TODD LA TORRE-Fronted Version Of QUEENSRŸCHE On 'Monsters Of Rock': Video Interview

Ravage conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE — Todd La Torre (vocals),Michael Wilton (guitar),Eddie Jackson (bass),Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Parker Lundgren (guitar) — during the Monsters Of Rock cruise, which embarked on its second voyage March 16 and returned four days later. You can now watch the chat below.

QUEENSRŸCHE's new album is scheduled for release on June 11 via Century Media Records. The drums for the CD were recorded at London Bridge Studios in Seattle, Washington with producer James "Jimbo" Barton — the man who engineered and mixed the band's classic 1988 LP, "Operation: Mindcrime", and its 1990 follow-up, "Empire", and co-produced 1994's "Promised Land". The rest of the music and vocals were laid down at several different facilities on the West Coast.

In a recent interview with Metal Assault, Rockenfield stated about QUEENSRŸCHE's renewed collaboration with Barton: "It's a great thing — we're really excited about it, he's really excited about it. We've wanted to work with him for a while, but for whatever reason, we just hadn't gone there yet. This is a great time for us to do that, though. We all discussed who we wanted to do the record with, and he was one of the first names that came up. It was easy for us to pick up the phone and call him. It was like our relationship picked up right where it left off. He's a very creative guy that did some great records with us in the past. I think that's one of the most important things when it comes to why we want to work with him."

Asked if fans will see a return to the progressive metal sound QUEENSRŸCHE had in the '80s, Scott said: "What we're trying to do, and what has been really interesting since Todd has jumped into the band, we're trying to revisit the old QUEENSRŸCHE catalog — stuff off of the EP and "The Warning". That's always been a part of what we are, so yeah, definitely! I think in my opinion, we're really revisiting that vibe of why that music was special back then for us. There will be a modern flair to it, though, just because we're in the modern age. The fun thing about Jimbo being a part of it is that he can help tie together the two sides. He does come from our past and some of the great records and some of the great sounds that we're known for, but he's also living in the modern age and doing some interesting things as well. I think it's going to be a really great QUEENSRŸCHE record. People are going to go, 'Wow, that's QUEENSRŸCHE! That sounds just like what we've known them to be, and what we would expect them to now be.' That's what I think peple will get out of it."

Speaking to Rocket Sports & Entertainment, La Torre stated about the musical direction of QUEENSRŸCHE's new album: "There's something that you'd say, 'Hey, that sounds like it could have been off 'Rage For Order'," or 'This sounds kind of like 'Mindcrime'-ish,' or "This could be an 'Empire' thing,' but with a new flavor on it. There's some new sounds… All of this is a very wonderful, natural, quality piece of music and all of us feel that way. Are we gonna say it's a balls-to-the-wall heavy album? No. It's a hard rock record with some metal elements to it. But I would never want to say that it's a heavy metal record because I don't want to box in QUEENSRŸCHE. I don't want to box our sound in. If we want to use strings and be orchestrated, we can do that. If I want to scream 'till I'm blue in the face, you know, we can do that. If Michael wants to play something really shreddin or soft and pretty, we want to have all of those avenues to go down without boxing us into a genre or niche. Overall, I think it's a strong record. It's very true and authentic to us. And we hope that that translates musically to the fans. And everyone here thinks differently. But, overall, I think that people are really gonna like it, and I think it's a huge deviation from the last couple records. It was only the band writing. There's no outside influence."

Interview:

Performance: