Interview with Queensryche/Soulbender Guitarist

Michael Wilton

9/29/2005

Queensryche is currently on tour doing a dual-set show. Set one features an array of hits from different albums. After a brief intermission, the band returns to the stage to perform, in its entirety, the Operation Mindcrime album. This tour is helping to build anticipation for the upcoming release of Operation Mindcrime II, due out in early 2006. I recently conducted a phone interview with guitarist, Michael Wilton to discuss all things Queensryche and his new band, Soulbender. The text of our conversation is below.

1. Since Chris DeGarmo's departure, and the transplanting of Kelly Grey and, most recently, Mike Stone as second guitarists, you seem to have taken over a "lead guitarist" role rather than the twin attack that fans grew accustomed to with Chris and yourself.  Has this affected the song writing in the group?

Not really. The equation has changed and it’s taken awhile but I’ve shown (Mike) Stone how to do the double-solos so we’re doing more of those. I’ll be writing more double solos for the next album.

2. After the release of 'Promised Land', you issued a special edition 2 Disc CD-Rom/Game which had a short film about Big Log, the studio where you recorded... do you still record there, or was that a one time deal?

That was a one time deal. Actually, we just rented a house out in the San Juan Islands that was owned by a private party.

Queensryche 2005

3. Operation Mindcrime came out at a time when corporate America was HUGE. The first Bush administration was coming in. Now you guys are doing Mindcrime II. Did you feel the time was right to do Mindcrime II because of the current Bush administration and what is going on in the world?

As far as the idea, of course. You’ve got a lot of similarities. Bush is in office, there’s war, there’s death, (debt’s) reaching almost a trillion. It’s definitely the right climate to revisit Operation Mindcrime.

4. It was once said that Queensryche actually TRACKED the album "Hear In the Now Frontier" here in NASHVILLE at Emerald Studio's 16th & Sound Room. Any truth to that?

Yes, I believe the drums were recorded there and the bass was recorded there.

5. You guys toured over the summer with Judas Priest. How was that experience and do you have any entertaining stories to share?

Well Judas Priest, I grew up listening to them. It was an amazing tour for me. I loved hanging out with the guys. KK Downing and Glen Tipton are really cool. We had some great moments and memories and had a lot of fun on the tour.

Michael with Judas Priest guitarist, Glen Tipton

6. You guys seemed to be unfairly lumped into the “hair band” scene back in the 80’s by the mainstream media even though your music had much more depth. What do you think was the cause of this? 

Well in the 80’s we were a bit more progressive and then due to the success of Mindcrime and Empire, which was in the 90’s gets lumped into the 80’s for some reason. I think it’s just way for people to put us in a box and to market ‘Silent Lucidity’ on different compilation albums.

7. That leads me to my next question. Silent Lucidity was a HUGE hit all over the world, as well as the entire Empire release. Do you feel that this album painted you guys into a corner or are you happy with its success in the theory that it opened up your catalog to a group of listeners that may have missed out on earlier material such as Rage for Order and The Warning?

Yeah, I think it definitely opened the doors. People who were drawn to the success of ‘Silent Lucidity’ obviously were surprised. But we hoped it broadened everybody’s musical palette to realize we’re not just a “hit” band. We just happened to collide with public taste at that point in our career. We are remembered a lot for that but on the same hand we are remembered by heavy underground bands for Operation Mindcrime. It’s a two-edged sword.

8. Nashville has a strong rock scene these days but has a very hard time getting exposure due to numerous reasons. What do you think can be done to elevate our status in the public’s eye?

I think it’s just a matter of getting the word out that there’s a scene happening there. Kind of like what Austin Texas does. Just get it renowned. What helped Seattle was the fact that we had record labels such as Sub-Pop Records that signed a bunch of the early bands and got the whole underground grunge thing going. But, there’s no real answer unless you’ve got a cosmic explosion of great music coming out of there, all at once.

9. What are your memories of previous appearances that you’ve made to Nashville?

We just did the usual. We just kinda came through, checked out the studios and hung out.

Michael playing live in Belgium

   10.    I recently saw Queensryche on television making an outdoor appearance at the event ‘All Roads Lead to the Chip’ from Sturgis, South Dakota. Can you share your impressions of this gig?

Well, I know that there was a couple of TV crews filming the event and mainly because Geoff (Tate), Stone, and a couple of guys in the crew ride bikes. It was a bit of a letdown due to the weather. A storm came in and it started raining. It could have been an amazing event because we were there with Disturbed. I hung out with David (Draiman; vocals) and Dan (Donegan; guitars) and they were really cool and appreciative. I got to watch some of their set but it started raining sideways and I said “Oh, God!” There was a Tropicana bikini contest and the poor girls were coming in our dressing room “We’re freezing, we’re freezing!” Not much fun for them. We just hung out and saw a few little bits of debauchery but we had to get out after the show because we had people that had to get on airplanes and deadlines. We didn’t see too much craziness.

11. Your new band, Soulbender, has released its debut album. What has the reaction been so far to the music and is this a permanent band or just a “one-off” project?

It’s a permanent thing and the reaction can be assessed by reading the comments left on the Soulbender site on myspace or cdbaby.com via the official Soulbender website. Every show that we’ve done in the Northwest has been sold out and people have been hammering us to get another record out. We’re in the midst of getting something going with another record label to do a tour of more than just the Northwest. Soulbender is really a very progressive, hard rock band with very intense musicians. A couple of them are prodigies and it’s really been a lot of fun to do.

Soulbender Debut Album Cover

12. Well, that leads me to ask if Queensryche is still going to be a permanent project for you or are you guys about to go on hold with that?

I don’t know. It kind of changes everyday. I don’t know what’s gonna happen after Mindcrime II other than touring and supporting it. I don’t have a crystal ball so I can’t tell if we’re going to make more recordings or if we’re just going to tour. I freelance now.

I want to thank Michael Wilton for doing this interview and Troy from Diamondback Entertainment for assisting me with the planning stages. It’s refreshing to speak with someone that hasn’t allowed success to go to his head and expresses a true passion for music. Michael will be participating in the upcoming VH1 event "Fairway to Heaven" which pits rockers against each other on the golf course. On a personal note, I checked out some of the Soulbender samples on myspace.com and was highly impressed. You might like to know that Soulbender vocalist, Nick Pollock was the singer and guitarist for My Sister's Machine and previously, was the original guitarist for Alice in Chains, pre-Jerry Cantrell. Check out their stuff.  I'm glad I did.

Queensryche will be playing tonight at The Ryman Auditorium. Show starts at 7:30 pm

For more Michael Wilton/Queensryche/Soulbender information visit:

www.MichaelWilton.com

www.Soulbender.com

www.myspace.com/soulbender

www.queensryche.com