MICHAEL WILTON: QUEENSRŸCHE Is 'An Entity' That Is 'Bigger Than Any One Individual'

QUEENSRŸCHE guitarist Michael Wilton was interviewed by rock journalist Mitch Lafon for a recent edition of the “One On One With Mitch Lafon” podcast (Facebook page). You can now listen to the chat using the Spreaker widget below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether QUEENSRŸCHE ever considered seriously changing its name permanently while embroiled in a lawsuit with the band’s original lead singer, Geoff Tate:

“Me personally, no. I mean, the three of us [Wilton, drummer Scott Rockenfield and bassist Eddie Jackson] are the guys that originally started this whole thing, back when we were still just out of high school. And it’s duly noted and that’s very important to us, and that’s why we wanted the name — because we are the original QUEENSRŸCHE guys. And as far as the outcome, it’s always a bit of a give-and-take thing, and we know that. We’re very happy with the outcome and happy that we have the QUEENSRŸCHE name and keep the fire going and tour the world and bring QUEENSRŸCHE into 2015, 2016.”

On whether he looks back on albums like “Dedicated To Chaos” and “Tribe” as missteps or just part of the band’s evolution over the years:

“You know, the way I view it is it’s just history — whether it was good or bad, or people think whatever they want. Me personally, I think there’s nuggets on all those albums. But we’re just mainly concentrating on 2015 right now.”

On the perception that Geoff Tate and Chris DeGarmo wrote a lot of the older QUEENSRŸCHE material without any input from the other members of the band:

“My partner in crime, Chris DeGarmo, had a lot of behind-the-scenes things, and he and I were a great team and we complemented each other. And, basically, it was all about being a band back then. Chris had a lot of ideas, I had a lot of ideas, the other guys had a lot of ideas, and it’s just all history now. That being said, we just keep moving on. This is QUEENSRŸCHE 2015. We just finished our album ‘Condition Hüman’, and we’re very proud of it. And for probably the fifty or sixty interviews I’ve done for this, it’s all been very well received, and it’s gonna be a great excitement when it’s released October 2 on Century Media Records.”

On how close QUEENSRŸCHE came to breaking up while everything was coming to a head with Geoff Tate:

“Well, I think, you’re looking at three or four guys that are dedicated to the cause .We’re musicians, and I think we’re also kind of hopeful optimists — that some day it’s gonna get better. And things get to a point where no one’s thinking the same anymore, and that’s when change is needed. It’s like being in a company that needs a stockbroker there saying, ‘Hey, we need some new blood in here. We need something to get this thing going.’ And that’s kind of our mindset. Me personally, I’m not a quitter. I’m more about, I wanna take this thing and build it and rebuild it and repair it and keep it going forever, because QUEENSRŸCHE is like a machine. It’s an entity, and it’s bigger than any one individual. I think this name is just gonna keep [continuing] on, even maybe more than ten years from now, hopefully.”

“Nobody in the band won a lottery or anything, so it’s, like, this is what we do, and this is what we love to do. We [thought to ourselves], we’ve just gotta get the right situation, the right atmosphere. And I’ve gotta tell you, it wasn’t easy. It’s been pretty tough, but it kind of makes it all better now — just realizing that we were right, and we were right in sticking with it. And now things are starting to really open up for the band. The doors are opening in the industry for us again, and it’s really a gratifying thing, actually.”

“Condition Hüman” was recorded in part at at Uberbeatz Studio in Washington with producer Chris “Zeuss” Harris, who has previously worked with ROB ZOMBIE, HATEBREED, SOULFLY and SHADOWS FALL. Pre-Orders are available now at PledgeMusic.com.