QUEENSRŸCHE's MICHAEL WILTON Says Next Album Will Be 'Heavy', 'Prog' And 'Very Melodic'

Quick Throttle magazine conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton on July 12 at the Lawless Harley-Davidson grand opening party in Renton, Washington. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On direction of the material QUEENSRŸCHE has been writing for its next studio album, tentatively due in the summer of 2015:

Wilton: "It's kind of hard to pinpoint, but we have started [work on new material], and we're creating the songs right now — there's at least a dozen tunes that we're working as a band. You know, it's a diversity, but it's true to the QUEENSRŸCHE roots; we're not gonna give you anything crazy, [there will] not be a 180-degree flip. It'll be pretty heavy, pretty prog, but very melodic, and [we'll] just try to make it very three-dimensional and really interesting, like QUEENSRŸCHE fans love, and we love too."

On what QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Parker Lundgren has added to the songwriting process:

Wilton: "Parker brings great ideas to the table, especially on the new album; we've already got a couple [of songs] from him that we're working on. The last record, he wrote a kickass song ['Where Dreams Go To Die'] that I we're playing live [at our current shows]. Yeah, he's growing as a musician and as a person. He wasn't even born when we did 'Rage For Order', in 1986, so that's how young he is."

In a recent interview with Pop-Break.com, QUEENSRŸCHE drummer Scott Rockenfield spoke about what fans can expect to hear on QUEENSRŸCHE's follow-up to last year's self-titled album. "Our old sound was kind of our thing, and I think we just found what QUEENSRŸCHE was good at, and we really wanted to do that [on 'Queensrÿche']," he said. "I think it really bought us back to the essence of some of that old material that we did together. It was honest material, and I think that record was one of the most honest records we've made. It really shows just 'us' all around, and our fans' response and the press's response… people all over the world listened was happy, and it was quite overwhelming! So, I think it's a great thing, for us to find that. As for what's coming next, I don't really have a defined answer for you because we never really know. We tend to not really define it until it's done, but we've been working on it quite a bit, so it will soon kind of lay itself out. But it's going to be us… it's just going to be us. It's gonna be what we do in the best fashion possible. I think you can say that there will be a lot of the elements from the last record in it. The energy and the chemistry and the honesty and the unity… all of that stuff will be in it, and hopefully the icing on the cake will be that we wrote really great songs and people enjoy what they listen to. I don't think they're not going to, to be honest. We're really good salesmen now because we feel so good about it! [laughs] Now we just have to do it! I think we'll have it done within the next four to six months, after we get through putting it all together and stuff. It's a great blessing, and it's really a lot of fun for us."

QUEENSRŸCHE's self-titled album sold around 13,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 23 on The Billboard 200 chart. The record arrived in stores on June 25, 2013 via Century Media Records.

"Queensrÿche" marked the debut release from the lineup comprised of La Torre (vocals; ex-CRIMSON GLORY),Michael Wilton (guitar),Parker Lundgren (guitar),Eddie Jackson (bass) and Scott Rockenfield (drums).

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