QUEENSRŸCHE's MICHAEL WILTON: TODD LA TORRE Was The 'Perfect Person' To Replace GEOFF TATE

Jorge Fretes of Spain's GoetiaMedia.com recently conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton. You can now listen to the chat in the YouTube clip below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the similarities between the vocal styles of QUEENSRŸCHE's new singer, Todd La Torre, and his predecessor, Geoff Tate:

"When I first met Todd, he had pretty much given up on the whole CRIMSON GLORY thing; they never recorded with him. It was a situation where Todd is a fan of the whole operatic singing, and had big influences, [like] Bruce Dickinson and all of them. So he was the perfect person for this. And it was not until we heard him sing with us in a rehearsal room that we went, 'Oh my gosh! This guy has his own voice, but he has the same nuances as the old Geoff Tate [stuff did]. It was really an eye-opening experience. And from that point on, it was just developing and him getting the confidence. It's not an easy task filling those shoes, so he had to deal with a lot of negative things in his life. It was show by show by show — one show at a time — we proved that this is what the fans want."

On the contributions of producer Chris "Zeuss" Harris to QUEENSRŸCHE's new album, "Condition Hüman":

"I think he was another member in there in [working out] the arrangements and helped us really get the songs in the strongest format. He, personally, is a fan of the old QUEENSRŸCHE records, so he knew our material and he had an idea of how QUEENSRŸCHE should sound in 2015. So he was the right person for this body of music. He really went to the roots of QUEENSRŸCHE, but did it in a modern way. And we're really happy with the outcome of this recording."

On whether he feels QUEENSRŸCHE still has something to prove with the new lineup:

"We have been touring steadily for two and a half three years on the last album. And for us, yes, we have to prove, and we prove it by one show at a time. And that's what we've been doing for the last two and a half, three years — is proving to the world, proving to promoters, proving to festivals, proving to everyone that there's something really energetic and something really hot here with QUEENSRŸCHE, and you should take a listen and come see them play live. And that's basically what we've been doing. We haven't given up, and we've been successful. It's been a lot of hard work — I will say that — but we're persevering and we're forging on dead ahead. And we really think this new album is really gonna separate us and finally we can move on, be QUEENSRŸCHE and evolve with each album and each tour."

"Condition Hüman" will be released on October 2 via Century Media. The CD was recorded in part at at Uberbeatz Studio in Washington .