QUEENSRŸCHE's TODD LA TORRE: 'Everybody's Trying To Get Famous Quick And They're Not Putting In The Work'

QUEENSRŸCHE frontman Todd La Torre spoke to Metallerium about the fact that some of today's biggest pop artists have managed to become famous without playing a single live show and never had to slog it out in the clubs touring in a van. "I think everybody's trying to get famous quick and they're not putting in the work," he said. "I was growing up in bands playing in nightclubs my whole life. And I think people think they're gonna be an instant star because of YouTube. Or they're very famous on YouTube but they've never played in an actual nightclub and built it up that way. Everybody's trying to build it up kind of artificially through social media. But they might have a million followers on YouTube or subscribers, but if they were trying to sell tickets in any city around the United States, maybe they wouldn't sell a hundred tickets a night. It doesn't translate the same. It's easy to click 'subscribe.' It takes effort and dedication to pay money for a ticket and go see somebody.

"Everyone's looking for that quick fame the easy way," Todd continued. "Even if they put a lot of work into practice, that's great. There's a lot of singers online that sound awesome, but they've never toured; they've never dealt with the brutal travel schedule and the demands of performing live. These guys are lip syncing on their YouTube videos. They record it perfectly — they do it a thousand times till it's right — then they stand in front of a microphone with headphones on and they sing it, but what you're seeing and what you're hearing are not the same. They're singing to themselves."

La Torre joined QUEENSRŸCHE a decade ago as the replacement for original vocalist Geoff Tate.

QUEENSRŸCHE's latest album, "Digital Noise Alliance", was released on October 7 via Century Media. The record was once again helmed by Chris "Zeuss" Harris, who previously worked with QUEENSRŸCHE on 2015's "Condition Hüman" and 2019's "The Verdict" LPs.

Guitarist Mike Stone, who rejoined QUEENSRŸCHE last year, contributed guitar solos to the band's new studio album.

Since late May 2021, Stone has been handling second-guitar duties in QUEENSRŸCHE, which announced in July 2021 that longtime guitarist Parker Lundgren was exiting the group to focus on "other business ventures."

Stone originally joined QUEENSRŸCHE for the 2003 album "Tribe" and stayed with the band for six years before leaving the group.

For the past five and a half years, drummer Casey Grillo has been filling in for QUEENSRŸCHE's original drummer Scott Rockenfield, who stepped away from the band's touring activities in early 2017 to spend time with his young son.

In October 2021, Rockenfield filed a lawsuit against the band's fellow original members Wilton and bassist Eddie Jackson, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and wrongful discharge. A few months later, Wilton and Jackson filed a countersuit against Rockenfield, accusing him of abandoning his position as a member of the band and misappropriating the group's assets to his own personal benefit.