TODD LA TORRE Says Most QUEENSRŸCHE Fans Have Accepted Him: 'I'm Super Thankful'

QUEENSRŸCHE vocalist Todd La Torre was recently interviewed by Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio about his new solo album, "Rejoice In The Suffering", as well as the status of new QUEENSRŸCHE music and more. You can now listen to the chat below.

Asked when fans can expect to hear the follow-up to QUEENSRŸCHE's 2019 album "The Verdict", Todd said: "It would be a little premature for me to say, but I would love for us to be able to put something out maybe by the end of this year. We'll see. It'll be a bottleneck thing, because every band is gonna be releasing albums this year, so maybe we come from behind like a relay race, and once everybody's stuff is out there, QUEENSRŸCHE will come out with a new album when all the dust starts to settle a little bit."

La Torre also discussed how the QUEENSRŸCHE fans have embraced him since he joined the nearly a decade ago as the replacement for QUEENSRŸCHE's original vocalist Geoff Tate.

"I think when a very legendary band with a coveted singer and a sound, when they change a member, that's a hard pill for a lot of people to swallow and accept," he said. "And I'm very, very grateful for what I would consider the majority of the QUEENSRŸCHE audience, I think most of 'em have accepted this lineup and what I've been able to bring to the band. So, I'm super thankful.

"The experience is — it's hard to put into words," he continued. "QUEENSRŸCHE was one of my favorite bands growing up, obviously. And I played in cover bands —I was a drummer in those bands — and we played some QUEENSRŸCHE cover songs and to be able to be on stage and be, like, 'Wow, these guys… I watched Michael Wilton in these videos when I was a teenager, or Eddie Jackson, or whatever. We're playing the song, and I can remember listening to this record in my car and now, like, the real guy that did it is standing next to me.' Especially initially, that was, like, 'Holy crap! I can't believe this is happening.' But almost nine years into the band now, and starting on album number four with me, you become a little desensitized. Not to confuse that with taking for granted — I certainly don't take it for granted. But just the experiences of traveling the world and creating new music and then people requesting new songs: 'Hey, play this one off 'The Verdict',' or, 'I love this song off 'Condition Hüman',' those are the very rewarding things where even though the fans like to hear the classics, a lot of people wanna hear the new stuff that I was a part of creating. And so that's a nice acknowledgement, that I was able to contribute something that the listeners wanna hear live as well. So, I really can't complain."

"Rejoice In The Suffering" will be released on February 5 via Rat Pak Records. Todd created the LP with his songwriting partner Craig Blackwell and producer Chris "Zeuss" Harris.

La Torre joined his first band BLACKWELL as the drummer, performing in high school talent shows and entering into the club rock music scene in Tampa Bay, Florida. In 2009, Todd was suggested to CRIMSON GLORY guitarist Jon Drenning by a mutual friend to help with some vocal rehearsals in preparation for a CRIMSON GLORY memorial concert. This would pave the way for more collaborations with the band, with Toddeventually joining CRIMSON GLORY as the group's new vocalist. 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 became the new lead vocalist of QUEENSRŸCHE. The band immediately began touring globally and started writing new material for the self-titled 2013 album "Queensrÿche". To date, QUEENSRŸCHE has released three studio albums with La Torre: "Queensrÿche", "Condition Hüman" (2015) and "The Verdict" (2019). Currently the band is writing new material for a fourth release for Century Media Records.