:

"It's the list from the fans, for a long time, that have wanted to hear a bunch of that material, and so we kind of start with that. Although that's a big list. And then we just look at it and go, 'OK, what do we wanna play?' We're playing some great stuff that we haven't touched for quite awhile."

"There's all different reasons why we haven't played some of the older stuff. For us now, it's just kind of us wanting to reach back and do all that."

"We're bringing the metal vibe back."

On whether RISING WEST's future includes more shows and studio work:

"The road ahead is a daily process for us, but we're keeping it open to all of that, to be honest — more music together playing shows, and more music together in the studio. This weekend is kind of the beginning of a beginning."

"You never know if RISING WEST will ever do another show — it might be something else that we do. You never know."

"There's some great stuff coming down for us with QUEENSRŸCHE. Until we're ready to explain what we're doing, it's kind of a day-to-day thing. RISING WEST is a way to go out, get to know Todd, do some music together with no strings attached and see what happens after the weekend. It's a major work in progress."

On QUEENSRŸCHE's performance at last month's Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma where singer Geoff Tate told the audience, "You guys suck":

"For us, it was a great show. We had a great show. There were some other comments made by other people not in this room right here who didn't have a good time. But we had a great time."

On why some "other people" didn't have a great time at Rocklahoma:

"I'm not sure, to be honest. We're still trying to figure it out ourselves."

On rumors that Tate was involved in a violent outburst with his QUEENSRŸCHE bandmates in Brazil in April:

"At this point in time the 'guy with the tie' told me what happens in Brazil is gonna stay in Brazil."

On whether they'd learned anything from their current situation:

"Make a band agreement."

RISING WEST will make its live debut on Friday, June 8 and Saturday, June 9 at the Hard Rock Café in Seattle, Washington. The band will perform rare and classic hits from the first five QUEENSRŸCHE albums — from the 1983 EP through 1990's "Empire" — and plans on hitting the studio sometime early summer to begin recording its first release.

A seven-minute YouTube clip containing samples of Todd La Torre performing a number of QUEENSRŸCHE classics can be found below. Also available is Todd's full-length performance of the song "Queen Of The Reich".

QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate entered the studio on February 29 to begin recording his second solo album.

Tate released his first solo CD in 2002 on Sanctuary Records. Self-titled, the LP was a huge departure from the work he had previously done with QUEENSRŸCHE.