QUEENSRŸCHE Singer TODD LA TORRE: 'I Don't Do Any Vocal Warm-Ups' And 'I've Never Taken Vocal Lessons'

In a new video his Facebook page, QUEENSRŸCHE singer Todd La Torre answered a fan-submitted question about whether he uses "any secret concoctions to keep the vocal pipes in top form". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've had days where I did everything you're supposed to do by the book and didn't sing that well, and then there are other times where I've had a Coca-Cola, I've eaten a piece of pizza pretty much right before I went on stage, and had some of the best performances of my life. Obviously, rest is best. And I don't think that drinking hot tea or anything does anything actually to the vocal cords, but I do think that it does feel soothing to have a hot beverage. A lot of people like Throat Coat tea. That's a thing that a lot of singers seem to go for. You know, rest, a lot of water, hydration is always the best. Hydrating from the inside out to the vocal cords and those tissues are always recommended."

Todd continued: "I don't do any vocal warm-ups, really. I never really have, and so I've never taken vocal lessons or anything like that. I don't really follow really kind of the rules that so many singers seem to adhere to or be so strict about. I feel like if I don't acknowledge them, they don't really apply to me. But I know some other great singers never warmed up either. I'm told Ronnie James Dio never really did. Rob Halford, same thing. So, some people have their special regimen that they do to keep their vocals in check. I don't drink alcohol; I never have. I quit smoking cigarettes three and a half years ago, so I'm sure that that helped. But pretty much just not speaking on tour and lots of water. And also, when you do sing, exercising that full range. I feel like it's like a weightlifter. If you stop lifting heavy weights, when you go to lift that heavy weight, you're not gonna be able to. So I always try to exercise my full range."

In a 2024 interview with Canada's The Metal Voice, the now-52-year-old Todd said that he and his QUEENSRŸCHE bandmates still play all of their songs in "the standard tuning". He explained: "Most guitars are just, you strum and they're just E — standard tuning… And listen, back then, '80s and rock was very much always in E — maybe E flat where you downtune it a half step. And singers that struggle a lot of times will say, 'Hey, we're gonna need to tune this one down.' So the song, all the music gets tuned down. You tune the music, the key, the instruments down a little. And then when you play those same chords, you play the guitar the same way, but it's just a little bit in a lower key, and so it makes it easier for a lot of singers to sing those songs still, just not in the standard tuning that they were originally recorded… There's nothing wrong with that, if that's what you have to do to to make it work. What's not cool is when you act like you didn't do it, and there are singers that do that, or it's frustrating when people will say, 'Oh,' whatever band it is, 'that guy's still hitting the notes like the record.' And they don't realize that, no, he's not. It's tuned down. It's not the same. And you can compare 'em — you can 'A-B' 'em and listen. You think he's killing these high notes. He's not. He's singing lower note that still sound good, but let's make no mistake. It's not how it was recorded. And again, that's fine. There might be a point in my life where, yeah, I can't do that. But you can still sing it really, really well. At [52] years old, I still — when I feel good and I'm not ill and tired and everything — I can sing all the QUEENSRŸCHE stuff in standard tuning and it's fine. It's not a big deal."

La Torre was the lead singer for CRIMSON GLORY from late 2010 until resigned from the band in early 2013. In 2012, Todd became a household name in the metal world when he officially joined QUEENSRŸCHE as the group's new vocalist. The band immediately began touring globally and started writing new material for the self-titled 2013 album "Queensrÿche". To date, QUEENSRŸCHE has released four studio albums with La Torre: "Queensrÿche", "Condition Hüman" (2015),"The Verdict" (2019) and "Digital Noise Alliance" (2022).